Links for your First Day

New Teachers Guide Book
How do you grade your various class projects? Do you have a solid and effective classroom management plan all set up? Do you need some ideas to help you get organized and started? Find ideas here for all of the above, as well as a sample first day schedule to help you prepare for your own entry into the classroom.

New Teachers Survival Guide (pdf document)
Several useful forms have been included with this New Teacher's Survival Guide, including late sign-in sheets, sample contracts with parent briefing guides, progress reports, homework checklists and grade sheets, and classroom set-up templates, along with guides for organization, student conduct, planning your first day, and more.

Back-To-School Kit 2006
Going back to school can be stressful, but even more so for kids with learning disabilities. To help parents best prepare their children for back-to-school, the team at Schwab Learning has launched a simple “one-stop” online toolkit to access all the information, resources and articles relating to issues that arise for kids with learning disabilities at the onset of a new school year.

Copyright Information
What can a teacher copy to give to their students? Can a teacher use printed images for their newsletters or classroom materials? These are the kinds of things a teacher needs to know so they don't unintentionally infringe on another artists rights.

New Teacher Resource Page
This page has links to resources for new teachers.

Teacher Survival Sites
A comprehensive list of links that deal with the core of good teaching. Links for technology and other essential resources are also included. The site is hosted by Horace Mann Financial Solutions.

What Makes a Great Teacher?
"What makes a great teacher? Teaching is one of the most complicated jobs today. It demands broad knowledge of subject matter, curriculum and standards; enthusiasm, a caring attitude and a love of learning; knowledge of discipline and classroom management techniques; and a desire to make a difference in the lives of young people."

Links to Help With Discipline

Behavior Management
View blogs, read about discipline ideas, learn 11 techniques for better classroom discipline, incentives, and read about various discipline philosphies.

Discipline Help: You Can Handle Them All
Learn how to handle over 117 misbehaviors at school. Read about how to deal with class clowns, cheaters, agitators, criers, fighters, and more.

Threat Assessment
Preventing school violence is a top priority for school and public safety officials today. These prevention efforts include creating more positive school environments, establishing crisis response teams, increasing security measures, and improving collaboration between schools and communities. Considerable energy also has been devoted to developing strategies to identify students at risk of becoming violent before they cause harm.

TeacherFirst
This site includes many resources that is useful to the first year teacher. See puzzles, brain twisters, blogs, and classroom resources. You can find resources by subject and grade level or by keyword search.

Wizzlewolf's Webpage for Beginning Teachers
This page includes links to a new teacher cha*tboard, tips for new teachers, lesson plans, resources, and ideas.

Helpful Hints for Beginning Teachers
This is a helpful article by Jane Bluestein, Ph.D. It includes comments on student discipline, how to make your classroom run smoothly, how to make your students succeed and how to be accepted as part of the staff.


Links to Help With Instruction

Glossary of Instructional Strategies
An alphabetized glossary of instructional terms and strategies. by PlasmaLink. There are also links from some of the terms.

Responsive Classroom
A practical approach to creating safe, challenging, and joyful elementary schools. You can subscribe to a free newsletter and sign up for workshops.

Art & Learning to Think & Feel
A collection of links by Marvin Bartel to teach thinking and growing the mind. It includes ideas on how to use drawing to increase visual thinking.

College Board
AP Central's Drawing Course home page. See information about the exam, studio art teachers' guide, curriculum, instruction and many resources. See also the following links:

AP Studio Art 2-D Design Portfolio
AP Studio Art 3-D Design Portfolio
AP Studio Art Drawing Portfolio
Tips for Starting a Successful AP Studio Art Program
Parallel Lessons for AP Studio Art Instructors

Picasso People- With 25-45 minute workshops, mime, puppetry and more.

Young Audiences: Arts for Learning- A nation-wide organization that provides skits, visiting artists, performances and more.