Your top priority as a leader in your school has always been to enrich the lives of your students, right? You strive to create a climate conducive to learning, a culture rich with mirrors and windows where students can see reflections of themselves in their school. Enriching the lives of kids is probably connected pretty close to your WHY for doing this school leader work every day. And as a leader, you know that great school principals work tirelessly to hire great teachers to ensure that enriching experience for students, and sometimes those great teachers are right out of the college gate - eager to hit the ground running, eager to change the world.
If you have ever hired a new teacher to work in your school you know how eager they are to make a difference in the lives of the students. Their buckets are filled with the ink of their diploma, barely dried, and they are armed with the latest pedagogy. They walk into the school where you have entrusted them to do, what many believe, is the most important job on earth... and then October happens. October marks the period of disillusionment for many new to the profession teachers, and as leaders, guiding them through this season is one of the most challenging things you will ever do.
The school leaders role in new teacher disillusionment Supporting new teachers in their roles may be an area that you have never been trained in. It is, in large capacity, a highly psychological state of being for the new teacher, and maybe its been a while since you have taken a class in psychology! Many school leadership preparation programs do not give specialized training on how to manage these teachers in their early years. In fact, given the rise of mentoring initiatives, school principals are more often than not, pretty far removed from the new teacher - believing that the mentor assigned to the teacher is responsible for supporting that new person.
New Teachers need School Leaders:
New teachers need school leaders more than ever during this time of their career. While mentor programs help support the nitty-gritty of classroom management techniques, a non-evaluative shoulder to lean on, and a soft place to land when days are hard, the mentor cannot build relationships between the school principal and the new teacher. This job can only be done between the new teacher and the principal. As daunting a task as this may seem, (after all, how can you be everything to everyone?) it doesn't have to be difficult or take up a lot of your time. You can build these relationships with your new teachers subtly, and in ways that will pay dividends in the end when you don't want to spend your summer months next year looking for and hiring more new teachers!
Here’s how to do it:
1. School principals need to make connections and make them often. You cannot over connect with a new teacher at this stage in their career. Make face-to-face connections at least once per day to start. You can do this by stopping by their room, or catching them in the lunchroom if you know they have an assigned duty. Be sure to smile, and do your best to chat about something that is not school-related so they know you are genuinely interested in them as a person. You can use this new teacher check-in tracker to get you started and keep you on track.
2. Remember, the school leader is always a teacher. This new teacher has passed all of their classes, they have graduated from their University, or teacher preparation program, but they are not done learning and you are, ultimately their teacher. You are a new face in their acquisition of the knowledge of how to be a teacher. Approach your new teacher with a lens that they are your student. You are their ultimate mentor in this situation - you are the one who they are trying to impress. It won't be enough to say "let me know if you need anything." You will want to approach this person the same way you would a new student in your school - with a smile and an approachable nature.
3. School principals are the guide that helps the new teacher through their story.
You are the highest influence in this person's career at this point in time. You are the person who they aim to please the most, and the person who they are likely the most nervous about. Their students are important, but you are their everything. You sign their paycheck. They are terrified about letting you down, and because they came into this profession with all of the correct credentials, they are unprepared for this stage in their career and they are afraid you will see right through them. It's OK to let the new teacher mentor do their job, but it is vital that you be a daily, positive, recurring face in this person's life.
School principals are the first defense against new teacher attrition
Remember, you cannot over connect at this point in the school year. You, as the instructional leader, need to show up for your new teachers. Keep in mind that disillusionment has changed their reality, both perceived and actual. As soon as that person is hired, you become their biggest influence, and the person they fear of letting down the most. You, in a way, become untouchable and that scares a new teacher.
No one understands the plight of a new teacher like that of a school principal. You live a reality that most closely mirrors that of their lives at this moment. Rebooting your skills in empathetic language will help your new teacher cope with the new reality they are facing. It will also place you as a trusted guide in their story. Learn to recognize their subtle bids for connection and address them with empathy. Your teachers are the most direct pipeline to the success you want your students to achieve - be there for them, and you will change the world.
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