Keys to the Classroom: A Teacher?s Guide to the First Month of School

The purpose of this guide is to pass on to new teachers the keys to opening the school year successfully. Providing assistance in planning for the first two weeks of school, and offering a wide assortment of activities from which to choose, the text guides the teacher in using the first month of school as a foundation for creating a rich learning environment for the rest of the year. What the teacher must know about classroom management, the first day of school, student assessment, and parent communications are covered in detail. The authors also offer an approach to long-term planning (used in establishing the appropriate standards-based context for daily activities) and provide short term, minute by minute planning guides as well. Incorporating the input of many new and veteran teachers, Key to the Classroom′s second edition offers greater detail and a more expanded format than the popular original text.

Carrol Moran has worked in education for over 30 years. For the past 12 years, she has served as executive director of the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium and the UC Santa Cruz Educational Partnership Center. Her teaching experience encompasses preschool to graduate school, focusing on low-income students of diverse language backgrounds. She was a writer for Macmillan McGraw Hill on materials for English Learners. She has published over 20 articles and books on education, including “Bilingual Education: Broadening Research Perspectives,” published in The Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education, and A Balanced Approach to Literacy, a resource document and introduction to K-3 literacy in teacher education faculty programs. Moran is coauthor on “Rethinking English Language Instruction: An Architectural Approach” in English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level of Literacy (edited by Gilbert Garcia), and she is the editor of Success by Design: The work of the UC Santa Cruz Educational Partnership Center. She earned her BA from University of California, Santa Cruz; her master’s degree from San Jose State University; and her PhD in Education, Language Literacy, and Culture from Stanford University.

Judy Stobbe is currently a classroom teacher and staff development specialist in a two-way bilingual immersion program specializing in emergent literacy, effective math instruction, second-language acquisition, and effective bilingual education. She has initiated a staff development model based on ongoing teacher collaboration that links authentic assessment to innovative classroom practices across an entire school. As a staff development specialist, she has worked with a wide range of teachers, from preservice to those with the most experience. Outside the classroom, she has written curriculum and articles for a variety of publications, including Into English!: Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide, The Bilingual Classroom, for the DLM Early Childhood Program, Access to Science: Activities and Strategies for Students Acquiring English Kindergarten-Grade 2, and, coauthored with Carrol Moran, “Strategies for Working with Overage Students,” published in The Power of Two Languages: Literacy and Biliteracy for Spanish-Speaking Students.

Wendy Baron has taught Grades K-6, served as a Title I reading specialist, supervised and instructed prospective teachers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and for the past 20 years, she has worked directly with new teachers and principals in Grades K-12. As associate director with the New Teacher Center, Baron oversees the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project, which supports over a 1,000 new teachers annually. She also consults with school districts throughout California and nationally on mentoring, teacher induction, and designing professional development for beginning teachers. Baron has extensive experience in coaching, adult learning theory, group facilitation, and professional development. She is a researcher and practitioner, and seeks continually to impact educational systems to support teacher development. Baron is the author of several articles and book chapters and has produced numerous videos related to mentoring and new teacher development.

Janette Miller has taught grades K-6, served as a reading specialist, evaluated new employees in Santa Cruz City Schools District, and supported new teachers through the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project. She has extensive training in classroom management, peer coaching, and evaluation. She has particularly enjoyed training novice and veteran teachers in classroom management techniques, direct teaching model, the reading/writing connection, and conceptual math strategies. Currently she is a Cotsen Family Foundation mentor working with veteran teachers to improve their practices.

Ellen Moir is founder and executive director of the New Teacher Center, which is committed to the development of an inspired, dedicated, and highly quali¬fied teaching force by supporting new teachers as they enter the profession. For more than 20 years, she has pioneered innovative approaches to new teacher development, research on new teacher practice, and the design and administration of teacher induction programs. Moir continues to work with the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project and is an advocate for new teachers across the country. Moir has received national recognition for her work, including the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. 2005 Prize in Education and the 2003 Distinguished Teacher Educator Award from the California Council on Teacher Education. Moir is the author of several articles and book chapters and has produced video series related to new teacher development. Her work has been supported by over 20 private foundations and donors, the National Science Foundation, and several state and federal agencies.