Characteristics of a Novice Teacher

Characteristic 2: Effective Communication To me, effective communication as a teacher has multiple components: effective communication with parents, effective communication with other teachers, and effective communication with students. In order to effectively communicate with parents, you can send home letters to parents. These letters should have appropriate professional language and should be informative and concise. It's important to keep parents posted on major happenings in the classroom, but to not overdo it to the point that they get in the habit of just immediately throwing up anything sent home with students. In order to communicate effectively with other teachers you should send emails and should also attend meetings with other teachers. I know that at my PDS, each grade has all of the teachers meet during planning time at least once a week to share ideas and give advice. To communicate effectively with students, you should conduct interviews to get any idea of prior knowledge and you should set time aside to get to know your students on a personal level. Characteristic 9: Human Diversity Understanding and respecting human diversity is an important characteristic of the novice teacher. Respecting diversity means to be culturally sensitive when teaching, culturally relevant, and understanding of student cultural differences. Respecting diversity can be modifying a lesson plan or means of assessment for an ELL student. I know that in my current classroom, we have an ELL student whom we read directions aloud for and pay special attention to to make sure he isn't lost or falling behind. You can also make an effort to recognize and highlight what makes your students different in your classroom. This is especially evident at a PDS at North, at which many students are first generation Americans. These students and their parents have a wealth of knowledge about their culture that you can ask them to share with the rest of the class. The diversity of a classroom should be made into a learning experience for all.