10 The current study’s results showed that instructional support had three subthemes: differentiation, curriculum planning, and resources. During their interviews, the teacher participants explained their challenges as novice teachers and how much the encouragement of their principals, colleagues, and others helped them continue to grow into competent teachers. During the teacher interviews, the word encouragement was mentioned 16 times as teachers explained their experiences as novice teachers. Teacher participants discussed the value of having a supportive campus principal who provided support and guidance in significant areas. Teachers highly valued the support they received from their campus principal. Principal support was mentioned by 79% of the teacher participants. Research Question 2 The second research question explored novice teachers’ perceptions of the instructional training and support they received in the school district. Research Question 2 (RQ2) What are the perceptions of novice teachers of instructional training and support they receive in the district? The interview data related to RQ2 revealed that not everything a new teacher is expected to learn falls neatly under the heading of instructional training or support. For the system training theme, the following subthemes emerged: teacher tasks and documentation. The system training theme contained two areas that novice teachers must work towards learning and mastering as novice teachers. During the teacher participant interviews, all 14 mentioned at least one of the tasks depicted in Figure 1. During the teacher participant interviews, the teachers voiced frustration with learning and completing the various tasks expected from teachers not part of the teaching/learning process. The researcher labeled the variety of responsibilities a novice teacher has to learn to manage and may need assistance learning how to complete as teacher tasks to distinguish them from actual instruction. Experienced teachers often do not think of teacher tasks as overwhelming. For novice teachers, however, simple tasks like the tasks depicted in Figure 1 can become frustrating and burdensome. When a novice teacher has to learn various tasks at once, keep their lesson plans up to date, and juggle everything simultaneously, they can quickly become discouraged. Figure 1 also indicates Michelle Barrow, Ed.D. Figure 1 Teacher Tasks that Required Assistance for Novice Teachers
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