The Beauty of Losing Control

By Dr. Jane BluesteinApril 26, 2022April 26, 2022 Avoiding burnout, Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Culture and Community, Discipline, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Uncategorized, Win-win authority Leave a comment

An effective way to “be in charge”! Note: This is one of the very first articles I wrote for publication—in this case, for Instructor Magazine, back in 1985. The language and approach I currently use in my work has changed significantly over the years. For example, I rarely ever use the term “obedience” anymore because I have found…

Book: The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 13, 2021November 21, 2022 Assessment and Testing, Avoiding burnout, Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Body and Brain, Books, Building responsibility, Classroom management, Creating community, Cultural Changes, Culture and Community, Discipline, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Feedback and encouragement, Health and Safety, Homework, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Leadership, Learning, Learning styles, Life Management, Mentorship, Modeling positive behavior, Motivating cooperation, Non-traditional learners, Parent-Teacher relationships, Problem solving, Professional growth, Recognition and reinforcement, Relationships, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Schools in Society, Self-care and Inspiration, Social and Emotional Growth, Special Needs, Taking care of yourself, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher retention, Teaching, Teaching, Tolerance and Respect, Win-win authority avoiding power struggles, beginning teachers, boundaries, challenges for new teachers, creating community, difficult students, discipline, emotional safety, emotionally safe classroom, learning differences, parent-teacher relationships, positive consequences, professional development feedback, professional growth, professional identity, school culture, self-care, student behavior, student self-management, teacher retention, teaching

Win-Win Strategies for Success by Dr. Jane Bluestein At the start or your career or at the end of your rope… Get your teaching career off to a winning start—or recharge your passion for your work! The new & revised edition of Dr. Jane Bluestein’s pivotal guide for your teaching career! A great gift for new…

Assuming Your Professional Teaching Identity

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 13, 2017April 30, 2022 Avoiding burnout, Beginning Teachers, Educators, Leadership, Relationships, Self-care and Inspiration, Taking care of yourself, Teaching adjusting to a leadership role, beginning teachers, legal issues in teaching, life in a fishbowl, looking like a teacher, new teachers, personal integrity, professional image, teachers' public image, teaching and social media, teaching and the law, transition from student to professional, your authentic self 2 Comments

A guide for beginning teachers The following material is adapted from Chapter 6 of Becoming a Win-Win Teacher, a book written especially for new teachers, returning teachers, and anyone needing a shot in the arm during (or after) a challenging year. Teaching became easier when I started seeing myself as a teacher and no longer a college…

What I Learned When I Started Teaching

By Dr. Jane BluesteinFebruary 14, 2017June 13, 2022 Beginning Teachers, Educators, Professional growth, Teacher retention beginning teachers, complexity of teaching, new teachers, teacher retention, teaching community, transition from student to professional, why teachers quit 2 Comments

And why I write books for beginning educators This excerpt was pulled from the introduction of the final draft of The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide, a book I wrote to help prepare beginning teachers enter—and STAY—in the field. The piece has been revised somewhat to refer to resources available on this website. In retrospect, I was one…

Wish List for Beginning Teachers

By Dr. Jane BluesteinApril 24, 2016April 30, 2022 Beginning Teachers, Educators, Teacher retention, Teaching autonomy, beginning teachers, community, difficult students, discretion, education profession, encouragement, new teachers, status, support, value, what teachers want, wish list Leave a comment

Interviews with new teachers reveal what they want most: • Encouragement: Feedback that builds on their strengths, not just cautions to “do better” or “try harder.” • Fairness: Not being placed in the toughest schools, given the most challenging students, or being the first asked to make last-minute room or grade level changes • Honesty:…

Why I Teach

By Dr. Jane BluesteinMay 15, 2015May 2, 2022 Avoiding burnout, Beginning Teachers, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher retention, Teaching, Teaching 2 Comments

Looking back at a tough first year If you had asked me back in the beginning to tell you why I teach, I don’t know how I might have answered. It wasn’t the money— back in my days as a teaching intern [in 1973], I was bringing home a mere $318 a month, which wasn’t…

Starting Off on a New School Year

By Dr. Jane BluesteinAugust 8, 2014May 2, 2022 Beginning Teachers, Classroom management, Educators, Leadership, Teaching, Teaching 2 Comments

What to do on those first few days As is common for this time of year, I’ve been working with groups of educators getting ready for the beginning of a new school year. As is also common, I found that in addition to the usual questions I get about authority relationships, challenging

Book: Managing 21st Century Classrooms

By Dr. Jane BluesteinFebruary 11, 2014April 23, 2022 Avoiding power struggles, Beginning Teachers, Behavior Management, Behavior Management, Books, Bookstore, Classroom management, Counselors, Creating community, Culture and Community, Discipline, Educators, Emotionally safe schools, Increasing Positivity, Intervening negative behavior, Motivating cooperation, Recognition and reinforcement, Rules and Boundaries, School climate, Teaching, Win-win authority Leave a comment

How to avoid ineffective classroom management practices! by Dr. Jane Bluestein You know all those behavior management strategies we learned to use in our teacher ed classes (and many subsequent workshops)? Well guess what! Some of them are actually making things worse! It’s long past time for our approach to classroom management to catch up to…

Why Teachers Quit, part 6

By Dr. Jane BluesteinOctober 19, 2013May 4, 2022 Beginning Teachers, Educators, General Interest, Teacher retention autonomy, beginning teachers, challenges for new, community, discretion, mentorship, new teachers, status, support, teacher retention, value Leave a comment

Part 6: Issues of Autonomy and Discretion Note: The following is an excerpt from The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide: Win-Win Strategies for Success, chapter three, “Climate Advisory: Entering Win-Lose Territory.” Although this book also elaborates on why teachers stay in the profession (in my case, since 1973), I believe it is important to also address some of…

Why Teachers Quit, part 5

By Dr. Jane BluesteinOctober 19, 2013May 3, 2022 Beginning Teachers, Educators, General Interest, Teacher retention beginning teachers, challenges for new teachers, community, difficult students, difficult teachers, discretion, mentorship, new teachers, status, teacher retention, value Leave a comment

Part 5: Value and Status Note: The following is an excerpt from The Beginning Teacher’s Survival Guide: Win-Win Strategies for Success, chapter three, “Climate Advisory: Entering Win-Lose Territory.” Although this book also elaborates on why teachers stay in the profession (in my case, since 1973), I believe it is important to also address some of the issues…