The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has announced -- and the VEA offers congratulations to -- the following VEA members gaining their national certification. (The list from NBPTS is checked against VEA's membership database; please report omissions or errors to Renee Hancock at rhancock@veanea.org.)

·         Allen, Cory, Hanover
·         Amrhein, Cynthia, Loudoun
·         Anderson, Barbra, Prince George
·         Atkins, Rebecca, Virginia Beach
·         Augsburger, Kristen, Prince William
·         Bailey, Janet, Richmond
·         Baughan, Kathleen, Richmond
·         Bengtson,  Kristopher, Alexandria
·         Bradner, Kristie, Hampton
·         Brown, Barbara, Spotsylvania
·         Bush, Mary, Chesterfield
·         Callaghan, Melissa, Prince William
·         Chin, Georgina, Fairfax
·         Clarke, Susan, Chesterfield
·         Costa, Jessica, Newport News
·         Davids, Heather, Prince William
·         De Vera-Lopez, Maria, Richmond
·         Deloatch,  Annie, Richmond
·         Denoon, Joy, Hanover
·         Depriest, Kerdene, Fairfax
·         Dirga, Kathryn, Falls Church
·         Driver, Diane, Shenandoah
·         Dunn, Diane, Prince William
·         Faith, Julie, Prince William
·         Felix, Rebecca, Hampton
·         Flaherty-Nobile, Mary, York
·         Fortenberry, Erin, Fairfax
·         Fraley, Colette, Arlington
·         Fuquay, Matthew, Chesterfield
·         Galati, Kristie, Loudoun
·         Gates, Krista, Norfolk
·         Gilbert, Jennifer, Chesterfield
·         Goddard, Caroline, Stafford
·         Goldman, Deborah, Fairfax
·         Gould, Lauren, Loudoun
·         Gulden, Linda. Loudoun
·         Gumm, Dana, Richmond
·         Gurney, Crystal, Manassas Park
·         Hass, Debra, Loudoun
·         Hardesty, Cynthia, York
·         Harper-Neely, Joan, Hampton
·         Hayden, Brenda, Prince William
·         Hickman, Linda, Spotsylvania
·         Hoffman, Tamala, Culpeper
·         Holbrook, Elizabeth, Winchester
·         Hopkins, Margaret, Prince William
·         Howard, Melissa, Spotsylvania
·         Jansen, Veronica, Hampton
·         Jobkar, Tina, Alexandria
·         Kain, Fernanda, Spotsylvania
·         Keaton, Penny, Montgomery
·         Kiyak, Sarah, Alexandria
·         Laurie, Gordon, Arlington
·         Lawrence, Selwyn, Fairfax
·         Leach, Carolyn, Fauquier
·         Lewis, Arlene, Loudoun
·         Lockwood, Patricia, Loudoun
·         Lyttle, Michelle, Fairfax
·         Magne, Shannon, Chesterfield
·         Mandro, Bobbie, Prince William
·         Mangicaro, Susan, Prince William
·         Manley, Susan, Fairfax
·         Martin, Heidi, Spotsylvania
·         Mccurdy, Janice, Prince William
·         Medina, Catherine, Spotsylvania
·         Meekins, Jessica, Virginia Beach
·         Middleton, Debra, Chesterfield
·         Millner, Monica, Roanoke
·         Molbert, Karen, Spotsylvania
·         Muscarella, Daniel, Loudoun
·         Muse, Suzanne, Spotsylvania
·         Norris, Julie, Henrico
·         Nothstine, Jennifer, Henrico
·         O'Rourke,  Meghan, Loudoun
·         Ochsenfeld, William, Hampton
·         Ogden, Andrea, Fairfax
·         Oien, Lisa, Fairfax
·         Palma, Gabrielle, Hampton
·         Peregoy,  Kelly Hays, Prince George
·         Perkins, Wendy, Winchester
·         Persons, Sandra, Spotsylvania
·         Petroksy, Vicki, Loudoun
·         Phythyon, Heather, Fairfax
·         Politzer, Jeffrey, Arlington
·         Quinn, Theresa, Fairfax
·         Reed, Lynn, Richmond
·         Riley, Jeanne, Manassas City
·         Roache, Margaret, Charlottesville
·         Roberts, Jennifer, Prince William
·         Scheible, Kristin, Spotsylvania
·         Scherer, Fatima, Loudoun
·         Schemacher, Connie, Prince William
·         Serrano, Kerri, Alexandria
·         Sexton, Lucinda, Fairfax
·         Shreve, Diana, Henrico
·         Siewert, Doris, Richmond
·         Sims, Sandra, Montgomery
·         Slavin, Amy, Arlington
·         Smith, Erin, Fairfax
·         Smith, Julie, Fairfax
·         Stephens, Candy, Hampton
·         Stickley, Elizabeth, Loudoun
·         Sutherland, Lisa, Salem
·         Tharp, Christine, Newport News
·         Thomas, Elizabeth, Arlington
·         Underwood, Janice, Hampton
·         Wadkins, Helen, Loudoun
·         Walker, Doray, Culpeper
·         Walsh, Martha, Alexandria
·         Warren, Renee, Alleghany
·         Weaver, Deborah, Culpeper
·         Webster, Mary Jo, Falls Church
·         Wheeler, Robin, Amherst
·         White, Kathleen, Colonial Heights
·         Wilkerson, Crystal, Virginia Beach
·         Williams, Alandra, Richmond
·         Yau, Jacqueline, Hampton
·         Yereb, Kathleen, Loudoun

Fairfax Education Association member Laura Mathurin kept a blog of her first-year of teaching on www.veanea.org during the 2006-2007 school year. She was Laura Fridley that first year and taught 7th grade English at Rocky Run Middle School.

Mathurin is now married (thus the name change) and is a third year teacher at Mark Twain Middle School. She’s made it to the cover of the NEA Today go! magazine (at right) sharing her tips on classroom management. If you’re a new teacher, we think you’ll find her descriptions of the highs and lows of her first year to be helpful and insightful as you embark on your new career.

August 30, 2006

It’s official—I am a Fairfax County Public School teacher! My contract began on August 28th, but I have been attending orientations and in-service meetings since August 21st.

Fairfax County is an amazing system to work in! I spent three days last week attending an optional new-teacher program called "Great Beginnings." I was feeling pretty unconfident about my impending teaching assignment until I did this program (and realized that all the other "newbies" felt just as nervous as I did!). Seasoned teachers were our coaches, and they led us through practical exercises on everything from how to keep a grade book to how to collect homework in your classroom. These are the things you don’t learn in college and never learn how to initiate in your student teaching placements. As a student teacher, you never get to experience the first days of school. You never learn how to start from scratch, setting up a classroom and putting in place all the procedures necessary to keep it running smoothly. It was nice having a program that covered these essential (though often overlooked) bases.

Being part of the Great Beginnings program means that I also will be attending monthly seminars with these same classmates. Although some of my classmates groaned over this, I’m secretly very glad I have to attend these seminars. It reminds me a little of college, so it feels safe and familiar; plus, I get to discuss my first-year joys and frustrations with other first-years.

The days following my three days of Great Beginnings have been a whirlwind! I had a new-teacher orientation at my middle school. All the new teachers have a mentor to guide them. My mentor, Anna, is the head of the mentorship program and is extremely kind and helpful. She’s been teaching English for about 7 years, so she is seasoned enough to guide me, but young enough to remember how overwhelming this is for a newbie.

I received the key to my room this past Monday. As the newest member on my team, I received the smallest room (the one without a window). I joke about my "loser" room, but I really don’t mind. I realize that a lot of new teachers in areas as populated as Fairfax County start out on carts, so I’m really quite lucky. Maggie, the other new teacher on my team, is in the room right across the hall from me. (She is also from JMU and student taught at Rocky Run.) She and I have been taking turns freaking out, calming each other, cracking up at how much we need to accomplish before school starts, and shopping for supplies together over these past three days.

Just trying to figure out how to set up 30 desks in somewhat oddly-shaped rooms turned into an hour-long project for us both! She and I are experiencing very different sides of being a new teacher: I have no supplies because I am taking the place of a teacher who switched teams and took her supplies with her; Maggie has her hands full with random materials she doesn’t know what to do with, left behind by a retiree. We both have spent more than $100 on supplies for our rooms (bulletin board borders, highlighters, magnets, white boards, tissues, etc.), but we were spared some expense by the special discounts that Office Depot and Staples give to teachers.

When not working on our rooms, we have been attending meetings and workshops. Today was the day for team meetings, as well as department meetings. (So basically my brain is completely on overload, as well as my to-do list!) When I start to feel overwhelmed, I force myself to leave the building for a bit. You get to a point where the clutter in your new classroom combined with the clutter in your head is just too much to bear. I got to that point today when I realized I’d been at the school for nearly 10 hours, still needed to locate my hundreds of textbooks (stored somewhere in the building) and drag them to my classroom, and have my room in order by Friday for New Student Orientation. Luckily, there were some high school student volunteers wandering the halls who were willing to give me a hand with the books.

When I unlocked the door to my room to let the kids enter with my cart full of books, I was reminded of why I’m working so very hard right now. Looking around at the "High School Musical" poster and the Redskins banner and the other little "personal touches" on my walls, one of the students turned to me and said, "If I was a 7th grader, I’d love to have you as a teacher!"

That was really all I needed to make it feel completely worth it.

September 8, 2006

I hardly slept the night before my first day of teaching. I woke up nearly every hour and looked at my alarm clock; “six more hours until I’m a teacher…five more hours…four more hours.” When the alarm rang, I was overcome by a sickening nervousness in my stomach. Ready or not, here I come.

I arrived at school at 7:20 to make sure everything was in order, and to prepare myself for the 130 students that I would call my own. I could hear Maggie, the other first-year teacher on my team, anxiously bustling about in her room across the hall.

Fifteen minutes later, seasoned teachers entered the building and walked the halls with a confidence that I envied. The principal, Mr. Parris, stopped by my room to wish me good luck. “If the kids can tell that you like them, and that you like teaching, you’ll do fine,” he reminded me, after reading the helplessness in my face. At 7:50, I took a deep breath, and greeted my first students with a big smile.

Throughout the whirlwind of the day, I became more comfortable and confident in my position as *Teacher*. I welcomed each of my five classes, and instructed the students to find their seats (according to a pre-arranged seating chart that I posted on the overhead projector), and to begin working quietly on their warm-up assignment. This structured start made the rest of the class time flow very smoothly. When calling roll, I made sure to note nicknames and to write out the phonetic spellings of difficult names on my roster. I then spent the rest of class time discussing classroom procedures, and having student volunteers act out the procedures.

The novelty of the role play was an immediate hit with the class, especially because they were receiving “classroom procedures lectures” from most of their teachers that day. The students enjoyed making lots of noise, and then quickly becoming silent when I rang the little bell on my desk. They also enjoyed my lesson on “don’t touch anything on Ms. Fridley’s desk.” I tossed a bag of candy on my desk and had a student with a self-proclaimed “strong will” stare at it, without touching it, as the rest of the class egged him on. I was excited that a potentially dry lesson on classroom procedures became sprinkled with student laughter and obvious engagement.

By the end of the day, I was happy but extremely exhausted. My feet, shins, and lower back all ached from all the laps I had (compulsively) walked around student desks. Emotionally, I felt especially drained. I had been anxiously awaiting this day for months. Now that it was over, I felt as though all that nervous energy had been suddenly expelled like air from a balloon, leaving me weak and flimsy. The thought of having to come in the next day and teach again was painful, but at least the children had given me a good first impression. I was grateful for their respectfulness, and their willingness to participate in class.

My first impressions of my students proved to be correct on the second day of school. When the bell rang at 8:00 for the school day to begin, I was concerned to find myself alone in my classroom. Where were my students? I opened my classroom door to peer curiously down the hallway and discovered my students lined up quietly against the wall, outside my classroom door. Then it dawned on me: one of my classroom procedures was that the students should not enter my room unless my door was open.

I smiled proudly at my kids as I welcomed them into the classroom, where they sat in their assigned seats and began quietly working on the day’s warm-up. “Good job, guys,” I praised my class aloud. On the inside I was cheering, “Good job, Teacher!”

September 26, 2006

After three weeks of teaching, I can finally say that I’ve memorized the names and faces of all my students. It’s amazing how much more comfortable I feel in front of my classes now that the 131 names on my roster have evolved into unique kids who wave to me in the hallways.

I teach five classes: two sections of regular 7th grade English, two sections of gifted and talented English, and one section of honors English. My class sizes range from only 21 students in one of my gifted and talented classes, to 30 students in my honors class. The racial and cultural make-up of my classes reflects Fairfax County’s well-deserved reputation for diversity. Some of my students celebrated Rosh Hashanah last weekend, while others began fasting for Ramadan. During one of my classes today, I asked my students to raise their hands if they speak a language other than English in their homes. A third of the class raised their hands, representing four different languages!

It’s amazing how different one class can be from another based on the unique chemistry of the students. I’ve had to coax my 1st period class to stand up, stretch, and toss a foam ball around before class activities to entice active participation. My 4th period class, on the other hand, always appears to be struggling to stay seated. My 6th period class is quick to follow directions and flies through activities, while my 8th period class is chronically behind schedule because the students ask many questions and thrive on discussion. My 7th period class intimidated me at first because it is my largest class, but it has proven to be one of the best-behaved groups.

Although each class has a unique atmosphere, there are a few commonalities. Classroom leaders have emerged in each class. (These are the students I affectionately call the “Shushers”—they watch my reaction to classroom noise levels and quiet down the class before I have to speak.) Classroom clowns have also been auditioning. My most ambitious clown is a young man named Joseph. Joseph’s goal is to make his peers laugh each day, whether it’s by mispronouncing words when reading aloud or tripping as he walks to the pencil sharpener. Unfortunately, Joseph’s goal sometimes collides with my goal of teaching an effective lesson. When this happens, I shoot Joseph one of my “teacher glares,” and the ball is back in my court (at least until the next day).

When I tell people that I’m a middle school teacher, I have come to expect a certain response. First they tell me that I’m wonderful for choosing a career in teaching. Then they shudder and say, “But why middle school kids?!”

I’ll agree that middle school is not for everybody. The students are disorganized, moody, and completely scattered. Their voices are muffled by retainers and braces, or cracking from puberty. Some smell like they’ve been running a marathon all day, while others seem to have bathed in a vat of perfume. Middle school students talk too much, cry too easily, and can be very mean to each other.

Yet, when you ask them what they want to do with their lives, they always have an ambitious answer. My students want to go to Harvard, become authors, play college football, or become actors. They have complete faith that you, their teacher, can help them reach their dreams. To a first-year teacher, that faith is so important. If the students believe in me, I can’t help but believe in myself. 

November 9, 2006

Knowing that my colleague Maggie would not be at school today, I walked into her classroom this morning to introduce myself to her substitute teacher. (Maggie and I have established a system where we provide assistance to one another’s subs). I discovered that the substitute is only about a year or two younger than me and is working towards an education degree at GMU. I gave Paul a “heads-up” about Maggie’s rambunctious 8th period class and told him to come by my classroom if he wanted any left-over Halloween candy. Having been a substitute teacher for three years before earning my own class, I have a soft spot in my heart for subs.

Paul strolled into my classroom at the end of the day, visibly frazzled after 8th period. I offered him some candy, and we began to talk.

He asked if this was my first year teaching. After my reply, he said, “You look tired.” This remark caught me off guard, especially coming from a guy who himself looked so weary. Yet right after he said it, I realized…I AM tired.

I have been teaching now for eight weeks; a quarter of the school year! Each day brings new experiences and challenges, forcing me to struggle to keep up with all that is expected of me. I arrive at school at 7:40 in the morning, and stay until at least 4:30 each afternoon. My evenings are littered with lesson planning and grading. My weekends are shorter than they’ve ever felt before. At the last teacher work-day, teachers were given about 45 minutes of free-time before mandatory meetings; Maggie and I both accidentally dozed off in her classroom, arriving 15 minutes late for our meetings. First year teaching is exhausting. Yes, I am tired.

Then Paul asked, “Do you like teaching?”  A lot of things came to my mind when he asked this. Unfortunately the negative thoughts tend to float to the surface first.

I thought about my first parent conference, which occurred just a few weeks ago. A parent sent me an angry email on a Saturday morning, scolding me for not contacting her about the C that her son received in my class on the interim report. She referred to my lack of communication as being “unacceptable,” demanded that I meet with her by Tuesday, and put a damper on my entire weekend. Maggie received a similar email over the weekend. On Monday, Maggie and I met with our team counselor to figure out what to do. This was the best course of action we could have taken. Our counselor, Maria, called the angry parent and set up the conference. During the conference, Maria worked her magic, somehow calming the parent down enough to tell her that Cs are not poor enough grades to warrant a phone call home, considering that each teacher has 130 students to monitor. By the end of the conference, the parent was thanking us for our time (and I was thanking Maria for her time!).

I also thought of the difficult days I’ve had with my students. Now that the students are more comfortable in their new surroundings, they are beginning to grow confident and test their boundaries. A few days ago I caught my class clown, Joseph, cheating on the spelling quiz. From across the room, I watched him glance down at his palm, and furtively scribble on his paper. Realizing that Joseph lives for attention, I did not want to blow up at him in front of the whole class. Instead, while the other students were busy turning in their quizzes, I gently took Joseph’s hand and turned it palm-side up. Sure enough, he had written the answers there in red ink (truly caught red-handed!). My eyes flared, but I remained composed as I sternly and quietly told him to speak with me after class. At the end of class, he hung his head as I calmly explained my disappointment. The next day, Joseph was called to the office to conference with Maria and me. If Joseph’s little experiment with cheating was his way of testing me, I hope he now knows to take me and my class more seriously.

After explaining these incidences to Paul, he asked, “So is it worth it?”

That's when those positive thoughts surfaced. I thought about the time I spent after school consoling a sobbing student whose Powerpoint presentation had partially deleted when she tried to send it to me. I remembered how she hiccupped tearfully while we worked together on my classroom computer to redo the missing parts, and the email that she sent me that evening:
  
Dear Mrs. Fridley,
       I'm sooooooo sorry about my project. Thank you so much for accepting it even if it is very uninteresting and under expectations(it's not UNIQUE).

After school was really embarrassing(i dont cry a lot). I was REALLY
frustrated after all of the work I did after school on Monday. I realize that it is pretty much impossble for my grade in it to be an "A" so I would like to know if there is any extra credit possible for me to make up for my project with. Thanks again for all of your help and your kindness after school today. Im looking forward to 7th period on monday! :)
 
I thought about those parents and students who have donated new books to my ever-growing classroom library, including the entire Lemony Snicketts series. I thought about a phone conversation I had with one parent who applauded me for helping her son “fall back in love with learning” after a difficult 6th grade year. I thought about how the kids moan when I tell them that I’ll be absent for another in-service. I even thought about the candy that Paul and I were enjoying; most of it had been bestowed upon me by my students that day.

I don’t get a lot of time these days to sit and reflect on whether I enjoy this career. Talking with Paul today gave me the opportunity to realize and speak the thoughts that have been forming silently over the past 8 weeks:

“I’m tired, but it’s completely worth it. How many other jobs give you the opportunity to be a part of so many lives, and have an impact? It’s so amazing to think that my name will be spoken at least once in 130 households…and that is just this year. Next year will bring another 130 households. Think of how many lives you become a part of by the end of a teaching career. I don’t think everyone can say that about their job.”       

January 12, 2007

A teacher approached me in the hallway a few days ago to tell me that she enjoyed reading my Blog, and had shared it with a friend. She said she noticed I hadn’t updated it for a while. When I began to stammer my excuse, she laughed and said that this in itself was a testament to the first-year teaching experience. There’s never enough time in a day to accomplish all that needs to be done.

I have my principal to thank for today’s opportunity to sit down, reflect, and update my Blog. About a month ago, Principal Parris invited all the new teachers at Rocky Run to join him for coffee and a chat. My colleague Maggie and I used this time to tell him everything we love about our first year of teaching, and the one thing we have the most trouble with: time. Maggie and I want to use the many resources that our school and our county has to offer to create phenomenal lesson plans, but a lack of time keeps us digging through the same book or online database in order to be prepared for the next day. (In my Great Beginnings class, the instructors referred to this as “survival mode.”) Mr. Parris responded by giving us each two days of administrative leave to familiarize ourselves with the available resources and plan ahead. In addition to updating my Blog, today I am poring over my resources and coming up with lessons to start the next quarter off strong. Maggie and I have decided to take the other day off together to create some cross-content lessons that we can implement this spring. If you are a principal reading this, please consider giving your new teachers this same wonderful opportunity. Not only is the time beneficial, but knowing we have the support from our principal encourages us to do our best.

I once assumed that, with school ending by 3:00 each afternoon, I’d have plenty of time to create my lessons (and maybe even work out at the gym, take my dog for a walk, make a nice meal, and get eight hours of sleep each night). Now I know (and all you experienced teachers are snickering at this point) that the day rarely ends at 3:00. There is really more to being a teacher than just teaching. Sometimes I have in-services or workshops to attend, so I must create substitute plans (which seem to take twice as long to prepare). While I look forward to attending the VEA’s Lobby Day on January 22, I’m not looking forward to planning for my absence. My Great Beginnings class is held one Thursday each month, and it requires that I leave immediately after school and drive to Falls Church to participate from 4:00- 6:30. I considered signing up for another class on Tuesdays (a “Spanish for Educators” class offered through Fairfax County), but my boyfriend, Greg, entreated me to wait until the summer so as not to completely burn out.

And then there are the school’s extracurricular activities…

I had been warned about this. First-year teachers are prime candidates to take on extracurricular responsibilities because:
1. They are “young and energetic
2. They often don’t have many other obligations, such as young families, to occupy their time, and
3. They have no clue what they are agreeing to do!

I guess that is how I became a cosponsor of Rocky Run’s SCA (Student Council Association). We have meetings after school every couple of weeks to discuss school dances and other activities the club sponsors. While the student officers do a lot of the brainstorming, the adult sponsors do the dirty work.

I took pride in the Winter Dance that the SCA put on last month. Nearly half of the student population at RRMS showed up, a new record in attendance! We also had a very entertaining talent show…especially considering that Maggie and I were one of the acts. While they didn’t recognize our song, over 300 students screamed applause when Maggie and I (dressed in wigs and sparkly t-shirts) attempted sloppy choreography while belting out Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” karaoke-style. If we’ve taught the students nothing else this school year so far, at least we’ve taught them an appreciation for ‘80’s power ballads.

Maggie and I are both also involved in the Fairfax County Mentor Program. We’ve each been paired with a student identified as needing a positive adult influence in their life. My student, Charlie, is a quiet boy who just moved here from Kansas, and who doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends at RRMS. Through the mentor program, the adult mentors are required to “touch base” with their mentees during the school day once each week. There are also pizza parties held for all mentors and mentees after school once a month. Since beginning the program, I’ve already noticed a change in Charlie. He has started participating in class, turning in his assignments, raising his hand to answer questions, and smiling and laughing more. Sometimes he comes to my classroom at the end of the school day, simply to say hello. After the pizza party on Monday, he quietly asked me, “Ms. Fridley, if you don’t have anything else to do right away, would you like to meet my dad? He’s outside waiting to pick me up.” It’s a huge deal for a middle school boy to volunteer a meeting between his parent and his teacher. I was delighted to accept.

Basketball season started this past Wednesday at RRMS. From now until March, I am one of the five adults supervising the 120 students participating in the Basketball Club (I swore to Greg that this was the last extracurricular activity that I would become involved with).

I’ll admit, I am partly to blame for my current lack of time. I would advise new teachers to carefully choose which activities to become involved with, and to decide in advance how much time they are willing to give. There are so many benefits to be reaped from being involved. The students and I have more in common now. When I inform them that I haven’t completed grading their assignments because I was busy with homework from my Great Beginnings class, they nod their heads in understanding. We talk about basketball and Journey and whether or not we liked the songs played at the dance. I enjoy the chances I get to see them outside of the classroom, and I’m sure they feel the same about seeing me.

While there’s never enough time to accomplish all that needs to be done, my time is far from being wasted. What gets done is what most needed to be done. I think Charlie would agree.

March 6, 2007

Upon reaching the half-way point of my first year of teaching, I find myself developing somewhat of a split-identity.

Each day is still my first. For example, today was the first March 5th that I’ve spent as a teacher. Tomorrow will be my first March 6th. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but each day feels like a tiny victory for me. I venture each day into unknown territory and sigh with relief when I make it to the other side. I still feel very new and overwhelmed at times. This much hasn’t changed.

But I’ve noticed that a new part of me is developing. I felt it last week, in the form of mild déjà vu. After attending an in-service in Alexandria, I decided to stop at the Lakeshore Learning Center on my way home. The only other time I’ve stepped into this store was the week prior to my first day of teaching. I thought about my first visit to the store as I walked through it last week. My first visit was rambling and unfocused; I think I purchased some posters, bulletin board borders, and a bell to put on my desk. During this second trip I picked up construction paper (already mapping out in my head the poetry assignment it would be used for), grammar Bingo games (this will be perfect to help them review the parts of speech we’ve been working on this month!), and thank-you post cards (I wish I’d known to get some of these during the winter holidays when I received all those Starbucks gift cards). I laughed when I saw the same little bell that I’d purchased seven months ago, sitting on a shelf. I believe I’ve only rung it once in my classroom! Wow…and was that truly seven whole months ago?!

I again became aware of the way I’ve changed when I went out to lunch with Sharon, the math teacher on my team. “So, how do you feel?” Sharon asked me. I remember that this is the same way she started a conversation we had back in September. In September, I responded with a feeble and tight-lipped, “Good.” This time I smiled and said, “I’m doing well…Things are going really well.” Sharon commended me, “I can tell you have more confidence in yourself now, and you should.”

Being more comfortable and confident has made some aspects of teaching more difficult. At the beginning of the school year, if I had a “bad day” I could just blame it on my lack of experience. Now, a bad day has the potential of turning me into one of those poisonous, “bitter teachers” for an entire week if I allow it to go unchecked. I had my first really “bad day” about two weeks ago. The students had become a little wild and unruly (due to the chaos caused by multiple snow days), and the workload was intense (blame it on those snow days again). The last straw was a parent who emailed my counselor, accusing me of not replying promptly to emails (although she had emailed me on a Saturday). On that day, I felt tired and angry. I was mad at my students for treating me with disrespect after all the time I’d put into their lessons. I was mad at the parent for not understanding how committed I was to each and every one of my 130 students. I was even mad at myself for not using the snow days more constructively. On that day I did not feel like a new teacher, but like a haggard, over-worked babysitter. “I don’t want to be a teacher today,” I complained to my mentor, Anna. I wanted to stomp my foot when I said it.

It’s funny how things work out. This was the day that my principal, Dan Parris, decided to make an impromptu visit to my classroom. I was in the middle of a lesson on Langston Hughes when he quietly entered my room and sat down at a desk in the back. I became immediately aware of and ashamed of my negative attitude. Yet, I realized that I had still remained professional, and my students had no clue that I had been feeling poorly all day. In fact, the kids were completely engaged in my lesson. I had neglected to notice how alert and involved they were because I was too focused on my own bad mood. When Mr. Parris left the room, I felt the butterflies leave my belly and my breath return to normal. Yep, still a new teacher.

Anna came to me at the end of that day. “So, Dan visited your class today I hear.” I looked up at her nervously. She told me that Mr. Parris had stopped by her room after visiting mine, and had praised me. Anna said that Mr. Parris had called me a “dynamic teacher.” She said that he’d mentioned how lucky Rocky Run is to have found me. Anna knew exactly what to do to remedy my bad day. “Dan said that you don’t seem like a new teacher when you’re up there.” The “new teacher” part of me blushed at this. The other part of me, that part that is just emerging, and was noticed even by my principal, took pride in the knowledge that I’ve come a long way since September, and comfort in the realization that I’m still a work in progress.

April 17, 2007

I’ll admit, the pressures of first-year teaching have caused me to break down once or twice in the privacy of my own home. (Pretty good, considering that my colleague and good friend Anna claims she cried nearly weekly during her first year of teaching). Today was the first day that I cried at school.

Maggie and I did not attend Virginia Tech but, as recent James Madison University graduates, watching the news reports unfold on CNN today during our lunch period was like discovering the wounding of a close neighbor. Perhaps it is because we are still in contact with current college students, or because we were students ourselves at this time last year (only a year or two older than the victims) but Maggie and I felt particularly upset by the news of yesterday’s college shooting. We discussed the powerful invocation of memories triggered by this unfortunate event; the tragedy at Columbine High School occurred during our own high school years, provoking students for the first time ever to fear their learning environment. Now we are teachers, hearing about professors being killed in the middle of their lessons, and suddenly the fears resurface disguised in new perspectives. We do so much to keep ourselves safe: wear our seatbelts, don’t smoke, don’t drink and drive, put on sunscreen, eat healthy foods, get regular health exams, and walk in well-lit areas at night. Why should learning or teaching be considered risky behavior?  When I felt the tears brimming in my eyes today, I escaped to my empty classroom and closed the door, allowing the tears to fall freely. Some tears should not be repressed.

The children seemed aware today of the shooting in Blacksburg, but not greatly affected by it. Some wore Virginia Tech shirts to show their support, and a few asked me if I had heard the news. Only one or two asked me that painful question, “Why?” to which I could only reply, “I don’t know.” Those are perhaps the hardest words for a teacher to say.

Maybe I should be disturbed by the apparent apathy of the students. I could attribute it to their age; they are too young to understand tragedy that strikes outside the small circle of lives which surround their own. Or I could blame the media; the drama and pain of real life seems like a tame rerun to students who grew up watching senselessly gruesome television shows and internet videos. Or perhaps today’s students (those who were in schools, clinging to their teachers on September 11th, 2001 when the first plane hit) have become desensitized; most have never known a school year without lock-down drills, or boarded a plane without first removing their shoes.

Yet I believe I’ve overlooked something. What I mistake for apathy may actually be courage. These are the children who continue to smile and thrive in a world which can appear foreboding. They are more aware, more optimistic, and more prepared to encounter the double-edged truths of life than I ever was at their age. They are stronger and more resilient than I will ever be. Perhaps our own teachers thought the same about us. I hope all teachers believe this of their students. 

My thoughts are with you, Virginia Tech…you are strong and resilient.  

May 22, 2007

Today was one of those really good days. The kind of day where you leave work singing (for me, accompanying Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” on the car radio); the kind of day that only comes after you’ve had a lot of really not good days. I have now learned that singing-days are scarce for teachers during the month of May. May is SOL season.

Even if I had been unaware of the looming state test, I would have felt the change in my school’s atmosphere as May approached. The tension was palpable, noticeable in the tired faces and curt voices of my coworkers, whom I only seemed to meet in the copy room while running-off hundreds of copies of released-SOL packets. Our first team meeting of the month was unfortunately reduced to bickering over who should be allowed first dibs on students that needed after-school remediation in more than one SOL content area. Even the students seemed more sour than usual. Two weeks ago, one of my top students came into my classroom, her eyes brimming with tears. When I asked her what was wrong she whimpered about the amount of SOL prep homework she had received in her classes, and suddenly cried out, “All you teachers care about are the SOLs!” I couldn’t help but feel guilty that the day’s lesson involved working in our SOL packets.

That night I went home and watched my favorite movie from my ever-growing “motivational teacher movie” collection. I began the collection over a year ago during my tough student-teaching semester and have been adding movies to it ever since. “Motivational teacher movie” therapy comes in handy on days when you start to wonder whether working as a teacher is really more fulfilling than asking for your old college job back as a grocery store cashier. It also comes in handy towards the end of your first year of teaching when you fear that your students will fail the SOL, implying that you have been an ineffective teacher.

My favorite teacher movie is “To Sir, with Love” (filmed in 1966, starring Sidney Poitier). The storyline is predictable but classic: Poitier is a new teacher assigned the daunting task of turning high school hooligans into respectful ladies and gentlemen. Of course, my favorite part of the movie is the very last scene (don’t read on unless you’re O.K. with me spoiling it!). After a long school year of building a relationship with his students, Poitier is faced with the dilemma of whether to accept the new engineering job he has been offered, or to continue teaching. As he’s holding the job offer letter in his hands, a group of loud, abrasive teenagers interrupt his thoughts and declare, “You’ll be teaching us next year!” After a pause, Poitier rips up the job offer, and I am delighted to tears (every single time) that he chose to accept the challenge of returning to students that need him.

This movie helps boost my confidence. Yes, I want to be an effective teacher. No, the SOL scores are not the only indicator that I have accomplished this goal. I doubt Poitier’s class could have passed the SOL. Yet I still consider Poitier’s character to represent what is needed in an effective teacher: the flexibility to adjust teaching to an array of learning styles and needs, and the motivation to establish relationships with students. I have tried to do both of these things. If my students do not do well on the SOL, I will need to reevaluate my teaching methods, but I should not feel that I have entirely failed my students as their teacher this year.

I think about how my quiet student, Kim, began participating more adamantly in our class literature circles and turning in her work on time after I drove out one Saturday to Manassas to see her compete with her horse in an equestrian show.

I think about the student I mentor, Charlie, and how much his confidence has increased (as well as his grades) in my class since the beginning of the year. He takes the initiative now to come to me for assistance and stops by my classroom nearly every day before lunch just to say hello.

I think about the day that the 6th graders came to tour Rocky Run Middle School, to see what next year would bring them. I heard our 7th grade tour guides (students of mine) announce as they were passing my classroom door, “…and that’s Ms. Fridley’s room…she teaches English and she is awesome!” I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to the rowdy 6th graders clamber down the hall. If I had had a job offer in my hand it would have been the perfect time to rip it in half.

The students took their English SOL two weeks ago (many of my students claimed it was “easy,” which I find reassuring), and this Thursday marks the end of all spring 2007 SOL testing in my school, so the cloudy moods of students and teachers alike are lifting. I even found the time and energy to stay after school today to play in the faculty/student volleyball game and attend the post-game pizza party. At the party, the students taught me how to play “Dance Dance Revolution” (aka DDR), and were all eager to compete against me. When I failed every round, the students were quite supportive, “Don’t worry Ms. Fridley…even though you got an F again, you’re showing a lot of improvement.”

Today was a really good day because by the end of the day I felt the same way I feel after watching one of my “motivational teacher” movies. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my boyfriend, Greg Mathurin, just proposed to me over the weekend! The students crowded over my ring on Monday, and were enthralled by the story of my engagement, leaving my blackboards covered with congratulatory graffiti.

I guess the thing that really made today perfect was the final scene. When I came back to my classroom this afternoon to gather my belongings after the volleyball game, I found a piece of notebook paper taped over the “Laura Fridley” name plate by my door. On the piece of paper, in sloppy, middle-schooler’s handwriting, was written, “Mrs. Mathurin.” I was delighted to tears. 

June 21, 2007

The empty classroom surrounding me as I type serves as inspiration for today’s final blog entry. It hasn’t been this quiet in here since that very first day when I, bewildered and wide-eyed, opened the door to room 118 and gawked at the 30 desks pushed against the wall beside the stacks of plastic chairs, feeling the knot in my stomach grow while wondering, “Now what do I do?” After spending all of yesterday cleaning and packing (with the help of about a dozen students who were willing to spend their first day of summer vacation hauling textbooks and cleaning desks so long as they were promised free pizza, National Junior Honor Society credit, and the chance to hang on to 7th grade for just a few more hours), my room looks remarkably like it did on that first day. The floors are not as pristine, and the chalkboards are covered in farewell wishes from the students, but otherwise this classroom is just as I found it.

I, on the other hand, am much changed.

Just as my once-bare file cabinets are now brimming with materials, I can now say that I am brimming with teaching experience. I know so much more than when I started:
• I know what it’s like to teach a lesson which really excites the students, and also what to do when a lesson takes a nose-dive and an impromptu back-up plan becomes necessary.
• I know now how to communicate with upset parents, and also how uplifting it feels to receive a parent’s compliment.
• I know now that you should keep half of your art supplies (markers, glue, and colored pencils) hidden for the first part of the school year, so you can pull it out for the second half when the children have somehow lost/destroyed the first batch of supplies.
• I know that asking for help is not admitting defeat, but honoring the experience of your coworkers.
• I know that emails should always be responded to promptly.
• I know that games are the best way to review content with students, and that every teacher should keep a ball, a bag of candy, a pack of flashcards, a timer or stopwatch, and a set of white boards with markers in their classroom.
• I know that all students enjoy being read aloud to.
• I know that students are more likely to follow your rules when they see you following your rules.
• I now know that you should always keep band-aids, tissues, and hand-sanitizer close by.
• I know that when a student comes to your class, he or she is not always searching for education, but is always seeking respect and acceptance, and will eventually gain the former so long as you ensure the latter.   

Last Friday, I gave each of my 130 students a simple gift: a plastic baggie filled with candy and cookies, and a tiny card that read, “You made my first year of teaching so sweet! Thank you! From: Ms. Fridley.” My ever-supportive fiancé, Greg, and I spent two hours putting the bags together the night before (my coworkers laughed, “That’s what happens when you marry a teacher!”), but it was worth it to see the delight and surprise on my students’ faces. “This was your first year of teaching, Ms. Fridley?” the children asked incredulously. I admitted to them that I didn’t want to tell them my little secret at the beginning of the year for fear that they’d question my ability to teach them. The best compliment came from one of my Honors students, “But you teach like you’ve been doing it for a long time! You don’t seem like you’re new.”

I thought I’d feel sad in those last few days of school, but instead I just felt proud and extremely satisfied. I’m lucky in that I will be able to see my kids again next year when they rule the school as 8th graders. Many of them wrote in my school yearbook that they would be back to visit me. Many said I was one of their favorite teachers this year. These messages all helped to confirm my confidence, but none did so as much as the message written by Joseph.

Joseph is the boy I mentioned in an earlier blog whom I caught cheating on a vocabulary quiz. While Joseph never attempted to cheat in my class again after that incident, I was still on his back for most of the year, firmly coaxing him to do his work because he was always on the brink of failing. I even gave him detentions, forcing him to sit down and complete assignments which I knew he could have done better but chose not to do well (most likely due to the fact that his “tough-guy” group of friends would have looked down upon him for excelling academically). In the last week of school, I showed Joseph his final grade for the year. When I showed him that he had passed, he threw his hands in the air and cheered. In my yearbook he wrote, “Hey Ms. Fridley. This is Joseph. Thanks for giving me so many chances.”

As I sit here in my empty classroom, listening to the sound of my typing echo off the bare walls and smudged floor, I reflect on how teaching is all about having chances. This year was my first chance to teach a group of kids. This was my first chance to touch their young lives in a positive way. It was my first chance, and I believe I did fairly well.
Next year I will be given a second chance. With each chance I am given, with each year that I walk through my classroom door to a stack of empty desks and chairs, and a clean slate before me, I will strive to use what I have learned to become a better teacher. And I’ll always remember how it began with this first and most influential year.

END

Your Association offers multiple ways for you to enhance your job skills and your potential as an Association leader. Opportunities range from skill-building sessions in classroom management to workshops on how to run fair and effective meetings. Here are your best Association sources of professional training.

VEA-led workshops. At the request of your local Association president, VEA can arrange for numerous workshops. In some cases, the training can qualify for teaching license renewal points. This link (pdf file) lists the current set of VEA workshops offered by VEA staff. Also, be sure to check the Events  section of the VEA calendar for upcoming workshops and training.

NEA professional development. Launched in 2007, the online NEA Academy offers a four-hour course in the "I Can Do It" classroom management program. Other courses will be added.

VEA UniServ offerings. Check out your local Association newsletters and web sites for information about regional training offered through the VEA's field UniServ offices.

PBS Teacherline. Through VEA's partnership with PBS, members are eligible for discounted online professional development from PBS Teacherline. More than 100 courses are offered. Continuing education, professional development points, and graduate credits from James Madison university are available. Click here for more.

It's never been easier to conduct your job search within the Commonwealth or across the country. You can even look for that dream job overseas! Start your web searching at the following sites.

In Virginia
The Virginia Department of Education sponsors "Teach Virginia." This site keeps you abreast of teacher recruitment fairs, updates on shortage areas, and listings of job openings from around the Commonwealth. Check it out at www.teachvirginia.org.

Nationwide
We'd love to keep you here in Virginia, but perhaps you're looking for a job in another state. Check out the job listing board on www.teachers-teachers.com, www.schoolspring.com, or www.greatteacher.net, for the latest job openings. Some sites allow you to have new listings in targeted areas e-mailed directly to you.

Overseas
Looking for opportunities teaching abroad? "The International Educator" posts listings you can browse here.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent organization that oversees a national voluntary system of certifying teachers who meet high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. National Board Certification measures a teacher's practice against these standards through an extensive series of performance-based assessments that includes teaching portfolios, student work samples, videotapes and thorough analyses of candidates' classroom teaching and student learning. Teachers who have participated in NBPTS Certification say it is the most powerful professional development experience of their careers.

Among the resources the Association offers to help you become a national board-certified teacher:

VEA ‘Jump Start’ seminars. Since 2006, VEA has offered ‘Jump Start’ summer workshops for those considering national board certification. The four-day seminar, with discount rates for VEA members, aims to give you a solid grounding in the certification process. The trainers are VEA colleagues who have received their board credential. For the latest on upcoming opportunities, contact the VEA Office of Teaching and Learning at 1-800-552-9554. (Save the Dates! 2010 Jump Start seminar is July 26-29, 2010, in Hampton at the Old Dominion University Peninsula Workforce Development Center.)

NEA Board Certification resource site. At the national level, NEA provides a resource-filled web page. You can download a candidate guide designed for Association members, learn about low-cost loans to cover the cost of the board application fee, and check out tip lists from successful candidates.

The Latest News on the Association and National Board Certification

National Board Announces New Class
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has announced the latest group of successful candidates for board certification (12/2009). VEA congratulates all those who passed this rigorous process. Click here for a list of VEA members who gained their advanced certification in this round.

NRC Study Confirms: Board Certification Matters
A new report from the National Research Council, "Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Advanced-Level Certification Programs," confirms that the achievement of students whose teachers gain national certification is higher than teachers who do not. The study is considered the most rigorous and comprehensive yet of National Board Certification. For more on this and other studies, go to www.nbpts.org.

VEA Mini-Grants. We encourage you to try for a VEA mini-grant of up to $500. Deadline for the next round of grant applications is June 1, 2010. Click here for an application form or call VEA’s Instruction and Professional Development department at 1-800-552-9554. (For a Word document sent by email, call Renee Hancock at the toll free number.)

NEA Foundation Grants. The NEA Foundation offers competitive grants of up to $5,000 for a range of professional development and instructional improvement endeavors. Application deadlines vary by program. Check out www.neafoundation.org for application forms, examples of projects that have received funding, and much more.

VEA and NEA Awards Programs

VEA Awards Programs
VEA recognizes top-flight educators, support professionals, and supporters of public education through a range of awards. Click the links below for more information on awards programs and help us recognize excellence today!

Fitz Turner Commission Awards. The Fitz Turner Commission is seeking nominations for individuals or groups who have demonstrated positive human relationships in your education community and helped to encourage leadership development. There are three categories for recognition: The Fitz Turner Award for Outstanding Contributions in Intergroup Relations, The Mary Hatwood Futrell Award for Distinguished Leadership in Education and The Youth Award for Human Relations & Civil Rights. Learn more about the awards and download a submission form to nominate a worthy individual or group. Annie Mickens was awarded the Mary Hatwood Futrell Award for Distinguished Leadership in Education at the April convention. The deadline for 2010 nominations is February 8.

VEA Award for Teaching Excellence. This is the highest award VEA offers for teaching excellence in the Commonwealth. The winner earns $500 and becomes Virginia’s nominee for the NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. Deadline for the next award is January 29, 2010. Read our call for nominations and application  to learn more.

VEA Education Support Professional Award. This award honors outstanding work in the areas of professional practice, Association involvement, community engagement, personal achievement, and the enhancement of the image of support professionals. The 2009 award winner is Janet Valent, Instructional Assistant from Fairfax County. Nominations for the 2010 ESP award are due September 15.

VEA Friend of Education Award. The prestigious VEA Friend of Education Award is intended to honor an individual or organization whose leadership, acts, or support has significantly benefited education, education employees, or students in Virginia. The award is presented by the Board of Directors and is the highest award presented by VEA. The 2009 Friend of Education is Dr. Gary L. Jones, former member of the Virginia Board of Education.

An individual recipient need not be a Virginian, but he or she should reflect the philosophy and principles of he VEA. Individual nominees may be public or private citizens, and selection of finalists will be made regardless of age, sex, race, color, or creed. The nomination form for the 2010 award will be available this fall.

NEA Awards Programs
The NEA Foundation and the NEA offer a range of awards, including the following:

The NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. Awarded to a distinguished Association member for “professional practice, advocacy for the profession, community engagement, leadership in professional development and attention to diversity. Each affiliate of the NEA submits one candidate. Visit the NEA Foundation web site for details.

NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards. The NEA’s division of Human and Civil Rights conducts an annual awards program honoring distinguished leaders in education and other settings. Descriptions of award categories are available here. For more, contact NEA Human and Civil Rights at 202-822-7700.

Linda Thompson, a member of the Education Association of Norfolk, has spent eight years in the classroom. Here, she offers some hard-earned insight into what can help a new teacher get off to a smart start.

Every year, eager students graduate from college enthusiastic to begin a fulfilling career in education. They’ve taken classes and completed student teaching under the guidance of master teachers. However, while the institutions and master teachers may guide students in the process of teaching facts, they often fail to mention one important thing: knowledge of the material is not enough. To be a successful, productive teacher, you must learn to be organized. This doesn’t mean to make neat little piles all around your new classroom, but entails orderliness in every aspect of your teaching experience.  

I’ve collected some basic ideas that will help you run your classroom more smoothly. To make the list seem a little less overwhelming, it’s divided into three main areas: your classroom, your students and your curriculum. Please remember—you have to make your room your own, so do what works for you. 

Your Classroom
• Make your classroom happy and bright. Remember, your students will spend a lot of time here. Start with some posters placed around the room and continue to add material with each topic you cover. Leave plenty of room to display student work—this helps them develop a real connection to the classroom.
• Keep your classroom countertops and tables free of clutter. If you don’t have time to put materials away as you go, have a designated spot to put them. At the end of the day you can put everything back, and if you need to put your hands on something fast, you'll know where to look first.
• Always know where everything is. Periodically browse through any stacks on your desk, your drawers, closet, etc. to refresh your memory.  Often, you’ll find things you forgot you had.
• Purge! Purge! You must dispose of extraneous papers at least weekly. This will help to alleviate clutter and free up space for the next week's activities.  It's surprising how much you accumulate in just one week. 

Your Students
• Spend time at the beginning of the year teaching your students the rules and routines of your classroom. Be patient: It takes a few weeks for them to become completely acclimated to their new environment. Make sure you practice what you preach. Students will be watching your every mood, so take the opportunity to model everything you want them to emulate.
• Teach your students to keep their workspace clear, keeping only materials out that are necessary for the current activity. Once they get used to the idea, it will become a habit and will also help you monitor them to ensure that they are on-task.
• Teach your students to be flexible. Sometimes you just have to go to Plan B. Once again, practice what you preach: Plan B happens more than you think.
• If possible, assign each student additional storage space to put his or her things. There’s never enough room for all their extraneous "stuff" in their desks. This will help prevent students from being distracted while you’re teaching.
• Another way to help keep students organized is to hold periodic desk clean-outs. Some students are natural packrats and start to have difficulty during transitions because they have to weed through all the trash. Additionally, if students see you consistently straightening the room and returning items to their proper places, they will follow suit quickly. They actually do like a clean environment.
• Create a fair discipline plan that is realistic and enforceable. The most important thing to remember about discipline is to be consistent and avoid making idle threats to get students to behave. The students know you better than you know yourself. Remember, if you lose your temper you lose control. 
 
Your Curriculum
• First and foremost, become very familiar with what you’ll be teaching. Get any and all information you can from the other teachers in your grade level or subject area. Don't try to re-create the wheel at first. It's great to come up with new and innovative ideas, but save the flashy stuff until you really feel comfortable with your students. You don’t want to appear like you don't know what you’re doing.
• Always plan your day. It’s extremely important to be ready before you start a lesson. Have all your supplies, copies, etc. ready to distribute so you have as little down time as possible.  It doesn’t take long for the students to find other things to spark their interest. 
• When transitioning to a new subject, always explain what the lesson is before beginning. Let students know what your expectations are and provide any instructions they might need. This helps put students in the right frame of mind and gives them an opportunity to ask questions. 
• Keep a binder for your daily lesson plans. Use page protectors to keep each day's plan and supplemental pages. If you have a binder for each quarter, using the page protectors will help you locate information to use in the future
• Create a quarterly road map for all content areas to help in pacing what you teach.  This will help you plan ahead and gather necessary materials. 
• To cut down on stress, do your best to stay current on grading papers. They can pile up quickly.

As a new teacher, you’ll soon learn that time is in short supply. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to get everything accomplished. Being and staying organized is essential in helping you become successful in achieving the goals you set for yourself when you entered the classroom.

We asked some Virginia teachers with a little experience under their belts what advice they could offer new teachers. Here are some of their suggestions:

Peter Pfotenhauer, Spotsylvania County

• Make some time for you. The job will be overwhelming. Don't give up all your personal time to meet the impossible demands of the first year of teaching. Success in the classroom requires you to be happy, so be sure to do things to recharge your own batteries regularly. You'll find yourself with more energy and enthusiasm if you balance your time, and that translates into getting more done for your kids each day.
• Build positive relationships with kids and parents, because that is what teaching is really all about. If you have a good working relationship with your students, they will work harder for you than if they don't see that you respect them. My kids will go to the wall for me, because they trust me. Keep a positive relationship with parents, co-workers and supervisors, too.
• To forge a positive relationship with parents, call each one within the first two to four weeks of school and share a positive message about their child. If you start the year sharing how excited you are that little Tommy or Sally is so enthusiastic about learning, the parents will be more inclined to support you later in the year. The first call must be genuine praise, so look for anything you can turn into a positive. I do this every year, and it pays huge dividends when I have to call back with concerns about behavior or academic progress. Parents love to hear good things about their children, and by starting the year off positively, those parents will not cringe when they see a school number on caller ID.

Cammie Williams, NBCT, Roanoke County

• Never underestimate the value of a well-controlled classroom. It doesn't mean being harsh; it means having an organizational method for seating, behavior and classwork. Take time to teach this up front with each new activity you plan until your students get your routine.
• Find a veteran teacher who will support you by listening and making suggestions. It should be someone from whom you feel comfortable accepting correction.
• Try to look at student successes rather than your failures. Keep good messages from parents, observations, and cards from students in a place where you'll see them to give yourself a regular pick-me-up. Enjoy!

Jim Alberston, Chesterfield County

• Be prepared in your content area. Always review stories, video and pictures you will use. Do not be afraid to say that you do not know the answer—but get back to the student ASAP with the information.
• Take lots of classes in the summer. Go to lectures, join historical groups. Learn and meet the experts.
• Do not get too down or too excited about the many situations that you will run across during a typical school year. There are too many factors you have no control over. Stay well-balanced!
• Get involved as a coach or club sponsor. Let the students see you as a good role model in these situations.
• Enjoy your free time away from school with your family and friends.

Keith David Reeves, Prince William County

• You are a mentor, not a friend. An effective and engaging classroom teacher may be well-liked and admired, but those things are natural byproducts of compelling, well-designed, well-delivered instruction. If your goal is to be liked, not to teach, you will accomplish both of those things in grand fashion!
   

Susan Ritter, Frederick County

• Take excellent care of your health – exercise, eat well, sleep! I used Tai-chi the first year and it made a huge difference. Practicing a martial art is very good preparation for the classroom!
• Don’t let the students see your jaw fall open in response to their shocking behavior. That first year took me off-guard. I couldn’t believe the language, the public displays of affection (outright lust) and the violence. I developed a “closed-mouth,” non-emotional response to whatever extremes presented themselves. It diffuses their behavior.
• Make your “personal best” your goal, but realize that you are working with a lot of human beings and they will be very unpredictable. Throw in fire drills, flu season, fights and absenteeism and you have a lot of unpredictability to deal with. A well thought-out lesson plan is a great anchor, but you have to ride the waves. So loosen up, expect the unexpected, and go with the flow. Save perfection for your hobbies; it is a discouraging way to evaluate your teaching.

Elizabeth Wimmer, Stafford County

• Befriend the custodians, cafeteria workers and office staff in your school. There will be many times when you need them!
• Keep materials, files and everything else organized. Life has enough sources of unavoidable stress without adding the preventable kind, such as not being able to find your notes from a certain meeting.

Jeff Weaver, Augusta County.

• Find someone in the building who is recognized as a strong teacher and pick his or her brain for good ideas.
• Overplan your lessons. The longest part of the day is the time you did not plan for. And what you don't finish today, you can do tomorrow.

As you begin your journey as a classroom teacher, your Association will be with you every step of the way. Read on for free and low-cost resources and opportunities to help you make the most of your first years in the profession.

VEA New Teacher Guide. VEA’s tip-filled guide, free to new Association members, includes:

• Advice from other teachers on their first year in the classroom
• Tips on getting the school year off to a great start
• Suggestions to help you become a more effective classroom manager
• Helpful ideas on managing grades, homework, and parent communications

Free print copies of the Guide are available from your local Association representative, president, or UniServ office. To whet your appetite, here are excerpts from the Guide. Click on either "Get Organized" or "We've Been There."

First-Year Blog. Fairfax Education Association member Laura Mathurin blogged her way through her first year of teaching. Read her insights on the highs and lows, what worked and what didn't.

‘I Can Do It’ Training. Most new teachers name classroom management/discipline as their greatest challenge. VEA offers training in the ‘I Can Do It’ model for effective management of student behavior. Contact your local Association president to see if there is sufficient demand in your locality to hold the training. Or check out the online version of ‘I Can Do It’ here.

NEA Professional Library Resources. The NEA’s books division offers several excellent books designed for new teachers. Among the best are Countdown to the First Day of School and Discipline Checklist. Learn more about these and other popular titles here.

NEA Classroom Management Archives. Take advantage of the great articles and tip-filled web posts contributed by veteran teachers who’ve been through a variety of challenging situations. Make sure to check out:
www.nea.org/tools/ClassroomManagement.html .

Works4Me. Works4Me is a virtual teachers’ lounge where you can post a question and get help from educators across the nation. You can also browse the archives for great tips.

Training & Workshops

VEA offers a host of training opportunities to help you build your skills.

Grants & Awards

Looking for a grant or some recognition? Check out the latest grants and awards from the VEA and the NEA.

National Board Certification

Ready for a challenge? Check out our resources to help you gain your national certification.

Teaching Jobs

It's never been easier to conduct your job search within Virginia or across the country. You can even look for that dream job overseas!

Classroom Tips

Access the best source of tips, lesson ideas, and activities, courtesy of your Association colleagues around the country.

Supplies & Materials

We've got discounts on supplies and materials to engage your students and organize your work.

Multicultural Calendar

Get ideas for classroom lessons or celebrations from VEA's multicultural calendar.

New Teacher Spotlight

Are you new to teaching? The Association will be with you every step of the way.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel every day. The Association maintains a lesson ideas page.

We also host the gigantic Gateway to Educational Materials, which logs more than 40,000 lesson resources from government, university, commercial, and nonprofit sites.

Looking for ideas to make Virginia's Standards of Learning work in your classroom? You'll find subject-related ideas and test blueprints here.

Also, don't forget to consult VEA's multicultural calendar, developed by the VEA Fitz Turner Commission, when you're looking to infuse multicultural content into your lessons.