Frederick C Wootan - No Fear In My Classroom: A Teachers Guide on How to Ease Student Concerns, Handle Parental Problems, Focus on Education and Gain Confidence in Yourself

No Fear
In My
Classroom

______________

A Teachers Guide on How to:

Ease Students Concerns

Handle Parental Problems

Focus on Education

Gain Confidence in Yourself

Frederick C. Wootan

author of Not In My Classroom

Copyright 2009 by Frederick C. Wootan
All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
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made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

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Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
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ISBN 10: 1-59869-882-6
ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-882-4
eISBN: 978-1-44052-003-7

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Appendix A contains material adapted and abridged from The EverythingNewTeacher Book, by Melissa Kelly, copyright 2004 by F+W Media, Inc., ISBN 10: 1-59337-033-4, ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-033-6.

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To Jim Kodros, counselor, coach, teacher, but most of all friend.

Acknowledgments

It is only since entering the teaching field that I have come to realize the value in having all those years working in Americas corporate sector. Experience in the world of commerce as well as the private world of family has been a great teacher. I truly believe we learn best from what we do wrong. Our successes are quickly forgotten, but our mistakes never leave us. The world teaches us, sometimes gently and sometimes harshly, and we grow from it. I thank everyone with whom Ive had the honor of associating.

I especially want to thank my Principal Mrs. Catherine Mulligan for her willingness to let me use my talents in teaching the wide variety of subjects of High School English for freshmen and junior students, Public Speaking, Yearbook Class, Publications Class, General Business, Study Skills, Creative Writing, and Literature on Film, Contemporary American Issues, and Writers Workshop.

I also want to thank my editor, Brendan ONeill for his continued encouragement and use of his expert editorial skills to make this the best presentation possible.

Your task as teacher is daunting, to say the least. Your students bring all kinds of fears they dont understand into your classroom. Their parents suffer from fears of a modern world filled with terror and not knowing what it will do to their children. Our great country offers fantastic opportunities, but does so within a paradigm where evil thrives.

I wrote this book to heighten awareness of fears influencing your ability to teach with the hope that knowledge of them will bring understanding and will lessen your fears thereby enhancing the learning environment of your classroom. I acknowledge that most of you deal with these daily. I applaud your efforts.

Contents

INTRODUCTION
The Source of Your Fears

PART I : PERSONAL FEARS
You have these before your students even walk through the door

CHAPTER 1
Is My Classroom an Effective Learning Environment?

CHAPTER 2
Am I Bringing My Personal Life into My Professional Life?

CHAPTER 3
Can I Count on Job Security?

CHAPTER 4
How Do I Handle a Difficult Administrator?

CHAPTER 5
Do I Need to Know How to Use All This Technology?

CHAPTER 6
Am I Being Fair?

CHAPTER 7
Should I Be Afraid of Being Sued?

CHAPTER 8
I Dont Know If I Can Teach My Subject

PART II : STUDENT FEARS
So many kids, so many things that could go wrong

CHAPTER 9
Are My Students Bored?

CHAPTER 10
Why Wont These Kids Let Me Teach Them?

CHAPTER 11
How Do I Deal with Harassing Students?

CHAPTER 12
What If a Student Has a Medical Emergency?

CHAPTER 13
How Do I Handle Fear of the Bullies?

CHAPTER 14
How Am I Supposed to Stop School Violence?

CHAPTER 15
Why Do My Students Keep Getting Distracted?

CHAPTER 16
What If They Are Scared?

PART III: PARENTAL FEARS
They have a big influence on how your students act

CHAPTER 17
Do My Students Home Lives Come to School?

CHAPTER 18
Why Do My Students Parents Scare Me?

CHAPTER 19
How Do I Handle an Apathetic Parent?

CHAPTER 20
Will There Be Repercussions to My Disciplining?

PART IV: EXTERNAL FEARS
You have no control over what happens outside your classroom

CHAPTER 21
Are My Students Going to Be Able to Compete?

Chapter 22
How Does the Neighborhood Affect My School?

CHAPTER 23
What Do I Do about Drugs in My School?

CHAPTER 24
Are My Students Safe on Their Way Home?

CHAPTER 25
Terrorism and My Classroom

CHAPTER 26
What Do I Do When the Government Interferes?

INTRODUCTION
The Source of Your Fears

While researching for this book I ran across an interesting comment made more than 2,300 years ago by Aristotle. He stated:

Confusing questions arise out of the education that actually prevails,and it is not at all clear whether the pupils should practice pursuits thatare practically useful, or morally edifying, or higher accomplishmentsfor all these views have the support of some judges.

I guess wondering about or questioning the field of education didnt begin with me.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his 1933 Inaugural Address, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He knew that we needed to take drastic measures to save a flagging economy and society and that society had to set aside its fears and move boldly ahead. He worked to learn about the countrys fears and experimented with ways to deal with them. As a teacher, you must continue working and searching to ferret out fears so that you will become a better educator in a society evolving more rapidly than ever before.

Do you as a teacher have fears? Of course you do. Many of you question overall government encroachment into the educational process. Many of you wonder if budget cuts will remove you from the classroom or make obtaining the equipment you need even harder. Many of you fear not getting your message across to your students so they can learn and progress in their knowledge. These and many more of your fears intertwine with those of your students, their parents, and society.