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District helping teachers stay the course
Officials aim to give rookies comfort, skills to survive first year

By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News

Being a first-year teacher isn't easy.

Just ask Angelique Bell.

There's a lot to do, said Ms. Bell, who teaches at MacArthur High School.

Teachers are learning about a new school while running to meetings. They're learning names of colleagues and students. And, on top of that, they're teaching.

These first-year teachers are survivors, said Jake Billingsley, a contestant on the CBS reality show Survivor: Thailand. The Dallas-area resident, who raised his family in Irving, spoke to the teachers last week at a first-year employee party.

"Here you are, out on a remote island," he told the audience as he recounted his Survivor experience. "You'd have creepy, crawly things all around you. Does that sound anything to you like the IISD?"

But in the Irving school district, they're not alone. District officials are working to recognize first-year teachers through mentoring, planning sessions and parties.

Recognizing teachers for their efforts is important because it builds their self-confidence and helps retention rates, district officials said.

"Retaining the teachers is just as important as going out and recruiting teachers," said Neil Dugger, director of personnel. "You also have to work with these new teachers and provide them with support so they'll be successful. That's our job – to make them successful in the classroom once we hire them."

But the recognition comes at a time when teachers are wondering whether they'll have jobs next fall. The district, citing an approximately $10 million budget shortfall, is considering eliminating up to 150 teaching positions, Dr. Dugger said.

The district hopes laid-off employees would be able to find other positions in Irving schools left open through retirements and resignations. At least 15 percent of the district's 2,200 classroom teachers typically leave their jobs each year, Dr. Dugger said.

The district hired about 375 teachers this school year, Dr. Dugger said. Some are new to teaching, while others are new to the district.

Bringing in a celebrity such as Mr. Billingsley was one way of acknowledging teachers at the first-year party. In addition, the district handed out gift certificates to restaurants and clothing stores.

Ms. Bell didn't win anything but likes the attention that she and her first-year colleagues have been receiving, she said.

"Being recognized confirms that we are doing a good job and that we're appreciated," said Ms. Bell, a reading ESL teacher.

In addition to parties, the district dispatches liaisons to campuses who serve as mentors to the first-year teachers. The liaisons offer advice, monitor classroom teaching and discuss problems.

They also remember birthdays and place encouraging notes in teachers' mailboxes.

Jan Dickson, a liaison and retired Irving district teacher, said the liaisons help first-year teachers adjust to an unfamiliar world and instill confidence.

"It gives me a chance to encourage their own sense of nobility," said Ms. Dickson, who taught in Irving for 37 years. "You're not going to make a million dollars. The money is going to come from the students you teach."

The biggest problem for a first-year teacher is commanding a classroom, she said, so she spends much of her time advising teachers on how to diffuse discipline problems.

Sherry Luckman, an English ESL teacher at MacArthur, said that she likes the job but is tired because she's concentrating on teaching every day. She said the support helps, whether it comes from a liaison or an administrator.

"When you come in as a first-year teacher, you're just blind. ... You don't feel like you know your place," she said. "If you're a new teacher, you feel like you're failing 100 times a day. Then someone around you tells you that you have a successful class. You had no idea you were a success."

E-mail eaasen@dallasnews.com
or call 972-594-7198, ext. 2002.