Resources for New Teachers…and the rest of us.
I’m honored to have Melissa Tran as my guest blogger this week. She’s an inspiring educator!
You can find Melissa blogging at The New Tag. She is also on twitter @thenewtag.
For the past twenty years, Melissa has counseled, coached, trained, taught, laughed with, learned from and loved thousands of children and young adults and those entrusted with their care.
Her hope for her blog is to provide some helpful insight, tools (and sometimes tricks!) for parents, teachers and all of the others that share their lives with young people.
She shares a few of those with us today!
From Melissa:
When I was a new teacher I read a TON and watched every movie I could find about education and teaching. Lean on Me, Sister Act Two, Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, To Sir With Love… if I could find it on VHS (And yes, I know how that dates me), I watched it. I even watched the silly one where Mark Harmon teaches summer school.
It may sound corny but these movies helped me realize that some very successful teachers, first had to get through their early years. I also really paid attention to how the “movie” teachers spoke to and treated the kids. Even the completely fictional movies helped… there is something to be said for observing charismatic personalities in action. Charisma is a fantastic management tool and Hollywood teachers are usually charismatic!
I also read… a LOT. Here are a few of the books I remember most vividly from my “early” years:
ALL of the William Glasser Books – The Quality School, The Quality School Teacher, Choice Theory in the Classroom etc. They are easy to read, and gave me great, practical direction for creating the climate, relationships and accountability that I wanted to establish with my students. I found Glasser’s model to be a great fit for my beliefs and style and they truly shaped my early practice. More importantly, they worked!
Several books by Torey Hayden about her experiences as a special ed teacher… the one that I remember the most clearly was called One Child. Torey worked in heartbreaking circumstances, and didn’t do everything “right”, but she also didn’t QUIT, and no matter how tough things got, she persisted. That made all the difference with her kids and left a lasting impression on me.
My Posse Don’t Do Homework by Luanne Johnson. The movie “Dangerous Minds” is based on this book, but the book is so much, and I read it years before the movie. I didn’t realize how much of an impact this one had on me until years later when the movie actually came out. My students saw it before I did and I didn’t know anything about it. After seeing it they all kept saying “Dangerous Minds” to me and smiling, shaking their heads and saying, you’ve got to see it, Miss.”
This made me pretty uncomfortable. I didn’t know anything about the movie or why my students were associating it with me. Let me assure you, I look NOTHING like Michelle Pfeifer.
When I finally went to see the movie, I was touched and pleased to see that they had picked up on and recognized that, like me, the main character was a strong proponent of the idea that “You always have a choice”. I didn’t realize until the final credits that the movie is based on the book I had read during my 1st year as a teacher.
There are also many, many excellent resources I’ve discovered more recently. They include:
Books
Wake Up Calls by Doctor Eric Allenbaugh – Great for framing an accountable relationship with students/classes. I’ve had great success using this to create mini-lessons about what I expect from students, what they should expect from me and why. I’ve also passed it on countless times and always gotten terrific feedback from others who have tried it. Check out chapter 5 – “The Dirty Dozen” (12 Ways People Attempt to Escape Accountability) to help minimize excuse making in your classroom.
The Speed of Trust by Steven M. Covey – Trust matters. Building it is the most efficient way to maximize the efficiency and efficacy of a group. I found the concepts in this book really relevant to the struggles teachers experience related to classroom management; ie- “How can I teach/how can they learn when I spend the whole class “managing” behavior?” Relationship, mutual accountability and trust are powerful stuff, in businesses and in the classroom.
Links
The Motherlode of Classroom Management Resources
Principal and PLN Force, Eric Sheninger’s Site – Phenomenal Resources – also check out his Del.icio.us Bookmarks and follow him on Twitter @NMHS_Principal
A New Project to Help Teachers Integrate Tech – Ed Tech Specialist Andy Cinek is providing terrific resources and support for teachers who want to learn to use technology to improve their practice. You can also follow him @andycinek
Cowpernicus’ Beliefs in Schools
Todd Whitaker on “What Great Teachers DO Differently”
The Power of Positivity: Effective Classroom Management Tips
Edutopia’s tips for an engaged classroom
Tips for New Teachers via Steve Bossenberger
You may also find some of the other articles on this blog helpful. They include:
10 Reasons Educators Must See Sister Act 2
Feedback is a Gift. Thank You! (and you’re welcome;o))
Want kids to be happy? Teach gratitude.
Additional Suggestions
Start a Twitter account to use for professional development – I don’t recommend using your personal account. You’ll find loads and loads of resources and people to help you on Twitter. People have written a bunch of blog posts about how to use Twitter as a Professional Development resource and I will compile a few in another post shortly. In the mean time, you can follow me @thenewtag and check out my lists and people I follow.
I also recommend that you get started by following @Shellterrell , (Coordinates #edchat , a phenomenal resource and gateway to support; she’s also an amazing Blogger, Organizer, and Leader) @ktenkely (Terrific Blogger, Leader, Organizer), and @teachingwthsoul (She is incredibly helpful and supportive and created and moderates #ntchat , an online chat for new teachers every week!) These three tweet terrific resources and, will quickly lead you to other terrific resources and people to follow. Their tweets are a great place to start building your PLN.
You should, you MUST also follow @cybraryman1 on Twitter. Not only has he compiled an amazing “Education Catalogue” packed with resources for just about EVERYTHING, but he’s put together a New Teacher Page just for you!
Find great blogs and subscribe. Kelly and Shelly’s (@Shellterrell @ktenkely) are a great place to start. Also check out my blog roll.
Lastly, and most importantly, take advantage of every professional development experience and look for opportunities for peer-to-peer observation and collaboration. Coaching and mentoring are critical to improving professional practice and if we aren’t getting this from our supervisors, we can create it among our peers.
Thank you, Melissa for your energetic, inspiring commitment to education!
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LISA DABBS
Wife. Mom. Educator. Author. She started her career as an elementary school teacher in Southern California. In this role as teacher, she assisted with a grant project and became the Project Director of a Language and Literacy program. Read more
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What a helpful list of resources! I wish that Twitter was around when I started teaching. I love how you can get amazing, helpful information fast. The only drawback that I see is that it can be overwhelming. But, with blog posts such as this, one can sort through it quickly.
Thanks!