Rex,

Regarding the discipline question, I think Maureen's comments are
unbeatable. The main thing is to focus on teaching and not on behavior. Do
get help (mentoring is important) from experienced personnel when you can,
but focus on making the material you teach engaging -- share your own
enthusiasm with the students.

Regarding the literature, I would assume there's a curriculum guide at your
school. Read it, discuss it with your colleagues (esp. your department
head), and find out what books are available at the school; often there will
be a rotation schedule or list. It would be hard for another teacher to make
recommendations since one school's 10th grade curriculum might not be the
same as another school's (e.g., we do American Lit. in 10th grade at my
school, but some other schools may do British or World Lit.). It's often a
toss up!

The real keys to success are self-confidence, caring, communication (with
staff and students -- do talk with guidance counselors and Spec. Ed
teachers!), and the ability to adjust when necessary (i.e., flexibility).
That even holds true with teaching grammar, I guess -- this is a grammar
listserv -- a topic upon which many English teachers seem quite inflexible,
still.

Good luck,

Paul E. Doniger

----- Original Message -----
From: Rex Houston <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: Textbook recommendation


> I am going to be a first year teacher next year and
> would like some comments on what to do on the first
> day of class and suggestions for handling discipline
> problems.  If anyone has any suggestions,feel free to
> give them to me.  I will be looking forward to your
> responses.  By the way, I will be teaching either
> tenth or twelfth grade English.  If you have any
> suggestions on some appropriate literature to teach,
> please feel free to give those suggestions also.
> --- Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > There is a new edition out of 'Language: Its
> > Structure and Use' by Ed
> > Finegan. I've used it in the past--it has good
> > chapters on
> > sociolinguistics, conversation structure, etc. I
> > haven't reviewed the
> > new edition yet, but I'd like to. It might be worth
> > considering.
> >
> > I currently use Language Files, which is uneven in
> > quality. Lots of
> > exercises in some chapters, virtually none in
> > others. It has a format
> > some people like--each chapter is divided into
> > 'files' which are short
> > sub-chapters. I usually feel the need to supplement
> > it on
> > sociolinguistic issues. A reader in conjunction with
> > it might work well.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
> > English Department, California Polytechnic State
> > University
> > One Grand Avenue  . San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> > Tel. (805)-756-2184  .  Fax: (805)-756-6374 . Dept.
> > Phone.  756-259
> > . E-mail: [log in to unmask] .  Home page:
> > http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
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