A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

What to Expect Your First Year Teaching

If you wanted to know what it's like to walk on the Moon, you'd interview an astronaut. If you wanted insights on playing Hamlet, you'd study the performance of a Shakespearean actor. And if you wanted to know what the first year of teaching school is like, you'd ask teachers who'd just completed their first year on the job.

What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching, a new booklet from OERI, does just that. Based largely on discussions with award-winning teachers who are new to their profession, it provides invaluable information from beginning teachers, whose reflections may be useful not only for others who are new to the classroom but for principals, administrators, and teacher educators as well.

The new teachers answer some key questions. What were the greatest rewards? Did they get the right preparation? What is it like to feel rebuffed by veteran teachers, to struggle with budget cutbacks, or to see children in distress? How did the new teachers surmount challenges, and what would they want other new teachers to know?

The teachers spoke effusively of their love for children and the satisfaction gained from watching student progress. Teachers also mentioned their need for more and better preparation in uses of technology, classroom management, and in what one teacher described as "the unwritten realities of the teaching profession"--factors such as gangs, broken homes, violence, and fear.

The final section of the book lists resources for beginning teachers, as well as a checklist of tips and strategies--for example, plan relentlessly and set high, consistently reinforced expectations for behavior and academic performance.

Single copies of What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching are available free, while supplies last, by calling toll free 1-877-4ED-Pubs. If you want more than one copy, the book is available from the Government Printing Office for $7, stock 065-000-01185-9. The publication also is available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/FirstYear/ch1.html.

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