Product Description

Survive & Thrive in the Classroom From Day One!
Teaching high school students is the toughest job you'll ever love. Of course, often it is an acquired love. You must learn to manage your students' education and play parent, counselor, police officer, and mentor. Wow! Now relax—it doesn't have to be overwhelming. With a little preparation you can ensure that you and your students get the most out of your time in the classroom and enjoy it!
Full of real-world advice and answers for the complex issues facing today's high school teachers, this down-to-earth and witty book will teach you how to create an atmosphere of cooperation, learning, and respect within your classroom. Use this helpful guide as your personal mentor to achieve a successful and satisfying career as a high school teacher.
Earn straight A's your first year by knowing how to:
·Create an attention-grabbing and interactive teaching environment
·Manage difficult students and unique teenage problems
·Communicate, educate, and have fun with your students
·Balance the demands of old-school administrators and pushy parents
·Fairly assess, grade, and evaluate students
·Develop effective and engrossing lesson plans
"Straightforward, up-to-date, and engaging. I've seen a lot of resource books for new teachers, and this is the best of the bunch."
—Wendell Geis, continuing education administrator, University of California, Davis

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89732 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04
• Released on: 2001-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
"Kids are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for!"
? Roxanne P., Buffalo, New York
"The most fun part of teaching is simply listening to the things kids say. On the first day of school I was introducing the subject matter we'd be covering in American history. I asked the kids to think of how a knowledge of history could help people to get along better in life. One of the tough kids in class wasn't volunteering any answers, so I called on him to respond. As he sat up straight in his seat, some of his buddies began guffawing behind him. I ignored them and repeated the question: 'How do you use history to get along?' He turned around to his friends and said, without missing a beat, 'Knock off the laughing, or you're history.'"
?Becka R., Mesa, Arizona
"Sometimes the day's curriculum goes in unexpected directions, no matter how well you plan. Jeff, a chemistry teacher in Minnesota, sat down after a class to plan his next unit. "Suddenly, this loud crack scared me half to death," Jeff says. "I must have jumped three feet. Let's just say one of my students had mixed something combustible! You can tell them over and over again to clean up their messes, but sometimes they don't!"
"What did I learn my first year of school? Get organized!?Even two minutes of disorganization results in complete chaos for the rest of the hour. Get organized."
? Robert T., Galveston, Texas
"Some lessons you only learn through experience."
? Joan M., Kent, Washington
"I really benefited from our state's mandated mentor system my first year teaching, especially in the area of discipline. I overcame several really difficult discipline issues with the sage advice of my mentor. I can't recommend mentoring highly enough. It gave me the foundation I needed to continue teaching through the rough spots."
? Tamara B., Michigan
"I have discovered over the years that there is no technique that always works. What was magic last week is boring this week. To that end, I frequently change the environment by rearranging furniture, updating the materials I place on my walls, and completely changing the look and feel of my classroom?.Ever since I gave up the 'nailed-to-the-floor' mind-set, teaching¾and learning?have been exciting for all of us."
? Genna R., Phoenix, Arizona -- Review

Review
"Kids are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for!"
— Roxanne P., Buffalo, New York
"The most fun part of teaching is simply listening to the things kids say. On the first day of school I was introducing the subject matter we'd be covering in American history. I asked the kids to think of how a knowledge of history could help people to get along better in life. One of the tough kids in class wasn't volunteering any answers, so I called on him to respond. As he sat up straight in his seat, some of his buddies began guffawing behind him. I ignored them and repeated the question: 'How do you use history to get along?' He turned around to his friends and said, without missing a beat, 'Knock off the laughing, or you're history.'"
—Becka R., Mesa, Arizona
"Sometimes the day's curriculum goes in unexpected directions, no matter how well you plan. Jeff, a chemistry teacher in Minnesota, sat down after a class to plan his next unit. "Suddenly, this loud crack scared me half to death," Jeff says. "I must have jumped three feet. Let's just say one of my students had mixed something combustible! You can tell them over and over again to clean up their messes, but sometimes they don't!"
"What did I learn my first year of school? Get organized!…Even two minutes of disorganization results in complete chaos for the rest of the hour. Get organized."
— Robert T., Galveston, Texas
"Some lessons you only learn through experience."
— Joan M., Kent, Washington
"I really benefited from our state's mandated mentor system my first year teaching, especially in the area of discipline. I overcame several really difficult discipline issues with the sage advice of my mentor. I can't recommend mentoring highly enough. It gave me the foundation I needed to continue teaching through the rough spots."
— Tamara B., Michigan
"I have discovered over the years that there is no technique that always works. What was magic last week is boring this week. To that end, I frequently change the environment by rearranging furniture, updating the materials I place on my walls, and completely changing the look and feel of my classroom….Ever since I gave up the 'nailed-to-the-floor' mind-set, teaching¾and learning—have been exciting for all of us."
— Genna R., Phoenix, Arizona

From the Inside Flap
Survive & Thrive in the Classroom From Day One!
Teaching high school students is the toughest job you'll ever love. Of course, often it is an acquired love. You must learn to manage your students' education and play parent, counselor, police officer, and mentor. Wow! Now relax?it doesn't have to be overwhelming. With a little preparation you can ensure that you and your students get the most out of your time in the classroom and enjoy it!
Full of real-world advice and answers for the complex issues facing today's high school teachers, this down-to-earth and witty book will teach you how to create an atmosphere of cooperation, learning, and respect within your classroom. Use this helpful guide as your personal mentor to achieve a successful and satisfying career as a high school teacher.
Earn straight A's your first year by knowing how to:
·Create an attention-grabbing and interactive teaching environment
·Manage difficult students and unique teenage problems
·Communicate, educate, and have fun with your students
·Balance the demands of old-school administrators and pushy parents
·Fairly assess, grade, and evaluate students
·Develop effective and engrossing lesson plans
"Straightforward, up-to-date, and engaging. I've seen a lot of resource books for new teachers, and this is the best of the bunch."
?Wendell Geis, continuing education administrator, University of California, Davis

Customer Reviews

Fills a void in teachers' references
This is one of the few books available that specifically addresses teaching at the high school level. It presents a very realistic picture of what students at this level are like and where they are coming from. The approach is very pragmatic, including things like setting up classroom rules, arranging your desk area, setting up a filing system, preparing for parent meetings, and managing your time. I found the many website recommendations to be especially useful.

I had to rate it less than five stars, however, because much of the material is rudimentary. For example, I think that even new teachers would find little in the lesson planning chapter that they didn't learn in school. This would be a better book if it stuck to the topics that aren't taught in traditional education programs. I recommend reading only the chapters that are of personal concern to you.

The best book I've read yet
As a recent grad with a job starting in August I find myself reading as many books as possible. Most tell me what I already know. This book is different. I've never seen a book cover so many topics so well. The beginning focuses on lesson planning, setting up your classroom, management, etc. Not only does it discuss these issues but the sidebars have different helpful themes. Some define teaching terms, others give the address of a useful webpage, while some are quick stories or tips from established teachers.

Not only does this book help with the basics and give plenty of resources, it goes deeper than any other book I've seen. This book covers touchy subjects that most don't dare talk about. It discusses relationships with peers (it even touches on going out drinking with them), problems with students (such as sex, drugs, abuse, rape, depression, etc) and more.

In short I would highly recommend this book to any new teacher.

how-to vs. reference book
I think that the authors were trying too hard to make this a how-to book, when it should be regarded instead as a reference book.

What I mean is, the book spells out everything a new teacher has to think about, from discipline, to lesson plans, to staff relations, to supplies, etc. etc. etc. I don't think it really succeeds as a how-to book, though. If you want something like that, start with Harry Wong's "First Days of School" instead.

This book might be handy next to your dictionary and thesaurus as a reference guide, though. The numerous sidebars are what set apart this book from some others. "From the desk of..." provides nice anecdotes and stories. "Making the grade" points to numerous excellent online resources.

"Teaching terms" is a bit condescending (What first-year teacher doesn't know what curriculum means? If there are a lot, we are all in big trouble!) but on the whole, I think first-year teachers will be able to use snippets of this book. But unless you are a subsitute looking for a "crash course" approach to the profession, I think you will be a bit disappointed if you read this book cover to cover.