New teachers' anxieties calmed in Williamstown

The first time William Hartwyk stood in front of a classroom, his pupils were fellow Marines who hadn't realized they would need high school algebra to navigate boats far from shore.

Hartwyk loved teaching, and he was good enough that the corps sent him to Paraguay and Argentina to instruct local soldiers on the warfare tactics they needed to stop drug traffickers.

"Nothing was more satisfying than when they actually understood," he said. "I got out of the Marines with the intention of becoming a high school teacher."

This week, the 30-year-old Williamstown resident joined 28 other men and women in a new-teacher induction at Williamstown High School and Middle School that will conclude today.

More than half the group - including Hartwyk, who will lead students through U.S. history - graduated from college in May. Others arrived at the Monroe Township district with significant classroom experience. One is beginning a new career after 20 years as a graphic designer.

But classroom credentials and real-world savvy didn't earn them any clout, as the hires sat in clusters of four, taking notes in ruled books and quieting when signaled by the principal's raised hand.

"I was just thinking it's time to stop being a student and start being a teacher," joked social-studies teacher Jen Wristbridge, 24, of Mays Landing, N.J.

This is the district's 11th orientation for high school and middle school teachers. The three days are designed to acquaint them with the schools' expectations and classroom culture and ease the nerves of those new to Williamstown and, in some cases, to the profession.

Rookie teachers often arrive with "sky-high" stress, and even veteran instructors appreciate the orientation, high school principal Steve Stumpo said.

"In some ways we've reduced their anxiety, and in other ways we've increased it," he said. "We gave them a lot to think about."

The workshops emphasized techniques to guide all types of students to academic excellence. More than 90 percent of Williamstown's 2007 graduating class went on to a two- or four-year college or university.

After leaving Long Island, N.Y., where she taught and supervised math for 10 years, Janel Williams said the induction had gone a long way toward easing her transition jitters.

"Every time you go in, it's like your first time ever," said Williams, 32, of Philadelphia, who has wanted to teach ever since kindergarten, when she tutored younger children using coloring books.

"The fact that they even take time to have something like this helps me with my anxieties," she said.

Wristbridge also knew from a young age that she wanted to teach, but a high school mentor drew her to her subject matter.

"I had one great history teacher," she said. "I hope I can be that great history teacher for my students one day."

Wristbridge retained her focus even when no teaching position was available after her 2007 graduation from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. After a months-long job hunt, she traveled with friends to Europe, where her experiences augmented her history knowledge. She stumbled on a book about medieval villages in the French mountain town of Eze and found an archaeology text in the Italian ruins of Pompeii.

The day she returned, Williamstown invited her to interview. The district hired her. Now, after a summer drawing up lists of classroom rules, reading David McCullough's John Adams biography, and buying the perfect start-of-school outfit, she's ready.

"As soon as that first day is over, I'll be fine," Wristbridge said. "No more anxiety."