The authors of this inspirational new book were on a mission. While much has been written about teacher burnout and the day-to-day problems teachers face, little has been written about how teachers who deal with these problems overcome them, and continue to enter the classroom each morning with enthusiasm for their calling. To discover such teachers, the authors interviewed over 70 teachers in communities across the country to find teachers who, in a profession characterized by pressure, stress, and little reward, still find teaching an enjoyable, fulfilling career. The book includes over 150 teacher narratives of their real-life classroom experiences. The narratives provide unique insights into creating a teaching mission, setting up a community of learners, discovering the rewards of diversity, balancing personal and professional time, turning mistakes into excellence, using laughter to create rapport with students, and using discipline to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation in the classroom. From these inspirational stories emerges a vision of the joys and rewards of working with children and a portrait of the teachers who have made a difference in the lives of their students and a contribution to their community. The quotes, stories, and advice written in the teachers' own words are interwoven with practical suggestions for ideas to make the classroom an inspirational environment for students and teachers alike.

Here's help for any school or district that wants struggling first-year and beginning teachers to survive and thrive. Written by seasoned administrators and teacher leaders who know the ropes, this guide covers every aspect of the topic, including: Best ways to support new teachers; Stages they go through in their first year; Effective induction programs that last five days, all summer, or an entire year; Mentoring programs that benefit all teachers involved; Strategies for improving new teachers' teaching skills without damaging their morale; and Systemwide solutions that combine induction and mentoring programs with ongoing assessment and professional development. Case studies of successful programs and insights from veteran and novice teachers give you plenty of fresh insights on how to maintain new teachers' confidence and encourage them to innovate and grow.

The School Portfolio Toolkit is a book that includes over 300 tools, strategies, templates, and examples for use in building school portfolios and for planning, implementing, and evaluating continuous school improvement. The Toolkit was written to support school personnel with the mechanics of putting together a school portfolio, as well as to offer processes and strategies to move whole school staffs into and through continuous improvement. The tools in the Toolkit will help staffs create, implement, and maintain school portfolios and begin the journey of continuous improvement. Each chapter deals with one topic related to the school portfolio and comprehensive school improvement, with related documents and tools. The School Portfolio Toolkit book provides templates, tools, examples, and strategies that will help you analyze your school's data, create a vision that is truly shared by the school staff, build a continuous school improvement plan to implement the school vision, formulate a leadership structure to implement the vision, involve parents, community, and business in implementing the vision, embed up to forty different powerful professional development designs into your school plan, evaluate your continuous school improvement work, and create a School Portfolio that will organize and serve as a framework for the continuation of this work

This brief booklet is designed for future teachers who are beginning the process of seeking employment in the education field. It details how to successfully find a teaching job, covering everything from networking during student teaching to developing a portfolio, while also focusing on interviewing and negotiating. As a part of the Student Enrichment Series, this guide can be packaged for free with a core Education text (with each additional SES guide added at a cost of $2 net to the bookstore) and can also be purchased individually. Please contact your local Merrill Education/Prentice Hall Representative for a special package ISBN before placing your order with your bookstore.