Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools

Finders and Keepers perfectly describes my colleagues' and my experiences. We are Ivy League graduates committed to progressive public school education. After five years of teaching in New York City public schools, even the most tenacious of us has been forced to shrug her shoulders and conclude that, "this job is just unsustainable." Finders and Keepers argues that this need not be our trajectory. Johnson and the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers accurately identifies the range of demands on new teachers, and proposes practical and achievable solutions that will enrich the learning environment of any school. Finders and Keepers sounds an urgent call to attention and puts an end to the finger-pointing game. All players-administrators, principals, superintendents, teacher preparation programs, veteran teachers, union leaders, and policymakers-share responsibility in adequately preparing our schools for the new generation of teachers. We need to make teaching a sustainable career.

Every administrator, supervisor, education college professor should own this book. Too many novice teachers leave the profession before they really get their feet wet. This text will help professional educators who mentor teachers realize more fully the challenges and difficulties that beginning teachers face. The value of this book is that the problems of beginning teachers are clearly related from teachers on the job. We as educators must provide the right climate for these wonderful new teachers; this book will provide the insights into those challenges and the alert those in charge of teacher preparation and those whose responsibilities including hiring new recruits as to the myriad ways that the system may be failing our brightest and best candidates for the teaching profession. The answers come directly from those struggling through their first and second years in the profession. This book will be an excellent source to find and keep our best teachers.