First Year Teachers

The first year of teaching is a tough job. Everything is new – the students you're responsible for; the school's procedures; your relationship with fellow teachers, administrators, and parents; what you plan to do and teach each day; your classroom management and teaching style; and much more.

Not surprisingly, new teachers who don't receive adequate support often become dissatisfied and end up quitting. Nationally, 22 percent of all new teachers leave the profession in the first three years. In Los Angeles and other areas, the statistic is more than 50 percent. This is an unfortunate situation not only for teacher retainment but also for student achievement.

The following are a few resources that may help new teachers navigate their first year:

• New Teacher at Scholastic.com

  Features advice and support from experienced teachers, reading strategies, classroom tools, an archive of hot topics, and a new teacher discussion board.

• Back to School Teacher Tips

  The American Federation of Teachers has prepared an excellent online booklet for both returning teachers and new hires that will help kick the school year off smoothly. Whether focusing on classroom management, structure, lesson plans, or activities, this booklet is full of useful information to assist in student learning.

• Advice for First Year Teachers

  This is a helpful article on EducationWorld.org. The web site is full of lessons, tips, advice, and more.

• Become a Teacher: Survival Guide for New Teachers

  This guide includes candid remarks from new teachers about working with veteran teachers, parents, and principals.

• What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching

  This booklet features quotations from first-year teachers who describe challenges they encountered in the classroom and how they faced those challenges. They suggest ways principals might help new teachers and how colleges might prepare teachers better for the first year in the classroom.

• Weekly Classsroom Newsletter Template

  Keep parents up to date with a weekly classroom newsletter. We've created a ready-to-use, editable newsletter template complete with extra graphics and more than 50 reading tips

New teachers who are responsible for teaching students in kindergarten through third grade may also want to take advantage of a self-paced, self-study, online course developed by Reading Rockets. Called First Year Teacher, the free course consists of ten modules that explain how to teach reading.

Free newsletters