New Teacher Blues? → By Joel Lau (‘18)
EDITORIAL
Cover Graphic By Natalie Kwon (‘18)
EAGLE EYE Hawaii Baptist Academy 2429 Pali Highway Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
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Hawaii Baptist Academy’s Eagle Eye is a student-run and studentcentered publication.
Cast your minds back to the beginning of the school year. Do you remember what you were feeling when you set foot on the campus for the first time? While we all are seasoned veterans of that universal mix of excitement and uncertainty, we don’t often think about the new teachers that start the school year alongside us. Behind the scenes, these teachers are often agonizing over lesson plans and manifold other worries that accompany the task of teaching a class of judgmental teenagers for the very first time. In my experience, I find that we—the entire school community—are not doing enough to support new teachers as they navigate the nerve-wracking phase of being new to the school and their jobs. They are simply thrust into the classroom to fend for themselves, like soldiers with jammed rifles advancing under the fire of stress, burgeoning expectations, student ridicule, and helplessness. The fact that HBA is a Christian school does not equate to the saintliness or maturity of its students, who often choose to slack off at the first opportunity, frustrating the already harried teachers to no end. Overall, this undesirable dynamic in no way contributes to values HBA hopes its classrooms will cultivate: the Expected Schoolwide Learning Results of humility, curiosity, love, and commitment. As far as I can tell, HBA endeavors to maintain a complete roster of teachers for every department. However, teachers at HBA are not contracted, meaning that they can leave their jobs at any time. If teachers give notice to leave during the summer or just before the beginning of the school year, (or worse, when the year is in session), the school administration often has to scramble to find a replacement. Yet the challenges don't end Continued on Page 4
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