by Paula Rutherford 
ISBN 978-0-9797280-1-3 
322 pages 
Publication Date 2009
Order #11002
Second Edition

Support your new teachers by providing them with a resource that prepares them for 21^st century classrooms. The second edition of Why Didn't I Learn This in College? includes dozens of teacher-tested procedures, routines, and suggestions for organizing classrooms for learning. Over 60 ready-to-use tools and templates are available online or on a CD-ROM. If you believe that the best management program is a strong instructional program, this book is the one you want for your new teachers.

Join over 500,000 new teachers and mentors worldwide who are using this text in their induction and mentoring programs. The addition of self-assessments, updated tools, and more active learning strategies make this edition even more valuable.

Message from the Author
While new teachers may say they need classroom management skills, what they really need to know is how to design rigorous and appropriately scaffolded lessons and how to create learning-centered classrooms where high-level engagement and learning can occur. We must help new teachers  learn that the end they should have in mind for  their students is not that  they are well-managed, but that they are well-educated.

eBook available             Facilitator's handbook available  

What People Are Saying

"Why Didn't I Learn This in College? is a great resource for any teacher, particularly a novice teacher. The book is very organized and user friendly. Our district ordered it for every new teacher so they had a hands-on resource that was readily available with clear, concise, organized ideas that were usable in the classroom. The book goes beyond theory and infuses standards as well as best practices in the comprehensive ideas presented in the book. It is one we plan to use throughout the year in our teacher induction program."

Loraine Morazzano, PhD
Director of Staff Development
Grand Prairie I.S.D.
Grand Prairie, Texas

"As a former middle school team leader and current high school department chair, I am accustomed to working with new and struggling teachers. I picked up Paula Rutherford's book, Why Didn't I Learn This in College? to find some helpful survival tips and strategies to share with my future 'rookies.' To my surprise, while flipping through the pages, I found myself thinking about my own classroom effectiveness and began taking notes on ideas and strategies that I wanted to try! This book provided me with a plethora of ideas, tips, tools, and activities that I plan to implement in my own classroom this year, and to share with my new and veteran colleagues. This book should be required reading for all teachers."

Kathleen Dodgen
High School Social Studies Teacher
National Board Certified Teacher
Palm Beach County, Florida

"Why Didn't I Learn This in College? has been a tremendous tool to share with the first year teachers I mentor in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. It provides teachers with the resources and ideology that enables them to shape their classrooms for learning."

Melinda Culver
PALS Mentor
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
Nashville, Tennessee

More reviews

See our New Teacher Professional Development Kit!