Teaching: A Cautionary Guide A Conversation

By Michael Ashleman

This is a short guide to remind those in the teaching profession of what they should already know, some tips from the trenches. For a new teacher, this is a valuable resource on how to avoid traps and pitfalls. It is written in a conversational style with references embedded in the discussion to avoid the ultra-dry academic feel. A quick reminder or crash course for regular classrooms, as special education settings have other considerations. A quick affordable read that might save your sanity and your career.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Ashleman
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005121563

Book preview

Teaching: A Cautionary Guide

By Michael Ashleman

Copyright June 2022

First publishing July 2022

Edited by Mathew Ryan Richards

ISBN: 9781005121563 ebook

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the author's prior written permission.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered with no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Names and identifying details of people described in this book have been altered to protect their privacy. Email [e-mail] or reach me at ashleman.com.

Meet the Writer/Editor

Forward/Acknowledgements

Preface

What is a teacher, and why teach?

OMG, I am in a classroom; now what?

What is your teaching philosophy?

Routines- there is a whole chapter later

Seating charts

Groups and pairings

Subbing – how to punt?

The skinny on lesson plans- a whole chapter later

Lecture

Planning paired and groupings

Collecting work

Grading

Planning Lessons

Record keeping

Relationships

First things first

Calendar Control – control it, or it will control you

Routines

Paperwork documenting classroom activities

Cram Course on theories about what they are and why they stink

Behaviorism

Cognitive

Constructivism

Social Constructivism

Experiential Learning

Multiple Intelligences

Situated Learning

Community of Practice

Humanisms

Connectivism

Lesson Plans in more detail.

Styles of Lesson plans and your style of teaching.

What is your style of teaching?

Content considerations.

Relationships

Teacher to Student

Teacher to Peer

Teacher to Administration

Teacher to Parents/Guardians

Teacher to Public

Teacher as a Parent

Teacher as a Spouse

Stress Management

Keeping your license

Professional Development

Documentation

Unions or Job Insurance

Teacher Evaluations

References and Resources

Learn how to use cloud storage

Backup physical storage like a USD thumb drive or small external drive

Invest in a 3-in-one printer/scanner/copier in your classroom

Get a free internet-based phone number

Using Learning Management Systems

Quick marking software or scanning bubble sheet device

Individual response cards or Plickers type activities

Grammar and Spell check

Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation packages

Rubric for Cornell Note Taking System, you need some sort of notes expectation

Video and video lectures can be worth a lot

Wikipedia, as a starting point as well as an internet search, can get you a lot

Afterword

Meet the Writer/Editor

I am Michael Ashleman, and I came into teaching as a second career. Along the way, I have obtained a Master of Science in Education and, at the time of this writing, am a doctoral candidate to get an Ed.D. As a classroom practitioner, I lean towards the Ed.D. Yet, my research dissertation project is academic research on classroom practice, and methodology leans more towards a Ph.D. in the theoretical application of a classroom solution, but my doctoral program will result in an Ed.D. Yes, I have a wife and two children, or is it that my wife has three children, one of whom is adult-sized? As a child, I had to work with a learning disability. I have one child on the Autism Spectrum and another pushing GT and the excitability that goes with that to the limits. This should answer why I am not enrolled in a straight research-based Ph.D. program, as throughout this book, I will be discussing matters in terms of practicable considerations or if you like keeping it real. Go to my website if you are interested in being a participant in my thesis study in late fall 2022.

Usually, in a book of this nature, the author, me, would brag, I mean list the highlights of academic vita and all the fancy named places they have shaped into the leading institutions in the world. Yes, for 30+ years, I have been in government instruction, corporate training, administration, a consultant, a workshop leader in multiple subjects/program coordinator/CAS coordinator for the International Baccalaureate Organization, taught at a university, and so on and so forth. I have taught in the USA in three states and overseas for ten years, where I worked in China and Dubai as both an educator during all my years; even when holding an Associate Principal position of 25,000 students, my local area of direct responsibility was smaller than that, so could stay in the classroom. My schools have done very well, with many students who still look me up on social media to tell me things that are a source of pride in my life’s work; as a teacher, I have made a positive difference in the world. But, in the end, does that and my full vita make this book any more useful to you? No, what is going to make this worth your time, is the content and intent.

The assumption is you are reading this because:

someone thought it was the best thing since Betty White, who was older than sliced bread:

for your Professional Development classes,

you have taken on being a substitute teacher before you have finished all your education classes and need a crash/cram course,

or a teacher/student teacher who needs a refresher with a strong dose of cautionary mentoring of what teaching traps look like.

Let’s face it, how often does Piaget’s formal operational stage, or humanism versus connectivism, come up in a conversation when creating lesson plans during a Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting? Not often and less often when you are actually on stage, I mean teaching.

Therefore, this book will have first-person suggestions and cautionary tales as if we are having a conversation over a cup of tea or coffee, in this version the references are included in the body of the discussion. I am deliberately not mentioning school names to avoid disparaging them since many of my cautionary tales come from consulting and working with other campuses on cleanup detail after a problem. This is the first of my cautionary tales; education is a small world; I bump into people I worked with decades ago. When I was still in university, I started tutoring computer programing for a private company/school, then training for private industry and some time in the Reserves, then onto university in 1996, to hit the K-12 level in 2002. During this summer of 2022, I have had to give a reference from 2005 and 2011. I have sometimes needed a reference for a before and after a position from over a decade ago because the primary contact has passed. The point is always nice, as what goes around comes around, it was a small world before social media, and now it is smaller, and people feel empowered to be vindictive with the anonymity of the world wide web. Don’t give people a reason to go out of their way to ruin your day or career.

Normally my book writing is limited to fiction novels under a pen name as there is no reason to volunteer for parental complaints about books not written for children, or if you like cautionary notes, that doesn’t let your side gig cost you a career. Therefore, Mr. Matthew Richards, who enjoys post-graduate degrees and experience teaching both secondary, dual credit, and post-secondary courses, has consented to edit. I did say something about working with a learning disability as a child; they never totally go away. We can all admit that none of us are perfect or deal with it. I will leave Mr. Richards to introduce himself as part of my dealing with it.

Hi there, I’m Professor Matthew Ryan Richards, the editor of this fine survival guide to teaching. I’ve been an editor since I was very young and often was asked to look at various speeches for my mother and father over the years. Everything from their nursing home business to the local Rotary club. Doing this type of work at the age of 9 showed me that I must have some prodigy-level skill at this, and rightly so I turned it into a career in Literature. I have been in education since receiving my Master’s in literature from U of H Clear Lake in 2009. Since then, I have taught everything English or Literature related to 7th-12th graders, both at a small school district with no technology to one that was huge with more technology than I knew what to do with at the time. I have taught for several community colleges, taught inmates in various prison units, and taught dual credit from both the college side as well as the high school side. What all this means is that over these last 14 years, I have been in various and vastly different educational settings while also seeing a variety of types of students that many colleagues with well more than twice my years have not experienced. In other words, I have a vast wealth of experience with different students and educational settings. My buddy Michael approached me for this project because of said wealth of experience, and after reading, I saw the potential to save teachers from burnout or legal issues. I have consented to edit this book because I feel that it contains a lot of useful tips and tools to not only make teachers experienced and new better at our craft but also save those we would otherwise lose to stress and or rookie mistakes.

Forward/Acknowledgements

All teachers were once students, so for this work, I need to acknowledge all the teachers I tortured over the years. On entering secondary teaching, I was blessed with three mentors, Dr. John Wilson, Tom Costanzo, and the late Dr. Raymond Gunther. The opportunity that facilitated for me, as well as good advice, cannot be overstated. Dr. Wilson was the master of the lesson plan as the standard form was several pages per forty-some-minute class period. Mr. Costanzo, who just wanted to see what was happening in class that better fit on a post-it note so nobody gets lost when he is formally observing. Raymond who was there for me on and off the university campus and even visited me in China to say hello and give a positive recommendation on marrying my wife before she comes to her senses.

Naturally, my family and friends need a good word, especially my Dad and Susan, who had had to edit a few documents over the years when I was overseas and was far from editors. Not to mention helping an underpaid teacher out a few times when bringing a family back from overseas.

Then there