The New Teacher's Handbook: Practical Strategies & Techniques for Success in the Classroom from Kindergarten Through High School

The New Teacher's Handbook by Yvonne Bender is a well written and helpful book. Although I'm no longer a first year teacher, my experiences with teaching lead me to agree with her advice in almost every case. I'm recommending this book to my student teachers with the following suggestion: This book is meant to be read. Although thumbing through and reading headings, examples, and scenarios can be helpful, it is well worth the time to read The New Teacher's Handbook completely. It is written with humor and sensitivity toward beginning teaching problems and filled with useful teaching strategies. It does not insult young teachers as it is not full of pictures, platitudes, and large type. Charts and forms are informative and useful. It is certain to be a reference for more than the first years of teaching. I plan to keep and refer to my copy for a long time.

FINALLY! Here is a book I can only hope will allow new teachers to remain in the field without constantly asking, "Why don't they teach the realities of teaching in College?" or "Why didn't my college coursework and training include real life and not one in a PERFECT WORLD?" After completing the four years of college in order to take that first step into one's own classroom, it is so frustrating and defeating to realize that the picture painted in the job preparation is actually one of an idealistic and fictional world full of sunshine and rainbows of satisfaction. This book should be a required text for all student teachers beginning their experience in the classroom.If only this book had been written 28 years ago when my career began! It certainly could have helped me to avoid some of the hard knocks of the realities of experience. One of the topics included in this book is the unspoken politics of the professional undefined hierarchy within the school, which I've never before seen addressed. The advice suggested for newcomers into the field can definitely allow for more positive personal relations and a less fearful, self-doubting or threatening working environment. This book contains answers and suggested solutions to so many real problem situations within the classroom setting as well as in the whole school environment.Most teachers don't even realize they are not yet asking themselves the right questions when self assessing their reasons for the stress and anxieties they feel as they prepare to go to school each day. By the time one even recognizes and accepts that physical problems may exist as a result of the emotional traumas and strains of the job, the solutions are too far out of their energy level to attain. I have witnessed this situation countless times and it is often too late for the pieces to be put back together as one goes down for the third time......with defeat and resignation in hand. If only The New Teacher's Handbook had been available to the hundreds of excellent and qualified professionals who chose to leave the profession because they felt they had no way to find solutions and alternative strategies and practices to deal with the challenges, troubles, stress and unspoken negatives of the profession. Thank you, Yvonne Bender, for possibly saving the profession of so many new teachers who are just about to step over that glorified idealistic threshold into the den of reality. With your book as a resource and hopefully the advice and expertise of others who already have learned the HARD way to stay happy, satisfied and sane in the profession, the teaching force will have a much better chance of continuing to grow and maintain its qualified newcomers.