John F. Eller - Thriving as a New Teacher: Tools and Strategies for Your First Year

tools and strategies for your first year

JOHN F. ELLER & SHEILA A. ELLER

Copyright 2016 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

201918171612345

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016930937

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Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

Julie Bonfield

Curriculum Specialist

Montgomery County Public Schools

Mount Sterling, Kentucky

Tracey Garrett

Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education

Rider University

Lawrenceville, New Jersey

Rebecca A. Krystyniak

Director, Teacher Preparation Initiative

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Physics

St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud, Minnesota

Lauren Morgan

Grade Two Teacher

Franklin Sherman Elementary School

McLean, Virginia

Chris Porter

Instructional Specialist

Katy Independent School District

Katy, Texas

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John F. Eller, PhD, has served as director of the educational leadership doctoral program at St. Cloud State University, worked with educational leaders at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and developed teacher leaders in a masters program. He is a former principal, director of a principals training center, and assistant superintendent for curriculum, learning, and staff development. He has served as executive director of the Minnesota State affiliate of ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

John specializes in implementing effective teaching strategies; dealing with difficult people; building professional learning communities; conducting employee evaluations; building conferencing and coaching skills; developing strategic planning strategies; planning and implementing school-improvement initiatives; using differentiated instruction; leading, selecting, and inducting employees; and building supervisory skills. He has authored Effective Group Facilitation in Education: How to Energize Meetings and Manage Difficult Groups, and coauthored Working With and Evaluating Difficult School Employees, So Now Youre the Superintendent!, Energizing Staff Meetings, and Creative Strategies to Transform School Culture. He is also coauthor of Working With Difficult and Resistant Staff and Score to Soar: Moving Teachers From Evaluation to Professional Growth.

John earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University Chicago and a masters degree in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Sheila A. Eller, EdD, is a middle school principal for Mounds View Public Schools in Minnesota. She has served as a principal in Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools and other schools in Minnesota. Sheila is a former principal, university professor, special education teacher, Title I mathematics teacher, and self-contained classroom teacher for grades 14.

In Fairfax County, Sheila helped transform a school that was not making adequate yearly progress, served a low socioeconomicstatus population, and had a high minority population through professional learning community implementation, data use, and refinement of teaching and learning strategies.

Sheila shares her expertise at international conferences and with school districts in the areas of school turnaround, effective instruction, teacher evaluation, building leadership teams, teacher leadership, and various other topics. As a professor at National Louis University in Chicago, she worked on the development team for a classroom mathematics series, and her teaching skills were featured on a video that accompanied the series. She has coauthored Energizing Staff Meetings, Working With and Evaluating Difficult School Employees, and Creative Strategies to Transform School Culture. She is also coauthor of Working With Difficult and Resistant Staff and Score to Soar: Moving Teachers from Evaluation to Professional Growth.

She has been a member of the Minnesota ASCD executive board and a regional president of the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association.

Sheila received a doctorate in educational leadership and administration from St. Cloud State University, a masters degree from Creighton University, and a bachelors degree from Iowa State University.

To learn more about John and Sheilas work, visit www.ellerandassociates.com or follow them on Twitter @jellerthree .

To book John Eller or Sheila Eller for professional development, contact .

It is August, and Karla, a new high school English teacher, is working to get her classroom ready for the first day of class. As she works, her mind races with thoughts of all that lies ahead: What will her students be like? How can she build relationships with them? Will she be able to engage her students in the content? How will she deal with disruptive student behavior and parental concerns, meet her principals expectations, manage the curriculum, and accurately assess her students? There is so much Karla needs to think about for her first teaching job. She feels overwhelmed.

Karlas feelings as she approaches the start of school are common among teachers entering the profession. Teaching is a highly rewarding career, but it is a difficult one as wellone that has both rewards and challenges. Welcome to teaching!