Judy Gilreath: New teachers receive more instruction than their predecessors

Published 12:00 pm Saturday, January 6, 2018

One of my favorite holiday stories is “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. The main theme of the story shows the importance of showing charity toward those less fortunate. The most meaningful part to me is when Ebenezer Scrooge gets a glimpse into his future. He gets an opportunity to make changes in his life to improve his dismal fate.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have the benefit of the wisdom gained in our more mature years while we are young? I know it would have helped me be a much better teacher in my first years as an educator. It is the same with anything we do in life. Take parenting, for example. My first two children like to say their baby sister was hatched from the golden egg. They feel my husband and I were much more lenient with her than with them. I must admit they are right about us not being as hard on her. The truth is by the time we were raising our third child we had learned what was important and what didn’t really matter. We learned to say yes when we could because it made the many inevitable no’s more tolerable.

I think back on my beginning years as an educator and see lots of things that caused stress for me and my students. A lot of these were things that didn’t really affect their education. If I could relive my early days as a teacher, I would look more at the whole child and students’ individual challenges instead of concentrating so hard on covering every chapter in the textbook. Instead of getting upset at a child who wanted to sleep in class, I would try to understand that he might have been up all night because his parents were fighting. Instead of punishing a child who didn’t do his nightly read aloud assignment, I would consider that he might not have had anyone willing to listen to him read. In other words, I would try to look beyond the symptoms presented during class and try to determine the cause for misbehaviors or failure to grasp educational concepts.

I began teaching in a time when you received your diploma, secured a job with a school system, got your teacher manuals from the principal and were shown to your classroom. Maybe the principal wished you good luck. As a beginning teacher, it was pretty much a sink or swim situation and I was never a good swimmer. I like to think I became a better teacher every year, but many of the lessons I learned came from the school of hard knocks.

Beginning teachers in Whitfield County Schools today enter a different type of culture. I sometimes think we may overload them with help. Each one is assigned an experienced mentor who guides them and serves as a sounding board for the frustrations they will encounter during their first years. There are numerous workshops and professional development opportunities available to them in whatever area of support they may need. New teachers to our system meet several times a year as a group so they can have direct access to support and resources with their colleagues. This gives them the opportunity to support each other.

There is no doubt in my mind that beginning teachers today have a great advantage over beginning teachers 20–30 years ago. Sometimes, I wish that I could begin my career again. I know I would be a better teacher now. I didn’t start out in education with the goal of being a superintendent, or even an assistant principal, but I saw each new position as an opportunity to help more children. As superintendent, I have a huge opportunity to help more children than ever by supporting the hundreds of dedicated teachers who serve the children of Whitfield County Schools.

Judy Gilreath is superintendent of Whitfield County Schools.