"Most teachers do not make it past year five." That is what I heard over and over again my first couple of years teaching. Ouch. The truth is; if you can make it through year one, you can DO ANYTHING!"
Teacher retention in Agriculture Education is not great. According the National Association of Agriculture Education (NAAE), nearly 50% of new teachers exit the profession within the first five years. That was a statistic I did not want any part of. However, it was not an easy task. My first year was incredibly difficult. For starters, I was 22, and looked the exact same age as a high school student. I also was following in the footsteps of a beloved teacher after his retirement of a 33 year career at that school, and the cherry on top, was that I was the first female ag teacher in the valley, ever. I had my work cut out. So what has kept me here?
A number of situations contribute to my
retention.
1- I
have an amazing Master Teacher who mentors me when the need arises. It is important to note that this is NOT in
past tense. She played a crucial role
the first few years, and I probably called her three times a week that first
year, but she has continued to be my support system.
2- My
agriculture colleagues in the regional district checked in on me regularly. What made this a successful program was the
fact that they checked in on me. I was terrible about asking for help, and
rarely did. They would call and invite
me to dinner, or offer to drive me to our next meeting, and spend that time
visiting about school and our personal lives.
This time was so valuable. They
would let me know that they went through the same thing, and I was going to be
ok. I was teaching the right stuff, and
doing a good job at it.
3- The
building staff became my family. I
cannot tell you how many times I sat behind the desk in the office to vent, and
the secretary just listened. The other
teachers were always available for insight.
4- As
a building, we have Tuesday morning staff meetings to keep up to speed with
students and activities. We share our student concerns, and do you know what we
find out? Everyone else is having the
same problems. So we devise a game plan,
and we stick to it together. We also
have collaboration for 1 hour every Wednesday afternoon. This time is carved out for professional
development.
5- The
teacher who I replaced was there to support me.
I can remember sitting in my classroom in July (no one told me I could
turn the AC on by clicking the button) devoting hours to getting my classroom
ready, and trying to figure out what the heck I was going to actually teach,
when I heard a knock on the window. It
was the former teacher. He saw my pickup
parked outside and wanted to check in on how I was doing and see if I had any
questions. He gave me his number and
told me to call him anytime.
The underlying theme here is feeling supported, people
coming to me, and not waiting to be called, and time to address issues I was
having. Now, 12 years later, Washington
and the NAAE have a couple strong programs that are also helping retain
teachers in the agriculture education field.
Our state association host a new teacher orientation twice a year, and
the NAAE sponsors a TEACH AG campaign.
This is targeted more towards recruiting teachers, but I would say it
helps remind teachers about how important our job is, and why we do it.
I know this article was focused towards Ag Ed, and
many examples may be more common in small schools, but I think every teacher
would do well if they had similar support.
Are there examples of support maybe from large schools that have helped
you, or you feel would help a new teacher?
