For some, substitute teaching is a career choice. However, for the majority of new teachers, it is often a necessary gateway to landing a first job. Either way, it is a great way to sharpen one's skills. This article presents tips from principals, teachers, and human resource directors to make the most of the substitute teaching experience…

Alfie Kohn (http://www.alfiekohn.org) writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. "Time" described him as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores." He is the author of 12 books, including "The Schools Our Children Deserve, The Case…

Despite the pressures on education and educators today -- seemingly from all sides -- science teachers provide critically important opportunities for students to develop the scientific knowledge and skills they will need as adults. This preparation empowers them to make well-informed decisions as citizens, as well as to use this knowledge as a…

Today there is a great deal of interest in and a lot of hype about using video games in schools. Video games are a new silver bullet. Games can create good learning because they teach in powerful ways. The theory behind game-based learning is not really new, but a traditional and well-tested approach to deep and effective learning, often…

Teachers may wonder why networking is relevant. The point of networking is to cultivate relationships for the exchange of information, services, or resources for employment or business. This may sound cold to those in the educational world, where children and youth are the No. 1 customers, but a network can be a huge support as it pertains to…

Teachers and teachers-in-training are mandated reporters; they are legally required to report any suspected child abuse or neglect. This article describes: (1) How to file a report; (2) How prevalent child abuse is; (3) What abuse is; (4) What it means to be a mandated reporter; (5) When the report should be made; and (6) What to do if abuse is…

Many districts have formal induction and mentoring programs to assist teachers new to the district. However, if you are in a district that does not, seeking out an experienced, positive, and trustworthy colleague will help you to navigate the beginning of a rewarding career. It is essential to remember that asking for help is absolutely critical…

A teacher's first year of teaching can feel like a sink-or-swim experience. Instead of making steady progress toward becoming a great teacher, in their first year, many teachers become overwhelmed by the daily demands of their own classrooms. As founder and CEO of New Teacher Center, an organization focused on understanding and meeting the…

This article provides a description of the birth of The Odyssey Initiative. As teachers, this group of three, all educators, knew that there was outrage about the state of education in America. Griping about our nation's schools has almost become a pastime, and with very good reason. However, they found the solutions being offered to save our…

This article is for those teachers who are perhaps feeling unprepared or overwhelmed. It invites readers to tap into some wisdom from National Board Certified Teachers and get up-to-speed with these practical tips on topics ranging from working with families to managing your classroom. The following articles are provided: (1) "Connecting with…

This article describes Bill Ferriter's efforts to incorporate cause-driven learning into his 6th-grade grade language arts and social studies classroom starting with Kiva (http://www.kiva.org), a microlending website that pairs interested lenders in the developed world with people in the developing world who are working to improve the quality…

In a school of 1,000 students, up to 100 will be gay, lesbian, or bisexual; 10 will be transgender; and one will be intersex (biologically neither male nor female). If their lives are average, 87 of them will be verbally harassed, 40 of them will be physically harassed, and 19 will be physically assaulted in the next year because of their sexual…

Twenty-one students were homeless. One student had asked a cafeteria worker on a Friday afternoon for leftover food to take home for the weekend. Those were among the facts that high school English teacher Ann Haugland heard at a professional development event in her Boone, Iowa, Community School District. "I couldn't sleep that night," Haugland…

This paper presents a conversation with Carol Dweck, the author of "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" (Random House, 2006). She serves as the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Science and is the recipient of…

The author's first teaching position was as a 4th and 5th grade teacher at a school in Philadelphia. There, she learned the Quaker value of adding silence and periods of reflection to her teaching to provide a wider range of students with the opportunity to participate in classroom discussions. Later, a focus on silence as a teaching strategy led…