My first year, just like mostly every new teacher, was sooooooo hard. Mostly because I didn’t know what to expect. These are tips that would have helped me when I was beginning my first year of school.
- Expect to be overwhelmed. Teaching is such a big job. You only find out how big those shoes are once you step into them.
- Expect to feel out of sorts. Even if you have experience student teaching, being in charge is a horse of a different color. This is a new experience. Any new experience can make you feel this way.
- Expect to feel overwhelmed. Teaching is such a big responsibility. Until you assume control over a class, you never know just how overwhelming it is. You never know just how many lesson plans there are to make, change, and implement; how to decorate the classroom; how to take advantage of a teachable moment @ any point and time. It’s so much I can’t list them all.
- Try to stay on top of the lesson plans. Be very diligent with keeping up with the lesson plans. Your day becomes a lot longer when there’s nothing to do. Hopefully, you’re not in school. If so, good luck with that.
- Don’t expect a lot of support. If you have it fine, if not fine. Fellow teachers will be your biggest supporters. Find out who the biggest, baddest teacher is and arrange to have your students spend their time-out there.
- Don’t expect everything to be easy. If they are, super-dee-duper-fantastic. If not, welcome to the real world.
- Expect the students to challenge you. Believe me when I say they will. They have to.
- Do not expect to leave @ 2:40. Are you kidding? Expect to have to put in overtime copying, cleaning the classroom, getting ready for the next day, etc…
- Expect to want to quit at least once a week, maybe more.
- Finally, expect a steep learning curve. Being the teacher of record is totally different from student teaching. It is so much more to it. I don’t care how prepared you think you are, there’s always more to learn.
is gone.
Roxaboxen
When I was little, I didn’t know what a family was.
Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes, is about being proud of your unusual name. Before Chrysanthemum goes to school, her parents dote on her. They tell her how perfect she is and how they love her name; that it’s simply the best name EVER. The trouble begins when she goes to school and someone makes fun of her name. Why would someone say that her name is not perfect? Of course it is. Isn’t it? Chrysanthemum begins to have doubts. Now, she doesn’t want to go to school. Poor Chrysanthemum. Not even her parents can convince her that her unusual name is beautiful. Finally someone comes along and tells Chrysanthemum that her name is one of the loveliest names she’s ever heard of. This gives her her confidence back. A lovely little book.
is a book I’d recommend for, what else?… beginning Kindergarten. It’s too cute. I love the heroine Miss Bindergarten. In case you haven’t heard of it, there’s a series of books with Miss Bindergarten and her class. Most famously, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of School. In this book, Miss Bindergarten prepares for the first day of Kindergarten.
Listen Buddy, by Helen Lester, is about a little rabbit, named Buddy, who just doesn’t listen. He simply does not pay attention. This ends up getting him in trouble. Buddy’s mother sends him on different errands. This book teaches how to follow directions.
title is self-explanatory. It’s about the little boy, David, who goes to school. The author, David Shannon, wrote his first book when he was 5, called No, David, No! Those were basically the only words he knew how to spell, no, and his own name. This book picks up where the other one left off. It’s very good for pre-K or Kindergarten. It teaches about misbehavior & its consequences as young David misbehaves the whole day and makes a series of excuses as to why he’s misbehaving. At the end of the book we see David washing all the desks until they sparkle. However, all is not lost as David is given a pat on the head and a gold star. Even though we love David, we still see that there are consequences for misbehavior.
Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind, by Judy Finchler, is a book I could have written myself. It’s about a teacher who loves to read trying to inspire the same desire in her students. The exciting part begins when the school enters a contest to read 1,000 books. However, Miss Malarkey doesn’t just want the students to read for the contest, she wants them to actually appreciate the joy of reading. The problem begins when four boys refuse to cooperate. One by one, Miss Malarkey finds three of them books they love. They now find themselves reading books instead of playing video games. Finally, Miss Malarkey finds a book for the last one. He wants to be the one to read the 1,000th book.
TIGHTROPE POPPY the High-Wire Pig, by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, was a sweet little book about following your dreams. This book is a must read for anyone who dreams of a career path out of the ordinary. Poppy wants to be a tightrope artist. Even though this is not the typical thing that a pig does, she decides to leave home and follow her dreams. The circus owner welcomes her aboard and tells her to practice. She tells him that she doesn’t need practice. When her big day comes, she falls in front of everyone. She is so embarrassed that she wants to quit but she doesn’t. She takes the owner’s advice and practices. When she gets her chance again, she is the hit of the show. All of her practice and perseverance pays off. The message- You can do anything you want to do. Live your dream.
was a book I received straight from the publisher to review in advance. I liked it. In the book the title character, Victor, is a good kid, but he was a victim of the “I Hate to Read” syndrome. He hates to read. That is until he meets the crocodile in the white coat who introduces him to the many adventures he can experience in a book. Trust me, your students will love it. By the time you finish reading the book, some of your students may very well learn to love reading. Check it out!
My students loved it. One of my students even asked if I could buy him one (I did!). He wanted to earn it. Why did my students love it so much? Well, the book deals with bullying, friendship, and turning negatives into positives. The book begins as the title character, Danny, meets an older gentleman by the name of Socrates while he’s running from a bully. It’s kinda’ like a Karate kid book. Socrates teaches Danny about the peaceful warrior. A contradiction? I know. Read it and you’ll understand.
in a homogeneous environment (I don’t know where that exists). Itcelebrates the different colors of everyone. It shows us how we’re alike, and how we’re different.
I love this book because it teaches self-esteem. When I first read the book, it reminded me of my little girl, Phillise. There’s this picture in the book where the little girl in the book gets her hair washed and it’s sticking straight up. Kinda’ scary looking. It so reminded me of Phillise’s hair when I wash it. Although I love that the little girl is brown, your audience doesn’t have to be. The message is loud & clear- love yourself no matter what you look like.
illustrated by Sophie Fatus, is a nice little read aloud. I first came across this book when I had to review a series of books for my Children’s Literature class. For the assignment, I had to review 25 books, write a review on them, and make a page on them. My professor loved it so much, she gave me a 350/300. She said that it was the best picture book she’d ever seen. For this one, I photocopied the cover in color, cut it out, and embellished it. I cut little pieces of yellow yarn for the little girl’s hair, made a bow for the alligator’s hair, and cut teeth for her. It was too cute.
This book kinda’ reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches & that Star Trek (original) episode where the black/white and white/black people were feuding. In Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches, the sneetches are feuding because some of them have stars on their bellies, while some do not. On the Star Trek episode, Enterprise finds itself in the middle of a civil war. Captain Kirk inquires as to what the two peoples are fighting about. To which he responds,”Why, can’t you see, Captain? I’m black on the left side and he’s black on the right side.
Ah, the day I saw my mother-in-law’s vagina. What a catchy title? You just have to read this post now, don’t you? Trust me, this post is not going to be what you thought it was going to be about. This post is about a couple of things. Like to hear them, here they are:
Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry (2003), written by the late Bebe Moore Campbell and illustrated by E.B. Lewis, is a wonderful book. As you know, if you’ve read a couple of my reviews, I am a great believer in bibliotherapy. This book is perfect for that. The author had personal experience dealing with mental illness with her daughter, actress Maia Campbell of In The House fame. Campbell says that she wrote this book for all the young children who have parents who battle mental illness. She, very much wanted this book to be used as an opportunity to develop resilience by introducing and/or reinforcing coping strategies. This book is perfect for child psychologists, parents, guardians & teachers to read and share with any child who has a parent, caretaker, or family member who suffers from a mental illness. Shortly after this book, she wrote 72 Hour Hold, the story of a mother struggling to help her 18-year-old daughter, a victim of bipolar disorder. I love that Campbell wrote this book. I read how, in one interview, she discussed how the Black community doesn’t like to talk about mental illness as if it’s a shame. It’s not. It’s just like any other illness. If you need to take medication to make yourself well, that’s what you do. That’s why I appreciated this book so much. Finally, someone willing to write a children’s book about it. I also wrote another review for a children’s book dealing with depression also, called 
N-e way, on to the review.
“MY MAMA SAYS THERE AREN’T ANY ZOMBIES, GHOSTS, VAMPIRES, CREATURES, DEMONS, MONSTERS, FIENDS, GOBLINS, OR THINGS,” would be better titled “Sometimes, even mamas make mistake”. So, not being one to pass up a teachable moment, I had her re-read the book to me, then we looked at what was going on in the story, how many times monsters were mentioned and how many times his mama made a mistake. I then asked her why she thought that. She actually gave me a pretty good reason. As it turned out, the mother making mistakes and monsters being mentioned was actually pretty even. There were as many instances of monsters as the mother making a mistake. However, I asked her which one did she think was a catchier title; which one would sell more. We agreed it was the current one and ended the discussion. It was a pretty good discussion to have with her. Afterwards, she went in her room to make a book of her own. She asked me to help her bind it. I love my beautiful, smart & creative little girl. I hope to have many more conversations like this with her.
” Well? What is it? Is it the big elephant in the room?,” one friend asks another.
Zoom (2006), written by Diane Adams, and illustrated by Kevin Luthardt is a fun, rollercoaster ride of a book.
Bartholomew & the Oobleck (1949), written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, was a nice read. I don’t know how I never ending up reading this book, but I never did until this May. I read it to my class. We were supposed to make the oobleck but ended up running out of time. That’s okay ’cause I will make this one of my first science experiments when I return to work. I would recommend this book for children as young as 4 years old. Now, on to the review.
The Quiltmaker’s Gift (2000), written by Jeff Brumbeau and illustrated by Gail de Marcken, was a wonderful book. I plan on purchasing this and reading it to my class. As I sat in the bookstore, in the middle of the aisle, so engrossed was I in the story, I didn’t realize that I was blocking the way for other patrons.
Special 2 Me 