Larisa Kardash - Collective Teacher's Toolbox

The First Year Teacher's Survival Guide

Thompson, J. (2007). The first year teacher's survival guide: Ready to use strategies, tools & activities for meeting the challenges of each school day. (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Summary:

This book is a simple and refreshing look at answering some common problems that first year teacher's have. There are 17 sections throughout the book, which range from topics such as "developing your professional expertise", "design effective lessons", to "handle behaviour problems effectively". In each section, it breaks down each topic into multiple categories like discussing the myths about discipline, ways to motivate your students, and how to help students manage stress. The following pictures outline the multiple positive and motivational strategies that this book covers.

 

Resources and Strategies:

I found many helpful strategies throughout this book in regards to not only a couple common problems, but answers and tips about anything and everything that could be a question from a new teacher. 

A couple helpful ways that this book did this was by providing a checklist at the beginning of each section which explained exactly what kind of resources and strategies will be covered in it. 

The following picture shows a section in which the book talks about dealing effectively with children who are defiant. This is helpful if a teacher may need quick tips to dealing with behavioural issues in a classroom without causing more problems along the way. 

Another quote that the book has in which I found very encouraging is in the section of believing in children so that it gives them hope. Having a positive attitude in the face of difficulties shows students that you believe in them and can pave a way to showing students respect and that they can trust you as a teacher. 

Critique:

This book is such a positive resource for anyone who has questions about teaching. The wide range of suggestions, tips, and advice is impressive. I found this book to be incredibly helpful in regards to being able to look up a topic in the Table of Contents and read through each of it's sections or just pick one of the sections that most pertains what I am looking for. I think that this is one of the best and most helpful resources a teacher could have on their bookshelf to keep handy for those times you want to quickly read through and find problem solving strategies for a variety of issues faced in the first few years of teaching. It also includes student Inventory forms for elementary, middle, or high school students (pages 135-137) which I found especially helpful in seeing how to properly organize inventory questions to get to know your students better. I also found the chapters on dealing with difficult classes very helpful because it gave positive strategies to remember in times where issues in a classroom can be mental and emotional exhausting. Keeping these tips in mind is a powerful way of preventing further issues or problems from continuing or getting worse. I found that the positive nature in this book kept me intrigued and interested in reading further and it was a powerful reminder that being a teacher is one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding careers to choose.