Teacher Training Books

Kristen J. Nelson and Kim Bailey's STARTING STRONG: SURVIVING AND THRIVING AS A NEW TEACHER appears in its second edition to provide time-tested classroom strategies for new teachers just beginning their first year. College-level libraries catering to educators will find it a basic and popular pick covering everything from easy classroom layout suggestions and practices to promote positive individual and group behavior to samples of oral and written communication with parents, tips on creating classroom newsletters, and ideas for incorporating web-based learning into the curriculum. It's an excellent beginning teacher's guide highly recommended for any venturing into the classroom for the first time.

Teachers today are always described as being on the front lines. But one might ask, of which war? I taught with Teach For America recruits. There were several things they had in common, although no doubt they were as individuals as different as the rest of us. Still their similarities suggest that they were the products of training and indoctrination. First, they had that breezy quality of visitors not employees. It was a lark for them, teaching, not a way to make a living. It was a hobby. They were short-term help, in other words, not education workers, like the rest of us. They acted like Christmas wrapping-paper crew members, working in the department store for a week or so. No problems penetrated, nothing involved them. You'd never see them at an evening staff meeting; they were out of there at 3:00, baby. Secondly, they snubbed the staff teachers but brown-nosed the administrators. They saw the teachers as working-class (rightfully) and the administrators as middle-class, that is, people like them. They were trained to look down at the teachers, because they had been trained to see us as the obstacles to reform and change and liberation and emancipation. We taught Cinderella, but they "deconstructed" Cinderella. We were regarded as purveyors of oppression; they, of enlightenment. They were management; we, just teachers, the lowest form of scum in our society. The message they received at Teach for American headquarters was this: "Teaching is a fun hobby, not a career, except for the losers you'll be meeting at your assignment. Ignore them, kiss up to the Principal, get a good recommendation, and soon you'll be raking in the bucks at your chosen profession." One thing I came away feeling was that at least on this point the alumni were well-informed.

This book, written by a recent Teach For America alum, strives to outline the TFA program by going through the TFA experience from recruiting to alumnus through the eyes of TFA interviewees. Those who are interested in applying for Teach for America would gain a lot from this book as it gives some perspective on the process through bite size biographies. For me, I would have liked either greater detail about the subjects interviewed or more hefty analysis of TFA as a way to address the national teacher shortage.

I did learn a few things from this book. I now know that TFA endorses high stakes testing as a way to demonstrate that their teachers are competent in the classroom at generating score improvement. I'm also aware that there's a real tension between getting the "elite" graduates to staff the program versus finding people who will commit to teaching for the long haul.

I remain positive on Teach For America, not because it's perfect, but because I feel that it is one possible strategy for addressing the teacher shortage. Still, I'm not sure that I wouldn't learn more about the program from someone with a stronger background in teaching or educational policy or even from some of the more detailed profiles in magazines on TFA teachers.

This is a good intro to the program, but I hope other researchers who can go beyond just interviewing as a research technique will join the field to figure out how to make a positve program a great program and provide honest debate on how to address the national teacher shortage.

3.5 stars

--SD

This book takes a religious twist, but covers all the basics of teaching the elementary child. I enjoyed the reading, and connected the content with my own personal beliefs. I recommend this book for homeschoolers.