An Extended Fish Analogy
Posted on | January 2, 2013 | 2 Comments
Let’s say you catch a fish. We’ll designate this particular fish as being a westslope cutthroat trout (as seen in the photo) because I am a trout fanatic and they are beautiful fish, but it really doesn’t matter what kind of fish you’re seeing in your head. You’ve caught it. It’s a mature fish. It’s spent a good deal of its life in the water.
Now, suddenly, it is out of water. You quickly slip it into a nice pair of pants or slacks, a clean shirt or blouse, nice shoes, and just the right amount of personal care products to make it into a respectable-looking fish, but not overdone. Then you rush that fish to a nearby elementary school; prop it up in front of a classroom full of anxious, curious students; show it the curriculum, the teacher’s editions and guides, the class roster, and the handbooks. Then you leave.
Good luck, Trout.
Does that scenario remind you at all of your first experience in the classroom? Even if that fish had spent a year or more down in a quiet spot in the river, studying, preparing, and student-teaching in a nearby school, can’t you still see the shell-shocked expression on its gills?
I’ve been thinking about what I wish I had known heading into my first classroom and the great advice I got from my teacher-mentors in those first months. What do you wish you had known before that first day? And what great advice do you have for new teachers as they return from break in the new year?
Tags: advice > class roster > curriculum > elementary school > first day > fish > fish out of water > new year > teacher's edition > teacher-mentors > westslope cutthroat trout
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My name is Todd Savelle, caretaker of The Upper Grades Exchange blog from The Mailbox. The Exchange is where grades 4 through 8 teachers can find the ideas, solutions, and inspiration that make the middle years of a child’s education easier and more fun. Share your teaching tips and classroom management techniques, engage in lively discussions about current education issues, and engage with your peers with ideas for supplementing today’s fluid curriculum. Upper Grades Exchange will make you think of The Mailbox in a whole new way.
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January 3rd, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Along with Cheryl’s advice, I would add for upper grades: the positive relationships you build with your students in the first quarter of the year are what will keep you going at the end of the year.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:54 am
The best advice I received as a new teacher was to pick ONE subject and become really good at that one the first year and add to your knowledge each year. I think that is a very true statement. As a new teacher I think you become overwhelmed with trying to do EVERYTHING and not really achieving anything of subtance.
Also I would say, find value as a teacher outside of the school because sometimes you won’t feel valued in the school.