Reconnect and Recharge: Plugging New Teachers into Support Outlets

ABSTRACTA critical issue in teacher education is the ongoing support and professional development of novice teachers. This study explores a professional development project, Reconnect and Recharge, for newly inducted teachers. Participants met three to four times during the school year from 2009 to 2013 to explore their teaching successes and challenges. Teachers shared their teaching challenges in daily practice defined as dilemmas and engaged in problem-solving discussions with fellow colleagues modeled after a Critical Friends Group format. Analysis of the data across the 4 years of the study revealed consistency in the challenges teachers shared such as issues regarding curriculum, students, collegial and parent-teacher collaborations, and internal conflicts. Reconnect and Recharge is described as a teacher support model and proposed as a means to inform teacher education curricula.