Product Description
The early years of any student s life, those first elementary school years, can be incredibly overwhelming and stressful, resulting in a slew of emotional, behavioral, and study problems that they rely on their teacher to help overcome. As a first year elementary school teacher, your role is more than just knowledgeable teacher; it is to become a mentor, a friend, and an older figure for young children to look up to. This can be overwhelming, and along with all of the other issues that face first year teachers, it can result in high turnover rates and problematic issues. This thorough, well research book has everything first-year teachers in elementary school need to learn how to deal with including supplies, planning, parents, overcrowded classrooms, the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, piles of paperwork, money shortages due to budget cuts, negativity from students and other staff members, at-risk students, students who are capable but choose not to work, and special needs students. You will learn how to ask principals and administrators for help, how to memorize names quickly, how to create seating charts, how to write lesson plans, how to follow a daily routine, how to help struggling readers, how to gain respect, how to get a mentor, how to develop and implement a grading system, how to discipline students, how to create assessments, how to find free things for teachers, and how to build your confidence. And of course, as a first year teacher to students learning how to interact with the world, you will learn how to converse with them on a mature level and help them overcome stresses and problems that they may face in life at school and at home. Also, you will read about where to go for support, the reality of spending your own money on classroom supplies, mandated tests, technology solutions, and behavior management skills. We spent countless hours interviewing second year teachers, as well as veteran teachers, and have provided you with their proven techniques and strategies for surviving your first year as a teacher. This book will provide everything you need to effectively start teaching students that need a mentor, a teacher, and a friend at a young age and prepare you for your second year as you start becoming the inspiring force you always dreamed of being. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Insightfule
I always thought the most important quality a qualified teacher should have is patience, but as Tena Green explains, it really is the ability to connect with the students. Before reading her book, I would have argued this point to infinity, based solely on my experiences in school and first hand knowledge of unruly children.

Green's honesty gives pause and hope to a reader that teaching, while honorable and probably the most important profession, can be challenging. This book is a no-nonsense resource for anyone contemplating pursuing teaching as a profession. Chock-full of advice, the it should be a hit to both the novice and veteran teacher as it tackles a multitude of subjects, like how teachers should appreciate their students' diversity plus how to work hard and smart.

One thing I found to be missing was some form of an in-depth semblance of explanation on why there is still an achievement gap between urban and suburban children. I felt that such an extensive resource for teachers should at least touch on this widely reported phenomenon and why talented teachers have been unable to diminish its effects.

A book that explains everything an elementary school teacher needs to know

This book is a highly useful tool to anyone getting their degree in teaching, looking for a teaching position, or about to start their first day. Not only does this book go into great detail about what to expect on the first day with your students, but also prepares the reader for job interviews, who they might interact with in the faculty and supervisors, and tips on how to become part of a school's unique community. It goes into intensive detail about things that are beyond just teaching the students to read and write, like what tests the school district must pass in order to be accredited, and what the expectations of you are going to be as a new addition to their learning environment.

The author has gone that extra step to help the reader by including useful websites about how to find school districts in an unfamiliar area, the pros and cons about each school system type, and included real life testimonials from elementary school teachers that have gone through what the reader is about to go through. It gives a real life look at unpleasant situations like not getting along with co-workers, how to deal with budget cuts, mistakes other teachers have made in the past, like giving too much homework. It breaks down everything in to neat categories, from which school districts there are, types of parents you will come across, and types of students in the classroom, and gives ideas about how to handle each person or problem that is comfortable for the teacher.

The book is fast paced and is easy to understand. One of the best tools of the book is the eleven examples of lesson plans in the back. The table to contents is very well done, allowing the reader to use this book as a reference guide over and over if and when any situation comes up they are unsure about. This really is a book that explains everything a teacher needs to know that they didn't learn from a college classroom!

You can teach...
How To Be Successful In Your First Year Of Teaching Elementary School by Tena Green

What a fabulous resource! This book fills you in on everything you need to know for dealing with the parents of your students, other teachers, and of course, your students! You will not believe the amount of information that is packed into this volume!

Tena walks you through the entire journey of teaching. She begins her book with the high calling and privilege you face when you decide on the field of teaching, followed by tips on looking for a job and applying for that job. Next, she touches on your working relationship with those who work with you, and ideas for making the most of your classroom layout and plans. I really enjoyed this chapter. She covered ideas for your bulletin boards and getting you space into shape. Ms. Green also makes great use of lists she has composed for ideas and activities to use with your students!

The author explains the best possible solutions for surviving your day. And not just surviving, but excelling in all you do, from remembering your students names to setting goals and organizing you time. Don't miss chapter six!

Chapter seven and eight are also must- reads. These chapters deal with your students and why they think and act the way they do. Consider this information as a mini psychology class. Chapter eight describes incredible information you will want to know about reaching out to your students needs.

The final chapters of this marvelous book deals with parents and how to interact with them, tips for maintaining a good attitude, and ways to end the school year with happy feelings, despite the sadness you may encounter as you watch your children march out of the classroom one last time! (Encourage the students to talk about their favorite part of the school year while they enjoy a going away party!)

Just when you think the book is finished, you come to the appendix! I think it's the best part of the entire book! Eleven sample lesson plans, wonderful web resources, and an awesome bibliography make this book first rate! Being a teacher myself, I found this part of the book indispensible!

I give the book a SOLID 5 star rating! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not what I ordered
When I ordered this item, I did not recieve the edition that matched the image on the screen/book I had requested. I had wanted the edition with the blue and black cover like the one in the image but instead recieved a different one.

What you wish you knew before you ever entered a classroom
This little book gets right to the point. To teach effectively, you need to need to manage your classroom effectively. Whether you are a substitute, a long time teacher or a novice you'll find a host of great ideas in thisbook. I am currently working on my teaching credential and after paying outseveral thousand dollars in tuition and book fees, one of my teachersloaned me her copy of this book. I wish I could talk to the people thatselect textbooks and I'd ask them why this book, instead of the ones I paidbig bucks for, wasn't selected as a basic text book. I see Amazon.com hasit on their backordered list, so since my instructor insisted I return hercopy, I am patiently awaiting my copy. ... Read more

Product Description

This first-of-its-kind resource shows educators how to teach these unique learners while also leveraging their humor to improve classroom management and student motivation.  

Customer Reviews (4)

interesting perspective
For the lay person, this is an interesting view point to read and perhaps get a sense of the frustration that is felt by my people with learning disabilities. However, as some who is dyslexic and also a teacher, there are significant things missing from McCabe's perspective. While I certainly understand his anger at educational "experts" he seems to operate under the assumption that he is the only one who has ever experienced his circumstances or has ever thought of the things he's promoting, which is an incorrect portrayl of the history of LD education. I was entertained at times, offended at others. Overall, there are more relavent books out there.

Sequential Spelling Strategies, not just a Personal History!
Not only is this book a description of Don McCabe's early years, he also has some fascinating information about the "word families" approach to spelling and reading, made new through his own well-developed sequential spelling strategies!
I can see that the mastery of the language is in learning the patterns of spelling. The sequencing of the words is based on research and the building of English words from the root word to an expanded form.
I really liked the fact that students correct their own papers. Immediate feedback is empowering. A student's confidence is much more significant when they can spell words that they have never seen before without studying!
I am anxious to find out more about his website [...] and check out his text books utilizing the sequential spelling techniques.

No one told him he was disabled.
Read the 12 sample pages at Amazon.com. A distinguished educator speaks of his own dyslexia and his gratitude for a loving family, high expectations, and no official disability label. The author was in elementary and high school before they had the label of dyslexic. There were plenty of kids who needed help and got help. Therapy was just active play. Early educational intervention was just playing school. Teachers taught learning (memory) strategies to all students in k-12. He offers many practical ideas for improving literacy.

It takes one to teach one
Don McCabe writes a compelling autobiography to illustrate what it is like to grow up dyslexic.He was born in 1932 and this was well before "dyslexia" was a term, let alone a diagnosis.He was justtreated as a boy who couldn't sit still.He credits his older sister andwonderful teachers who worked intensively with him to help him learn toread and eventually to become a respected scholar.McCabe has dedicatedthe last thirty years to working on literacy.This book is a quick, funread that shows a good dose of humor helps in discussing serious topicssuch as dyslexia.If you or someone you love has been diagnosed asdyslexic, don't wring your hands in despair - buy this book and learn fromsomeone who knows first hand about what it means to be a dyslexic. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Issues in Science and Technology, published by National Academy of Sciences on June 22, 2009. The length of the article is 2384 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: To teach science, tell stories: we need to incorporate the human dimensions of individual struggle, creativity, and adventure into the way we teach science.(SCIENCE AS NARRATIVE)
Author: Niles Eldredge
Publication: Issues in Science and Technology (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2009
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Volume: 25Issue: 4Page: 81(4)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the process and practice of teaching - and the personal and professional skills that successful teaching requires. Written in accordance with the Teacher Training Association and DfEE guidelines, the book covers all the modules which need to be studied in the teacher training programme. Contributors take account of developments in the field by incorporating material on CPD, teaching and classroom management, new approaches to planning and targeting effective learning and an introduction to professional requirements. ... Read more

Product Description

The how-to guide to educator research, from "Where Do I Begin?" to your published results!

Customer Reviews (4)

Watch out ! Amazon is sending wrong books out.
I orderedthis book form Amazon and received the Facilitator's Guide to this book. Im sure its a good book. I could not rate it because I never received it from Amazon. If you can get the book from your local college book store, buy itthere and save your self some trouble. Do Not buy it on Amazon.Amazon cannot fullfill the orders correclty.

Awesome condition!
the book came practically brand new.Very fast also.I was expecting it to come a little later, but it didn't, it came just in time.

Reflective Guide to Classroom Reaserch
Action research is a better vehicle for teachers' growth and learning, and benefits students. As more school districts move to Job-embedded staff development, this book is a must.It moves you step-by-step through the process of choosing and developing a project.It can make a seemingly impossible task easier and help teachers choose areas that will improve their classroom instruction.

An Essential for Action Researchers
This guide is not pedantic or condescending in tone to the veteran or beginning educator.It is a down to earth guide with easy-to-follow suggestions.It provides a clear process by which anyone may engage in action research.It provides points for thinking and examples of each stage of the process.I used this text for writing my masters and I found it especially helpful when coming to conclusions about my data. ... Read more

Product Description
This book—co-authored by a teacher educator, a diverse group of five pre-service student teachers, and their student teaching supervisor—takes a unique, illuminating look at the experience of student teaching from the perspective of student teachers. It is premised on learning to teach as an inquiry process enriched by collaborative conversations. Readers are invited into student teachers’ dilemmas and decisions as they negotiate between their public school placements and their university-based coursework. Throughout the year of student teaching, the authors document their discussions and reflections about teaching in inclusive classrooms that shed light on the complex process of learning to teach and also offer insights into issues of teaching for equity.
 
Each of the central chapters is written by an individual student teacher and tracks a specific question over the course of two semesters. Topics include:
*contrasting models of inclusion and teachers’ differing orientations toward issues of community, difference, and normalcy;
*how teachers foster peer relationships;
*classroom management and discipline;
*heterogeneous instruction; and
*school-wide culture and systems that promote or mitigate against inclusion.
 
A new perspective on what can be learned from student teaching is provided by the student teachers’ supervisor. In the concluding chapter, the teacher educators address the connections among the student teachers’ inquiries and offer an analysis from a disability studies/disability rights perspective on how inclusion fits into a social (rather than a medical) model of disability. All of the authors of this book seek to contribute to conversations that place advocacy, inquiry, contestation, and challenge at the center of the teacher’s role. This volume is their invitation to readers to join in a larger conversation about the challenges of, and necessity for, becoming inclusive teachers.
 
Learning to Teach Inclusively is intended for inservice and preservice courses in elementary education, inclusion, and teacher research, and for field experience seminars. It is also suitable for graduate courses in teacher research, supervision, and research in teacher education. ... Read more

Product Description
Ready to learn everything only the real word can teach you, not what some exam book or test prep book regurgitates?Bigwig Briefs Test Prep features real world intelligence, strategies and experience from leading minds in the business world and business school professors to prepare your mind for questions only industry veterans could prepare you for. Ever wonder how business executives who go back and take the exam (just to see how they would do, or embarking late on an MBA), do remarkably well, even though they have not polished their grammar, verbal, or quantitative reasoning skills in decades?It is because they have learned to think like a business executive-exactly what the questions are meant to see if you can do.This book teaches you how to "think like a business executive" and think in a frame of mind that will help enable you to think through quantitative reasoning and verbal questions and write in a way that helps you increase your score by leaps and bounds. This book also features proven strategies, mindsets, writing styles and problem solving tactics practiced by leading consultants, entrepreneurs, investment bankers, CEOs, and other industry veterans that can be altered, expanded upon and customized to give you a distinct advantage when taking the GMAT exam, and preparing you for your path after the exam. ... Read more

Product Description
Ever wonder what would happen if you stopped teaching your lessons? You might be surprised. If you want your students to learn more and you to work less, then this book provides you with all the arguments and evidence you need to become a lazy, but outstanding teacher. Gathered from over 10 years of experience in the classroom, this handbook of tried-and-tested techniques shifts the emphasis away from teaching and onto learning, and makes your life so much easier in the process. Sick of planning lessons? Get the students to plan them for you. (After all, personalized learning can't involve 30 lesson plans!). This powerful little book is packed full of easy-to-apply and highly effective strategies. What's more, they all have the seal of approval by real students in real classrooms. In fact, many of them have been created by the students themselves, but that s why Jim Smith is called the Lazy Teacher. So, next time someone says to you to 'get a life,' this book will make it possible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lazy Teacher's Handbook
Written in a quite humorous style about a very serious topic - building child centred learning for your students. It
s not a "how to"" book, but gives plenty of examples and rationale why a teacher should make the kids do the work in the classroom. making the teacher the resource person, guide and facilitator.The illustrations are quite amusing - I especially liked marking RIP :). An excellent resource to turn your learning environment into something dynamic for yourself and your students. ... Read more

Product Description
How should a student's learning be measured and assessed? Standardized tests identify the most knowledgeable child, whereas student portfolios can identify the knowledge level of each individual child. In The Power of Portfolios, Elizabeth A. Hebert offers a practical and imaginative approach for using portfolios with elementary level students and shows how the portfolio process can serve as a powerful motivational tool by encouraging students to assess their own work, set goals, and take responsibility for future learning. Throughout the book Hebert relates stories that illuminate the lessons learned -- by the students, teachers, and principal -- from a school that has used portfolios for more than a decade. Rather than prescribing what the portfolio should contain and how it should be assessed, she offers practical guidance, including classroom exercises, for making the portfolio experience a success for the students, the teachers, and the school as a whole. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful method
Teaching using portfolios makes life so much easier! Teachers and students alike can view the progress a child has gone through the years in a way that encourages the student, giving them positive feedback. ... Read more

Product Description

This second edition provides strategies to increase student engagement, develop cognitive skills, and empower students to take responsibility for their own learning.

Customer Reviews (3)

urban teaching
This book gives a good overview of strategies and understanding for urban teaching. The book covers expectations, controlling behavior, goal planning, self-change, and understanding to higher achievement. As a new teacher this book is helpful to gain insight on child behavior and on urban school environments.

How to delivery high-quality education in any environment
Eleanor Renee Rodriguez and James Bellanca's WHAT IS IT ABOUT ME YOU CAN'T TEACH? AN INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE FOR THE URBAN EDUCATOR blends classroom expectations and standards with research-based practices to show teachers how to delivery high-quality education in any environment. The focus here is on urban students, developing strategies that help students take responsibility and control of the learning process. Chapters present four basic comprehension strategies and pair these ideas with tactics for success.

Great title that falls short of delivery...
The book is rooted on the cognitive development theories of Feuerstein.The theory is sound.The practical applications of these principles in a 'real' classroom seem daunting.There are sample lesson plans printed in the book (although most of them are geared toward the middle school aged child and not the high school level).The authors do a fine job of reviewing reading scaffolds (ie. word maps, graphic organizers, KWL charts, etc). However, in my opinion, they rely too heavily on cooperative grouping for the lessons that are proposed in the text. ... Read more

Product Description
Dozens of Effective Classroom Strategies & Activities to Teach Cooperation and Communication, Manners and Respect, Positive Behavior & More!
Includes ready-to-use reproducibles!
Foster a positive classroom community and build essential social skills with dozens of kid-friendly activities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Not worth your money
I was excited about ordering this book due to wanting to have more social skills-bldg activities for my kids' groups.I suppose I didn't read the product description very well; all these activities are for pre-K to K and a little confusing at that.I am disappointed.

Not the best
I am an elementary school counselor and this book is not the best I've seen.Some of the activities are ok, but not worth the money.

Easy Activities for Building Social Skills
There are 19 different social skills lessons with blackline masters.The skills are taught in a variety of formats including direct teaching, discussion, hands-on activities, role-play, puppet play, games, poems and stories, visual aids, and songs.I love to use literature when I can, and this book referenced many picture books for each social skill!It's a fabulous find-I only wish I'd had it sooner!

Exactly what I needed
This book offers direct lessons with worksheets, group activities, games, and book suggestions all to match each skill being taught in the lesson.It is a great component to any social skills class/group.I am using it for 2nd graders, so the preschool focus may be true for general education students, but for students with social needs, this is appropriate for older kids.Enjoy.

The Basics
I thought this was a good tool for use with ALL kids grades K-1, and the activities seemed fun. I was disappointed that it wasn't more clear that it was for such young classes. This isn't going to solve major problems, but it would certainly work to prevent some! ... Read more