Latest / New Teacher Talk / Ep 223: How to Get Involved

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Ep 223: How to Get Involved · New Teacher Talk

Welcome to New Teacher Talk.
I'm Dr.
Anna Quinzio-Zafran.
And I'm Dr.
Beth Wilkins.
When you are new,
it is tempting to keep your head down and just survive.
But getting involved thoughtfully and on your own terms is
one of the fastest ways to start feeling like you belong.
Abby Bartle joins us to talk about how to get involved in a
new school without overextending yourself,
from committees to clubs,
to the small ways you build a reputation as a teammate.
If you're wondering where to start,
this episode is for you.
I am no stranger to being involved in my school.
From running the school's website, coaching,
and sponsoring a few clubs, to tutoring,
volunteering at a book fair,
and completing a master's degree,
I spend a lot of my time at school.
Suffice it to say that I know what it's like to be
involved,
and I know all the great things that happen when you
venture outside your classroom doors.
Hello, and welcome to New Teacher Talk.
My name is Abby Bartle,
and I am a fourth-year English teacher at Oswego High
School in Oswego, Illinois.
In today's podcast,
we are going to talk about how to get involved in your
school community through sports and extracurriculars,
committees, mentoring programs,
and connecting with your colleagues.
However,
saying yes to everything happening at your school is not
feasible, and doing so will lead to burnout.
So here is how to maintain a healthy work-life balance
while still getting involved in your school community.
The first way that many teachers can get involved in the
school community is by coaching sports or sponsoring
extracurricular activities.
This is a great way to get involved,
as it not only allows you to meet new students who you
don't have in class,
but it also allows you to interact with those students in a
different way than you would in the classroom.
You build great relationships with those students that will
last for a long time.
Sometimes, too,
these positions offer a stipend for your time.
However,
compared to the other opportunities that I will talk about,
coaching is a very big time commitment.
So before you say yes,
consider how it will fit into your schedule.
If you are interested in these,
I would connect with a supervisor, assistant principal,
or other administrator to see what is available.
In our district, we have our openings posted online,
and teachers can directly apply for them,
even for coaching positions at other schools in the
district.
However,
there aren't always openings or enough extracurriculars for
all teachers to get involved, and that's okay.
If you find yourself in this position,
I would connect with the coach of a sport that you're
interested in and offer to volunteer your time at practices
or games.
They are always looking for more hands.
This can be a great way to try something new or to get your
foot in the door for a future coaching position.
Similarly, you could do the same with an extracurricular,
or you could even make your own club.
If you have a few students interested in a hobby,
you can create your own club and set your own meeting
schedule.
Just make sure to go through the proper channels to make
your club official.
Connect with an administrator at your school to learn more
about this process.
Another way to get involved in sports and activities is to
be interested in what your students are doing.
Find out what sports or clubs your students are in and ask
them how it's going.
They love to talk about games or other events they're
participating in,
and they will eventually invite you to a game.
When that happens, you absolutely need to go and watch.
Nothing is more exciting for those students than when they
see you in the crowd and when you mention something about
it to them the next day.
I did this often.
I kept score for the freshman boys' volleyball games,
and I would talk to them both at the games and the next day
in class about how the games went.
This allowed me to develop relationships with students who
I hadn't had very strong connections to before,
and it also strengthened the relationships that I already
had.
Earlier in the school year,
I also went to a few football games when I wasn't coaching
volleyball,
and I made certain to trek to the game as cold as it was in
December when our football team went to state.
Again,
that was another relationship builder with students who I
didn't have connections to.
And if sports isn't your thing, that's okay.
I also chaperoned prom,
I went to a musical that many of my students were in,
and I even attended a poetry slam.
There are so many ways to connect with students outside of
the classroom, 'cause that's what this is really about.
You might just have to get a little creative.
Depending on the size of your school or district,
there may be different committees or PLCs that are built
for various tasks, such as curriculum, safety, equity,
or general school improvement.
This can be a great way to get involved.
While it may seem daunting as a new teacher to join a team
filled with more veteran teachers,
it is an incredible experience if you find yourself with
this potential opportunity.
You get to meet people from all around your school or even
from other schools,
depending both on the size of your school and the scope of
the committee.
You get to learn collaborative strategies that will help
you throughout the entirety of your professional career.
I myself got to work on a committee tasked with rewriting
our curriculum during my first year,
and it was the best thing I said yes to.
It gave me a different perspective on the curriculum,
it allowed me to meet and work with a variety of different
people, and perhaps most importantly,
it gave me the confidence that I knew what I was doing in
and out of the classroom.
Absolutely,
it was a learning experience with a very sharp curve as I
stayed quiet for many of the early meetings,
but once I found my voice,
I found the confidence to talk in front of my peers about
things they had been teaching for years,
which I had only been teaching for months.
While formal committee opportunities are fewer in number,
you can mimic this experience during meetings with other
teachers in your school or department.
Start off by asking questions to show that you are
interested in learning more,
and don't be afraid to speak up and offer your ideas and
perspective, because you do know what you're doing.
Many schools have mentorship programs for new teachers,
and this is another way that you're getting involved in the
school.
Utilize the time with your mentor to its full extent.
Meet with them regularly, ask them questions, observe them,
and have them observe you.
You will create a relationship with that person that can be
incomparable for making it through your early years of
teaching.
If there isn't a formal mentorship program, make one.
That is, take teachers up on their offer to help you.
Ask quick questions to other educators who share your room,
who teach the same class, who you co-teach with,
who you teach next to, or who you have lunch with.
If you aren't finding that connection with someone,
look to other departments or even connect with your
supervisor to see if they have someone who you could reach
out to.
Stay connected with the other student teachers that you
graduated with or with your cooperating teacher from
student teaching.
They can be amazing resources as you continue in your
professional practice.
Other new teachers in the school are also great allies
during your early years to commiserate with and to bounce
ideas off of.
Then, once you get a little further along in your career,
see if there are opportunities for you to mentor another
new teacher or to host a student teacher.
During my fourth year,
these are opportunities that have presented themselves to
me,
and they have taught me so many things about education and
about myself that I didn't know before.
Connecting with other adults is crucial to succeeding as a
new teacher.
There are other ways beyond mentorship to connect with
teachers.
If your department, school,
or grade level ever has Friday night outings,
definitely join in on the fun.
Before I started my first year,
a teacher in the department I was joining invited everyone
for a back-to-school bash at her house.
Though it made me anxious to go, I went,
and it was so nice to meet everyone outside of school for
the first time.
If you don't see things like this happening,
don't be afraid to start something.
Invite others out for lunch during a meeting day,
or invite some teachers out for drinks after work.
If outside of school isn't possible,
have simple conversations with colleagues about things
other than work.
Ask them about their family or what they do outside of
school.
Connecting about something other than school is an
important part of creating strong relationships with your
colleagues.
Finally,
something that you will probably want to start thinking
about is going back to school.
Definitely hard to think about if you've perhaps just
graduated college.
However, in education,
it is all but required to continue your professional
education if you want to advance in your professional
career and boost your salary.
Of all of these things that I've talked about,
this perhaps has the greatest barriers to entry, cost,
and time commitment.
Some districts may pay for some or all of your continuing
education.
If that's the case, that is awesome.
Use this to your advantage and start taking classes.
In my case, I was paying for my master's on my own,
but I used the money that I made from coaching volleyball
to pay for my first few classes until my salary went up and
I could better afford it.
The time commitment is another barrier.
I waited until volleyball season was over to start taking
classes,
and I took extra classes over the summer to speed up the
timeline.
Connect with your administrators to see how much time you
have to get your first master's before your salary caps,
and see how many classes you have to take and when you have
to take them.
It's okay if the process takes a while.
Personally,
I do think it's imperative to get your master's early in
order to boost your professional development as a young
teacher.
I was lucky enough to have the space to do this,
but it was definitely a grind.
Be prepared.
Find others to go through the process with,
other teachers at your school who have completed a master's
degree, student teachers you graduated with,
or students in your master's program.
Talk to teachers at your school about the master's process
and go through all of the correct channels to ensure that
your particular classes or degree will get accepted.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get
involved in your school community in different ways.
However,
it is equally important to maintain a healthy work-life
balance.
The first step to a healthy work-life balance is picking
and choosing what to say yes to and learning how to say no
to things that will stretch you too thin or that you simply
don't want to do.
It's okay to not want to do everything that's asked of you.
Limiting yourself actually allows you to give more of
yourself to your students in class and more of your time to
the things that you say yes to.
You cannot pour from an empty cup,
and you are going to start resenting the work if you
stretch yourself too thin.
It's important, though, that you do say yes to some things,
even small things, as a new teacher.
Showing that you are willing to get involved is a quality
that administrators look for as they are doing your
evaluations,
and saying yes to things is so rewarding for your
professional development.
While saying yes to some things,
you also need to specify time away from work to keep that
work-life balance.
Being a teacher is not and should not be your entire
identity.
It's certainly an important part of who you are,
but remember that it's just a job.
You need to have things outside of teaching in order to
prevent burnout.
For me,
I give myself the car ride home from work to share celebrations
and vent about struggles.
But once I step foot inside my house,
I try not to think about school again until I'm leaving the
following morning.
I find things to do that bring me joy other than
schoolwork, spending time with my friends or family,
reading, going on walks, working out, going out to dinner,
watching movies, cooking, baking, and much more.
Is that balance always realistic and feasible?
No.
Sometimes I need to do work at home.
Sometimes I'm involved in after-school activities.
But when I have the ability, this is my rule.
My partner is also a teacher,
and this is what works for us.
Find out what works for you and your family and stick to
it.
The key to this working is not overextending yourself at
school.
All in all, you need to protect your time away from work.
I recognize that many of us work multiple jobs,
and if that's the case,
then protecting that time when you're not working is all
the more important.
Only on rare occasions should you give that time up,
and if you do,
make sure you find time elsewhere to have time away from
work.
Recuperating is so, so important in this profession.
If you have found yourself overwhelmed, overextended,
and burnt out from saying yes to too many things,
even if those many things are lots of papers to grade and a
second job to go to after school, don't worry.
It happens to many of us.
I found myself there, and I dug my way out.
If you reach that point of burning out,
then you need to immediately schedule time away from work.
Even having something in the future to look forward to can
be super helpful.
Having that time away is the only way that you can approach
changing your schedule with a clear brain,
because you shouldn't take burnout or overwhelm to mean
that you should immediately quit everything you do and
everything you love.
After you have that time away to relax and clear your
brain,
you need to take a step back and figure out how to move
forward, because if you stick with the same schedule,
you are going to burn out again,
and it will happen much quicker this time.
Ultimately, you need to figure out what you can say no to.
Determine what things you have to do,
what things you enjoy doing the most,
and what takes up the most of your time.
Consider what things make you the happiest and what you
would do with any free time that you gained by saying no to
things.
If you can,
I would definitely talk it over with a few different
people.
I would talk to someone trusted at your school.
I would also talk to someone who has no skin in the game,
so to speak, like a friend.
And then finally,
I would talk to a partner or family member who cares for
your mental health but also understands the other
considerations like job advancement and money.
At the end of the day,
remember that you need to prioritize your own health and
happiness above all else,
which is easier said than done for a serial people pleaser
such as myself.
But that's why it's so crucial to look at it analytically
and talk it out with as many people as you can.
It's important that you, as a new teacher,
get involved in your school.
Getting involved helps you feel like part of the school
community.
It helps you develop relationships with students and
colleagues alike,
and it often either provides you with a stipend,
professional development, or other benefits to your career.
In some schools,
teachers are required to take on an extra activity,
but even if it's not required,
it's still something that you should absolutely do.
That being said,
your entire life cannot and should not be spent at school.
You have to be a whole and complete person outside of your
job, and you need to spend time away.
Getting involved in your school community is imperative,
but so is balancing your time away with self-care and
recuperation.
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