Day One and Beyond: Practical Matters for New Middle-Level Teachers by Rick Wormeli

From the Publisher

Your teacher training may have provided sound theory and a collection of instructional techniques, but it's often the practical details that can make day-to-day survival difficult in your first days, weeks, and years of teaching. For new teachers or those just new to the middle-school environment, here is an invaluable resource from the author of Meet Me in the Middle that will help you walk in the door prepared to teach. Oriented toward the unique experience of teaching grades 5 through 9, Day One and Beyond delivers proven best practices along with often-humorous observations that provide a window into the middle school environment.

Based on his many years of research and experience in the middle school classroom, Rick offers frontline advice on:

• practical survival matters, such as what to do the first day and week, setting up the grade book and other record keeping, and what to do if you only have one computer in the classroom
• classroom management, including discipline, getting students' attention, and roving classrooms
• social issues, like the unique nature of middle-level students, relating to students, and positive relations with parents professional concerns, from collegiality with teammates to professional resources all middle-level teachers should have
Content and instruction are important, but so are the practical matters that enable sound teaching practice. Day One and Beyond shows middle-level teachers how to manage the physical and emotional aspects of their unique environment so they can do what they've been trained to do: successfully teach young adolescents.

VOYA

Preparing preservice teachers for upcoming classroom routines (seating arrangements, record keeping) is difficult, as practices depend on individual preferences and situations, which are impossible to duplicate in university courses. The author, an experienced, award-winning educator, tackles these issues in his second text after Meet Me in the Middle (Stenhouse, 2001), which featured best practices and strategies for middle-level teaching. Wormeli introduces his techniques by explaining the research behind them, and then deftly provides personal examples and insights regarding his experiences from these practices. His own 150 students lend credence to his writing, as do honest assessments of the time and processes required of teaching. A true middle-level educator, Wormeli writes both a serious and hilarious text. A tongue-in-cheek list of words will cause experienced educators to howl while reminding beginners of vocabulary considerations. This text is also thought provoking. Wormeli takes decisive stands on controversial issues, holding that inflating grades because of effort is dishonest and that skipping a homework assignment as a reward devalues study. He continually reminds readers that they are responsible for good teaching and professional currency, regardless of circumstances. Topics that are excluded or need expansion include extremely adversarial parents and students, standardized testing, inclusion, and bureaucracy. An appendix contains various samples, such as newsletters and rubrics, and additional resources. Although the tone and style is aimed toward young educators rather than their older peers, this resource is a must-have for any beginning middle-level teacher. Index.Biblio. Further Reading. Appendix. 2003, Stenhouse, 200p, Hazlett

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