Hi everyone!
As most of you know, I released my book ‘Múinteoir Valerie’s Guide to Primary Teaching’ during the summer. I sold out of the books instantly, and I had to order a reprint. It took a while, first I was too busy with school in September to do much with my blog, and then there was a delay with the printers-but now it is finally here! A lot of the books are gone already as they were pre-ordered over the last couple of months. There are a limited amount left but once they are gone they won’t be restocked.
I have been thinking about my website lately and I think it is rapidly becoming too much of a business venture- and I am not business-y inclined at all! Between the store section doing well, the book, the worry about appearing in the paper ( we all know the Independent isn’t a fan of teachers so I worried about how my article would be interpreted!) and seminars etc it is just a lot to juggle! The reason I started the blog was to share my love of teaching with others- and I think I have done that now via the book. So, to cut a long story short, I will be scaling back and just blogging for the fun of it again!
The book costs 13.95 (that includes postage and packaging) and can be purchased here:
http://www.muinteoirvalerie.com/shop/muinteoir-valerie-teaching-guide/
For anyone new to my website, below is a little description on my book:
For those wondering what the fuss is about, it is basically a little guidebook based on what I have learned so far. The book covers how to get into teaching, how to deal with college, teaching practice, how to write lesson plans, sample lesson plans, it covers a lot on interview questions, the job application process, the application form, subbing, then classroom games in various subjects, behaviour management and so on.
Here’s the table of contents:
MY STORY………………………………………………………………………….3
TEACHER TRAINING…………………………………………………………..5
TEACHING PRACTICE…………………………………………………………9
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT…………………………………………….13
BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT………………………………………………16
ASSESSMENT…………………………………………………………………..21
PLANNING AND PREPARATION…………………………………………24
THE STANDARD APPLICATION FORM……………………………….35
INTERVIEW PREPARATION……………………………………………….43
ADVICE FOR INTERVIEWS………………………………………………..45
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS……………………………………..47
SHOWING INITIATIVE………………………………………………………..58
ADVICE FOR SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS……………………………..65
IRISH GAMES……………………………………………………………………75
LITERACY GAMES…………………………………………………………….78
DRAMA ACTIVITIES…………………………………………………………..83
RELATIONSHIPS AND RAPPORT……………………………………….85
TRANSITIONAL GAMES TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LEARNING………………………………………………………………………..91
BOOK REVIEWS AND RESOURCES FOR EACH SUBJECT….94
SAMPLE LESSON PLANS…………………………………………………123
TEACHING PRACTICE SHOPPING LIST:…………………………..137
TEACHER’S TO DO LIST:…………………………………………………138
TEACHER’S CHECKLIST:…………………………………………………139
TEACHER’S MUST HAVE RESOURCES……………………………