The Principal’s Office | The Ohio State University

Develop Your Staff

Professional development activities that have proven effective are included in this section. Your contributions are welcome. Send articles to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.

Top 10 Actions a Principal Can Do to Make My First Year Successful

by Belinda G. Gimbert and David Fultz

Being a first year teacher can be both exciting and riddled with anxiety. Armed with freshly acquired knowledge, skills, and dispositions, I am ready to educate young minds and “stamp the future.” In my teacher preparation, I have learned much about the job of teaching. I need support and guidance from my principal to become a highly effective teacher who facilitates each child’s learning. I cannot do this without support from the principal. Here are 10 actions that a principal can take to help make my first year a success:

To attain my goal effectively and efficiently and be able to assess its impact on my students’ learning, I need three Big Es from my principal: Encouragement, Empathy, and Empowerment.

Visit me often in the classroom and provide feedback on my performance. I want to be using best practices to facilitate student learning and need support and/or affirmation that what I am doing is acceptable. Be both positive and critical as I am still learning and growing professionally. I need guidance, advice, and empowerment through both acceptance and praise.1
Be conscious of my workload. I will demonstrate more success if you initially provide me with less challenging assignments and fewer duties outside of the classroom. This will give me more time to focus on my craft and cultivate my teaching skills.2 Also, empowering me to make academic decisions will allow me to grow and develop more effectively as a teacher.3
Have an open-door policy. I need a leader who I can openly talk to and trust, as well as someone who will be honest and fair.4 As a new teacher I will have a variety of emotional stressors when dealing with students, parents, and colleagues. Being there to support me through these times and encouraging my questions without me having the fear of losing your confidence in my ability to teach will help me be an effective educator.5
Help me learn the culture of the school. My principal must be aware that an established collaborative culture for learning, understanding, cooperation, workload classification, time management, the implementation of subject matter, and collective responsibility may be difficult to navigate.6 Guiding me through these processes will allow me to be better prepared to assimilate and become a productive member of the school.
What are my roles and your expectations of my performance? Clearly state the roles and expectations that you have for me so that I may complete them to the best of my ability. These include job duties, professional standards, student interaction, content development, and delivery of instruction.7 Providing clarity up front gives me a framework for success.
Give me access to the curriculum and guide me on how to assess learning. I need to understand curriculum standards for the content that I am teaching, in order to develop standards-based lesson plans and deliver instruction.8 Assist me in assessing student learning, as well as how to use the data collected to drive instruction.9
Make sure that I have the tools for success. It is imperative that I have the supplies and materials necessary to do my job effectively.10 As a new teacher, I may not know who to go to in order to get the appropriate supplies, and I will need support in preparing my classroom with the essential tools to provide a high-quality education for all of my students.
Show me how to use data to guide my classroom instruction. Help me to develop sophisticated data analysis skills by training me how to use data extracted from assessment tools to examine the needs of diverse learners and struggling students, as well as provide results-focused, team-driven developmental goals for student learning.11
I need a mentor. Implement a comprehensive mentoring program that promotes a strong instructional development component, as well as a strong teacher development component for the purpose of building my confidence and empowerment.12 Make sure that we have adequate time to plan and focus on student learning under the apprenticeship of my experienced colleagues.13
I need opportunities to learn professionally, both individually and with my peers. My needs may or may not be similar to my colleagues. Providing opportunities to receive continuous professional development for the purpose of addressing my needs is essential for my successful first year.14

I want to make a meaningful difference in the educational life of my students from the first day that I step into the classroom. To attain my goal effectively and efficiently and be able to assess its impact on my students’ learning, I need three Big Es from my principal: Encouragement, Empathy, and Empowerment. By engaging in these top 10 actions, my principal will facilitate my success this year and cultivate my professional learning.

Belinda Gimbert, is an assistant professor and director, Project KNOTtT, Educational Administration, The Ohio State University
David Fultz is a graduate research assistant with Project KNOTtT, Educational Administration, The Ohio State University

Footnotes

1.Angelle, P. (2006). Instructional leadership and monitoring: Increasing teacher intent to stay through socialization. NASSP Bulletin, 90(4), 318-334.
Renwick, L. (2007). Keeping new teachers happy. District Administration, 43(1), 26.
Richards, J. (2004). What new teachers value most in principals. Principal, 83(3), 42-44.
Ruder, R. (2005). What to do when the brightest begin to dim. Principal Leadership, 5(8), 28-29.
2. Davis, B., & Bloom, G. (1998). Support new teachers. Thrust for Educational Leadership, 28(2), 16-18.
Menchaca, V. (2003). A wake-up call for principals: Are your novice teachers leaving? Catalyst for Change, 33(1), 25.
Walsdorf, K., & Lynn, S. (2002). The early years: Mediating the organizational environment. Clearing House, 75(4), 90-94.
3. Fredricks, J. (2001). Why teachers leave. The Education Digest, 66(8), 46-48.
4. Bodycott, P., Walker, A., & Lee Chi Kin, J. (2001). More than heroes and villains: Pre-service teacher beliefs about principals. Educational Research, 43(1), 15-17.
Kardos, S., Johnson, S., Peske, H., Kauffman, D., & Liu, E. (2001). Counting on colleagues: New teachers encounter the professional cultures of their schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37(2), 250.
5.Brock, B., & Grady, M. (2007). From first-year to first rate: Principals guiding beginning teachers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Mauer, E., & Zimmerman, E. (2000). Mentoring new teachers. Principal, 79(3), 26-28.
6.McKerrow, K. (1996). Support then solutions: The supervision of teachers. Clearing House, 69(6), 330-332.
Watkins, P. (2005). The principal’s role in attracting, retaining, and developing new teachers. Clearing House, 79(2), 83-87.
Wood, A. (2005). The importance of principals: Site administrators’ role in novice teacher induction. American Secondary Education, 33(2), 39-62.
7. Brock & Grady, 2007
McKerrow, 1996
Melton, A. A. (2007). An exploratory study of the dyadic relationship of the beginning teacher and the administrator. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Michigan State University, Lansing, MI.
Smith, A., Morrow, J., & Gray, D. (1999). Principals educate beginning teachers about the law. Education, 120(1), 60.
8. Quinn, R., & Andrews, B. (2004). The struggles of first-year teachers investigating support mechanism. Clearing House, 77(4), 164-169.
9. Cheng, M., & Cheung, W. (2004). Comparing perceptions: The competence of novice teachers and the expectations of school principals. Asia Pacific Education Review, 5(1), 188-199.
Davis & Bloom, 1998
Melton, 2007
10. Davis & Bloom, 1998
McCann, T., Johannessen, L., & Ricca, B. (2005). Responding to new teachers’ concerns. Educational Leadership, 62(8), 30-34.
Quinn & Andrews, 2004
11. Brendle-Corum, A., & Haynes, J. (2004). Four ways to support new teachers. Principal, 84(1), 61.
12. Brock & Grady, 2007
Johnson, S., & Kardos, S. (2005). Bridging the generation gap. Educational Leadership, 62(8), 8-14.
McCann et al., 2005
Melton, 2007
Quinn & Andrews, 2004
Ruder, 2005
Stansbury, K. (2001). What new teachers need. Leadership, 30(3), 18.
13. Renwick, 2007
Wayne, A., Youngs, P., & Fleischman, S. (2005). Improving teacher induction. Educational Leadership, 62(8), 76-78.
Wong, H. (2004). Induction programs that keep new teachers teaching and improving. NASSP Bulletin, 88(638), 41-58.
14.Amoroso, P. (2005). Putting words into action. Principal Leadership: Middle Level Edition, 5(9), 27-29.
Black, S. (2004). Great beginnings. American School Board Journal, 191(10), 44-46.
DePaul, A. (2005). How new teachers can enlist the help they need. Curriculum Review, 45(3), 7-8.
Ganser, T. (2002). Building the capacity of school districts to design, implement, and evaluate effective new teacher mentor programs: Action points for colleges and universities. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 10(1), 47-55.