Chapter 6 Induction

After twenty years in education, this term "induction" should have been very well known to me, but almost the entire chapter was news to me! The recommendations for principals on page 111 crystalized every struggle I have ever watched first year teachers face. Take another look at it and see if you don't find yourself nodding your head in sad agreement. The first point sent me back to the very beginning of my career. I was a first-year special ed teachers aide working for a first year teacher in a self-contained behavior disorders school. The room we were assigned had been vacant, and whatever furniture, games, and materials others wanted had been taken out. What a sad disaster. She lasted about a month. The second point is so political. New teachers get the large study hall supervision, and veterans with more pull get something soft like before school hallway duty; an assignment which does not infringe upon their prep times - that time the newer teachers need more of.