by Amanda Dcosta

Created on: December 07, 2009

"All professions are possible only because of teachers."

The first year at school for a new teacher, especially a fresher just out of the Teacher's Training Institute, can be a challenging and demanding time. It is considered the most difficult in the life of a young teaching professional, and the outcome of it may determine how dedicated he or she will be to the profession.

Based upon the phases of the first year of teaching, support programs may be organized for new teachers to help them with time and classroom management, syllabus completion and the making of teaching aids like charts, drawings, models, etc.

Phases of First Year Teaching

It is generally the fresh teaching graduates that go through the difficult first year. Most of the support programs are organized with them in mind. A teacher with even a few years of experience already has an idea of what to expect, what is expected of them and also a fairly good exposure to student and time management which the new teacher struggles with. The phases of first year teaching are:

*Anticipation Phase

*Survival Phase

*Disillusionment Phase

*Rejuvenation

*Reflection

#1. Anticipation Phase:

A new teacher looks forward to starting a career; the first job among all that is to follow in the years to come. It is a phase full of excitement, dreams and hopes of romanticizing the role of what a teacher should be. Most often the teacher goes through this phase for only a week, which leads to the following phase which brings them down to earth from the pedestal they have created for an idealistic teacher.

#2. Survival Phase:

This phase is one of harsh and brutal reality. Fresh teachers are not aware of the relevance of their position. To begin with, they have to take over a class independently. This means they become an authoritative figure for an entire set of children and represent the class at the school board and at PTA meets. The responsibility set before them most often is not what they expected to face immediately. Many a times, new teachers are caught off guard by the amount of workload presented to them. The survival phase generally goes on for 6-8 weeks and is always remembered as one of chaos, confusion and the survival of the fittest.

# 3. Disillusionment Phase:

All that glitters is not gold and neither is the teaching profession as glamorous and noble as it is painted to be. Such is the thought of a teacher who has reached break point and goes through a self career test. Nonstop work,

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