5.27.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - Well, first and foremost I wanted it to be a place for new teachers in our toughest schools. I have noticed an alarming trend in first year teachers at my school. We hire about five or six new teachers every year in the English department alone at my site.
An Interview with Matthew Amaral: Teach For Real
Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, New Mexico
1) Matthew, you have a web site called www.teach4real.com What led you to set up this site?
Well, first and foremost I wanted it to be a place for new teachers in our toughest schools. I have noticed an alarming trend in first year teachers at my school. We hire about five or six new teachers every year in the English department alone at my site. One of them leaves within the first few months. Another doesn’t make it through the year, and at the end of the year a couple others leave our school, or the profession entirely. They are mentally and physically exhausted. Yes, even physically. The everyday grind of teaching in these schools actually takes a physical toll. They get ill.
They become depressed. And there isn’t a whole lot that I’ve seen out there that helps them-our credential programs aren’t preparing them correctly, and when they get their first job they are given the toughest assignments with the worst kids because the veteran teachers don’t want those classes. It is a crazy, turbulent job and many first year teachers aren’t able to make a career out of it.
So, I thought I would start teach4real.com to help them, and let them know they aren’t the only ones who are dealing with all of this. I’ve had a bit of success at my school (I say this very humbly), so I feel like I can offer a bit of advice in the hopes it might help someone out there, so that next year, we don’t hire six new teachers in our department, maybe just five.
2) What are some of the things that one would find at this site?
Mostly it is a site consisting of articles I’ve written on inner-city education. Some give tips on the different aspects of teaching, like how to talk to a kid after school, or how to help failing students even with a month left and you know they’re going to get an F. Other articles are more generally about the state of education, and have been published in such places as TeachHub.com