Author: Kelley Chikos

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-04-25

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 9781507883181

Seven billion dollars a year hit the academic Dumpster due to new teachers dropping out. By their third year, nearly fifty percent have permanently heeded the dismissal bell of their profession. They leave, voluntarily or otherwise, because they are overwhelmed and confused, and don't know how to help themselves. Well-intentioned administrators provide unhelpful inservices, poorly organized mentoring programs and schmaltzy gimmicks (think cheese-stalking, bucket-filling, fish-flinging) all to no avail. Trickle Down Teaching demystifies the main problem for beginning teachers; that is, their primary goal must be to quickly and methodically establish solid support for themselves by recognizing, understanding and harnessing the power of forces beyond their classrooms, but within the school. Once the new teacher is solidly supported, benefits trickle down naturally to students-the ultimate goal of every teacher. A native of Detroit, Kelley Callahan Chikos has hopped around to three states, discovering different ways of life in each. From post-war Detroit, with its booming auto industry, to rural Amish-influenced Hartville Ohio, to suburban, fast-paced Chicago, Chikos has painstakingly learned the fine art of adapting to new situations. During this time, she pursued her undergrad and graduate degrees, attending eight different colleges and universities. Oh, and raised two kids. So it came as a shock when, at age 40, she entered the teaching profession and found herself caught unaware. Her tried-and-true adaptation skills didn't work for her new profession. The unexpected, unrelenting demands of the job were coming at her too rapidly and from too many directions. She couldn't keep up or even make sense of how it all worked together. Despite all 'satisfactory' evaluations, at the end of her first year the principal recommended she be let go. Why? That question is answered in this book. Determined that no new teacher should have to founder and consume the quantities of Maalox she did, Chikos offers this book of explanation and encouragement, laced with the essential quality no new teacher can succeed without-a rock-solid sense of humor!