Jody Oliver's List: First-Year teacher

"If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won’t hear about some fantastic new book or video lecture series. Most likely you will hear something like, “It was all Mr. Jones. He just never gave up on me.”

What students take away from a successful education usually centers on a personal connection with a teacher who instilled passion and inspiration for their subject. It’s difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are continually re-evaluating how to quantify learning. But the first and most important question to ask is:

Are teachers reaching their students? Here are 25 things successful educators do differently."

I was recently in a third grade classroom and was struck by the presence of rules that were posted for how to have a conversation. The poster said, "Each person must contribute to the discussion but take turns talking. Ask each other, 'Would you like to add to my idea?' or 'Can you tell us what you are thinking?' Ask questions so that you understand each other's ideas. Say, 'Can you tell me more about that?' or 'Can you say that in another way?'"

My first year teaching a literacy coach came to observe my classroom. After the students left, she commented on how I asked the whole class a question, would wait just a few seconds, and then answer it myself. "It's cute," she added. Um, I don't think she thought it was so cute. I think she was treading lightly on the ever-so shaky ego of a brand-new teacher while still giving me some very necessary feedback.

"Explore FREE activities, search by Common Core standard, customize Playlists, build classes, and monitor assignments."

Making pop-ups is easy!
These simple lessons should get you started.

TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using our robust search tools. Sign Up (Free)

For those working their way towards a teaching degree, the excitement that comes along with becoming a teacher can be tempered by the terror of actually having to manage a classroom full of kids. Student teaching, and the first few years of teaching that follow, can be valuable and rewarding experiences, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be stressful and crazy as well as you get the hang of being in charge of a classroom. If you’re not teaching in any Ivy league prep school you’re likely to get razzled from time to time.Here are some tips, shared experiences of other teachers, advice from the pros, and helpful information that can help make your student teaching experience the best it can be.

TeachersFirst is a free resource that was started by an extraordinary collection of individuals with an unlikely opportunity to share their good fortune. Learn how TeachersFirst stays free.

free

Welcome to my brand-spankin' new website. Here I will be discussing the latest news in education, curriculum design, a smattering of educational policy, and most importantly, how to more deeply enjoy this crazy and difficult calling of ours. For if you don’t figure out how to love teaching, with all of its obstacles and insults, then your students will not love learning. This blog is meant to help new educators to the profession, veterans, and second career teachers navigate through this difficult yet rewarding career. It is also meant to challenge the past practices in our schools that do not work, while highlighting those that do. Through celebrating education's successes and analyzing its struggles, I hope, that with honesty, I can help enable change. Click Here to Learn More

"Teaching is a unique profession because its success is based heavily on knowledge, craft, and relationships. No matter how strong the craft, imparting knowledge will be nearly impossible if the relationship between you and your student is absent. "

"After polling teachers, checking box office numbers, critical reviews and teacher forums, we've compiled a list of the Top 12 must see teacher movies."

For over a decade, TeAchnology has been providing free and easy-to-use resources for teachers, including “Teacher Timesavers” to help educators better organize. The site also features 42,000-plus lesson plans, 9,000 free printable worksheets, rubrics, teaching tips, web quests, and other free teacher resources.

Simple tools for digital classroom http://pulsene.ws/Rc6n

Some great ideas!

Lots of online resources such as word magnets, name/group selector and more!!

And a random name picker, venn diagrams, timelines, and more!

Outline your classroom floor plan!