Friday, 28 February 2014

Marin Kecman - 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets


The book I am reviewing is called “1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets” by Kandace Martin & Kathleen Brenny. The novel goes in order from your first day to every possible issue you can come across in the classroom. Being aware of a problem, you can just open the book and go to the section about your issue. The book was divided into 12 sections. Each section had 80 tips and tricks under that topic header. I will not be covering every single section, but will discuss some key ones that stood out to me.

Getting Started: The very first point in the novel is to carefully read over your contract. Ask any questions you have about salary, extra duties, the number of days you will be employeed. Make sure you find out about your healthcare and benefits. Before the school year begins, you should establish some connections with administration and staff members. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the school or anything. Make sure you get keys to the building, find out about parking, and class schedules. Get familiar with the layout of the school and the emergency exits and procedures. Walk around the school and get to know the neighborhood where your students live. Read the school mission statement and handbooks before classes start so you are prepared with policies and procedures. There are many things that a beginning educator must do before they even start teaching.

Classroom Management: This section of the book begins to outline what you have to do to have an accomplished classroom. There are two main goals outlined, cooperation and achievement. A recommendation is made to do an exit slip every day after class. Arrange your classroom with easy management in mind. Begin the term with setting up rules. Make sure that you stick to them throughout the year. Make sure that the parents are aware of the rules by sending home a copy of it. Try to make a procedure and routine so it’s easier for your students to know what’s coming.  Be aware that you will have many types of characters in your classroom that will need many different forms of conflict and behavior management. Make sure to address behavior that violates school policy head-on. Develop a model of trust, honesty and responsibility. Be careful how you discuss misbehavior with parents. Many other strategies and suggestions are outlined in this section for how to manage a successful classroom.

Assessing Student Learning: Assessment is there for the teacher to check for understanding of what the students know. It allows you to make the proper decisions for appropriate instruction. Make sure to be clear about your instructions on tests, and remind the students to try every question. Try to test reading and writing on a regular basis, and include book reports, with an expectation that the students will be able to converse about the author, content, and subject. Prepare your students for standardized tests. Stress the importance of them as well. Act appropriately and professionally even if you don’t agree with standardized tests, and try to make your students understand the importance of them. To better prepare your students, let them practice deciphering what a question is asking specifically. It may not always be about comprehension. Make yourself available for students after they have written a test. Stress logical structure when covering essay writing so they learn the basics early on. Lastly, encourage students to be involved in assessment. There are many other assessment secrets shared in this section of the book.

Reaching Out to Parents and the Community: The last fairly important and relevant chapter that I took out of the novel was reaching out to parents and the community. Communication is an important part in being an educator. To have a successful career, positive constant communication is key. Volunteering, participating in events special events and celebrations means that you are an involved caring individual that wants to be part of the greater network. It shows you care more about your students. Become loyal to local businesses that support your student’s families. Try to wear the school logo to represent your school. Also, foster positive relations with colleagues around you. Communicate with parents consistently with various forms from letters to phone calls to online blogs/websites. Meeting parents at parent-teacher conference can be a rewarding experience. A positive way to show your students progression to parents is with a growth portfolio that you helped them with. Always begin addressing a problem by asking both the student and parent what they think can be improved on. Then try building on their suggestions. That way they feel more involved in their child’s development.


Verdict: The novel, “1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets” by Kandace Martin & Kathleen Brenny does a great job in outlining what a new teacher can do to become a connected individual in the school system. It isn’t a very long read, and has many breaks where natural pauses can be made while reading it. The book can also be a reference for certain situations that arise throughout the year. You can always go back to the book and see if your situation is covered in the 12 chapters. The novel only covers the beginning of your career, so one of its drawbacks is that it has a shelf life. They way the book is laid out can be cumbersome to read, because there isn’t that much flow to the text. There are literally 1000 points in the novel. The ways the points are presented are in numerical fashion, under a larger header. It makes it very easy to skim to a section that you are looking for, but as a whole piece in itself, becomes disgruntled to read at times. Going back to the positive side of things, it appears as though the authors did a great job in covering what beginning educators need. Combined, the authors possess decades of experience, which shines through in the suggestions made. I would rate this novel an 8 out of 10 based on the fact that it’s a very easy read, points are direct, helpful and the layout is one which you can find anything you are looking for fairly quickly.

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