Supporting New Teachers with John Schembari

Show Notes, Episode 58: Supporting New Teachers with John Schembari

About this show:

We all know how critical it is to support new teachers, but do we actually know how to support them? Today we answer four questions:

1. What do we mean when we say “new teacher?”
2. How can APs build collaborative relationships with new teachers?
3. What specific actions can we take to meet the personal and professional needs of early career teachers and 
4. How do we fit those actions into the crazy days of the assistant principalship?

Between the podcast and our monthly micro-journal – Quadrant2, we’ve been investing a lot of time on new teacher support and for good reason. Today we will go another layer deeper with our special guest Dr. John Schembari.

Notable Quotes

John Schembari: 

“You don't need to be a friend but you do need to care and understand what the emotional needs of our students are”

“”You really gotta know your students'' is what I am saying, and to know your students, you really have to have a relationship with them. You can’t stay behind your desk, so to speak, at a removed distance”

“I get concerned when schools say “Oh, this new teacher can’t handle that yet””

“I think administrators need to practice what they preach so teachers have models of the ways that they can develop these relationships with the various stakeholders”

“How can we even expect our assistant principles to get into classrooms on a regular basis if the understanding for the need for that is not throughout the entire district administration”

“New teachers, like all teachers, need support. And the number one way administrators can be showing support is to be present in classrooms beyond the formal evaluation”

Frederick:

“We really have to approach it in education that we are on the job training, that we are not bringing in finished products. and we always know that but i think we need to be doubled down on that and really be mindful about what is that 5-year process for nurturing and developing and helping our early career teachers”

“New teachers, thankfully, don’t carry that attitude; they want administrators in the classroom, so the first way to build that relationship is just to be in the classroom, not to evaluate, not to correct, but to be there and be present. And you just investing that time, being in the classroom, shows that you care.”

“When we observe, we’re collecting data. We’re collecting that data to support the teacher’s growth, that data is a tool for that teacher. So we can collect data and then go to the teacher and say “hey let's talk about what is happening. Here's what I am seeing, what are you seeing, what do you want to work on?””

“I have never seen anybody leave a job in which they were growing, they were becoming more skilled, they saw themselves on a ladder developing and growing and had support around them to do that. People don’t leave jobs like that because those kinds of jobs are satisfying”

Links:

John Schembari’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnaschembari

My email: frederick@frederickbuskey.com 

The Assistant Principal Podcast website: https://www.frederickbuskey.com/appodcast.html 

Sign up for the daily leadership email: https://mailchi.mp/c15c68e6df32/specialedition 

Website: www.frederickbuskey.com

Blog: www.frederickbuskey.com/blog (reposts of the daily email)