A New Teacher's First Year
Darby Thompson had just gotten her first full-time teaching job when I met her at the 2001 ACTE convention in New Orleans, where she was helping present one of the poster sessions. She was so excited! She started her new job in January 2002, and in March 2003, I checked in with her to see how her first year had gone.
The first thing I found out is that she is now Darby Sewell. As if starting her teaching job wasn?t enough, she had also gotten married in May. And how was her first year of teaching? Sometimes stressful, often demanding and, says Sewell, "...wonderful. I love it."
She is teaching family and consumer sciences (FCS) education at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in Tifton, Ga. For two-and-a-half years before Sewell arrived, the FCS program at the school had only temporary teachers, so the first challenge she faced was to get the program back on track and growing.
"I had a lot of work to do to get the momentum going," she recalls.
But that growth is occurring. The first semester, one of her classes had only eight students, but this year she is averaging about 20. Sewell has actively worked to recruit students to the program. She visits high school FCS departments, goes to career fairs whenever she can, and she has hosted school visits. Her efforts are already paying off.
Still it?s not easy being the only teacher in your department. She has to deal with preparation, teaching, grading and counseling. ABAC is a two-year college, and there are three different types of programs for the students. Some students are in the two-year transfer program, so they complete the core curriculum and choose classes that are transferable to complete a four-year degree. Many of them go on to the University of Georgia. Others are obtaining a two-year associate of applied science degree. And a certificate program new to the school this year allows students to obtain certification in two semesters. In Sewell?s area of instruction, there are three different kinds of certificates.
She has 17 classes that she is responsible for teaching, and it will take four semesters to teach them all, so when I interviewed her for this article, there were some classes that she hadn?t even taught yet. Sewell finds that preparing for a class requires an enormous amount of time. "It takes a lot of preparation just to go in there and teach for an hour," she notes.
"Another challenge," she says, "is learning to grade?having good judgment and being fair with all of the students."
And then there are the advising and the counseling. When she first started advising, she had 35 students. This year she has 50. Like many FCS teachers, she finds that her students tend to come to her for counseling. "Everyone has a story, and it?s rewarding but sometimes stressful to hear some of the situations," says Sewell. "But I don?t mind."
It?s difficult for students balancing school, work and family, and sometimes she sees a need to refer them to the counseling office. But others are helped just by talking about their personal issues with her. As she puts it, "Sometimes they just need five minutes to get it out of their system."
Her students aren?t the only ones who get stressed. "Some days are so trying because there is so much to balance," Sewell notes. But she says that her division chair at ABAC, Dr. Larry Allen, has been greatly supportive. And Mike Vollmer, the president of the college, expresses his thanks often by attaching a personal note to anything he sends her telling her what a good job she is doing. It has been good for enrollment at the school to have her program there, because the students in her program will also have to be enrolled in the required courses. As she points out, "Every time I get a student, then English and math get a student."
While everyone at the school is encouraging and supportive, Sewell still has to cope with the fact that she is the only one there teaching in her particular discipline. She is part of the agriculture division, so there is no one there who can advise her on subjects such as child development. Fortunately, she has a few other family and consumer sciences education professionals she can turn to?including her mother and a former high school FCS teacher, "Mama Jane" Gibbs.
With a good support network, Sewell is surviving the first difficult year of teaching, but one of her strongest sources of support has been her own students. While the program is growing, the teaching staff is not, and that means she often puts in long hours?something that has not gone unnoticed by the students who see her car at the school early in the morning and on into the evening hours. She has found that by delegating some responsibilities to her students?especially those considering education careers?she is providing them with additional learning experiences, and the chance to learn organizational skills they will need as teachers. At the same time, she is able to ease a small part of her own workload.
Those students who want to be teachers have not been frightened off by seeing the hard work and stress involved. Sometimes there may be three things going on all at once in her classroom.
Sewell says, "I?ve had a student say, ?It?s nuts in here. I don?t know how you do it. But I want to come back and teach with you.?"
The relationship she has with her students has been the most rewarding thing for her, and there have been some surprises along the way. She says that on the first day of class with one of her students, "I thought, oh no, she?s going to eat me alive. Instead she turned out to be one of my best students."
Her students are very appreciative of her hard work. When she told them she was actually going to take time off at spring break, they told her that they were proud of her. It will be a much-needed rest for Sewell, who says, "Some days I am so tired that I wake up and think I?m not going to make it today. But then I get here and I?m fine."
In addition to the classes she teaches, Sewell also works with students who are involved in internships and in independent studies. She serves as adviser to the Family and Consumer Sciences Club (FACS) and says, "That plays a big part, since FACS is co-curricular."
Teaching at ABAC has also allowed her to educate both students and faculty about what family and consumer sciences education really is. In addition to telling students about FCS in the career exploration class she teaches, she has had faculty come and ask her what it is that she does. She is able to tell them about all the things that she has to know a little about?like nutrition?and explain what FCS encompasses and all of the opportunities that are available in the field. As a result, she sees that the FCS program there, "is coming alive again."
Sewell is very excited about what she has been able to accomplish in her first year of teaching, but she is looking forward to having the summer off to rejuvenate and spend time with her new husband, an accountant who also works long hours.
She now knows firsthand what it takes to be a teacher. "You do have to be dedicated because it is so demanding," she notes.
But if her first year is any indication, this young teacher definitely has what it takes?and exactly what career and technical education needs.
