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What really happens in the classroom!
More often than not, the Foundations in Education courses teach the new teacher wonderful behavior management plans for their students. Do they work? Yep. But...if the students are made of gold, have no pressures to attend colleges, take advanced courses, compete with each other (re: looks, intelligence, money, friends, etc).
As a first year teacher, I remember yelling quite a lot. At the time, it seemed like the best classroom approach. The more the kids' din of spoken word would rise, the louder my voice got.
Now, with 16 years in, there's nothing wrong with yelling except when you don't have a voice to raise. I have found, through the years, that raising your voice isn't half as effective as the use of the "look". And silence? Oh boy, silence and the "look" are lethal combinations. The kids are left wondering, "is she gonna blow?", "who got in trouble?", "what did we do wrong?". And they turn on each other too. "Shut up, she's really mad." "Be quiet or we are gonna pay for it". And all because I don't raise my voice.
Call it a lesson learned. Call it manipulation. Call it what you want. It works. And I find that I can actually speak at the end of a day and I don't need to take any excedrin for a headache from the swollen blood vessels feeding my head and larynx.
I walk the halls and I hear the new teachers, yelling to get the attention of their students. If only they knew.
I am hoping some pointers, in the future, will help them reach the goal of being the most effective teacher.

Blog Buzz Helps Companies Catch Trends in the Making
By Steven Levingston
Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, March 3, 2006; Page A01
An example of a positve outcome for blogging. Although I don't know if this is like a Big Brother thing, 1984-look out!

Antarctic Ice Sheet Melting Rapidly
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, March 3, 2006; Page A01
Does anyone have doubts that global warming is having negative effects on our environment? It’s not like we didn’t think the greenhouse effect was going to make the earth really happy but the increasing temperatures are causing the northern hemisphere to melt at an alarming rate (36 cubic miles per year). It’s happening faster than any scientific predictions.
Question you can ask a person (student): what would happen if the ice caps continue to melt? What would happen there, in that environment; who would be affected? How might it affect you, here, at home?
Another direction science teachers can take is to attach this reality with ecological balances. Suggest that the kids look up common biotic organisms in the Artic (ex. Artic wolf), make a food web using those organisms and then, one by one, ask them how each living thing may be affected by the melting ice.

Excellence and total access!
www.accessexcellence.com
Access Excellence is every biology teacher's dream. It has past lesson plans by topic; archives go back quite a few years. I especially like the graphics gallery which has illustrations for just about every biological concept (see above). They have the latest news in science and activities (another word for short, hands on labs/demos you can do with classes). http://www.accessexcellence.com/AE/mspot/ is the Mystery Spot which has higher level thinking (upper level cognitive and application type) activities.
I have used this site more often as a resource for diagrams (for overheads and powerpoints), activities as ideas for extended labs. Check it out, you will be impressed.

Biology Kimball's Essays
Not sure you have all of the information for a lesson? Want to check out fantastic information? Then check out Kimball's Essays. Created by Dr. John Kimball for the infamous Kimball's Biology books, the information is alphabetized by topics. Within each "topic" there are pictures, explanations, and easy to understand information. Every beginning teacher should bookmark Kimball's essays! Especially when you get the dreaded question that you have to respond "I am not sure but I will get back to you!". For example, one student asked if it was possible for human females to produce eggs/follicles after birth; we were always taught that all females are born with their "clutch" and that's it. But recent studies have shown that females do, in fact, produce follicles post birth. I wasn't sure so I checked it out. I appreciate the accurate information and complete diaglogue. Even though the founder passed away last year (2005), his legacy still lives on! http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/