Real World to Real Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Alternative Certified Teachers

By Lindsay Prendergast, Lindsay Deacon, Amanda Brueggeman

You didn't come to teaching the traditional way, and that turns out to be good news.

Real World to Real Classrooms is for the career changers who walk into a classroom wondering whether they belong there. They do. The years you spent managing a project, calming a room, leading a business, or caring for someone who needed you are not a detour from teaching. They are where your best instincts come from.

This book helps you find them and use them. You'll shape a Teacher Profile to reflect on the educator you're becoming, learn to read the school around you, and pick up essential vocabulary. Along the way, you'll also gain strategies on professional practices such as navigating school culture, planning instruction, using assessment, and fostering student engagement, shared ownership, and lasting relationships.

This warm, research-grounded book is for anyone taking an alternative path to becoming a teacher, whether you're changing careers from another industry or a recent graduate looking to fast-track a new career. With the helpful takeaways in each chapter, you'll have ideas to try tomorrow, and something to build on for years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1041389132
• ISBN13: 9781041389132
• Release Date: February 2027
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 168 Pages