You've Got This: Finding Happiness and Success in Your First Years of Teaching

To all the overwhelmed early-career teachers: You've got this!

New to teaching and nervous about embarking on this fulfilling but challenging career? Just back from a break and looking for some refreshers? Maybe you've been teaching for a while and need tips for staying positive and centered on the job. Whatever your trajectory, You've Got This: Finding Happiness and Success in Your First Years of Teaching is loaded with strategies and resources to make teaching rewarding for your students, their families, and you.

Educators Suzanne Dailey and Robert Dunlop have spent their careers as reflective practitioners devoted to helping K–12 teachers get the most out of teaching so that students can get the most out of learning. In this comprehensive, reader-friendly guide, they provide page after page of research- and practice-based ideas for

• Planning, executing, and reflecting on lessons.
• Connecting with colleagues, students, and families.
• Differentiating instruction in the classroom.
• Ensuring a comfortable and engaging learning environment.
• Motivating yourself to teach and your students to learn.
• Successfully addressing common challenges.

Whether you are just now entering the profession or simply need a reminder of why you started teaching in the first place, you’ll find the guidance and encouragement you need in You've Got This.

Suzanne Dailey is a professional developer for the Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania, where she works with more than 500 elementary teachers and 8,000 students across 15 buildings. She teaches model lessons, facilitates professional development sessions, and mentors both new and experienced teachers. She has 23 years of teaching experience and has taught 4th and 5th grade and served as a reading specialist for kindergarten and 3rd grade. She is National Board–certified and has a master’s degree in reading. Suzanne is the host of the popular weekly podcast Teach Happier, author of the bestselling book Teach Happier This School Year: 40 Weeks of Inspiration and Reflection, and co-author of You've Got This: Finding Happiness and Success in Your First Years of Teaching.

Robert Dunlop has been an educator for 23 years. After 12 years teaching grades 7 and 8, he took on a central role supporting his district with technology. From there, he became the assessment/evaluation and new-teacher consultant supporting a district of 32,000 students across 112 schools. He then spent a short time as a vice principal. In 2024, he returned to teaching in the classroom. He is the co-creator (with a psychologist) of a free staff wellness program tailored for educators that can be found on his website, www.motivatEDU.com. Robert is the author of STRIVE for Happiness in Education and co-author of the ISTE+ASCD book You've Got This: Finding Happiness and Success in Your First Years of Teaching.