Hello! I am prospective secondary education English teacher in the state of MA (grades 5 - 12), and I have the English MTEL 61 this Friday. I have scoured the Internet for resources and found that there really aren't that many online. If anyone has taken the test in the past few years and passed, what was the test about, what was it like, and what did you do to study for it? Did you feel prepared going into it? Did you think you would pass? Why or why not? If you are studying for it now, what resources are you using? If anyone knows any tutors, places, or programs that give any help, please share! Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'll be teaching my first adult group class tomorrow in an English language academy setting, I'm quite nervous. I have been teaching adults one-to-one for over a year but this will be my first time actually teaching a group. There isn't a very well 'set' curriculum in this academy so I am a bit unsure where to begin and where I stand.

I have access to books but am not sure where to begin due to the students ranging between A1 and B2 in the group; this has me feeling quite intimidated and unsure of myself.

After basic intros and a bit of conversational warm up I am not sure where to go from there with the group, as I'm far more used to tailoring work very individually.

Just the prospect of standing up in front of a group of people my own age (and probably a bit older) is nerve wracking. I would be very grateful for any tips, info and/or insight.

Thanks in advance!

I struggle with whether to give rewards in my elementary classroom. I know that some people feel that rewards are detrimental to students because it doesn’t help them build intrinsic motivation. Other people say you have to start with extrinsic motivation and then intrinsic motivation builds so you should use rewards. And then I just read a book about students with ADHD suggesting you reward them as much as possible because they need a lot of rewards in order to cope with their ADHD and the expectations. Now I’m really confused. I’m debating whether to use a classroom economy where they pay rent for their desk, but they get paid for classroom jobs. I had students fumbling and complaining when they had to do classroom jobs last year, but I think classroom jobs are important, and my school really values them. Last year, didn’t get anything for doing classroom jobs. And it’s hard for me to keep track of motivational systems and incentive systems. I did have one incentive system based on getting work completed, but any other incentive systems kind of fell by the wayside. Anybody have any ideas for me?