Rookie Teaching For Dummies [Paperback]

W. Michael Kelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0764524798 | ISBN-13: 978-0764524790 | Edition: 1

Navigate politics, paperwork, and legal issues

Find your instructional style and make learning fun for your students!

Gain the upper hand on your first day of school! This friendly guide reveals what they didn't teach you in your education classes, offering practical advice and tons of real-life examples to help you set up and maintain an orderly classroom, engage your students, establish a grading system, and develop positive relationships with parents and school administrators.

The Dummies Way
* Explanations in plain English
* "Get in, get out" information
* Icons and other navigational aids
* Tear-out cheat sheet
* Top ten lists
* A dash of humor and fun

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Navigate politics, paperwork, and legal issues

Find your instructional style and make learning fun for your students!

Gain the upper hand on your first day of school! This friendly guide reveals what they didn’t teach you in your education classes, offering practical advice and tons of real-life examples to help you set up and maintain an orderly classroom, engage your students, establish a grading system, and develop positive relationships with parents and school administrators.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

About the Author

W. Michael Kelley is a former calculus teacher who now works in the Department of Education at the University of Maryland. His Web site, www.calculus-help.com, has won many awards.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764524798
• ISBN-13: 978-0764524790
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W. Michael Kelley taught high school mathematics for seven years before leaving to work at the University of Maryland College Park Education College. After serving as the Director of Teacher Preparation at the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence for nearly 10 years, he now works for Laureate Education, developing online coursework for colleges and universities.

His life goal is to make math hurt less.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so Starter re: policy, basic of admin. Definitely not enough to get you ready to teach., February 6, 2006

By 

Lauren Noyes (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rookie Teaching For Dummies (Paperback)

Want to learn how to navigate workplace politics? Understand the jargon of edu-Speak? Know what to cover at a parent-teacher conference? This is one of my favorite "for Dummies" books, as it offers advice that the first-year teacher would *not* be able to find otherwise without an incredibly insightful mentor.

There isn't much about lesson planning, classroom management, or keeping track of grades - three activities that will consume more time and energy than anything else your first year. For that I recommend Harry Wong's "The First Days of School" better.

This book was valuable to me as I started, and I'd happily pass it along to the next rookie.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is terrific!, July 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Rookie Teaching For Dummies (Paperback)

After 30 years in the business world, I am embarking on a new adventure in the teaching profession. I will be teaching Math to 7th graders in a few months, and I found this book invaluable in preparing me to face the upcoming first day of school. Of course I am scared and a little nervous, but this book is so full of down-to earth practical advice that I feel so much more prepared after reading it than before. The experience of reading this book, has been like having an experienced master teacher right next to me, ready and willing to answer all of my many questons such as: "Do I need to collect and check every homework assignment?" (The answer is, NO), "How am I ever going to memorize over 150 student names?" (Michael Kelley shares a trick that works!), "How will I deal with repeat troublemakers?", (Mr. Kelly tells you when to drop 'The Atomic Bomb')!

I recommend this book to all new teachers! Don't face your first day of teaching, without it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone considering being a teacher should read this, July 2, 2005

By 

Jacob J. Walker "M.Ed." (Loomis, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rookie Teaching For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is very good, I've read a fair number of books about education, and the problem is that most of them don't use their own advice, to make learning the subject easy and practical. This book does a great job at it. While I'm sure that every teacher has different experiences, Michael Kelley does a great job of relating his experiences and giving practical advice.

It is not easy being a teacher, but a book like this can make it a little easier.