The New Teacher Book

by Linda Christensen (Editor), Stan Karp (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)

This expanded third edition of The New Teacher Book grew out of Rethinking Schools workshops with early career teachers. It offers practical guidance on how to flourish in schools and classrooms and connect in meaningful ways with students and families from all cultures and backgrounds.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Essays

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2004

Reviews

[Rose Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first year of teaching at an urban high school was trial by fire, and in my attempts to teach my students well, I was always looking for books that would illuminate my experience and hone my teaching practice. Most books were fine; there was nothing necessarily wrong with them. But they always seemed to neglect the things that mattered most.

The New Teacher Book is an outlier in that it is solely comprised of what matters most in education today. From how to set up a classroom to what to teach inside of it, The New Teacher Book covers the questions that confound and dilemmas that paralyze new teachers from a holistic, anti-racist, student-centered perspective. It strikes the perfect balance of pieces that comfort and pieces that challenge.

The New Teacher Book isn't wholly comprehensive, as no book for educators can be. What it offers that other books can't, though, is references to a whole collection of published books from Rethinking Schools to carry you beyond these 325 pages and beyond your first years. In a world of professional literature that is largely dictated by buzzwords and trends, access to a curated collection of social justice professional literature is truly invaluable.

[David Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book during grad school, and told myself that I would read it through once I'd found myself a real teaching job. That was three years ago, and at last I've more or less fulfilled that goal with a job at an English camp in South Korea. It's not exactly the teaching I was trained for, or the kind of teaching this book was meant t help with. But I found that it helped put me in touch with my roots, so to speak. I thought a little bit more about my long-term goals, and how I can adapt what I learned to the tasks at hand.

Scarcely over 200 pages long, the New Teacher Book is extremely light reading, designed to be consulted in short bursts over specific new-teacher questions. It's also a very optimistic book, promoting social justice as a primary goal of teaching in all subjects and encouraging the reader to maintain the fires of idealism. I imagine that perspective is not really universal among new teachers, but it's hard to feel bad at their exclusion. Teaching is inherently political; not at the level of Donkeys versus Elephants, but rather inclusiveness and egalitarianism versus racism, sexism, and classism. If the New Teacher Book assumes that the former is preferable to the latter, then I like its politics quite a bit.

The writing is not always stellar, with a few contributors getting all starry-eyed over the vague possibilities at hand or lapsing into cliches that turn what might be valuable insights into empty paragraphs of sameness. Perhaps that's for the best. This book is meant to be a comfort in the storm, and challenging reading is not always comforting to those who need that. I appreciated the confidence it gave me, with all the challenges I face in my new job.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and found it very readable and engaging due to the short length of each excerpt. It doesn't indulge in cheesy passages about how "diversity is great" or "teachers change the world" but instead gives practical, realistic and relatable insights into how teachers can make their classrooms less oppressive places where children feel more represented, involved and part of a community. A must-read for any new teacher, especially if you are questioning the ways dominant ideology plays out in your classroom and is working against certain groups of pupils. My only criticism is that it is quite US-centric, which makes certain chapters around school reform and particular aspects of history teaching less useful for us based elswhere, but interesting nonetheless.

[Jill Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think new teachers would greatly benefit from this book...I'll see what some of my Capstone students think...

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I needed

[Arlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much of this read like a leftist books catalogue, which is not really a useful thing to keep an old copy of. Especially considering that some of the "teaching for social justice" advice involves encouraging students to compare their skin tone to pantry items.

[Connor Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

yeah, read this at the beginning of the year.l, don't wait til half way through.

[Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for new teachers, especially when feeling overwhelmed. I'd love to read the new edition!!

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disingenuous, agenda-driven work from Howard Zinn acolytes.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok “finished” isn’t the right word for this book. I’ve found that the different chapters and such are good to return to when applicable, so that’s what I’ll be doing!

[thewordlover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an inspiring and helpful read, and I look forward to seeing how much more I understand it and can relate to it once I get in the classroom. It is unfortunately marred by many typographical errors. Editors, please be more careful.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a part of my seminar for my final field experience before student teaching. I ended up only reading bits and pieces of it because the leader of the seminar never went over ANY of the assigned reading, but what I did read was interesting and helpful.
I know I was scared to be out in the classroom, actually being in charge of a class, so it was nice to read the success stories of these teachers and how they coped and learned during the beginning of their teaching careers.
A good book for teachers starting their first year, student teachers about to be immersed in to classrooms full time for the first time, and I think for any teacher who needs some encouragement and hope.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay. There were some very interesting and motivating chapters, and some that were downright boring. For new teachers who are interested in teaching for social justice and having a hard time of it, this would be a good book to pick up. If you are looking for tips on what to do everyday (and not necessarily interested in social justice), then you would want to skip this. For myself, I will use a couple chapters in some of my courses, but I do not plan to use the whole book.

[Kelly Rueda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found myself skipping/skimming over chapters while reading others more carefully. Various teachers/educators offer advice for new teachers going into the field of education. In general it offers some good advice, the same ideas could be found from talking to teachers, or colleagues in teacher education programs.

[Steven C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides several useful Ideas and strategies. However, many of these apply to grades k-8...as a high school teacher I didn't get as much from the book. However, I would still recommend it!

[Anna Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any educator that’s in need of inspiration for real classroom approaches.

The title is misleading, it’s for all educators no matter years of experience. However, it is definitely a book I’ll gift to aspiring educators.

[MrsQ]

A reassuring book for newbies.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

as you may have guessed this is required pre-reading for student teaching.

it's already made me cry on the bus once.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at the recent Teaching for Social Justice Curriculum Fair

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatable stories from teachers with a passion for a social justice. Diverse and valuable advise throughout.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

All new teachers should read this book!!