REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Beowulf(c. 750). (Reprinted inThe Norton anthology of English literature, 6th ed., vol. 1, p. 26, by M. Abrams, Ed., 1993,
New York: Norton).
Chaucer, G. (1386).The Canterbury tales. (Reprinted inThe Norton anthology of English literature, 6th ed., vol. 1, p. 81, by
M. Abrams, Ed., 1993, New York: Norton).
Hurston, Z. (1933). The gilded six-bits. (Reprinted inBlack writers of America: A comprehensive anthology, p. 613, by R.
Barksdale and K. Kinnamon, Eds., 1972, New York: Macmillan).
Morris, M. (Ed). (1993).Aunty Roachy Seb by Louise Bennett, p. 3. Kingston, Jamaica: Sangster’s.
Shakespeare, W. (1600–1601).Hamlet, prince of Denmark. (Reprinted inThe Works of William Shakespeare, p. 1164, 1937,
Roslyn, NY: Black’s Readers Service).
Stern P. (Ed). (1940).The life and writings of Abraham Lincoln, p. 788. New York: Modern Library.
Twain, M. (1876).The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Reprinted inAnthology of American literature, 5th ed., vol. II, p.
145, by G. McMichael, Ed., 1989, New York: Macmillan).
SECTION D: BECOMING A TEACHER 1:
NEW TEACHERS DISCUSS THEIR IDEAS
According to a report by the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (Septem-
ber 1996), “New teachers are typically given the most challenging teaching assignments and
left to sink or swim with little or no support. They are often placed in the most disadvan-
taged schools and assigned the most difficult-to-teach students.... Alone in their class-
rooms, without access to colleagues for problem solving or role modeling, discouragement
can easily set in (p. 39).” As a result of conditions like these, one urban district estimates
that one sixth of its new teachers leave the school system after 1 year and about a third
leave within 3 years (Schwartz, 1996). Many quit teaching altogether, whereas others leave
for higher paying positions in surrounding suburban communities.
To help prepare new teachers for these difficult first years, the Hofstra University School
of Education organized a New Teachers Network. Alan Singer, Maureen Murphy, and S.
Maxwell Hines, who worked on this book, are its principal advisors. At this writing (Spring
2002), the network is 6 years old. It has evolved to include bimonthly meetings, semiannual
conferences, formal and informal collaborations with schools, an e-mail network, peer
mentoring, mentoring of teacher education students by network participants, university fac-
ulty visits to schools, and visits by new teachers to education classes. Members of the net-
work also participated in preparing this book, telling their stories as new teachers, and re-
viewing the other material that is included.
Most of the beginners in our programs worry about content knowledge—will they know
enough—and teaching skills—how do you lead a certain activity. Some of the younger stu-
dents worry whether they are mature enough to become teachers and take responsibility
for students and for a full-time job. I know I had all of those worries when I was 21. But from
this vantage point in my career as a teacher, I think we are too concerned with information
and mechanics. They will come with experience and a commitment to learn.
Based on my work with new teachers in the Hofstra New Teachers Network, I believe that
the two most important qualities for becoming a successful teacher are the ability to empa-
thize with your students and to have a personal sense of mission of broader social goals that
you hope to achieve during your career. In the stories that follow, members of the network
discuss their own philosophies of education and the sense of personal mission that helps
them to be successful in the classroom. In a second group of essays in chapter 2 (“Responsi-
bilities”), another group of teachers explain how they draw on their personal experience as
students in order to help them empathize with the young people they work with. Additional
16 CHAPTER 1