{"id":10285,"date":"2021-12-17T15:25:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T20:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2022-02-18T12:38:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:38:49","slug":"teachers-helping-teachers-stay-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/teachers-helping-teachers-stay-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers helping teachers stay in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

–by S. Woodward<\/em><\/p>\n

Fifty percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years. That\u2019s a statistic that troubled Tasha Hurst, a 15-year VBCPS educator, when she discovered it during her master\u2019s degree work in 2006.<\/p>\n

More than 15 years later, Hurst reports that nothing has changed. \u201cAnd realistically? Teachers just start to feel comfortable around year five.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teacher retention indeed continues to be a nationwide problem, amplified by the struggles of managing COVID-19 over the last two years.<\/p>\n

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Stephanie Wyman, Tasha Hurst and Tiffany Young (left to right) are the new teacher retention liaisons for VBCPS<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While reasons for new teachers leaving before they get to year five vary, the universal challenge, according to Hurst, is time.<\/p>\n

“New teachers are busy,\u201d she says. \u201cThey’re overwhelmed. Teaching is a hard job. They have mentors, some of whom are amazing, but they also have classes and students and grades. And I don’t think they want to ask for help when they really do need it. I feel like our new teachers need people who have the time to be in the classroom with them, helping them to grade, helping them to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter Stephanie Wyman, a 26-year VBCPS veteran teacher, who collaborated with Hurst for years on Teacher of the Year and Learning Walk committees. They also participated in Teacher Forum where, in 2018, the topic of supporting new teachers was top of mind and it became clear that, according to Wyman, \u201cwe needed to do a better job.\u201d They brainstormed an idea of having experienced educators available to support all new teachers from day one on the job, but as their sole occupation, not in addition to classroom responsibilities. Teacher retention liaisons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had a dream job, it would be this,\u201d Hurst explains.<\/p>\n

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Stephanie Wyman & Tasha Hurst, right after they found out they got their “dream jobs.” (photo courtesy of Ms. Wyman)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They had set up meetings with Superintendent Aaron Spence to pitch the idea, but COVID-19 put those on hold until July 2021, when they were finally able to present their plan. School Board approval, job descriptions, funding and office space were secured by October. Wyman moved into the School Administration Building then as the liaison for elementary schools, followed by Hurst for high schools and Tiffany Young for middle schools in November.<\/p>\n

Young had worked as an educator in four other states and was serving as an administrative assistant with VBCPS when she got the call about the new job opportunity. She was so passionate about supporting new teachers, \u201cI jumped at it sight unseen,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

As part of the human resources department, the team assists with teacher onboarding, supports the Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow program, collaborates with coaches and mentors in the school buildings and, once COVID-19 issues have diminished, will be traveling to colleges to recruit.<\/p>\n

But their primary job is working with teachers in their first three years in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything we can do to help them,\u201d says Wyman, \u201cjust so they have an extra moment to breath and realize, \u2018OK, I can tackle this. I can get through this lesson successfully.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The liaisons have, collectively, about 70 new teachers they\u2019re working with currently. Some are teachers referred by their principals, others reached out directly to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery teacher so far has been different in what they need,\u201d Hurst reports.<\/p>\n

Even so, all three of the liaisons agree that classroom management support was the common need across grade levels. Wyman says that current second year teachers started their careers in a virtual classroom environment, \u201cso their classroom management was impeccable online. They know how to access the curriculum they know where things are. But putting it in place with 27 sets of eyes staring at them is a little bit different.”<\/p>\n

Hurst gives an example of a teacher who was stressed because she felt that her students talked too much in class. Hurst went to the classroom, observed and discovered that the students were indeed talking a lot. But, as she told the teacher, “everything they’re saying is about your lesson! They’re very engaged, you have to give them time to talk.” Together, they worked out a plan where the teacher used a timer as part of the lesson plan. Problem solved; stress diminished. Hurst explains that it\u2019s her own experience that gave her the knowledge and confidence to solve that problem much more quickly than if the new teacher were left on her own.<\/p>\n

Young agrees. \u201cThey would absolutely get there eventually, but in the culture and climate we\u2019re in now, we don\u2019t have time for swimming lessons. They have to dive right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding for the teacher retention liaison initiative comes from an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant that lasts for three years. School leadership will review the program in the second year and determine then if it will become part of the division\u2019s operating budget.<\/p>\n

They are tracking progress \u201cas numerically as we can,\u201d promises Wyman. \u201cThe goal is to grow the job.\u201d They hope to add special education and prek-K1 liaisons to the team someday.<\/p>\n

Hurst refers back to everyone\u2019s big challenge: time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have time for teachers to struggle for a couple of years, because they\u2019d stick around. But now they may not. So, let\u2019s take away a little of that struggle,\u201d she says. \u201cOur new teachers, they come into this profession with so much passion. They are here because they want to be. If we can help to combine their passion with a little bit more effectiveness, then we have done our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The teacher retention liaisons are in the School Administration Building as part of the human resources department.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

–by S. Woodward Fifty percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years. That\u2019s a statistic that troubled Tasha Hurst, a 15-year VBCPS educator, when she discovered it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-stories","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10323,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions\/10323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}