The Successful Novice Teacher

I think back to ten years ago. I didn't even know for sure if I wanted to be a teacher. I was involved in coaching and realized that 9 to 5 hours were not conducive to coaching high school sports. Next thing I know, an opportunity arises to let me coach in college in order to pay for my teacher certification.
Fast forward two years... I am finishing up my student teaching; I am in no rush to get a teaching job. Out of the blue, the district I am student-teaching in offers me a job immediately. So now I am a teacher... If I could go back in time, what characteristics helped me, what characteristics was I lacking?
A novice teacher, first and foremost these days, must have an understanding of special education. My first year- IEP, 504, inclusion, in-class support, modification, possible LAWSUITS! These topics were covered, yet ever so briefly, in certification program. Still, the more knowledge and the know-how of how to keep up with all of the changes in special education are a must.
Characteristic number 2? Lesson planning. I have seen different administrators have different requirements of what they expect in a lesson plan. So much time has been wasted trying to satisfy the different nuances of each administrator. Some want unit plans, some want daily plans, some want weakly plans, some want objectives only, some want standard numbers. I learned one basic way to lesson plan- the way my professor wanted it. Different strokes for different folks! The more different methods of lesson planning learned, the better.
Another big characteristic is understanding children are unique. I have taught similar lessons for ten years and each year I have to adjust from the year before. Likewise, each class I have to adjust from the class before. Some students learn one way, other students another. Novice teachers should organize and save every little trick they use, because one may work on year or in one class and not in another. A nice, organized bag of tricks is a great resource to develop.
A fourth and final characteristic (although there are many more) would be having an open mind and a sincere desire to be a life-long learner. Professional development, when organized and used correctly, helps teachers to constantly adjust with the times, learn new tricks, re-energize, and self-reflect. A teacher willing to learn about their teaching style and constantly adapt will be a successful teacher for a long time.

Mission statement or mission aborted?

Being that we are focusing on mission statements currently, I figured I would check out my school's mission statement. I has some trouble at first in finding our school's mission statement.
I went to an administrator for some assistance and it took him some time to find it as well. I found our school's mission embedded in our principal's message page:

"Our stated mission is to promote a current, comprehensive curriculum that provides equal access to learning for all members of the school community."

I found our district's mission statement on our superintendent's page:

"The mission of the Dumont school district is to be the center of learning and the inspiration for the community and its children. Our responsibility is to provide the highest quality education in both formal and informal settings. Our purpose is to develop each individual into a productive and successful member of society, both today and in the future."

I was shocked to see that the two statements have different goals in mind.
The school's statement seems to focus on the short-term goal of learning in the school. The district's statement seems more focused on the long-term goal of developing productive members of society who will use their acquired skills and knowledge after their school years.

This lead me to wanting a more thorough look at how our curriculum is developed. I looked at the curriculum for the current freshmen science class I teach. It was basically a list of objectives missing the activities and assessments for how a teacher should accomplish those objectives.

I also took a look at my hometown's web page to look at their mission statement. I found that they have been working very hard to improve their methods of teaching since I last taught there four years ago. They have a page called the curriculum corner. This page explains their instructional philosophy and seems to aim at helping their teachers achieve their goals. I also found a curriculum developing template to assist teachers in writing curriculum. I am going to look further into this site for some possible resources. If interested, check it out: http://www.pequannock.org/index.cfm?sid=41&nav_id=9667