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.
One of the first Nationally Board Certified teachers in America, Rick Wormeli brings innovation, energy, validity and high standards to both his presentations, and his instructional practice, which includes almost 30 years teaching math, science, English, physical education, health, and history and coaching teachers. Rick's work has been reported in numerous media, including ABC's "Good Morning America," "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, National Geographic and Good Housekeeping magazines, What Matters Most: Teaching for the 21st Century, and the Washington Post. He is a columnist for the National Middle School Association's Middle Ground magazine, and he is the author of the award-winning book, Meet Me in the Middle: Becoming an Accomplished Middle Level Teacher, as well as the best-selling books, Day One and Beyond, Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom, Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching any Subject, and Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, Grades 6-12, all five from Stenhouse Publishers, as well as Summarization in any Subject, published by ASCD. His classroom practice is the showcase for the first DVD of ASCD's best-selling series, "At Work in the Differentiated Classroom," and he is a contributing author to Middle School Matters, and Because You Teach, published by Incentive Publications. His new book from Stenhouse on homework practices in the 21st century will be released in 2012.
With his substantive presentations, sense of humor, and unconventional approaches, he's been asked to present to teachers and administrators in all 50 states, Canada, China, Europe, Japan, the Bahamas, Vietnam, Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and at the White House. He is a seasoned veteran of many international Web casts, and he is Disney's American Teacher Awards 1996 Outstanding English Teacher of the Nation. He won the 2008 James P. Garvin award from the New England League of Middle Schools for Teaching Excellence, Service, and Leadership, and he has been a consultant for National Public Radio, USA Today, Court TV, and the Smithsonian Institution's Natural Partners Program and their search for the Giant Squid. He lives in Herndon, Virginia with his wife and two children, one in high school, one at college. He is currently writing several education articles, working on his first young adult fiction novel, and that new book on homework.
This review is from: Day One and Beyond (Paperback)
This book offers excellent insight into the world of teaching in a middle school. There are wonderful, and practical, strategies for how to approach everything from assigning homework to seating charts to discipline problems. This book is a must have for any new middle school teacher!
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This review is from: Day One and Beyond (Paperback)
I've been the editor and webmaster of a website dedicated to middle grades education for about 10 years. As part of that work, we've developed a strong online community of 600+ professional educators from across the globe who hold daily discussions about teaching adolescents. These "teachers on the frontlines" generally consider Rick Wormeli's "Day One & Beyond" to be a "must have" book for any teacher new to the middle grades. And they're quick to admit that he's got plenty of ideas that will benefit veterans as well! For middle school novices, I'd rank it at or above the level of the classic "First Days of School." Get both!
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This review is from: Day One and Beyond (Paperback)
This is one book that both teachers and parents can refer to. A great go-to book for middle and high school teachers day to day. If you are a parent, you will know better what to look for in a dedicated teacher who is interested to keep your kids engaged in learning or keep the classroom in order.
A teacher can take charge of the classroom and make it a conducive place for learning, and do it with creativity, despite the drag of paper work and meetings.
If your kids have some teachers that follow the classroom recipes from the book, you are lucky. Great book.
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