MSTA Membership 2003-2004
Creating a Professional Image
As a first-year
teacher, you have no name recognition, no reputation, and no credibility.
Think of it as a clean slate. Your
behavior and your interaction with all the groups that make up the school
community will not only define your image,
but also have an impact on the image of the profession as a whole.
Based on the findings of surveys such as the Metropolitan
Life Survey of the American Teacher, Gallup
Polls of the Public's Attitude Toward the Public Schools, and studies on
school/community relations, we know that schools
are more highly rated by those who know them best. Both parents and teachers think more parental involvement will improve
education, and students and newspapers are the top sources of information about
what's going on in school.
The ideas below are time-tested
positive image-makers which will help you make a good impression on students,
parents, your peers, administration, and school partners. As you read,
relate the ideas to your own personality and perceptions about your community.
Choose those that will work for you or adapt
the ideas for your own setting. In addition to these individual projects,
get involved in the community action programs Dorchester Educators initiates.
From the beginning, let
parents know you believe a working partnership with them is best for
students. Send messages home about
what they can do to support learning. Invest
in stamped postcards — once a week send
a postcard to a parent with a positive note. Call at least one parent a week to share a positive attribute of a
student. Invite parents to join the
class and assist with school projects
Invent ways to
give students practical experience with writing. Teach your students to write letters to members of the community,
and then actually send them. The letters may relate specifics of a classroom
project that tie into a community organization activity or state an opinion
about how young people might be persuaded
to participate more fully in community affairs.
The best lessons to
be learned by students from such letter writing are those of stating a
suggestion tactfully and graceful, writing
with a positive tone, and making a point clearly and concisely.
Carry your work around
with you in a folder or a briefcase,
almost everywhere you go—to the laundromat, to the barbershop, to the doctor's
office. You can even grade papers while waiting for a bus. You will need every
available moment to get your work done, but think of it as yet another chance to
let the public know how much you enjoy it.
Make time each day for you—to ease
the stress. Ten minutes a day just
for you—is better than nothing.
Creating a Professional Image
In early November, send
home a list of good books for parents to consider for holiday giving. List a
few academic books, but include
mostly books that are interesting or
entertaining, and at the same time of literary
or academic merit, as they relate to your teaching area.
Also, if you can find one
extra hour at the beginning of the school year, divide all your students’
names into nine or ten lists according to the month of their birthdays. Then send home a book gift list the month before each student's birthday, making the
distribution a first-of-the-month activity. In June, distribute book lists for
those with birthdays in July, August, and September.
See what happens when you assign an essay or paragraph on the topic “The best thing about my school is...” After using samples of
class entries in the classroom and discussing them for form and content, submit
three or four of the most interesting ones to the local
newspaper, expressing pride in these students' perception of their role as
learners.
Send home requests for
a parent or grandparent to write down (in a space provided by the request sheet)
a few words relating to a strong memory or
an anecdote from their own lives in reference to the topic being studied
in class.
Display your degrees
and certificates. Every other professional has these documents framed and
hanging on their office walls, you should too. Not only is it good
for those times when parents visit your classroom, but think about the positive
effect it has on your students.
Have a classroom bulletin
board where each week a student gets to display their five favorite pictures. Let parents know about the success
of their children in the classroom. If the only time parents hear from you
about student progress is when there’s a problem, they transfer
those negative feelings to you.
Send letters of welcome
to new students. When students transfer during the year, they and their
parents often have questions about how to
fit in. You could put together a survival
kit for new students that include a map of the area (ask the AAA), locations
of favorite student hangouts, dress
code (or at least what's normal — ask a student to write this part), homework
expectations, and a list of what has already been covered in each subject.