1st Edition

Making it as a Teacher How to Survive and Thrive in the First Five Years

By Victoria Hewett Copyright 2019
    238 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    238 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Teaching is a delightfully rewarding, wonderfully enlightening and diverse career. Yet, at present, teacher recruitment and retention are in crisis, with some of the most at risk of leaving the profession being those in their early years of teaching. Making it as a Teacher offers a variety of tips, anecdotes, real-life examples and practical advice to help new teachers survive and thrive through the first 5 years of teaching, from the first-hand experiences of a teacher and middle leader.

    Divided into thematic sections, Making It, Surviving and Thriving, the book explores the issues and challenges teachers may face, including:

    • Lesson planning, marking and feedback
    • Behaviour and classroom management
    • Work-life balance
    • Progression, CPD and networking

    With the voices of teaching professionals woven throughout, this is essential reading for new teachers, those undertaking initial teacher training, QT mentors and other teaching staff that support new teachers in the early stages of their career.

    List of Figures  Contributors  Foreword  Preface  Acknowledgements  List of Abbreviations  Introduction  Section 1 – Making It  1.1 What it means to be a teacher  1.2 Meeting the standards  1.3 The challenges of the career  1.4 Staying in the profession  Section 2 – Surviving  2.1 Setting up your classroom  2.2 Lesson Planning  2.3 Differentiation and Scaffolding  2.4 Behaviour and classroom management  2.5 Marking and Feedback  2.6 Work life balance - Less is More  Section 3 – Thriving  3.1 Subject Knowledge  3.2 Progression  3.3 CPD  3.4 Networking  Section 4 - Conclusion  Index

    Biography

    Victoria Hewett is Subject Leader for Geography and Environmental Systems and Societies at Tonbridge Grammar School, Tonbridge, UK. Victoria tweets as @MrsHumanities, blogs at www.mrshumanities.com, and has been a UK Blog Award Education Finalist for three years running.

    "Making it as a Teacher doesn’t deny or shy away from the problems we are facing in the profession; it acknowledges them and agrees that it is a challenge to avoid being part of that one-in-three statistic of teachers leaving the profession in the first five years. But, through its human approach, helpful structure and real-life case studies, it offers a positive message: you can do it. It’s a cathartic read – therapy in paperback form." - Haili Hughes, TES

    "With examples of classroom pedagogical ideas, along with useful links for further exploration, this book can help the reader explore a rich online environment that supports individual teachers to be inspired by the opportunities available... Although aimed at early career teachers, this book is filled with great ideas and inspiration that can support colleagues in most phases of education, including primary and secondary school educators." - Colin Hill, UKEdChat

    "We know that so many aspiring teachers, full of enthusiasm for their chosen profession, struggle to come to terms with the reality and those first years can be hard. This highly readable and very supportive book offers a variety of tips, anecdotes, real-life examples and practical advice to help new teachers survive and thrive through the first 5 years of teaching, from the first-hand experiences of a teacher and middle leader, ensuring they feel supported and not alone in their feelings... A very valuable resource and one which should be readily available in staffrooms for reassurance and guidance." - Sarah Brew, Parents in Touch

    "Hewett tells it as it is, setting out in frank, and at times bleak, terms how she initially struggled in teaching. But her story is a hopeful and often uplifting one. She recounts how close she came to quitting and shares the practical and transferrable lessons she gained when she turned the corner and fell in love with teaching again... Buy this book for a friend who has just qualified and the chances are you will improve their lives." - Loic Menzies, School Week