Reddit mentions: The best school & teaching books

I´d say that the key to successful classroom management is transparency and consistency. Transparency because your rules need to be known and understood by all students; they should never have to guess at what you want (or don´t want), but know in advance. Whenever you dish out sanctions, you should not have to explain why - the student should be familiar with the rules and know that he/she broke them. If this is not the case, students will unknowingly break rules, you will punish them and thus frame yourself as a mean, unfair teacher. Understanding the rules is step one. This leads to the second point, consistency: sanctions should work almost like an if-this-then-that statement, meaning that you apply the same rules for all students, every single lesson, and as soon as a problem arises. If you are inconsistent, the system isn´t transparent and students will begin to test your limits - but if your limits are the same every single lesson, they will quickly learn them and, hopefully, learn to respect them.

Second, it´s important to understand that successful classroom management arises from a combination of rewards and sanctions - but many people forget the former. You will want to reward model behavior in order to communicate to the model student (and the rest of the class) that this is the sort of behavior you are looking for - this goes hand-in-hand with the transparency and consistency concepts mentioned above. If done correctly, you should see an increase in desirable behavior. Rewards don´t have to be tangible; a word of praise will do, or a clap on the shoulder, or a smile. Positive reinforcement, if done right, is often more impactful than sanctions. An example could be the following:

>In my classroom, students wait outside for me to open the door. I greet them at the door, they enter, take their seats and take out their notebooks, homework diaries and pencil cases. I have a poster outside my classroom to remind students of this, and it is drilled a bit in the first week of school.In the beginning, lots of students will forget to do it. At this point, I am tempted to frown and say something like "Remember what I told you last time? Take out your equipment!" The farther we get through the school year, the harsher my voice and the greater my frustration. But there´s another way to deal with it; find the one student who has taken out his/her equipment it and say "Maria has taken out her equipment, well done." This statement achieves the same as the former but is much more positive. You have stated your expectations and highlighted model behavior.

Role-modeling behavior like this works for a ton of things. Imagine that you ask a question to the class and three students raise their hands. Tell the class "I see three hands raised" - I promise you that a few more will pop up!

If things get more serious (for better or for worse), you should ideally have a whole-school policy in place to fall back on. Before you even start teaching, the first thing to do would be to talk to your line manager, department head or the class teacher to figure out if there are any such systems in place for rewards and punishment. An ideal school should have such a system; for example, merits for exceptional behavior and detentions for unwanted behavior. If there is such a system, most of your problems are already solved since you won´t have to figure out punishment and rewards, but only have to dole them out in accordance with your rules. If there is no such scheme, I recommend that you go through the other posts here - there are some great ideas.

One thing that I would stress in extension of this is that rewards and sanctions for the entire class go against the principles of transparency and consistency. If you teach 40 students and 30 behaved well while 10 misbehaved, do you reward or punish the class? If you reward, then you aren´t being transparent with the 10 - and if you punish, you aren´t with the 30.

​

Finally, a quick list in no particular order:

• Be realistic. Don´t set rules that you can´t enforce and don´t be much more (or less) demanding than their other teachers when it comes to creating the rules.
  
• Make sure that the rules are agreed upon by the students. Some teachers like to use their first lesson to, as a class, write a set of rules. You might also consider asking the students what the rules are in their other lessons and work from there - again, consistency from teacher to teacher helps as well.
  
• Make sure that the rules are visible; either as a poster or as a handout glued in their notebooks. Consider getting them translated to your students´ first language. Again, for transparency.
  
• Do not, under any circumstance, compromise with transparency and consistency in the first weeks of teaching in order to give an impression of being that "cool, laid-back teacher" that we all loved when we went to school. If you don´t follow through with sanctions according to your rules, students will think you are a push-over. When you finally do put your foot down, they won´t understand why since you let them break your rules several times before. Transparency and consistency should automatically lead to mutual respect and a good classroom environment; once your students know the rules and follow them, you will only have to punish rarely.
  
• Read up on the topic. Books were already recommended in this thread, so I´ll add mine: Teach Like a Champion 2.0 by Doug Lemov. It´s developed from observing great teachers in charter schools in the USA, but most of the techniques are applicable in any classroom.
  
  I hope this helps!
  
  ​

>With quizzes, can you use someone else's quizzes? Say another teacher wants to use the same quiz or you're collaborating with someone at another campus.

You can, how easy it is depends on how your school is setting things up how easy it is. If you are collaborating with another AP Physics 1 class, and you want to run pretty much the same stuff, the easiest way would be to share a class with each teacher having their own section. You could share everything, but control your own assignment and due dates, as well as grading only your own stuff.

Otherwise, the way that always works is to have one teacher export the quiz, send it to the other and import it. This however will not allow you to work together on the quiz, just transfer finished quizzes.

Finally, there is also something called Commons, which would allow anyone in the world to share anything, rubrics, assignments, quizzes, whole classes, and everything inbetween. However I am not sure if that is in general release now, or still only in certain districts.

Anyway, here is my go to "New Physics Teacher" list.

Books

TIPERS

• TIPERs: Sensemaking Tasks for Introductory Physics
  
• Newtonian Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research: nTIPERs
  
• E&M TIPERs: Electricity & Magnetism Tasks
  
• Ranking Task Exercises in Physics
  
  TIPERs are a fantastic resource for including conceptual thinking assignments. Answer keys are generally available if you talk to your school's Pearson Rep. IMO, the E/M book is the weakest, in part because it ignores that circuits are a thing. I would start with the first as it is a general overview, and go from there.
  
  

  General Physics Education
  

  
  

• Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching
  
• Hands-On Physics Activities with Real-Life Applications
  
• Tutorials In Introductory Physics and Homework Package - This is less helpful as you get further in your career and are more comfortable designing your own assignments, but was very helpful when I first started.
  
• Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality - If you like Hewitt's next time questions you'll love these.
  
• Teaching Introductory Physics - Pretty much all physics teachers should read this at some point, such a fantastic resource.
  
• Teaching High School Physics Volume I - First of a three volume set, I like these, but they were written by one of my college profs, so I am biased.
  
  

  Websites
  

• Pretty Good Physics - While mostly an AP resource, tons of teacher made materials are available. If you want access to the good stuff (tests and such) those are keep in PGP-secure, there are instructions on how you can gain access.
  
• PheT
  
• Compadre - Tends to be hit or miss for me, but a good collection of resources.
  
• AP Physics HTML 5 Sims - A collection of simple simulations written by an AP Physics teacher, good for introductory labs.
  
• New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning - Another collection of materials for all types of courses, particularly handy if you have any ESL students and know none of the language.
  
• Physics Classroom - Pretty much the defacto online physics textbook.
  
  

  Youtube
  

• Lasseviren1 - Great Calc-physics tutorials
  
• Flipping Physics
  
• Minutephysics
  
• Veritasium
  
  If anyone else has suggestions let me know, I will try to keep an up to date list to post for all of the "I'm new to physics help!" posts. I might add an AP section.
  

To be honest this doesn't sound like the best homeschool environment. But: Many (if not most) homeschoolers of kids who were pulled out of public school take a sort of "detox" period when the kids are taken out of school. This kind of gives them a chance to relax, put the public school environment really on the back burner, and kind of reset to get ready for homeschooling.

The kinds of programs you are describing are basically "school at home." This is fine for many kids. For a kid who obviously hates school and "learning" as he perceives it (i.e. what he has been forced to do at school all his life,) this is probably not a good option.

There are as many different ways and methods of homeschooling as there are families who homeschool and that's really what is so exciting and effective about it. Now is a great time to start exploring these methods WITH HIM. He is certainly old enough to have a vote in how he learns.

For a kid who is resistant to book learning I would read up about unschooling, free range learning, project-based homeschooling. It goes by different names but the basic premise is the same: people learn best when they are interested and engaged and making their own choices about what to learn and when.

He needs to start taking an inventory of his interests and abilities. Is he mechanically inclined? He obviously doesn't like to read but what about math? Video games? Does he want to learn how to code? What about animals? He could become involved in a program that trains dogs to become service dogs for people with various disabilities. The possibilities are really endless and bounded only by his own imagination.

This could be a very exciting time for your brother (and the rest of your family); fighting about sitting in front of a computer all day and reading about the civil war or whatever is not going to help anything. He has decided he doesn't like to learn. This is a potential tragedy but he is still young and there is still time to change his mind.

It is important that when you begin his interest inventory (I would suggest doing this as a family) that there are no disparaging comments made. If he says he is interested in video games, it goes onto the list. If he loves to play guitar, it goes onto the list. There are plenty of ways to work those interests into valuable projects, you just have to get creative.

On another note: he is old enough to start learning about trades; if he thinks that's where his interests may be. You could track down electricians, plumbers, any kind of tradesman in your area and I'm sure any one of them would be thrilled to explain their career and necessary education to a 14-year old.

It looks like you live in Texas? I am also in TX and the state has some of the most liberal homeschool laws in the nation. Unschooling is definitely possible here.

I noticed that you said your parents are high school dropouts and that they can't teach your brother. This does not have to be a barrier to his education; at the high school level most parents aren't actually "teaching," anyway, they are acting more as mentors. It is important that they are on board in supporting his projects and interests but they don't have to teach him trigonometry; there are plenty of other ways to go about getting that information when he needs it.

I hope this helps. The most important thing you can do right now is to get him excited about learning something. ANYTHING.

Congratulations! ! I'm a second grade teacher and absolutely love the age. They're old enough to learn to work independently but they're still young enough to engage in imaginary play. So much fun!

I would highly recommend getting this book to help you start off your year. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1892989816/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1466540252&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=the+first+six+weeks+of+school&dpPl=1&dpID=41CWPyLbqNL&ref=plSrch Really helpful in pacing and teaching routines. Also, even if you don't use the Daily 5 structure, I would highly recommend reading the book to give you an idea of how to teach routines for independent work and to build stamina. Those strategies for teaching routines really helped me establish a routine for independence that lasted all year. Slow down in the beginning so you can cruise the rest of the year. You'll also need to get really comfortable with beginning and transitional reading stages. I'd recommend On Solid Ground by Sharon Taberski and Jennifer Serravello's The Reading Strategies book.

You are going to love this age group! ! Best of luck and feel free to pm me if you have any questions!

I teach 7th Grade in a Title I inner city school. I totally understand your feelings. Don't give up yet! Since my first year, the things that improved my teaching / classroom management the most were:

1. Reading Teach Like a Champion - really helped me put my classroom needs into actual techniques. As a beginning teacher, it's really frustrating to hear admin and mentors give advice in platitudes. This gives actual techniques that you can apply.
   
   
2. Changing my curriculum to favor hand-on approaches (interactive notebooks, lots of cutting and pasting, etc.) instead of more traditional notes and worksheets.
   
   
3. Creating a Rewards System in my classroom. It doesn't have to be big or expensive, but low income kids will do a lot for food and candy. Reward for participation and good behavior. Make them have to earn several of something to get a prize, so you don't have to constantly pay out.
   
   
4. Try to lead with positivity and remain calm when things go badly. You are the leader of this classroom. You can handle it when things go awry. At this age, they really do want to do well and to please you. Give them a chance to buy in before you hit them over the head with difficult work. Support them and praise whenever you can. I know it's hard to find those times, but it makes a difference.
   
   
5. Use whatever discipline system you have. Send out kids if you need to. You need to protect your learning environment. Be clear about what your expectations are - you can do this without yelling and screaming. Kids want a safe, calm place where they can learn. Give that to them by using your resources and not allowing kids to derail your lessons. They will respect you more if you have a low tolerance for shenanigans.
   
   Good luck!! Feel free to PM if you want to vent or have any questions.
   

I'm in the UK, so your mileage may vary on this, but personally I find comparing the US way with British methods quite interesting. We are definitely NOT allowed to just shout any more, and when I changed schools a few years ago I went from one that allowed it to one that absolutely didn't. Overnight, I found virtually all my classroom management techniques swept away from me and had to start from scratch.

I teach in a tough school in a deprived seaside town in the UK, with a high number of kids who have English as an additional language. It has the reputation as the hardest school to teach in in a 100-mile area. It's a comprehensive school in a selective area, which means the 25% brightest students go to a grammar school, leaving our kids - often with a sense of failure that they are "thick", and with a wealth of social problems - to come to us. There's a lot of poverty and drug use. Over here we merge Junior High and High School so the school is for 12-18 year olds (seven school years). There's a strong focus on vocational rather than academic subjects. I teach Modern Languages, which is on the National Curriculum (Common Core?) and therefore has to be taught even though it is an academic subject and most of the kids struggle with English in the first place. They don't want to learn my subject. I have to make them...

You've hit the nail on the head about engagement. Even my toughest classes get pulled in by presenting the right subject matter in the right way. I have a class of seventh-graders who I only see late in the afternoon - they're very low ability and disengaged. But by presenting the subject matter in the right way, especially at the start of the lesson, I can get them achieving what I want when I want it. Carefully structuring the activities, making sure there's a mixture of teacher-focussed activities with independent activities, and making sure you've differentiated appropriately, is absolutely critical. Looking at the material from left-field to see how you can introduce a difficult topic almost by stealth is the way I've managed to get this right so far.

Equally, giving regular feedback (and praise) to build up self-esteem works really well, even if it's going round with "well done" stamps or stickers, or using raffle tickets, or whatever. Works a treat.

Routines, as well - don't change up how you do things. If you want equipment out on the desk at the start, TELL THEM, get it right once (it might take a while) and then do that EVERY SINGLE TIME, EVERY LESSON. Hand signals, or a countdown, when you want them to be quiet and listen. That sort of thing.

With a 105 minute lesson you've got your work cut out to keep focus going, but I always find with my double lessons which are similarly lengthy, if you approach it as a series of smaller lessons (roughly, say, 20 minutes) with a small learning outcome for each it keeps the pace up and allows clear progress to be made. That said, it also gives you an opportunity for extended independent work with you circulating to keep focus and motivation going. But I always feel roughly 30 minutes of independent work is more than enough before they all grind to a halt - I would always aim for smaller, more structured tasks to be worked through.

Talking regularly to parents works well - especially positive phone calls, but of course negative ones too.

And finally, absolutely being a stickler for the rules of your classroom, enforcing them clearly and fairly and building that crucial atmosphere of leadership and learning and collaboration that all administrators over here are looking for. Use a classroom seating plan to dictate who sits next to who and enforce that. Give out 100 detentions if you have to. It works, not because the sanction actually does much to modify their behaviour, but it takes the balance of power away from them and towards you, and they know you mean business.

One of the books I always recommend to any of my team (I'm a Head of Department) struggling with classroom management is Getting the Buggers to Behave and I warmly recommend it to you also. But, if you have a Head of Department (Maths?) who is supportive then get them to do an informal observation of you to see if they have anything they can offer. Also see if you can observe anyone else in your school to see how they do it.

Classroom management is one of the toughest things about this job, but get it right and you're 3/4s of the way there. Hope it works out for you.

Secure caregiver attachment is the healthiest thing a child can have. Numerous studies show that children who are securely attached to an adult caregiver develop better in every area, and are generally more autonomous. There is no limit to how securely attached a child can be, and the more attached, generally, the better. Securely attached kids are also usually more comfortable being away from their caregiver or letting other children interact with their caregiver because they trust that their caregiver will still be there for them when they need their caregiver (Trawick-Smith, 2014) (Gonzalez-Mena and Eyer, 2018).

Insecure attachment, however, happens when a child is very attached, but does not have complete trust in their caregiver. They may fear that, if their caregiver starts interacting with other children that they will be forgotten, or that the caregiver will prefer the other children over them. Children in insecure caregiver relationships are generally less likely to be confident in themselves as-well, and sometimes show less interest in exploring the world around them (Gonzalez-Mena and Eyer, 2018).

The best thing for making sure a child feels secure in their relationship is to build trust. A caregiver should always be honest with the child, include them in things that concern them, respect and value their opinions, and always keep their word. Children need to know that their caregiver is going to be there to care for them when they have needs (Gonzalez-Mena and Eyer, 2018). These needs include physical needs, emotional needs, social needs, affectionate needs, creative needs, and cognitive needs (Chahin, 2008).

Sometimes insecure attachments can transfer over from previous insecure attachment. For example, if he has an insecure attachment with mom, then he will have a much harder time forming a secure attachment with a caregiver, even if that caregiver does everything perfectly (Gonzalez-Mena and Eyer, 2018).

deepcleansingguffaw linked to a short essay, but I might also suggest reading the entire book The Homework Myth, as it is chock-full of analysis of homework-related studies. It is amazing how very little of the research supports homework at that age, and yet people recommend it anyway. Take Harris Cooper, the most famous homework researcher - his own research shows little to no positive effect on elementary-level kids and yet he is a big proponent of homework and the 10-minute rule anyway.

A 5th grade teacher friend of mine read the book and decided to slowly ramp down his homework level year over year to see what would happen. He's now on the second year of not assigning any homework whatsoever with no ill effect.

There really is very, very little support for the idea that homework does anything useful for kids at the elementary level. Reading, on the other hand, is very powerful - encourage reading! Play and socialization are also incredibly important; it's pretty much guaranteed your kid already spends more time on her butt than is healthy, so get her outside rather than doing homework.

>I was thinking of making an Anki deck with grammar points and practicing making sentences from that, but

At the bottom of this message is a copy/paste from a prior post. It's general advice, perhaps you'll find it helpful. In regards to your specific question:

• I agree, reviewing dozens grammar patterns in Anki will quickly get boring.
  
• The most important grammar patterns are are those you see/hear/read every day. It's more useful to learn those patterns really well rather than developing a broad but shallow understanding ones you'll rarely hear or use. (Note: as a student you may have to review more patterns than helpful because you will be tested on them).
  
• Building on the prior point, the patterns you review should be sourced from the media you consume and the conversations you have.
  
  One thing you can try is keeping a journal. It's a great way to reinforce grammar and it's more holistic than writing practice sentences in isolation. You don't need to write much nor be especially creative. Each day pick one pattern and build a short paragraph around it. Spend no more than 10-15 minutes doing this. The following day, before you write, take a moment to review the prior day(s) writings/patterns. If possible, share your journal with a native speaking friend and ask them to provide feedback using the shared document's "comments" function. (Keep the comments as a record and do not "resolve" them). Do not edit your original text; you want to keep it as a record as well. (Any edits your partner wants to make can be added in-line as new text (in a different color), or in a separate paragraph. I find it easier to make quick comparisons with this method than using a red line/mark up function).
  
  Finally, here is a list of grammar resources that might help you:
  
  Appropriate for Beginning Learners
  
  
• [Allset Learning Grammar Wiki] (https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page)
  
• Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide
  
• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar
  
• Schuam's Outlines of Chinese Grammar
  
  Appropriate for Intermediate or Advanced Learners
  
  
• An A to Z Grammar for Chinese Language Learners, (traditional only) ISBN 9789570851069
  
• Common Chinese Patterns 330
  
• A Guide to Proper Usage of Spoken Chinese
  
• Error Analysis of 900 Sample Sentences
  
• A Learn's Handbook of Modern Chinese Written Expressions
  
  --------------
  
  Repetition is the key to success, specifically: 1) high volume, 2) varied, 3) contextual, 4) mutual reinforcing, 5) enjoyable.
  
  
• Varied: learning/using grammar and vocabulary through different topics and mediums
  
• Contextual: not learning vocabulary/grammar in isolation
  
• Mutual reinforcing: learning activities that reinforce and/or build upon each other
  
• Enjoyable: liking the topic and methods through which you are learning it
  
  

Congrats on getting hired!!! I'd recommend a mix of PD/teaching books and content. When you get bored of one switch to the other. Both are equally important (unless you feel stronger in one area than the other).

For PD, I'd recommend: Teach Like a Pirate, Blended, The Wild Card, and the classic Essential 55. Another one on grading is Fair Isn't Always Equal - this one really changed how I thought about grading in my classes.

As far as content, you have a couple ways to go - review an overview of history like Lies My Teacher Told Me, the classic People's History, or Teaching What Really Happened, or you can go with a really good book on a specific event or time period to make that unit really pop in the classroom. The Ron Chernow books on Hamilton, Washington, or Grant would be great (but long). I loved Undaunted Courage about Lewis & Clark and turned that into a really great lesson.

Have a great summer and best of luck next year!!

I’m not sure precisely what you mean by “contemporary” or “geometric algebra” or “basic number elements and algebra”. What did you feel was missing from Lang’s book? (I’m not familiar with its contents.)

If you want something in line with the standard high school curriculum, but maybe a bit more rigorous than most, this book by Kiselev was the standard Russian school text for generations (review)

Or you could try the Art of Problem Solving geometry book (site).

There’s a lot of good stuff in Coxeter and Greitzer’s book Geometry Revisited, but I’d say it probably assumes a standard high school geometry course as a prerequisite.

Not really limited to plane geometry, but I really like Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen’s book Geometry and the Imagination (review). I’d recommend getting a used copy of the original printing; the recent ones are printed on demand and not as nice.

Also let me recommend Apostol and Mamikon’s lovely book New Horizons in Geometry (review), though it’s more about calculus than algebra per se.

If you want to study plane curves from a complex number perspective, you could try Zwikker’s 1963 The advanced geometry of plane curves and their applications

If by geometric algebra you mean Grassmann/Clifford/Hestenes style algebra, check out the stuff Jim Smith has been doing, or you could take a look at this thing (I haven’t read it), or try these papers.

They probably aren’t what you’re looking for, but I think Farouki’s Pythagorean Hodograph Curves are pretty neat (that book also has a lot of other interesting material in it). Also neat for formalistic theorizing about algebras for spline curves is Ramshaw’s monograph On Multiplying Points: The Paired Algebras of Forms and Sites (probably a bit abstract for what you want here).

What are your goals? Do you want to design lenses and mirrors for cameras? Model classical mechanics systems? Construct arbitrary shapes out of polynomial curves so you can draw fonts or animate characters on a computer screen? Design cut paths for CNC machines? Approximate transcendental functions by some type of function that you can more easily compute with? Find the prettiest proofs of thousand-year-old theorems about circles? Prepare yourself to study differential geometry or algebraic topology? ...

Yes, we got some, including some specialist behaviour sessions from an expert! But the most numerous and useful tips I got are from the excellent "Getting The Buggers To Behave" by Sue Cowley. It should also be available from the US. In short, there's no one way to "do discipline", but there are certain things you can always be sure are not good ideas (e.g. humiliating a student in front of class), and some that are almost always the right thing to do (e.g. talking to them on their own after the lesson).

It is normal for new teachers, and especially subs, to feel like they have trouble. You don't know the systems, you don't know the kids and they don't know you. The best foundation for discipline as I've found it is a reputation, which takes time to build. If the kids know you aren't a soft touch, they won't try as much. Appearance is an issue at first, but stops being one once they know you. This doesn't help a sub much, sadly. Although this point from another comment is also excellent:

> I discovered pretty quickly though that it doesn't matter what you know or what skills you have, the students respond to your attitude and your display of confidence. They have no idea how old you are or how good at your job you are, so they essentially take you at your word the minute you open your mouth. You have exactly as much authority as you think you do, and as long as you stick with that you will be fine. Just imagine yourself as an actor on the stage playing the role of a master teacher. Being yourself is for going on dates, not teaching.

What I would like from any subs is that they give the work to the students, think about what I've really asked the students to do, and help out as much as they can bearing in mind they're probably not experts in the subject. If there are any students who refuse to do the work, get their names and let us know. I don't expect you to be able to get Lazy McSleeperson in the back row to do his work if I can barely get him to do it anyway, but I've sometimes come back and asked "So did you do the work I sent you? Did they play the video?" and been told that all the teacher did was put the email I sent up on the board.

Good luck in your career! I really do recommend that book.

Oralism is an education method for the deaf that focuses on making them "hearing" as possible. This usually involves alot of training in lip reading, speech therapy, avoidance of any form of sign language. There's more to it, but you get the idea. But from what you said, she ain't one, so no need to worry about it. I'm usually 100% fine if anybody wants to ask me anything about my Deafness as knowing is better than being clueless. I'm sure that your lady is the same but it's prob better to ask her if it's ok for you to ask her those stuff.

Laughter is always a good thing!

Hmm. I know that For Hearing People Only is a good book. A Journey Into the Deaf-World is a really good book about the Deaf culture. I don't really know of any real good book about ASL but the best way to learn is to actually sign with somebody fluent. Looks like you have that covered. ;)

I've heard people recommend Kiselev's Geometry, on a physics forum. Warning, though; Kiselev's Geometry series(in English) is translated from Russian.

Here's the link to where I got all these resources(I also copy-pasted what's in the link down below; although, I did omit a few entries, as it would be too long for this reddit comment; click the link to see more resources):

https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/self-study-basic-high-school-mathematics/

__

Note: Alternatively, you can order Kiselev's geometry series from http://www.sumizdat.org/

Geometry I and II by Kiselev

http://www.amazon.com/Kiselevs-Geometry-Book-I-Planimetry/dp/0977985202

http://www.amazon.com/Kiselevs-Geometry-Book-II-Stereometry/dp/0977985210

> If you do not remember much of your geometry classes (or never had such class), then you can hardly do better than Kiselev’s geometry books. This two-volume work covers a lot of synthetic (= little algebra is used) geometry. The first volume is all about plane geometry, the second volume is all about spatial geometry. The book even has a brief introduction to vectors and non-Euclidean geometry.

The first book covers:

• Straight lines
  
  
• Circles
  
  
• Similarity
  
  
• Regular polygons and circumference
  
  
• Areas
  
  The second book covers:
  
  
• Lines and Planes
  
• Polyhedra
  
• Round Solids
  
• Vectors and Foundations
  
  > This book should be good for people who have never had a geometry class, or people who wish to revisit it. This book does not cover analytic geometry (such as equations of lines and circles).
  
  ____
  
  

  Geometry by Lang, Murrow
  

  
  http://www.amazon.com/Geometry-School-Course-Serge-Lang/dp/0387966544
  
  > Lang is another very famous mathematician, and this shows in his book. The book covers a lot of what Kiselev covers, but with another point of view: namely the point of view of coordinates and algebra. While you can read this book when you’re new to geometry, I do not recommend it. If you’re already familiar with some Euclidean geometry (and algebra and trigonometry), then this book should be very nice.
  
  The book covers:
  
  

• Distance and angles
  
  
• Coordinates
  
  
• Area and the Pythagoras Theorem
  
  
• The distance formula
  
  
• Polygons
  
  
• Congruent triangles
  
  
• Dilations and similarities
  
  
• Volumes
  
  
• Vectors and dot product
  
  
• Transformations
  
  
• Isometries
  
  > This book should be good for people new to analytic geometry or those who need a refresher.
  
  > Finally, there are some topics that were not covered in this book but which are worth knowing nevertheless. Additionally, you might want to cover the topics again but this time somewhat more structured.
  
  > For this reason, I end this list of books by the following excellent book:
  
  

  Basic Mathematics by Lang
  

  
  http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Mathematics-Serge-Lang/dp/0387967877
  
  > This book covers everything that you need to know of high school mathematics. As such, I highly advise people to read this book before starting on their journey to more advanced mathematics such as calculus. I do not however recommend it as a first exposure to algebra, geometry or trigonometry. But if you already know the basics, then this book should be ideal.
  
  

• The book covers:
  
  
• Integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers
  
  
• Linear equations
  
  
• Logic and mathematical expressions
  
  
• Distance and angles
  
  
• Isometries
  
  
• Areas
  
  
• Coordinates and geometry
  
  
• Operations on points
  
  
• Segments, rays and lines
  
  
• Trigonometry
  
  
• Analytic geometry
  
  
• Functions and mappings
  
  
• Induction and summations
  
  
• Determinants
  
  > I recommend this book to everybody who wants to solidify their basic knowledge, or who remembers relatively much of their high school education but wants to revisit the details nevertheless.
  
  _____
  
  More links:
  
  https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/34442/book-recommendation-on-plane-euclidean-geometry
  
  Note: oftentimes, you can find geometry book recommendations( as well as other math book recommendations) in stackexchange; just use the search bar.
  
  __
  
  https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/geometry-book.727765/
  
  https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/decent-books-for-high-school-algebra-and-geometry.701905/
  
  https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/micromass-insights-on-how-to-self-study-mathematics.868968/

If I could go back in time as a senior in high school, above all, I would just do more reading, and I would read widely. I did not start on the path to English teaching until I was 26, and although I did great in college and I feel that I am a successful teacher now, my weakness is my reading background. I would suggest using an app like Goodreads so that you can track your progress as you chip away at the literary canon, work by work. The texts that are going to help you the most and serve you for the rest of your career are the ones that most authors allude to, so, I would suggest that at some point you familiarize yourself with these from a literary standpoint:

• The Bible
  
• Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey
  
• Virgil's Aenid
  
• Ovid's Metamorphoses
  
• As many Shakespeare plays as you can read (and I just want to mention that the Cambridge School editions are the best for teaching)
  
  As far as resources that will give you a head start, I suggest:
  
  
• Shmoop (but only after you've exhausted your own abilities with a text)
  
• How to Read Literature Like a Professor
  
• How Literature Works
  
• Any Introductory Textbook to Critical Theory
  
  Considering pedagogy resources, by the time you are in an education program, there will be new research and new buzzwords, so I won't waste my time here, but these are my favorite resources when it comes to inspiring my teaching:
  
  
• Rick Wormeli (Seriously, this guy is amazing)
  
• Teach Like a Pirate
  
• Reading in the Wild
  
  Lastly, if you go into an English education program with a near-perfect understanding of grammar, your life will be so much easier. I suggest these three resources for brushing up:
  
  
• No Red Ink
  
• Teaching Grammar Through Writing
  
• Language Exploration and Awareness
  
  Good luck, and let me know if you have questions! If you do anything on this list, just read!

Hi! Congrats on starting your new career :) I was in the same boat as you; graduated with a Chem degree and have ended up teaching most every science content (bio, physics, chem, and physical science) in the HS level.

Regarding subject specific resources, hopefully your school provides you with curriculum so that you can know what you need to review/look up--I know I spent a lot of time reviewing biology content when I had to teach that class since I was rusty on it. For a decent content review book, I found this book at Costco last year but they sell it on Amazon:

[Help Your Kids With Science] (http://www.amazon.com/Help-Your-Kids-Science-Publishing/dp/0756692687/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406088680&sr=8-1&keywords=help+your+kids+with+science)

I actually use the book sometimes with my Sped students or when if a class needs some quick review. It's pretty thorough with nice pictures.

This book is about using Science Notebooks in class... I spent a lot of time in grad school/student teaching using notebooks so I felt I had a good grasp on them, but this book provided a few good ideas. It is a little pricey though.

[Teaching Science With Interactive Notebooks] (http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Science-With-Interactive-Notebooks/dp/1412954037/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406089065&sr=8-3&keywords=science+notebook)

If you need any first day advice or anything like that, feel free to PM me!

I second the motion to wait a year and get to know the kids and program. Also, it's good to get to know the political climate a bit and to build some networks of support with people who will be willing to put in a good word for you. Build a rapport with the kids who will tell their friends about you.

Meanwhile, use your year, which might be fairly easy, to do the following:

Here are the ELA state standards for OK. Get to know them like the back of your hand. Know which years are generally the same, and which years take a jump forward in expectations.

Read some books about how to teach in an English classroom. Write Like This and Deeper Reading from Kelly Gallagher will give you concrete strategies you can use for any grade. Some of them you could even do with mixed groups of mixed ages. Jim Burke's English Companion is also good.

While you have time and a fairly mild workload, plan, plan, plan. Put things on paper. Look into how LMS's work (my personal fave is Schoology, and I've tried at least a dozen different ones over the years) and what they can do for a classroom where kids have computer access.

Don't get discouraged if, after all this, they say no. What you have then is everything you need to walk into any regular classroom 6-12 if you decide to look for a new job. Good luck!

Ouch. My advice, then, would be to employ some good reading strategies and increase the drama/improv acting in your class.

The best book I've read for helping readers is When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers. She offers some fantastic pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies. My students love Tea Party. Here is a summary of the book--look at chapters 6, 7, & 8 in particular: http://middlesecondarytoolkit.pbworks.com/f/mainidea111509.pdf

While that helps with comprehension (which naturally enhances engagement), I think teachers also can improve student engagement if they work on their performance abilities. I like to stop every few minutes or so (depending on grade level and reading ability) when I'm reading aloud and act out scenes. Today, my 7th graders (I teach 7-12 and I do the same with all grades) were reading Of Mice and Men, and after the scene where Lennie crushes Curly's hand, I stopped and said "Oh man this is exciting, but I'm not sure you're all getting this. We need to see this," and then I had the smallest girl get up and pretending to be Lennie as she crushed my hand and I melodramatically fell to the ground crying. In another scene I pretended to be Curly's wife and came in and "hit on" a couple male students. I'm a 6'0" man.

It sounds silly, but when you can embrace the cringe and get students laughing, you'll have them in the palm of your hand. It also causes students to pay more attention because they might get selected to be part of the mini-skit, and they don't want to be caught having no idea what we're talking about. If you want more information on how to increase the performance side of teaching, these are my two favorite books on the subject:

Teach Like a Pirate

Happy Teacher Habits

I was going to say the same thing. I LOVE using these....not just for organization but as a tool for kids to make sense of information on their own (a la constructivism). I agree about the pretty much saving my life comment; it has completely changed how I teach and I would never not use them! I've read a few sites for ideas but I also came across a book (http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Science-With-Interactive-Notebooks/dp/1412954037) that was really helpful. You can really customize to your style and it gives kids a chance to be creative with processing pages. Let me know if you want suggestions for implementing them. It takes a little buy-in, starting with the teacher. Good luck!

What an awful situation.

Take it bird by bird--the most important thing right now is (like you said!) going to be management, and it sounds like management is going to be pretty much impossible in your context without relationships with the kids.

I found Teach Like a Champion super helpful when I was starting out--very concrete strategies, and I liked the videos. I thought it translated fine to a middle school context. I didn't love The First Days of School, but I know a lot of other folks do. It helped me to watch videos--I liked this one a lot in terms of the level of structure you'll want while you get settled.

Consistency, structure, relationships.

One other note, though - you can't pour from an empty cup. Sounds like your admin is dealing you a pretty tough hand. Make sure to take care of yourself this year.

This is a great book for guiding parents in supporting kids to "go deep" with their interests. It is really hard to give them the right kind and amount of support to encourage them without killing the fun with your "support".

http://smile.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners/dp/1475239068/

Although this is targeted towards homeschoolers, it is actually written for anyone, even people who want to do it as an "after school" activity.

The author offers great support in her facebook group and forum.

Good luck

Personally, I've never had the chance to take a CELTA course, but I have heard many good things about it. I haven't heard of the other programs you mentioned.

BTW, If you would like to pick up some general TEFL tips in advance of taking a course, I'd recommend investing in a comprehensive text like Learning Teaching.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0230729843/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1393974279&sr=8-1

There's a fair amount of information in the text on lesson planning as well as teaching listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Cheers.

This has turned out to be a much more interesting question than I had thought it would be. It seems to be unexpectedly hard to find a good, short book on Euclidean geometry. Most of the really good books are advanced treatments that have a lot more to say than what you probably want. Anyway, there is a good discussion of this question on mathoverflow. It appears that Kiselev is a pretty good choice. Hartshorne might be good as a guide to learning straight from Euclid (and lots more besides). I don't know how far you really want to go with this project. It might be enough to just get a taste of how the whole synthetic geometry program is organized.

By the way, you know about libary.nu, right?

I'm not a moderately granola mom yet (couple weeks to go) but I'm a librarian, and I saw some books that caught my eye the other day, called loose parts and loose parts 2 that look fascinating and super fun with great ideas for diy toys. You can always ask your local library if they do interlibrary loan if they don't have it.

Whether or not you're going all the way to homeschooling or finding alternatives such as Montessori or Waldorf, here's my two cents as well. Read up on it. I'll probably come off as bit of an ass, but it's your kid, what more relevance do you need to find and buy lots and lots of manuals(so to speak). Kids're pretty complicated, or so I've heard.

I'm not an expert, but I have a few titles I'll promptly lay on whatever friend of mine starts to procreate first. In my opinion these aren't 'crazy' books, and I sincerely hope you'll take them seriously.

How Children Learn

How Children Fail

Punished By Rewards

The Homework Myth

John Taylor Gatto has written some stuff as well, but Google can find that for you. Read and read more. I couldn't begin to describe my time in the famous twelve years without plenty of cussing.

Take an interest, is my advice.

I think the word, "great teacher" is a little like the word "genius". It shouldn't be thrown around too often, as they're so completely rare. When I think of great teaching I think of a couple of teachers at my school that are amazing.

1. Content area knowledge - these two teachers are insanely knowledgeable on what it takes to teach a kid how to read. They can talk for hours on the subject, and are intimately related with strategies, techniques, and the vocabulary of their subject area.
   
   
2. This is their career. Yes all teachers love kids. But they really see what they're doing as an avenue for social empowerment. I don't always agree with these two teacher politically, but they really see what they're doing as an extension of the civil rights movement. That seems cheesy but is important. You have to believe in what we're doing in the classroom. Otherwise, the stress, the long hours, etc, are not gonna be worth it to you personally.
   
   
3. Classroom Management - Obviously. Required Reading #1 Also, This + This = amazing teaching.
   
   
4. Data Driven Instruction - they constantly track student mastery of outcomes. They know which students have mastered what, and have clear strategies for getting them to that outcome. This is a key which many good teachers lack.
   
   I could say much much more on the subject, I'm sure.
   
   
   

As a toddlers teacher, I can tell you that there absolutely are tons of good books!!

You have to remember that there is no "ways to teach my kids." All kids learn differently. Luckily, since you are their parent, you are privileged to info about your kid that us teachers are not!

All kids naturally posses a desire to explore and learn. Teaching a toddler is not so much teaching as it is facilitating. Give your child the ability to explore and play freely. When you see your child has an interest in something, provide resources and opportunities for your child to discover and learn more about that thing. Scaffold. Info on scaffolding: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2017/rocking-and-rolling-empowering-infants-and-toddlers. I recommend spending some time on NAEYC's website. They have TONS of great information.

Books.

I also provided links to Amazon to view the books. I recommend that you buy older editions of the textbooks since these ones are really expensive. The older editions are pretty much the same, and much much cheaper.

• Your Self-confident baby by Magda Gerber.
  
• Developmentally Appropriate Practice by Carol Copple, et al.
  
• Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers by Janet Gonzalez-Mena, et al.
  
• Elevating Childcare by Janet Lansbury.
  
• The Whole Brain Child by Daniel Siegal (haven't read this one yet, but my colleagues say it's good).

Yes. I've been there, and I've gotten out of it, too. The anxiety comes from having more things on your to-do list than you have time to get done, and not knowing if it's even possible to do them. Check out the book The Together Teacher for the answer to your anxiety. You might not be able to get everything done, but you can sure become a lot more organized and effective, which means that you can honestly say, "There was just too much. I worked hard and it didn't all get done, but that's okay," and feel good about it. I started using it over winter break last year and it has literally changed my life from where you are at to where I am at now. At least that helps with the "feeling swamped" bit.

My go-to resources are:

Baby Led Weaning

Loose Parts and Loose Parts 2: Inspiring Play for Infants and Toddlers

For discipline I prefer the Parenting with Love and Logic.

I'm a big believer in the Reggio Emilia philosophy of teaching and early childhood development. R.E., loose parts, and outdoor classroom theories all work really well together to create a natural, child-led, creative environment. The basic theory involved is that children are curious, competent, creative beings with a significant capacity for learning if we get out of their way. Instead of giving them plastic, light-up, noise-making toys that have one purpose or one way of playing, loose parts cultivates an environment of inviting materials that encourage creativity and discovery instead of "this is how you play with this toy" thinking. I was first introduced to Reggio Emilia and Loose Parts while working for a JCC and I was really impressed with the way it transformed the teaching environment. It's definitely harder the smaller your kids are, but it can be done and I have seen it jump start critical thinking and creativity in even the youngest kiddos.

I am in a similar position as you and will be teaching AP World History as a first year teacher next year. I have been prepping this summer by reading some books on the topic. I can fully recomend is this book and [this one] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0988217600/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is also worth reading though not specific to AP World History. Reading AP Test Prep books is probably also a good idea just to get brushed up on the essay stuff and outlines of the content. There are also alot of websites such as [World History Connected] (http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/) that have great resources. Hope this helps and if you want to exchange lesson ideas at any point I would be happy to work with you.

I am still looking for a community of AP World History teachers to share lesson plans and ideas with. If anyone knows where I can find a commuity like this please let me know.

It's not uncommon in Title I schools. It's also not uncommon in Title I schools to be given little guidance or resources to do your job.

Here a couple of things that are (IMO) crucial to keep in mind:
(1) You need age appropriate literature that is also at your kids' reading level. Do not insult them with "See Spot Run." NewsELA allows you to adjust the same article to different reading levels. It's a brilliant resource you should use. https://newsela.com Same for The Simthsonian's Tween Tribune. https://www.tweentribune.com

(2) I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend Discovering Voice for middle school. https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Voice-Lessons-Middle-School/dp/0929895894/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502141983&sr=8-1&keywords=voice+lessons+middle+school Spend the $20 something. It comes with permission to make copies for your classroom so you only need the 1 book. It's a bunch of mini-lessons that work brilliantly at helping students read and write better with voice.

(3) Kelly Gallagher.
(a) Article of the Week http://www.kellygallagher.org/article-of-the-week/
(b) Try this book https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Reasons-Motivational-Mini-Lessons-Middle/dp/1571103562/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502142077&sr=1-6
(c) And this one https://www.amazon.com/Deeper-Reading-Comprehending-Challenging-Texts/dp/1571103848/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502142077&sr=1-3

(4) The New York Times Learning Network https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning

That should give you a more than decent start.

>How would you define a good vs bad school, or is it just about movement of students?

>How would you assess if a teacher is good or bad?

The parents decide, just like they do for everything else for their kids.

>Should private and/or charter schools be required to go through some sort of process to certify their merit before being allowed to enter the educational system

No.

>Presumably you would support private and/or charter schools, how would you make access to them affordable for poor students?

Every kid gets a voucher, to be used at any school they wish.

>being pointed to a good resource would be appreciated.

This book.

And this book.

But to be honest, imo, the best way to educate your own kids is this way.

It might teach you something about teaching, but it's not really going to help you land a job. There's an FAQ in the sidebar about certifications if you're interested in what will help you land a job.

You learn how to be a teacher by teaching, not reading about teaching or passing quizzes about teaching. The two latter are the only two assessments an online course can provide and they show nothing to an employer about what you can bring to a classroom.

Sixty quid isn't much to risk on a chance to gather a few pointers before you land in a classroom, though, so if it's unrefundable you might as well see what they have to say. Otherwise, pick up this book or this book, which are two of the main textbooks for CELTA courses.

I'd be more than happy to have a PM conversation about particulars if you want, but the one book I credit with really turning me around is Reluctant Disciplinarian by Gary Rubinstein.

The first couple of pages of the book describe how, when he was young, Rubenstein's parents used to harshly reprimand the dog when it shit on the carpet, and how he used to then sneak into the puppy's room when his parents had left to reassure the puppy and make it feel better. The puppy proceeded to continue shitting the carpet for months. I read that and I was like "Oh my God. This is the book."

He's also a Teach For America alumnus who is now a vocal TFA critic, which I love, because I'm both of those as well.

It's always useful to go through some book that discusses translation between your source and destination languages. I recently saw this one https://www.amazon.com/CUHK-Learners-Handbook-Expressions-Bilingual-ebook/dp/B00A45ECY6 - not a recommendation, just a random example. Note it is written for English speakers - practically all good translators translate from their second language to their native one.

Heck, I'm Russian myself, and am reasonably OK with English (bar a noticeable accent). I'd never even try to translate, say, Master and Margarita. Dickens, on the other hand - easily ;)

I think it depends on the signer, but yes, Deaf people can be very vocal, even if they are not oral.

I've had three ASL teachers over the years, two who were almost always completely silent, and my most recent teacher who was very vocal.

She would laugh out loud when something was funny or grumble when the class was doing something bad. She also used to shout to get our attention; she knew that even though she couldn't hear the sound, we could.

I think there might have been a similar question in a book we use in class, "For Hearing People Only", its a great source for questions about the Deaf community mostly from hearing people

Edit: I'm not sure exactly why it happens (since I personally am hearing), but I've actually found myself making similar vocal sounds during ASL class!

>Therefore, I'm looking for advice on how and when to introduce the class routines and procedures.

Day 1, and continue for the next several weeks. Jointly develop and agree upon classroom expectations with the kids. Have them sign a "Classroom Contract" with the rules you came up with together. Display it in the room and keep it up.

>I'm guessing because they are so young and unable to read, it is better to repeat expectations / procedures often

Yes. Very often. But do more than repeat; model. Then have kids model. Comment on how they model. Ask other kids to comment on the modeling their peers do ("what do you notice ____ doing?")

>Should I make "personal anchor charts" for each student explaining these procedures

That's not really necessary if you have a large anchor chart for the whole class. An anchor chart is essential, but individual ones are not (with a few exceptions--usually kids with significant disabilities).

Now I've got some questions for you:

1. So this will be French immersion? 100% French? Or part French part English? Do you share the kids with other teachers?
   
   
2. Since you're starting the year, will you be the one setting up the classroom?
   
   
3. How many on your roster?
   
   
4. When is the first day? Is it a full day or half day?
   
   
5. Do you have this or have access to it? It's the best for those critical first weeks.
   
   
6. Who else is on your first grade team?

Great! I completely agree.

Another great book is http://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260548679&sr=1-2

and anything by Bastiat.

Teach Like a Champion by Lemov and The Skillful Teacher by Saphier are great resources to study. They'll provide you with techniques and tips on teaching. We used them in my Masters of Education course work. Extensively. It's worth it to note that in earning yourself a TEFL certificate, such as a CELTA, you'll be taught the rudimentaries of the profession.

Other than that, if you're really worried about it you could try taking some college courses on Education, either Applied Linguistics or Elementary, to get a broader idea of techniques and expectations. I wouldn't worry about it too much though. I went to China to teach knowing nothing except small bits of info from my CELTA course, and I got along just fine.

Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. If you feel like you're getting into too much of a rut with your delivery, this book really has some simple but great ideas to make your class more engaging. There's a question I ask myself often that he poses: "if your students didn't have to be there, would they show up?"

You could try posting this to r/TEFL as well. If you're going for a qualification then CELTA is your best bet and there's a CELTA trainee book that might be useful. Some schools also recommend Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener.

I would say that Gatto's Underground History got me thinking about modern public education. He is kind of a wingnut, but he has lots of good history, and points about our modern industrial education system. That led me to learn about the history of education, and I realized that when we abandoned the classical liberal arts tradition, we lost a lot. So basically, I thought that by using the Core Knowledge Curriculum, combined with Latin and Singapore Math, we could provide a better education than our local public schools.

Sadly, there's as much variation in the quality of homeschooling as there is in the quality of public schools, apparently, but from what I've seen in our homeschooling community, an involved, caring parent will do just as well as, if not better than the average public school.

As to the reasons for going back to school, a few of her friends decided to go to high school, which means the end of her reading and writing groups. We were prepared to go all the way, but she decided to try high school. I don't have many worries, other than the normal parent-of-teenager worries. She's got a good head on her shoulders.

I'm in a different situation from you, but I also am not very mean. When I was starting out I read this book and it helped me out.

When I was student teaching I was in a district with half urban, half suburban kids because of weird districting. My cooperating teacher explained to me that while I grew up in an area where kids understood indirect directions, like, "Now, if everyone would get out their notebooks..." my students were from a community that was used to more direct directions, like, "In 30 seconds I want to see everyone with their notebooks on their desks. No exceptions." It made a huge difference for me in that situation.

I teach in an affluent district. So anything I offer here might not work:

I'm a good story teller and I've learned to use that to my advantage (it was initially a disadvantage because I like telling stories and was getting off topic too often). I also found, over time, that I just wasn't planning enough to do and was stretching things out to long. Now I've got my pacing down much better and the difference is huge.

Anyway, I'm not sure anything I say could be of much use because I have no experience in your circumstances.

When you start your job start asking around about your mentor! Try and meet with your mentor and other people down your hallway as much as possible. Ask questions and never feel like you’re a bother. You’re all in it together!

If you’re nervous about student behavior, start asking around about their PBIS procedures. Do they have a bounce system? In school suspension?

Also read The First Days Of School as well as Teach Like A Champion .

You’re going to do find! Students respond to teachers who genuinely love what they do and care about them.

> Do you or your professor have any research that supports this claim?

The professor did not cite studies in her discussion, no. As to myself, I have no studies, just years of experience teaching in high schools and colleges.

> The largest determinant in student learning is student practice and practice is not always fun, but it is beneficial.

Agreed -- up to the point to where the student knows the topic. After that, it's simply drudgery and an exercise in following orders. Since you're interested in research, Alfie Kohn analyzed a lot of research on this topic in his 2007 book, "The Homework Myth".

I enjoyed Homeschooling for Excellence https://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Excellence-David-Colfax/dp/0446389862 and Project Based Homeschooling https://www.amazon.com/Project-Based-Homeschooling-Mentoring-Self-Directed-Learners/dp/1475239068/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=project+based+homeschooling&qid=1557432686&s=books&sr=1-1

Teaching Science with Interactive Notebooks is a fantastic read. I started using interactive notebooks this year, and it's been a huge help.

Definitely consider switching schools. If, however, that's not an option, you might be able to read up on some of the literature that great coaches use to develop great teachers. My school likes to send teachers to the Research for Better Teaching (RBT) program. You can find development through their website: http://www.rbteach.com/ and through the book that they use for the program, The Skillful Teacher (http://www.amazon.com/The-Skillful-Teacher-Building-Teaching/dp/1886822107). RBT is not an easy course, but it has completely revolutionized the way I teach.

A fully Deaf person that uses sign language (a visual language) as their main form of communication is usually imagining pictures and images like we do but for all forms of communication. If you'd like to learn more about Deaf culture, I'd recommend to you this book written by a Deaf Child born from hearing parents.

The first two books I typically recommend for teachers are The First Days of School and Teach Like a Champion. Harry Wong, especially, is a leader in teacher development.

There's often a myth that kids with mild-moderate special needs should be taught differently than non-disabled kids, but the literature doesn't really bear that out. They just are less resilient than their peers to poor teaching techniques, so evidence-based techniques become more important for their success.

If your kids have moderate-severe impairments, I would suggest some different reading materials.

Isn't that rubric great?? It's from Kellie Marcarelli's book Teaching Science with Interactive Notebooks. I basically stole everything I do from there!! Actually, that rubric does a pretty good job explaining the expectations for those output assignments. To get a 10/10 they need to go above and beyond, they need to use drawings/color effectively, and they need to show in depth reflection/connection-making skills. Students do not love being told that meeting the basic requirements only gets a 9/10. In practice, their homework assignments (which I grade for completion) will get a 10/10 if they meet the requirements BUT their overall notebook grade (1-2 times a quarter) will be a 9/10 if they don't go above and beyond.

I have a document camera in my classroom (highly recommended if you will be using the notebooks) and after students complete their first assignment I walk around the room and look for the best examples. I ask those students if I can borrow their notebooks and then I project them from the document camera and explain to the class why these examples are so fantastic. I don't name the students as I'm showing their notebooks, and I try to be subtle when I ask for the notebooks/return them, but the class can see who's notebooks I'm taking. I had to do this because this was my first year using the notebooks, but next year I will have student examples to show them too.

I understand your frustration completely. Before starting my first year of teaching, I set up my room, was told to move to another, and then told to move again. I think I had final confirmation on my room less than a week before the first day and construction held me up from setting up and organizing in a way I felt comfortable with. This stress became a lot of my focus, and I neglected solidifying routines. If you have some solid routines that make your life and your students' lives easier, your room will fall into place to mirror these routines.

Think about your preferences for collecting worksheets, storing materials and books, and for grading. Can you create any temporary or mobile homes (milk crate with hanging folders, bins, furniture on wheels, etc.), that can be moved as you settle in more?

I was given this book during my new teacher orientation. You might find some ideas that resonate with you.

Best of luck!

Another great resource is "The First Six Weeks of School." https://www.amazon.com/First-Six-Weeks-School/dp/1892989816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501256208&sr=8-1&keywords=the+first+six+weeks+of+school
They help you get your classroom up and running right away. The first grade teachers in my building swear by the routines section.

I'm a high school science teacher and I can't recommend the Hands-On series enough. I use the physics, but the chemistry one is great too.

It's a good question, and the honest answer is I don't entirely know. I've only been alive for about thirty years, and most of this occurred long before I was born.

I think I can tell you why, though, and I think the same answer would apply to the question of why leftists dominate other arenas like education.

The power of politics is not who occupies the office. Not in a democracy or in a republic. Every person in power is one election away from losing that power. The only way to build enduring power is to control the culture.

There's a wonderful book I would recommend anybody to read, called The Underground History of American Education which discusses the strategy which I believe is in play: if you control the levers of public consciousness, you passively control that populace.

It would be a bit difficult to believe that our diverse media climate could be coordinated, except that just six corporations collectively control 90% of the American media market. We have the illusion of diverse opinion, but not the reality of it.

>but it's not like our government controls the means for food production and I hope they never do.

My main point is that government bureaucrats are faced with the same backwards incentives regardless if they are producing food or providing the service of education. Removing competition means no accountability and no pressure to increase quality or reduce costs.

>What is your stance, how would you like our educational system to operate?

I'd like it to operate with zero state involvement.

There's a compelling and well-supported theory that the American public education system is based on the Prussian education system of the late 1800's, which was engineered to turn ignorant rural farm children into functioning industrial workers.

It stresses things like repetition, recitation, strict unquestioning obedience, showing up on time, leaving on time, eating on time, standing in lines, sitting in assigned positions, going through an assembly line of grades indifferent to each child's abilities, reading and following basic instructions, etc.

It is a system expressly designed to remove the instincts for discovery, independence, self-driven growth, etc.

"The Underground History of American Education" is a good book on the subject:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0945700040/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

I also strongly recommend Lockhart's Lament:

http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

In order to help yourself stay sane: The Together Teacher by Maia Heyck-Merlin. SO MANY tips and tricks about how to make the most of your time. I didn't read it till my third year teaching and I wish I had read it sooner.

I'm currently reading this book, A Learners' Handbook of Chinese Written Expressions, which covers 书面语 ("book language") words and grammatical points. It appears to be available only as a Kindle book now. I would only recommend this book to intermediate to advanced learners.

Here's a random sentence from the book:

9.4.4 殊 (quite)

中国对能取得此成绩，殊出意料。

It was quite unexpected that the Chinese team could make such an achievement.

My views of American school is that privatization hurts the current 'public' system. It further separates the classes, but that is what the public system was designed to do. It was scientifically designed to create malleable workers for the industrial revolution. The system strives to keep people dumb. But don't believe me, believe a teacher

I think the responsibility needs to get back into the home. I believe a better system would be to let parents decide when their children are schooled and where. More public like a library. Where I am from being dumb is almost a badge of honor.

Also, we should privatize sports programs. Take them out of the "public" institutions we call schools. They seem to be quite a distraction and lend more to being popular then becoming a self learner.

I apologize as this is not a historical analysis of the education system. However, I believe the assertion, "The US school system was designed to churn out factory workers," is most likely referencing John Gatto's The Underground History of American Education. If I recall correctly (and it has been a long while), Gatto looks at the Prussian systems, as well as the relationships between the Indian and British school systems. I have not seen Gatto referenced in conversations about the historical development of the US education system, however; his arguments seem to be a part of a conversation about the state of contemporary education, concerns about standardized testing versus ingenuity, etc. To be sure, Gatto tries to develop a historical explanation for the contemporary issues in education, but I have not seen how his work fits in to a broader historical narrative, which poses problems for the viability of his conclusions, I think. Similar arguments about education include [Ken Robinson's Ted Talk] (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html) on Creativity, for example, which are part of a more current discourse regarding education philosophies like unschooling (in Gatto's case) and inquiry-based programs like Montessori, Reggio Emilia, etc.

What consequences are you giving? Do they make sense? Would working on the major problem behavior of the worst offenders help? Sometimes it's one kid influencing others to be naughty.

I recommend Collaborative Problem Solving with the worst kids. Here are the forms.

Secondly, I recommend reading Teach Like a Champion.

Lastly, I recommend Teaching with Love and Logic.

I took a geometry course a couple of quarters ago that was sort of a review of high school geometry, except rigorous and proof-oriented. According to my prof, Kiselev's Geometry is the absolute best book available for this approach to the subject.

I'm reading Market Education right now, might be of interest to you

http://www.amazon.com/Market-Education-Unknown-Frontier-Economic/dp/1560004088

I also recommend John Taylor Gatto's The Underground History of American Education in which he argues that the apparent failures of modern education are in fact successes: the system was deliberately set up to prevent learning.

Availble online here: mhkeehn.tripod.com/ughoae.pdf but I also recommend the hard copy available from Amazo here: http://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040

I had the same problem, but after five years I'm an ol' battleaxe! You MUST get this under control or you won't enjoy your career, and the good students will suffer in your class. But do not worry, there is hope!

Here are a couple of the books that helped me develop me "teacher persona."

http://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Disciplinarian-Management-Eventually-Successful/dp/1936162156

http://www.amazon.com/Setting-Limits-Classroom-3rd-Edition/dp/0307591727

Beyond this: Learn their names. Call them by name when they have their phones out or they are talking while you are talking. Kick them out into the hall if you need to, then have a non-antagonistic chat with them. They are different when they are with you one-on-one. Develop relationships. Ask them about what movie they saw that weekend. Tell them stories about your home life. Put the hammer down if you have to -- call home, referrals, etc. -- but those are a last resort.

I'd recommend reading "For hearing people only"
https://www.amazon.com/Hearing-People-Only-Questions-Community/dp/0963401637

The book covers many questions about being deaf and Deaf culture. As for your specific question, the "inner voice" or "inner monolque" seems to be what you are asking about.

Link to another reddit discussion : https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/3fvlff/do_people_who_are_born_deaf_have_internal/

Or google "deaf inner monoloque" and find some articles/papers on the topic.

Please read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303747880&sr=1-1

(number of people with "bad" jobs) >>> (number of people with "good" jobs)

This is what the public ed system should be doing. Its not a secret.

http://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395705212&sr=8-2&keywords=public+education+system+john+taylor+gatto

This book already exists: https://www.amazon.com/Hearing-People-Only-Questions-Community/dp/0963401637/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1VXZTWQRZAXBK&keywords=for+hearing+people+only&qid=1568676721&s=gateway&sprefix=for+hearing+people+o%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-2

Get this book -- TONS of ideas https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Physics-Activities-Real-Life-Applications/dp/087628845X

Not really surprising, is it?

This reminds me of the facts behind homework. The author of The Homework Myth claims that with the sole exception of high school math, the many, many studies on the topic find that homework is detrimental (or at best has no clear positive correlation) to actual student knowledge.

But our protestant work ethic and mindless football-like mindsets about toughness, work and punishment has us ignoring facts...

Read this: https://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Israel-M-Gelfand/dp/0817636773 and you're more than set for algebraic manipulation.

And if you're looking to get super fancy, then some of that: https://www.amazon.com/Method-Coordinates-Dover-Books-Mathematics/dp/0486425657/

And some of this for graphing practice: https://www.amazon.com/Functions-Graphs-Dover-Books-Mathematics/dp/0486425649/

And if you're looking to be a sage, these: https://www.amazon.com/Kiselevs-Geometry-Book-I-Planimetry/dp/0977985202/ + https://www.amazon.com/Kiselevs-Geometry-Book-II-Stereometry/dp/0977985210/

If you're uncomfortable with mental manipulation of geometric objects, then, before anything else, have a crack at this: https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Graph-Theory-Dover-Mathematics/dp/0486678709/

To add to my last paragraph, if you wanna go even more basic, you can get a pre-algebra textbook. That's basically a review of everything in the standard US K-7 curriculum. A reasonable reference book for this is Yang's A-Plus Notes for Beginning Algebra: Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1.

For the impatient, look at these three books (I use Amazon links here but I don't care where you buy them):

• Yang, A-Plus Notes for Beginning Algebra: Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1
  
• Axler, Precalculus
  
• Kiselev, Geometry, Book 1 (and optionally Book 2, though it probably goes beyond what you actually learned in school)
  

Oh, it's so much worse than you libs imagine.

Considerando que la relacion tareas/calidad de educacion es muy debatida y parecen en lo general no tener beneficio para los resultados academicos, suena a un buen negocio y puede considerarse relativamente etico ya que sus clientes no pierden en la calidad de educacion que reciben.

http://rer.sagepub.com/content/76/1/1.abstract

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738211117/?tag=greatschoolsn-20

Louis Hartz: The Liberal Tradition in America

Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies (both volumes)

Eric Fromm's Escape from Freedom

Chalmers Johnson: The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic


Hanah Arendt: Origins of Totalitarianism and On Violence

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

Capitalism and Slavery

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

INSIDE THE COMPANY: CIA DIARY

Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism

The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher's Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling

Okay, it's ten years old (2007) but the research and referenced studies/data in the book still holds up very well.

So I'll just drop this here: The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing.

• The Underground History of American Education [Video Playlist]
  
  
• The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher's Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling [Book]
  
  Required watching/reading for all people interested in the Root Cause for why schools are soo fucked

I'm sorry, but the one time I'll agree with a public school teacher when they complain is when they are complaining about teaching to the test.

Are you familiar with the Prussian education model? If you want to research what went wrong with our system, I would recommend reading The Underground History of American Education or, for a quicker version, read an article by the author, called Six-Lesson Schoolteacher.

The problem with our system is almost entirely due to the basis for the system itself, not the teachers. Please let me know if this helps.

You are certainly correct that the quality of public education can vary widely, however no matter how well performing a public school may be they all suffer from the same fundamental issues. As references to this brief diatribe I will point you to (as in my other comment) the school sucks project, a book called Illiberal Reformers which details the frightening truth of the early progressive movement, and finally The Underground History of American Education which is a book by a decorated public school teacher who had a terrifying realization after a his long career. Note, that nothing I say here is an attack on any educators or teachers who might read this. I truly believe most teachers and the like get into the field for the right reasons, but the structure that they are faced with is the problem.

The problem with public school in the US, and many other countries (especially Western), is that learning/education is really only a secondary purpose. It is at all times subordinate, and therefore often undermined, to further the actual goal of creating a subordinate citizenry. The early progressives (Who as an aside were just awful, for example it was they who inspired the Nazis to eugenics. Once you go down this rabbit hole you'll never look at Woodrow Wilson the same again.) who championed the introduction of the American public school system were quite plain about where the idea for the modern public school came from. Namely, the Prussian aristocracy who inflicted it upon the populace in the 1800s for the express purpose of making them easy to rule. They made no attempt to hide this fact. The early progressives were somewhat more cautious in their language, dressing up the idea in Utopian language but their intentions are pretty clear if you go look at the academic papers and such they published at the times (which the two books I linked do).

So as to not get too long winded, let me just as a few rhetorical questions. How do you forcefully educate someone? How do you force someone to learn? How does mandating children show up at a building on pain of confinement for them or their parents further either of those goals? The Athenians are turning in their graves. The system forces children to show up at an arbitrary time, irrespective of their individual circumstances, and divides them into arbitrary groups. They are then forced to respect and defer to a person (i.e. Teacher/Adminstrators) arbitrarily. They have to seek permission to perform normal bodily functions (i.e. ask to use the restroom), trained not unlike you would a dog (not that I have anything against dogs!). They are trained to shuffle from one room to another at the sound of a bell, and to fill out meaningless paperwork and to perform meaningless tasks within an arbitrary involuntary hierarchy. It erodes at the mind and soul, creating an obedient populace that is used to dealing with a convoluted bureaucracy, and sometimes you learn something. To top it off, the curriculum is controlled via a political apparatus subject to all the corruption that accompanies politics. You can school, indoctrinate, and train people, but you can't force them to think critically and to really learn.

This is kind of interesting. You're obviously being very sarcastic but, in your sarcasm, you made a bunch of good suggestions.

> We care for a year or so, and then we give up.

I almost never write anything by hand. I can, there's just no need. How is the time I spent learning to write things by hand anything other than a waste? With the increasing pervasiveness of computers and the advent of real, working voice recognition (Dragon Naturally Speaking rocks!), handwriting is going to become even more unnecessary in the future.

> My kids hates homework, and doesn't like school. No more homework!

Read Alfie Kohn's Homework Myth to see why we should get rid of homework.

> English has hard-to-spell words that aren't spelled like they sound. Umm, don't worry about spelling.

English spelling is ridiculous. What a god damn waste of time. Why shouldn't we improve the language so it's easier to spell stuff? I think one of the biggest current flaws with English (and maybe languages in general) is that we try to hold them static. We should regularly and systematically clean up the language and simplify spelling.

> It's just that parents aren't able to deal with the kid's hate, so they figure the system must be wrong if the kid hates it this much, so stop the system!

The system is stupid, broken and produces terrible results. Anyone who doesn't want to stop or change the system isn't thinking it through.

Your focus on detention is arbitrary. It's like saying it's unfair that hostages don't have access to pizza. Maybe, but the whole state of being-a-hostage is unfair. Instead of obsessing about their lack of pepperoni and mushrooms, why not, instead, focus on the actual problem?

• We force children to go to school.
  
• We force children to study specific subjects at school.
  
• We force children to do homework after school.
  
• We stigmatize them if they fail at school.
  
• We use school grades as one metric of mental health.
  
• In most schools, we force children to be subject to archaic. pedagogical methods--once that have been proven to be ineffective.
  
• And, yes, we force children who have (in my view) naturally bucked against this system, to stay in school longer than kids who accept it.
  
• In most schools, children learn very little, especially given the amount of time the spend there.
  
• In many cases (e.g. when forced to read Shakespeare), they often develop a lifelong hatred of the subject.
  
• Many children spend years in school being bullied, mocked, and ostracized.
  
• Throughout this time, they're repeatedly told all this is "good for them," and, in the end, like serial abusers, they inflict in on their own kids, telling them it's good for them.
  
  All of this stuff has been studied for decades. We know that most schools are run horribly, according to unsound educational principals. But that never changes.
  
  When psychologists or neuroscientists discover something about learning or education, it takes years or decades to affect classroom practices, if it ever does.
  
  Schools aren't generally affected by Science. Instead, they are buffeted by politics and held fast by tradition.
  
  See
  
  
• Wounded By School
  
  
• Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
  
  
• The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
  
  
• video: The 3 Most Basic Needs of Children & Why Schools Fail
  
  
• Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood
  
  
• [A Mathematician's Lament (PDF)] (https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf); longer book version: A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form
  
  
• Ken Robinson's TED talk: Do Schools kill creativity?
  
  
• How Children Fail
  
  
• Unschooling
  
  
• Why do we get frustrated when learning something? (written by me)
  
  I am skeptical that I will CYV, even though I believe that this is the best argument against it--not your view that detention is wrong, but that it's not even worth talking about. Sure, detention is a bad thing--but not the worst thing--about a horrible, corrupt, abusive system.
  
  I'm skeptical, because the system is so deeply entrenched in our culture. And the most people can do is argue about small tweaks: whether we should use this textbook or that, the length of Summer break, the size of classrooms, etc.
  
  The debate about Creationism vs Evolution in schools is a good example. If the Evolution folks (or the Creationist folks) win, they will pat themselves on the back and walk away happy, never glancing back and noticing that the same shoddy educational methods are being used now as before--with just one correction.
  
  Yes, Dominoes is bad pizza. It won't suddenly become good pizza if you put it in a less-ugly box. I agree that the box is ugly, but why focus on it? It's not the core problem.