Your First Year of Teaching: Guidelines to Success Book

	Prologue	1
	Accommodating Student Differences	2
	Attaining Credibility with Students: Teacher Attitude and Modeling Behaviors	2
	Beyond Teaching: A Teacher Is Interesting Because the Teacher Has a Life Outside of School	3
	First Year of Teaching: Not the Best Time to Assume New Personal and Social Commitments and Responsibilities	3
	Colleagues, Administrators, and Support Staff: Your Professional Network	3
	Mentor: Sometimes It's Good to Have More Than One	4
	An Expert Among Professionals	4
	Envious Colleagues	5
	Staff Should Be Valuable Members of Your Support Network	5
	Sharing a Common Purpose	5
	Ask for Help Whenever You Feel a Perceived Need-Don't Wait Too Long	5
	Curriculum Matters and Concerns	6
	Teaching Both Children and the Content Standards: An Oxymoron?	6
	Integrating the Subjects: More Like Real Life	6
	Cooperative Learning: Don't Give Up Before Experiencing Its Benefits	8
	Group Grading Is Not Recommended	10
	Controversial Content and Issues: Unavoidable	11
Figure 1	Ten most-challenged books in 2002	11
	Children Must Be Protected from Dogma and Allowed Freedom to Learn and to Develop Their Personal Values and Opinions	13
	Decision Making and Locus of Control: No One Knowledgeable Ever Said That Good Teaching Is Easy, But It Is Fun and Intrinsically Rewarding	13
	Coping Strategies: Avoiding Feelings of Aloneness	13
	Decision Making and Instruction	14
	This May Be the First Job Where You Are Constantly Reflecting On Your Every Action	14
	Retaining Creativity and Individuality While Teaching a Prescribed and Even Scripted Curriculum	15
	Differentiating the Instruction: Ensuring That No Child Is Left Behind	16
	Selected Strategies for Personalizing Instruction for Quality Learning	16
	Discipline: Fear of Losing Classroom Control Is a Major Concern of Many Beginning Teachers	17
	Beginning the School Year Well: Thorough Preparation Provides Confidence and Fosters Success	17
	Preventing a Ship from Sinking Is Much Easier Than Saving a Sinking One: Errors to Avoid	18
	Helping Students Develop Self-Control	28
	Equality in the Classroom: Ensuring a Psychologically Safe and Supportive Learning Environment	28
	Examples of Teacher Behaviors That Violate the Concept of Gender Equity	28
	Ensuring Equity	29
	First Day: Your Only Opportunity to Make an Initial Impression	30
	Dress with Professional Pride	31
	Greet the Students	31
	Initial Activity	31
	Student Seating	31
	Information About the Class or Course	32
Figure 2	Sample course syllabus	34
	Procedures and Endorsed Behavior	34
	Focus on Endorsed Attitudes and Behaviors	34
	What Students Need to Understand from the Start	35
Figure 3	About class interruptions	37
	Consequences for Inappropriate Behavior	38
	First Homework Assignment	38
	Guest Speaker: Making It a Successful Learning Experience	38
	High Energy Days and the Disruption of Routine: Kids Are Human, Too	39
	High Stakes Testing: Leave No Student Behind	40
	Differentiating Your Classroom: Modify the Key Variables of Time, Methodology, and Grouping to Ensure that No Child Is Left Behind	41
	Internet: Resource to Enhance Teaching and Student Learning	41
Figure 4	Sample Internet resources for teachers	42
	Job Satisfaction: A Two-Way Street	43
	Makeup Work: Be Firm But Understanding	43
	Homework Assignments	43
	Late Work and Opportunity for Recovery	43
	Classroom Vignette: Late Homework from an At-Risk Student	44
	Tests and Quizzes	44
	Unannounced Quizzes	45
	Media: If Anything Can Go Wrong, It Probably Will!	45
	Be Prepared with Plan B	46
	Memorizing: Sometimes It's Necessary	46
	Motivational Ideas: Build Your Repertoire	47
	The Visual and Performing Arts	48
	Family and Consumer Economics, Foods, and Textiles	49
	English, Languages, and the Language Arts	50
	Mathematics	52
	Science	53
	Social Sciences	54
Figure 5	Internet sites for teaching ideas	57
	Paperwork: How to Avoid Becoming Buried Under Mounds of It	58
	Teacher Vignette: No One Truly Knowledgeable About It Ever Said That Good Teaching Is Easy	58
	Cautions About Using Peer Checking	59
	Parent and Guardian Contacts and Involvement	59
	Back-to-School Night and Open House	60
	Conferences	61
	Dealing with an Angry Parent or Guardian	61
	Politics at School: Best to Avoid	62
	Professional Organizations: Join One	62
	Protecting Students and Yourself: Liability, Safety, and Security Matters	63
	Student Rights	63
	Teacher Liability and Insurance	63
	Child Abuse	64
	Door Keys	64
	First Aid and Medication	64
	Records: Organization, the Key to Success	65
	Record Keeping	65
	Worst Nightmare	65
	Reliability: A Good Teacher Is a Dependable Person	66
	Salary: Not Great But Regular	66
	Sense of Humor, an Intelligent Behavior: Please Smile and Do So Long Before Christmas	67
	Classroom Vignette: A Humorous Scenario: A Missed Teachable Moment	67
	Student Achievement: The Extremely Important and Time-Intensive Responsibilities of Assessing, Grading, and Reporting	67
	Avenues for Assessing Student Learning	68
	Think First, Write Second: That Which Separates the Professional Teacher from Anyone Off the Street Is the Teacher's Ability to Go Beyond Mere Description of Behavior	69
	Student Journals and Assessment	70
	Student Portfolios and Assessment	70
	Avoiding the Rush at the End of a Grading Period	70
	Report Cards	71
	Student Learning: When Children Do Not Learn the Way We Teach Them, Then We Must Teach Them the Way They Learn	71
	Classroom Vignette: Students Write and Stage a One-Act Play	72
	Students at Risk: Integration of Learning Modalities Is a Must	72
	Learning Style Is Not an Indicator of Intelligence But of How a Person Learns	73
	The Learning Cycle	75
	Learning Capacities	76
	Classroom Vignette: Using the Theory of Learning Capacities (Multiple Intelligences) and Multilevel Instruction	77
	Subject Knowledge: Fountainhead of Information or an Educational Broker?	77
	Teaching Out of Field	78
	Supplies and Textbooks: Seldom Ideal, Sometimes Inadequate	78
	What You Want for Your Birthday	79
	Student Textbooks	79
Figure 6	Techniques for helping students develop their higher-level thinking skills and their comprehension of expository material	81
	Teacher's Lounge: Enter with Caution	81
	Total School: Enter with Enthusiasm	82
	Student Activities: There Is More to Teaching and Learning Than Classroom Work	82
	Transitions During Lessons: A Difficult Skill to Master	82
	Your Place of Work: Please Show Pride in It	84
	Your First Observation by the Principal	84
	Your Professional Portfolio and Personal Records of Your Work	85
	Epilogue	86
	For Further Reading	87
	Glossary	90
	Index	97