Grades
K - 12
New Teacher Tips From Experienced Educators
These teaching resources and tips are perfect for new teachers looking to improve their classroom management.
As a new teacher, you might be focused on setting basic classroom rules during the first week of school. But as you build relationships with your students, their parents, and your fellow educators, you’ll begin to gain a better idea of what’s most effective when managing a classroom.
Being a friend and confidante for your students while still being firm and in control will create a collaborative classroom community and a positive student-teacher relationship. Having mutual respect with your students will make their daily life in the classroom happier so they can focus on their lessons.
Experienced Florida educators Vilma Hernandez, a 1st grade teacher, and Anne Cicale, 6th grade teacher, share their tips for beginning teachers on how to develop relationships with your students during your first teaching year.
Set and explain classroom rules during the first day. Spend time with other teachers to get a few ideas on what has worked for them in their own classroom and feel out which ones you’d like to implement. Help your students understand that these expectations are for their own success. This is especially important for a first-year teacher as it helps students learn what the classroom community will look like for both you and your students.
“The most important thing is to set expectations at the beginning of the year, and to be consistent,” says Cicale. “The students know that I am firm because I have their best interest at heart. They know I want them to succeed.”
Having an observation and reward system for good behavior teaches students about personal accountability, which contributes to a collaborative environment. Each student can keep track of their own behavior, which teaches them to keep their actions in mind and gives them ownership over their classroom.
“In my classroom I use a Character Tracker,” says Cicale. “The students each have their own character card and they earn positives when they exhibit one of the character traits. They can earn rewards at the end of each quarter based on their behavior.”
Notifying your students’ parents about their behavior will also give each child a bigger picture of how their actions can affect other students' lives.
“Keeping a conduct log has helped students self-assess their behavior while providing documentation for parents,” says Hernandez. “We create the Conduct Log together as a class. This is all discussed during Open House with the parents. After each quarter, the student’s start from scratch with a clean slate.”
When trust is built between teachers and their students, everyone thrives. Kids respond better when they see that you have confidence in them. It also makes the process of learning and maintaining class discipline easier, especially for first-year teachers.
“My goals are always to motivate the students to do their best,” says Cicale. “Setting high expectations for students and letting them know that I know they can be successful.”
Communicate and share goals with your students regularly so everyone is on the same page. You can be flexible with your goals without compromising your lesson planning, And, don’t hesitate to let your students know how proud you are of them for their hard work and good behavior.
“I believe providing students a safe, warm, and caring environment is the key to a successful school year,” says Hernandez. “Never be afraid to tell your students you love them; that goes a long way. Also, the worst thing you could tell a student is that they disappointed you.”
Shop the best titles about school below! We've also compiled a list of professional development books to help sharpen your teaching toolkit. You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store.
Here is the story of a little raccoon who confronts the first day of school and needs reassurance. Mother Raccoon finds an unforgettable way of communicating the message that everyone most needs to hear.
This upbeat tale features easy-to-follow rhyming text, expressive illustrations, and familiar classroom scenes that will help get little ones excited for their first day of school.
Turn little pouts into big smiles! Mr. Pout-Pout Fish is nervously awaiting his first day of school, and he frets about not knowing how to write his name, how to draw shapes, and how to do math - until he's reassured that school is the perfect place to learn how to master all of these new skills.
That lovely old lady has returned just in time for the first day of school. Now she's swallowing items to make the very best of her first day back.
Melvin throws a fit whenever he doesn't get what he wants. Apparently this is tolerated at home and he always gets his way, but at school the rule is "You get what you get if you don't throw a fit." Melvin learns to control his behavior at school pretty quickly and when he spills the beans at home, his parents take on a new philosophy as well.
In this groovy story, Pete just can't decide which outfit to wear to school! He has so many options to choose from, so he uses his creativity to decide on the coolest one because, in the end, it's not what you wear, but how you wear it that makes you cool.
Everyone's favorite dinosaurs are back, and this time they are going to school. More fun dinosaur antics await.
From running in the halls to chewing gum in class, David's high-energy antics fill each school day with trouble, and are sure to bring a smile to even the best-behaved reader.
A girl in a red hat finds the courage to be kind to the new student in class. Her kindness spreads, until her whole community experiences the magical shift that happens when people understand what it means to be kind, and act on their best impulses!
Noodles thinks that going to school sounds like a lot of fun. But when he gets there, school turns out to be a big, scary place. Noodles feels all alone until he makes some friends.
A young T-Rex learns a lesson in school etiquette and second chances.
On the first day of school, a boy falls asleep and dreams that he is assigned to Mrs. Green's class. In his nightmare, Mrs. Green is a monster with a tail and smoke coming out of her nostrils. He is so happy when he awakes to see the real Mrs. Green that he gives her a hug.
Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common, but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.
A semiautobiographical middle-grade graphic novel about frenemies, fitting in, and finding your voice.
Instagram sensation and Tapas webcomic superstar Cassandra Calin makes her long-form debut with this funny, feel-good middle-grade graphic novel about change.
Three friends discover magic and mayhem around every corner of their school in this brand-new illustrated series from New Yorker cartoonist and NAACP Image Award nominee Liz Montague that's perfect for fans of Witchlings and The Wizards of Waverly Place.
Literacy champions Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp provide teachers with the advice they need to transform the classroom library into a true instructional partner. They show how to procure and weed books based on quantity, diversity, currency and relevance, and organization and use.
This book gives time-strapped teachers a power tool: the "Strive-for-Five" conversation framework. These responsive conversations start with what children say and continue as the teacher listens and responds-with a goal of five conversation turns to stretch their talking and thinking.
Dr. Muhammad shows how joy, which is rooted in the cultural and historical realities of Black students, can enhance our efforts to cultivate identity, skills, intellect, and criticality for ALL students, giving them a powerful purpose to learn and contribute to the world.
In this no-nonsense guide, primary reading expert and classroom teacher Lindsay Kemeny shares seven ways K-3 teachers can modify what they are currently doing to transform their reading instruction.
Leading phonics expert Wiley Blevins has updated his best-selling classic to include the latest in phonics instruction and the science of reading, as well as current research on handwriting and on phonemic awareness.
Build classroom community and honor the identities of everyone in your class with thoughtfully chosen multicultural mentors texts, such as Alma and How She Got Her Name, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, In My Mosque, and more.
Use thoughtfully chosen multicultural mentors texts, such as We are the Water Protectors, Dreamers, and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, to build classroom community and honor the identities of everyone in your class.
Dr. Julia B. Lindsey’s evidence-based routines help young readers decode words efficiently so they can spend more energy on comprehending-and enjoying-what they read!
In this timely book, the Libens explore what kids truly need to comprehend texts. Focusing on vocabulary, knowledge building, and language structures, they offer ideas to put into action now.
Teachers have questions, and nobody knows that better than Melissa Loftus and Lori Sappington, hosts of the popular "Melissa & Lori Love Literacy" podcast. They have assembled the questions teachers ask them most about how children learn to read-and provided solid, evidence-based answers inspired by interviews with their expert guests.
