Everything inexperienced first-year teachers need to manage the chaos of the modern classroom

They Never Taught Us That is your friendly (and slightly frazzled) guide to the hilarious realities of the classroom that teacher training left out. Veteran educator Andrea Forcum, PhD, combines laugh-out-loud anecdotes from the trenches with practical tools and strategies for everything from surviving the first day to building trust with parents and other stakeholders. The best practices in this book from experienced educators who taught before, during, and after the pandemic help readers supplement their training without having to rely solely on the break room—which sometimes ends up being an echo chamber of discontent—or unvetted online resources.

In this book, readers will learn how to:

• Establish classroom rules that won't get trampled
• Create a captivating lesson plan and collaborate on Individual Education Programs (IEPs)
• Document parent contact, student behavior, grades (including failing assignments), and more
• Navigate the paperwork avalanche without turning into a sleep-deprived zombie
• Facilitate collaborative parent-teacher conferences

They Never Taught Us That is an essential resource (literally, essential) for early career-year teachers who are all too often scrambling for purchase on the slippery, moving, mucous-covered treadmill that is public education (said with love, of course).

Andrea Forcum, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.A., known online as Educator Andrea, is a teacher, comedian, and advocate whose viral sketches and candid classroom stories have reached millions. She draws experience from her own career—including mistakes—as a high school teacher to offer authentic advice wrapped in humor. Educator Andrea has 1.4M followers across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok platforms. Her mission: to help teachers survive and thrive in today’s classroom, with honesty, laughter, and practical advice. She hosts the podcast How To Survive The Classroom and is Assistant Professor of Teaching and Learning at Indiana State University. She earned a master’s in secondary education, a master’s in English, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.