(Enlarge) Roxanne Snyder, left, a seventh-grade science teacher at Lincoln Middle School, in Lancaster, Pa., and Debbie Kiblin, a 10th-grade teacher at Overlea High School, co-authored a book “Teach with Success,” to help new instructors with the day-to-day issues of teaching. (Photo by Brendan Cavanaugh)

Debbie Kiblin got really excited when she Googled the title of her recently published book.

"I did a Google search for it and one of the places it was being sold was Australia," she said, chuckling. "For 33 Australian dollars, whatever that means!"

As a first-time author, seeing proof positive that her book was being marketed internationally helped Kiblin realize that the project she dreamed up with fellow teacher Roxanne Snyder had come to fruition.

The idea for the book they co-authored, "Teach with Success: The First Year and Beyond," came about while the two friends shared some heart-to-heart talks after their first year teaching biology at Parkville High School.

"We're just similar in our personalities and after our first year, we looked at each other and said: 'If only I'd known this or if only I'd known that,' " Kiblin recalled. "There's just so much that you don't know about when you first start."

"Once we started teaching, we both felt that we were unprepared for teaching. It was a lot different than what we thought it would be," Snyder said. "I think we were both a little overwhelmed."

First, Kiblin and Snyder decided on what topics they wanted to discuss in their book, then they wrote out an outline. They divvied up the work equally: each writing half the chapters in the 186-page volume.

"It came together pretty quickly," said Snyder. "I'd say we had a rough draft of the book within six months."

Although Kiblin had worked as a tutor in college and Snyder taught at the Living Classrooms Foundation, making the switch to teaching at a public high school was not a seamless transition. They learned a lot about the theoretical aspects of teaching when working on their Masters in Education degrees at Towson University, but not much about the nitty-gritty, day-to-day stuff.

"They don't tell you about all the other stuff that's required of you: covering sports duties, collecting money, doing crowd control, how to handle passing out bathroom passes and hall passes. Things like the late parent-teachers nights, which you are not paid for," Kiblin said.

Kiblin and Snyder have since moved on to different positions at public schools. Kiblin, 34, now teaches biology at Overlea High School, while Snyder, 26, is a middle school science teacher in Lancaster, Pa.

Kiblin said that the chapters in the book are meant to help new teachers with everyday problems such as how to handle disrespectful students, as well as give them pointers on how to organize their time well while at work. The importance of being prepared is a theme that crops up on a number of occasions in the book.

In the chapter, "How to Handle the Extras No One Told You About," the authors hand out practical advice on how to budget time wisely. For example, at some schools, bathroom duty requires the teacher to sit outside the bathroom door, signing students in and back out.

"You should use that time wisely," said Kiblin. "Grade papers while you're sitting there; that way you're getting things done."

Kiblin is convinced a high attrition rate of new teachers exists because they don't really understand what they're getting into when they first set foot in classrooms of their own. She cites the seemingly simple issue of classroom discipline as an example. Unruly students do not just get sent up to the front office when they start acting out in class; the teacher is the first in line to figure out how to modify their behavior.

"How you interact with students when there's a discipline issue in the classroom, someone's misbehaving, it's up to you," she said. "You have to take care of it at your level."

Tara Corona, a biology teacher at Overlea High School, read the book with interest. "It's a really honest, realistic look at what it takes to be a teacher," she said. "At the professional developments I've been to, everything is sugar-coated."

Corona found the book's time management section to be particularly useful.

"It's telling you the facts, but giving you helpful hints all the way. You're all overwhelmed with grading and making copies, lessons, dealing with parents," said Corona.

Teaching is an occupation that Kiblin loves and she hopes that comes across in the book.

"Almost everybody you talk to, they have at least one teacher that stands out, that makes them want to stand out and excel. I wanted to be the one that inspired, but it comes right back. I have students everyday that shock and amaze me," she said.

Kiblin and Snyder have also started a Web site dedicated to promoting teaching tips: http://bestteachertips.weebly.com/.

user comments (0)