Access the First Days of School online course for only $25!
The first week of school is a crucial time in setting the tone for the remainder of the year. Through careful planning and thoughtful design, a successful first week can build the foundation for classroom culture and community. Through this online course you will develop a plan for the first week of school, which will include preparing your environment and getting to know your students before they walk through the door, and essential lessons and activities to get your year started positively and effectively.
Searching for an online course that provides a comprehensive ‘toolbox’ for everything a teacher needs to know in their first three years?
A Road Map for Beginning Teachers is a comprehensive 4-Part learning series that will fulfill this quest. Purchase as a bundle or separately in 4 parts. Designed to support beginning teachers in navigating their first few years and facilitates a mindset that is reflective, proactive and consistently striving to improve one’s practice.
Classroom Culture and Relationships
Creating a positive classroom culture, and developing authentic relationships with both students and staff is a foundational element for any beginning teacher. Having a classroom culture that promotes positive behaviour responses and reduces disruption in the classroom will help beginning teachers to have a successful start to their teaching career.
Resources and Templates
Weekly Online Intentional Planning - Classroom Template - The purpose of this planning template is to strategically plan when and how you will be connecting with your class(es), to ensure focus for the week. The intent is not to accomplish every form of connection every week but to intentionally differentiate how best to support your class learning as well as individual student and family needs. | |
Coaching Plan Template - This document provides a way to organize and prioritize in manageable intervals by identifying goals, actions, resources, and supports and provides purposeful reflection on attainment of goals and determining next steps. | |
The Year So Far - This graphic organizer can be used at any time to reflect upon initial successes, areas of surprise, learnings, and anticipated events. | |
Classroom Management Matters - An exercise for reflection around key areas of classroom management. | |
What Is Obvious to You - A graphic organizer to accompany an activity where teachers identify simple creative ideas, materials, resources, or strategies that can engage and enlighten your students and support their learning. |
Assessment
Assessment is an integral part of the instruction cycle and knowing how to do this effectively is not always something that you feel confident about when you’re first starting off as a teacher. Guidance with knowing how to gather data to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses and measuring the progress of student learning is an area focused on in beginning teacher mentoring.
Instruction
So much learning occurs in the first year of teaching! Having access to research based practices to inform instruction is underlying to sound pedagogy.
Resources and Templates
Strategies Used in New Teacher Cohort - This overview is designed to support leaders who are facilitating a beginning teachers cohort, with strategies that can help increase engagement in the topic. | |
Month by Month Overview - This is an example of a month by month “to do” list of procedural and pedagogical tasks. The template can be adapted by the facilitator to reflect division expectations. | |
Supporting Struggling Readers - This template is a tool for building a continuum of supports for struggling readers. |
Diverse learners
Knowing how to plan for ALL students is challenging for teachers, for a beginning teacher having support with creating diverse learning opportunities so that all students can thrive is essential.
Resources and Templates
Behaviour is Communication Visual | |
Personal Wellness
With so many demands on first year teachers, having support to maintain positive social, mental and physical wellness is highly important.