Here you will find a sampling of resources to support you in your first year of teaching. While these resources offer many strong, sound and proven strategies, of course no one book or website can be an educational panacea. Please consider these suggestions to be a starting place. Some strategies you find might work for your style/students/classroom/school and others might not. Take the most promising, true-to-you ideas you can glean and try them out – some will eventually become part of your permanent teaching repertoire, and before you know it, you just might find yourself offering them up as suggestions to the brand new teachers of next year.
Websites
Scholastic: Help for Your First Class – contains tools, resources, and tips on everything from time management to managing paperwork
Education World: New Teachers – series of articles, diary entries and columns with ideas and tips on topics such as: advice from principals of first year teachers and laying the groundwork on the first day of school
Middleweb: Help for New Teachers – especially for middle school, topics include grading, avoiding poor teaching practices, and motivation
Suite 101: New Teacher Support – experienced teachers write about their best strategies for classroom success. Includes option to subscribe to feed, so you won’t miss articles on designing the classroom environment, lesson planning, dealing with administration and many other newbie issues
Learning Communities
Inspiring Teacher Discussion Group
Books
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The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry and Rosemary Wong (Harry K. Wong Publications 2004): detailed and encouraging manual on effectively managing the very critical beginning of the school year. |
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First Year Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-To-Use Strategies, Tools & Activities For Meeting The Challenges Of Each School Day by Julia G. Thompson (Jossey-Bass 2007): Soup-to-nuts toolkit offering strategies for challenges such as: using technology in the classroom, managing daily routines, reaching students from low income families, working with parents, maintaining a work-life balance, and meeting professional development requirements. |
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Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline: Positive Behavior Management for Today's Classroom by Lee Marlene Canter (Solution Tree 2001): practical and systematic approach using rewards and consequences for managing student behavior. |
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Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher by Gary Rubinstein (Cottonwood Press, Inc. 1999): a quick and easy read that entertains while encouraging formation of effective student discipline techniques, by a fellow NYC educator. |
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The Organized Teacher by Steve Springer, Brandy Alexander, Kimberly Persiani-Becker (McGraw-Hill 2005): practical suggestions, guidelines, templates, checklists and advice on all aspects of organizing a K-8 classroom -- desk arrangement, creating student portfolios, unit planning, etc. |
Freebies and Discounts
Some companies, in recognition of the challenging and important teaching profession, offer free items (mostly related to teaching, but not always) and discounts just for educators. Here are a few to get you started.
Freebies
Yes! Magazine subscription
Timesavers: printable forms and templates
Discounts
Check out the discounts available to NYC DOE employees.
This listing of resources is provided for informational purposes and does not imply that the DOE endorses any particular product or service.