Saturday 8 March 2014

Angela Kramer- 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets (Teacher's Toolbox)

Theory and Practice: A Collective Teacher’s Toolbox
Angela Kramer

Book:

Brenny, K. & Martin, K. (2005). 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets. Naperville, IL., Sourcebooks, Inc.

Summary

1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets is a collaborative piece of work by Kathleen Brenny and Kandace Martin, who have a combined educational experiences of almost 70 years! Through their work in the field of education, in the day-to-day teaching of students, they have gained much knowledge and wisdom, which this book documents. This book details the many insights and lessons that educators Kathleen Brenny and Kandace Martin have gleaned in their educational experiences.
To me, there is no position that is more critical to student learning than an effective classroom teacher. Research tells us that teachers have profound influences on student achievement. The tips in 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets are geared towards current and especially future teachers; to help them gain a deeper understanding of the many decisions faced by teachers, the complexities of the position and the best practices that need to be exercised. This book looks at strategies to help find better ways to solve problems that you will face, to recognize a better way to do things, to enhance student learning and to find the joy of teaching. The tips, discussed more fully below, are intended to help maximize learning opportunities and challenge readers to always think of a better way to impact learning. 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets is a book that is filled with many pearls of wisdom that will assist current and future teachers to becoming significant teachers that positively affect student learning.   

Helpful Resources and Strategies

            1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets has 12 sections, which detail: getting started, classroom management, developing lessons, teaching the lesson, assessing student learning, utilizing resources, working with ESL students, students with special needs, reaching out to parents and community, maintaining professionalism, personal management, and safety in schools. The book also has a detailed appendix, in the form of lists, which highlights professional organizations, websites, learning supports, and books that are available to teachers.      
            The first strategy, tips 1-113, focus on ‘getting started’. In the getting started section the authors advocate for new teachers to become familiar with, ask questions and inquire about all aspects of the school system – the staff, students and policies.  The second strategy, tips 114-213, focus on ‘classroom management’. In the classroom management section the authors advocate for new teachers to set goals and class rules early on in the year, to deal with issues such as behaviour management, in order to develop a classroom environment built on trusting, respectful relationships. The third strategy, tips 214-295, focus on ‘developing lessons’. The authors give teachers advice on allowing time to develop lessons that have clear objectives and expectations of both the teacher and the students. The fourth strategy, tips 296-373, focus on ‘teaching the lesson’. In this section, the authors pointed out the importance of the teacher being aware of differences in learning styles, and push new teachers to think about the presentation and clarity of their lessons. The fifth strategy, tips 374-449, focus on ‘assessing student learning’. Here the authors advocate for the encouragement of student involvement in the various forms of assessment. The sixth strategy, tips 450-518, focus on ‘utilizing resources’. This section explores all the various resources that teachers are able to access – library resources, community resources, media resources, and professional development resources. The seventh strategy, tips 519-597, focus on ‘working with ESL students’, and highlights the trend of rapid growth of ‘English as a second language’ (ESL) students that make up our schools and classrooms. Within this section, there are resources and strategies that teachers can utilize as these type of students enter into schools. The eighth strategy, tips 598-667, focus on ‘students with special needs’. The authors stress the importance of teachers familiarizing themselves with special needs within their school or classroom and how the student(s) deals with the need as an individual. The ninth strategy, tips 668-733, focus on ‘reaching out to parents and community’. At the heart of this section, the authors stress the importance of open and effective communication to foster and maintain positive relationships between all parties. The tenth strategy, tips 734-803, focus on ‘maintaining professionalism’. Topics addressed in this section focus on teacher self-improvement through conferences and workshops. The authors advocate of the acceptance of personal responsibility as a teacher and the acknowledgement that you are a representative of your school. The eleventh strategy, tips 804-892, focus on ‘personal management’. As teachers we have to be effective at time management and dealing with the stresses of the job. This section highlights different tips for exercise, nutrition and managing a life outside of school. The twelfth strategy, tips 893-1000, focus on ‘safety in schools’. The topics addressed within this section include: bullying safety, playground safety and safety on outings. The latter half of the tips focus on safety drills that are and should be in place within the school system.

Critique

1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets sets out to help teachers and educators to gain a deeper understanding of the many decisions faced by teachers, the complexities of the position and the best practices that need to be exercised. The book looks at strategies to help find better ways to solve problems that you will face, to recognize a better way to do things, to enhance student learning and to find the joy of teaching. The tips are intended to help maximize learning opportunities and challenge readers to always think of a better way to impact learning. I fully believe that 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets does all of the above. Not only does the authors lay out the book in 12 easy-to-navigate sections, but within such sections, each tip is clearly worded so that it can easily be understood and implemented by the teacher.
The broad coverage of the book is a characteristic that I found to be lacking within the book. On the back cover of the book, the authors state that the book “covers important issues across all grade levels”. 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets was published in the United States in 2005. Even though the United States has a fairly diverse population and schooling systems, you cannot cover all the school cultures and dynamics. The setting of the book, I found, was a school system that is very white, middle-class and American, and the tips were a direct reflection of this. However, school systems are never homogeneous and neither are classes, or even individuals. Although many of the tips can be extrapolated to different school systems, such as vocational or trade-focused schools, it would have been nice for the authors to focus their attentions onto other schooling cultures.       

Overall, 1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets is a book that is filled with many pearls of wisdom that will assist current and future teachers to becoming significant teachers that positively affect student learning, and I would suggest this book as a must read to every teacher! 

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