Corwin's New Teacher Toolkit
If you are in your first three years of teaching, we know that you are definitely enthusiastic, perhaps under-supported, and most likely overwhelmed by the competing demands of your new profession. You have a hard, but rewarding job. Our job is to provide you with the professional development you need, when you need it, so that you can find solutions to challenges are they arise.
In Corwin’s New Teacher Tool Kit, you will find a wealth of materials—none of which require more than 30 minutes of planning time, many far less—excerpted from titles we think are particularly helpful for new teachers. We’ve included classroom- and time-management ideas, classroom-ready lessons for literacy and mathematics, teaching strategies, and more. Use what you need, pass along resources to a colleague, and should you discover a resource you find particularly helpful, simply click the book link and use your new teacher discount code CORWIN25 to get a 25% discount and free shipping.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT (content for all grades)
How Do I Energize a Sleepy Classroom
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Creating a Dynamic Classroom—Serena Pariser & Victoria Lentfer
Use this resource to discover multiple tips and strategies to keep your students learning despite their varying energy levels.
Ways to Say “Good Job” (Classroom Management)
Excerpted from Engagement by Design—Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Russell J. Quaglia, Dominique Smith, & Lisa L. Lande
Use this list of alternative ways to say “good job”, from Engagement by Design, to keep your students encouraged and motivated in their learning. (All Grades)
Goal Setting Worksheets (Classroom Management)
Excerpted from Step into Student Goal Setting—Chase Nordengren
Use these goal setting worksheets for all grade levels to help set goals for your students. (All Grades)
Creating Purposeful Seating Charts (Classroom Management)
Excerpted from Real Talk About Classroom Management—Serena Pariser
Learn how to create a purposeful seating chart based on students’ academic abilities, learning disabilities, language barriers, and more, rather than simply separating the students that “shouldn’t be together” and sprinkling the rest around, hoping for the best. (All Grades)
Organize and Unclutter (Time Management)
Excerpted from Real Talk About Time Management—Serena Pariser & Edward F. DeRoche
This resource helps teachers organize their classroom. (All Grades)
Students’ Perceptions of You, the Teacher (Behavior Management)
Excerpted from Reclaim Your Challenging Classroom—Alene H. Harris & Justin Garwood
Learn how to communicate a positive perception of yourself as a teacher. Includes a self-assessment. (All Grades)
TEACHING METHODS/TEACHING STRATEGIES
Week 1: Give Students A Fresh Start (Staff Development)
Excerpted from "When I Started Teaching, I Wish I Had Known..."
Download this resource to read the weekly wisdom from week 1 to help get your year started on the right foot.
Personal Professional Development: Month 1 Sample (Staff Development)
Excerpted from Teaching Better Day by Day
This resource offers a glimpse at Teaching Better Day by Day and how you could use it to plan for one month.
Just Teaching Tool #1
Excerpted from Just Teaching
This first tool is designed to help you look at each student so you can create a forest that grows each student into a thriving giant.
The Will to Learn Strategy 1
Excerpted from The Will to Learn
This lesson includes Dave Stuart Jr.'s strategy 1: Track Attempted MGCs. The author outlines what to do, key pointers, and how strategy 1 influences the five key beliefs.
Practitioner’s Corner: Strategies for Using Movement (Brain-Based Learning)
Excerpted from How the Brain Learns, 6th Edition—David A Sousa
Learn several key strategies for incorporating movement into your lessons for students of all ages, improving engagement and helping them retain the lessons learned. (Grades 6–12)
Affective Statements (Diversity & Equity)
Excerpted from Removing Labels, Grades K–12—Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, & Nancy Frey
This excerpt explains the what, why, and how of using affective statements. (All Grades)
Smart Goal Setting (Grading)
Excerpted from Balance with Blended Learning—Caitlin Tucker
This template for SMART Goal Setting, will help you set goals for grading that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. (All Grades)
Use Your Service-Mindedness to Help Shape Your Perspective (Motivation)
Excerpted from Perspective!—Dr. Tommie Mabry
This Chapter 1 excerpt from Dr. Tommie Mabry's Perspective! Includes the sections "Use Your Service-Mindedness to Help Shape Your Perspective," "How to Listen," "Do's and Don'ts," and the Chapter Reflection.
Beautiful Questions in the Classroom webinar (Questioning Strategies)
Excerpted from Beautiful Questions in the Classroom—Warren Berger & Elise Foster
Empower your students with questions that will help them evaluate information thoughtfully prior to making decisions or rendering judgement. (Grades 6–12)
Social Emotional Well-Being Strategies for Educators webinar (SEL)
Excerpted from Social Emotional Well-Being for Educators—Michelle L. Trujillo
Earn a 1-hour certificate of completion for this free webinar. In this free webinar, Join Michelle Trujillo, author of Social Emotional Well-Being for Educators and creator of this exciting new framework, to explore the benefits of this new approach to adult SEL and self-care.
Assertive Intervention with Parents: Planning Form (Working with Parents)
How to Deal with Parents Who Are Angry, Troubled, Afraid, or Just Seem Crazy—Elaine K. McEwan-Adams
This template guides you through preparing what to say during an assertive intervention with parents. (All Grades)
LITERACY (organized from elementary to middle to high)
Lesson 2: The Transcontinental Railroad (Reading)
Excerpt from Critical Comprehension [Grades K-6]
This lesson helps students build their comprehension skills using the book Locomotive by Brian Floca.
Text Complexity Tool (Reading)
Excerpted from The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades K–2—Sharon Taberski & Jim Burke
Use this Text Complexity Tool to determine the complexity of texts and choose the best texts for your class at the right time to advance achievement. (Grades K–2)
How to Prevent Reading Difficulties, Grades PreK-3 Book Study (Reading)
Excerpted from How to Prevent Reading Difficulties, Grades PreK–3—Mark Weakland
This book study is designed to be collaborative so that most weeks the group is splitting the reading and recommended in-class activities among the members of the book study.
How to Determine a Child’s Developmental Reading Stage (Reading)
Excerpted from Simply Small Groups—Debbie Diller
Use this chart to identify the students' reader stage. (Grades K–5)
How Do I Keep Track of My Students’ Reading Progress (Reading)
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Reading—Christina Nosek
Keep track of all your formative assessment observations, notes, and insights with these three charts.
(Grades K–5)
How Should I Think About and Guide Students’ Writing Processes?
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing—Melanie Meehan
Packed with charts, figures, ad examples, this resource will dive into the writing process and its different stages.
Elementary Recommended Reading Lists (Reading)
Excerpted from The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 3–5—Leslie Blauman & Jim Burke
Use this list to select rich texts to explore with your students. (Grades 3–5)
Corwin Connect blog, Everyday Enchantment: The Magic of Fairy Tales in Your Classroom (Reading/Writing)
Excerpted from Text Structures from Fairy Tales—Gretchen Bernabei & Judi Reimer
This blog post written by Text Structures from Fairy Tales author Gretchen Bernabei shares more about the most urgent reason to use fairy tales in a classroom.
Text Complexity Tool (Reading)
Excerpted from The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 6–8—Jim Burke
Use this handy Text Complexity Tool to help you rate the text complexity of books, articles, or other texts. (Grades 6–8)
Teaching Toward Everest (Literacy)
Excerpted from These 6 Things—Dave Stuart, Jr.
Discover the power of purpose setting and learn how to write an Everest statement about what you would like your students to achieve in your classroom this year. (Grades K-12)
How Can I Manage the Unspoken Expectations Placed on Teachers?
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Middle & High School ELA—Matthew Johnson, Matthew R. Kay, & Dave Stuart, Jr.
Discover advice and resources to manage the unspoken expectations that are often placed on teachers.
Recommended High School Reading List (Reading)
Excerpted from The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 9–12—Jim Burke
This list provides rich reading examples for narrative and informational text plus links to online lists with dozens of more resources. (Grades 9–12)
Poetry Pauses Quotables
Excerpted from Poetry Pauses
This resource includes quotes gathered from throughout the book, Poetry Pauses, that might be useful in the classroom
Writing Workouts Memory Maps
Excerpted from Writing Workouts, Grades 6-12
This Writing Workouts resource outlines how to use memory maps, when to use them, and why they work.
MATHEMATICS (organized from elementary to middle to high)
Place Value Lesson (Mathematics)
Excerpted from The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded, K–2—Linda M. Gojak & Ruth Harbin Miles
Students extend their understanding of place value by bundling tens with this lesson. (Grades K–2)
How Do I Teach Problem Solving? (Mathematics)
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Elementary Math—John J. SanGiovanni, Susie Katt, Latrenda D. Knighten, & Georgina Rivera
Problem solving is not about simply applying a procedure to a problem to find an answer; it is a process that requires students to think, question, and make sense of the mathematics. Here is a list of helpful tips for working with problem solving across the year.
Math Strengths-Based Analysis (Mathematics)
Excerpted from Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics—Beth McCord Korbett & Karen S. Karp
This strengths-based analysis template helps you record the strengths and challenges of any student or group. (Grades K–6)
Check for Reasonableness (Mathematics)
Excerpted from Figuring Out Fluency in Mathematics Teaching and Learning, Grades K–8—Jennifer M. Bay-Williams & John J. SanGiovanni
This activity will help your students develop the ability to check for reasonableness, an important aspect of developing mathematical fluency. (Grades K–8)
Routine 1 to Jump-Start Problem Solving
Excerpted from Daily Routines to Jump-Start Problem Solving, Grades K-8
Learn more about John SanGiovanni's Routine 1, how to use it, and how this routine helps with problem solving.
Bringing Project-Based Learning to Life in Mathematics, K-12 Bee Hotel Project
Excerpted from Bringing Project-Based Learning to Life in Mathematics, K-12
Using this Bee Hotel Project in your classroom to build cooperation and encourage students to use tools strategically while communicating mathematically.
Module 1 Observations
The Formative 5 in Action, Grades K-12
Observations have been supported as a research-based practice for decades. As you consider classroom-based formative assessments, the Observations technique is your "first stop" in the everyday application of the Formative 5.
Multiplying & Dividing Lesson (Mathematics)
Excerpted from The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 3–5—Linda M. Gojak & Ruth Harbin Miles
Students apply and extend previous understanding of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions. (Grades 3–5)
Ratios & Proportional Relationships Lesson (Mathematics)
Excerpted from The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 6-8—Ruth Harbin Miles & Lois A. Williams
Students analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems. (Grades 6–8)
What Do I Do at the Start of the School Year? (Mathematics)
Excerpted from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Secondary Math—Frederick L. Dillon, Ayanna D. Perry, Andrea Chang, & Jennifer Outzs
This resource provides tips for classroom prep and what to do in your first classes! (Note section included).
Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities (Mathematics)
Excerpted from The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded, High School—Frederick L. Dillon, W. Gary Martin, Basil M. Conway IV, and Marilyn E. Strutchens
What Productive Struggle Is and Isn’t (Mathematics)
Excerpted from Productive Math Struggle—John J. SanGiovanni, Susie Katt, & Kevin J. Dykema
Learn what productive struggle looks like in the math classroom and behaviors that may indicate when struggle becomes unproductive. (All Grades)
Bad at Math? Study Guide
Excerpted from Bad at Math?
This book study guide aims to explore commonly held beliefs about mathematics and mathematics education that drive the ways we approach mathematics education, narrow the ways we engage with mathematics, and impact efforts to reform.
For Your Classroom
Teach Like Yourself Manifesto Poster
Excerpted from Teach Like Yourself—Gravity Goldberg
Use this beautiful, full-color poster to remind yourself of the importance of teaching in a way that is true to your own self. (All Grades)
Inspirational Poster
Excerpted from Teaching with Light—Carol Pelletier Radford
Print this full-color classroom poster to inspire you and your students to remember, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” (All Grades)