How to Be Successful in Your First Year of Teaching Middle School: Everything You Need to Know That They Don't Teach You in School

This heavily researched, detailed book will help first-year middle school teachers learn how to deal with supplies, planning, parents, overcrowded classrooms, the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, piles of paperwork, money shortages due to budget cuts, negativity from pubescent students and other staff members, at-risk students, students who are capable but choose not to work, and special needs students. You will learn how to ask principals and administrators for help, how to memorize names quickly, how to create seating charts, how to write lesson plans, how to follow a daily routine, how to help struggling readers, how to gain respect, how to get a mentor, how to develop and implement a grading system, how to discipline students who feel they are more mature than they are, how to create assessments, how to find free things for teachers, and how to build your confidence. The most important thing of all, you will learn how to deal with the rapidly changing emotions and hormones of new teenagers and middle school age students. In addition, you will read about where to go for support, the reality of spending your own money on classroom supplies, mandated tests, technology solutions, and behavior management skills. We spent countless hours interviewing second year middle school teachers, as well as veteran teachers, and have gathered and presented their advice for how to deal with the first year in teaching at a middle school.