Reconnect and Recharge: Plugging New Teachers Into Support Outlets

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Analysis of Multilevel Teacher Commitment and Retention

Abstract

This ongoing qualitative study explores a collaborative project, Reconnect and Recharge, which was a professional development program for newly inducted teachers who met three to four times during the school year to explore the kinds of successes and challenges they faced as new teachers in the classroom. Dilemmas were classified according to theme and generated five
broad categories: Student-Related Issues, Curriculum Issues, Collegial Collaboration, Parent-Teacher Collaboration, and Internal Conflicts. Within each category, participants presented an array of scenarios for which they sought assistance from their professional colleagues. Authors offer the structure of Reconnect and Recharge as a model for teacher support and cite it as a way to inform teacher education of current issues in education.

Authors

• Ritsa Mallous, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Harriet Able, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Jocelyn A. Glazier, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Ashley Summer Boyd, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Kristen Vaughn Bell Hughes, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill