Article Critique

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Journal Article Critique: The Challenges Facing Beginning Teachers

John Ford

Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education

Jackson State University

EDCI 100: Introduction to Education

Janet Wallace, Ed.S.

October 13, 2022

Journal Article Critique: The Challenges Facing Beginning Teachers

This chapter focuses on how to make new teachers become more effective in the school environment. New teachers have a challenging experience during their first three years of teaching. Induction programs help to not only to survive but thrive through these challenges they face. The chapter highlights reasons for teaching such as having a strong passion to educate students, enjoying the subject that they teach, impacting students, and understanding teaching is key to success for educators. The first three years is the period where teachers are most likely to leave, and urban schools have the most difficulty recruiting and keeping qualified teachers. Therefore, induction programs are very important for new teachers; however, only 55% of new teachers report of participating in an induction program. The author’s perspective is that induction programs are essential for beginning teachers because it gives teachers the opportunity to ask for help or advice to make them become a better instructor.

Reflection

New teachers have a variety of needs that induction programs can support. Some teacher candidates go alternate routes to teaching and others go through universities to become qualified for teaching. Some teachers may teach in an environment that they are not accustomed to. Each of these categories of teachers has different needs that can be addressed with the help of induction programs. Induction programs help teachers build relationships with other teachers so they will not feel isolated and so they can learn from more experienced teachers. Induction programs also help to identify teachers who are not qualified to teach or who may benefit from another career choice. Another implication is that induction programs not only help teachers survive, but they also help build teacher confidence and give them effective practices that they can use throughout their career. I believe that teachers should have a variety of programs to choose from to meet their teaching style. I think induction programs might be effective to all teachers, but it depends on the teacher’s participation in the induction programs whether they will be successful. I agree that induction programs should be offered for all beginning teachers in every school because it gives teachers an opportunity to understand they key points of teaching and to thrive in a new environment.

Application

Induction programs can benefit students, schools, and districts. They can benefit students by developing teachers who can accommodate students. Schools and districts are benefited by having better teacher retention and higher quality teachers. I will use the knowledge gained from induction programs so I can be an effective teacher to my students, build relationships with other teachers, and make sure I help other new teachers along the way. I will be open minded to induction programs and be willing to take advice from experienced teachers and administrators. Teachers should have induction programs for successful careers so they can help their students reach beyond their goals and establish a diverse learning environment.

References

Bartell, C. (2004). Cultivating high-quality teaching through induction and mentoring. Corwin

Press, 1-19.