Tina H. Boogren - The Beginning Teachers Field Guide: Embarking on Your First Years (Self-Care and Teaching Tips for New Teachers)

The Beginning Teachers

FIELD GUIDE

Tina H. Boogren

Copyright 2018 by Solution Tree Press

Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked Reproducible. Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

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Printed in the United States of America

222120191812345

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Boogren, Tina, author.

Title: The beginning teachers field guide : embarking on your first years / Tina H. Boogren.

Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017042942 | ISBN 9781945349560 (perfect bound : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: First year teachers--Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Teaching--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Classification: LCC LB2844.1.N4 B658 2018 | DDC 371.102--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042942

Solution Tree

Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO

Edmund M. Ackerman, President

Solution Tree Press

President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife

Editorial Director: Sarah Payne-Mills

Art Director: Rian Anderson

Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton

Senior Production Editor: Tonya Maddox Cupp

Senior Editor: Amy Rubenstein

Copy Editor: Miranda Addonizio

Proofreader: Evie Madsen

Text and Cover Designer: Abigail Bowen

This book is dedicated to all the beginning teachers, especially Brienne and Alexa, who are just starting their own incredible journeys in classrooms (and on carts) all over the world. I am your biggest fan.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am so grateful that Douglas Rife picked up this book and cheered it on so quickly and with such enthusiasm.

Thank you, Amy Rubenstein, for encouraging me to share my true voice with the world and for helping me reshape my original manuscript into something that Im so incredibly proud of.

A very special thanks to both Mark Gardner and Yeshua Pastina for their meticulous help with ensuring that these words will appeal to all readers and for reassuring me that my voice matters.

To my husband, who never complained when I had to reschedule date night in order to write.

Finally, thank you to my parents, for always sneaking my books from their original shelves to the bestsellers table at the local bookstore.

Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

Kimberly Freeman

Latin Teacher

Lexington Middle School

Lexington, South Carolina

Lindsay Frevert

Second-Grade Teacher

Van Derveer School

Somerville, New Jersey

Peggy Goddard

Training and Development Specialist

Howard-Suamico School District

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Claudia Kis

New Teacher Mentor

Woodburn School District

Woodburn, Oregon

Cher Knotwell

New Teacher Mentor

Liberty Elementary School District #25

Buckeye, Arizona

Karen Krantz

Sixth-Grade Teacher

Adams Elementary School

Spokane, Washington

Courtney Matulka

Science Teacher

Beadle Middle School

Omaha, Nebraska

Dora Miura

Geometry Teacher

Saipan Southern High School

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

Nardi Routten

Fourth-Grade Teacher

Frances K. Sweet Magnet School

Fort Pierce, Florida

Elizabeth Simons

Instructional Mentor

Greece Central School District

North Greece, New York

Jessica Tsoufiou

Fourth-Grade Teacher

Frazer Elementary School

Canton, Ohio

Lindi Wilson

Fifth-Grade Teacher

Princeton Alternative Elementary School

Birmingham, Alabama

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download the free reproducibles in this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T ina H. Boogren, PhD, is a former classroom teacher, English department chair, teacher mentor, instructional coach, professional developer, athletic coach, and building-level leader. She has presented at the school, district, state, and national levels and was a featured speaker at the International Literacy Association annual conference and Barnes & Nobles educators nights.

Tina was a 2007 finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year and received the Douglas County School District Outstanding Teacher Award eight years in a row, from 2002 to 2009. In addition to writing articles for the National Writing Projects The Voice and The Quarterly, she authored In the First Few Years: Reflections of a Beginning Teacher and Supporting Beginning Teachers. She coauthored Motivating and Inspiring Students and contributed to Middle School Teaching: A Guide to Methods and Resources and Becoming a Reflective Teacher.

Tina holds a bachelors degree from the University of Iowa, a masters degree with an administrative endorsement from the University of Colorado Denver, and a doctorate from the University of Denver in educational administration and policy studies.

To learn more about Tinas work, visit www.facebook.com/selfcareforeducators or follow @THBoogren on Twitter and Instagram.

To book Tina H. Boogren for professional development, contact .

INTRODUCTION

First Things First

W elcome. I am so glad you are here. Our entire K12 system needs you. Are you ready? (Say yesbecause you are.)

Picture this: you and I are sitting down, across from each other, in a cozy coffee shop. See us leaning in toward one another. Allow me to introduce myself so that you and I start to build a relationship together, through these pages.

Im Tina. Ive been an educator my entire life, starting with reading to my stuffed animals and assigning homework to my imaginary students in my basement in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Later I taught tennis lessons, became a summer day camp counselor, and mentored students during my undergraduate years at the University of Iowa, until I finally got my own classroom teaching middle school students outside of Denver, Colorado. That first year, in 1998, was rough. I almost didnt make it. I was so overwhelmed with attendance slips and grading and planning for four preps that I hit the (imaginary) wallhead-onin October, just weeks after starting the school year. I have such a clear and precise memory of walking down the long hallway of my school, toward the front door, determined to take myself back to the mall to see if I could get my old job back because I was convinced that I simply wasnt cut out for this profession. It was Mary Dee Seibold who stepped out of her office and saved me that day. She picked me up as I was falling apart, put me back together, and is the sole reason that Im still here. And now its time for me to return the favor and reach out a hand to help