Welcome all new staff members - Education Technicians, Guidance Counselors, Teachers from all grade levels, principals, and more! Post questions or concerns, fears and excitements. Let's start sharing, but most importantly supporting one another!
Topic Lead - Ms. Angela Fiandaca, M.Ed. - Guidance Counselor- Biddeford Middle School

WELCOME!
My name is Angela Fiandaca, M.Ed. I am a guidance counselor at Biddeford Middle School in Biddeford, Maine. I am by no means an expert, as I am new to this wonderful field of education. I know just what you are going through as a new person! I have volunteered to be the facilitator of this discussion group, "Dazed and Confused- New Educators' Roundtable." I hope we can learn together how this discussion board will work!

EXPECTATIONS
I ask that you be first and foremost respectful toward all colleagues who post to this discussion board. Respect different opinions. Post with appropriate language and topics. Adhere to confidentiality rules. Do not ever use actual student, staff, parent, etc. names or details of stories that may give away personal information. Other expectations? Please post here if you have more rules we should remember. Most importantly, please have fun and hopefully gain something valuable from your participation in this group.

TOPIC #1 - Getting to Know You...
I'd like to start us off by introducing ourselves - name, job title, place of work, background, experience, etc. Tell us how long you have been at your current job (even if it's only been 15 days and counting!) Anything you really want to share! Also, please share what you hope to gain from this discussion group.

I too want to say welcome! As the Executive Director of NELMS, please know that we have a particular interest in your success this year and in the years to come. If I can be of help, just let me know. Sincerely Bob Spear

TOPIC #2
What does your school currently do to support new staff members as they enter your school and district?

As a new person last year at one school as well as this year, I have lots of experience at being new! Last year I was fortunate enough to meet with the new staff members of our building and the principal once a month. We always had snacks, thoughtfully provided by our principal. We started each meeting with a check-in of how things were going overall. Our principal then shared "This We Believe" and other middle level information with us. We never had much extra work to do. This was more a meeting to support us as we navigated our new positions in the school.

This year the district I work for had a bus tour of the district to start the year off well for all new staff. The New Staff Orientation consisted of lots of paperwork and then a bus tour showing us all the different schools in our district. It was nice to put a place with the names of schools. We also meet once monthly for one hour with the entire district of new staff. The curriculum coordinator oversees these meetings. It seems to be working well so far.

What do other schools do to support new staff?

Edited by author 01-05-2008 07:18 PM
 Hello, my name is Ann Cinquini and I am in my third year as Guidance Counselor at Roosevelt Middle School, am urban middle school in New Bedford, serving students in grades 6 through 8. Though I am starting my third year as Guidance Counselor, I have been at the school for nine years. I was initially hired through a federal grant as Drug and Violence Prevention Facilitator, and then worked for one year as an inclusion teacher.

I am currently enrolled in the BSC’s LEAD Program and will be certified as a Principal/Assistant Principal by the end of the school year, if all goes according to plan.

I am fortunate to have mentors from whom I can learn and that I have the support, encouragement and an environment where I can learn and seek guidance as I grow personally and professionally. I look forward to learning from all of you who have also decided that being Dazed and Confused is not necessary negative.

To support new staff, we do several things in our middle school program. First, as with all first-year teachers, we assign them a mentor, someone to answer questions, offer suggestions, observe classes in a non-judgmental context; we also have periodic first-year teacher meetings run by the Academic Dean. Second, we ask them to read two books, "This We Believe" and "How Girls thrive" (we're an all-girls school) - this gives them a solid grounding in the principles of middle school teaching and how we work to build self-esteem in our students. Third, we offer them the chance to borrow "Meet Me in the Middle" and/or "Day One and Beyond" by Rick Wormeli. Finally, we strive to create an atmosphere of mutual support in the middle school office. It all seems to be working relatively well, judging by how well our new teachers interact with their students and with their colleagues.

Last year when I was a new person our principal spent a lot of time with us new staff members going through the This We Believe book and other facets of middle level education philsophies. I think if a school strongly supports these beliefs, it is so important to share the beliefs with new staff members. If not done during an intitial job interview, then this must be done once the new staff members are on board.

I myself had never heard of middle level philsophies before attending this school last year. Now I find myself facilitating an online discussion board for NELMS! Sharing the information is very helpful to new people!