Practical Advice and Strategies for Getting Started in Elementary Teaching
Reading time
Date posted
For new teachers, summer is often a balancing act between taking a well-deserved break and preparing for the school year ahead. And while new teachers enter the classroom with enthusiasm and fresh ideas for teaching, there’s no denying that they’ll also encounter challenges and have many questions in their first years of teaching.
Letters to a New Teacher: Real Advice and Practical Strategies for Getting Started in Elementary Teaching, written by veteran elementary teacher Jennifer Orr, is a behind-the-scenes, what-your- teacher-education-program-never-told-you look into teaching. As Orr writes:
While your job is to teach your students, to help them make academic progress, you cannot only do that. Your students are people with all the strengths, needs, and complications that involve. Your toolbox of skills and strategies will need to include a lot of tools that are not about reading, math, or history. The goal of this book is to help you fill that toolbox so that you and your students have more time and energy for academics.
Written as a series of short, conversational letters, Letters to a New Teacher is full of read-it-and-use-it-tomorrow strategies and advice around new teachers’ frequently asked questions from “How do I manage bathroom breaks?” to “How do I navigate students’ challenging behaviors?” to “How can I get kids to pitch in and keep our classroom organized?”
Take a peek behind the cover and check out a small collection of the letters in this book:
Keeping Classroom Space Clean and Organized
First Day(s) of School
Flexible Seating
Collaborating with Families
Whether you’re a new teacher yourself, a mentor of new teachers, or a school leader welcoming new teachers to your building, Letters to a New Teacher illuminates both the challenges and beauty of the first few years of teaching. As Jennifer Orr writes, “I hope this book helps you through tough moments and gives you more opportunities to find joy in teaching.”
About the Author
Jennifer Orr is a National Board Certified elementary school classroom teacher. In her nearly thirty years in the classroom, she has taught kindergartners through fifth graders. She is the author of Demystifying Discussion: How to Teach and Assess Academic Conversation Skills, K-5, and the coauthor of We’re Gonna Keep on Talking: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Elementary Classroom.
Related book
Letters to a New Teacher
Real Advice and Practical Strategies for Getting Started in Elementary Teaching
While new elementary school teachers often receive professional learning around teaching literacy, math, and other content areas, they are often left to “figure it out” in other areas of classroom practice.
This book brings teacher-next-door advice to life in a series of letters full of read-it-and-use-it-tomorrow strategies and advice around new teachers’ frequently asked questions.
