Jitters. Hope. Excitement. Fear. Optimism. Most veteran teachers still share some of these feelings on the first day school. But, for first-year teachers, these feelings are multiplied exponentially.

We ALL were first-year teachers and lived through our first day of school and the first year. But wouldn’t it have been nice if a group of experienced educators – with all due respect to college professors - sat you down before your first year of teaching and said, “This is what is really important. This is what you really need to know.

We’re increasingly relying on technology to teach children. But because technology won’t ever replace great teaching, basic educational aids still have a role to play.

This is because educational aids (such as books, toys or equipment that require some hands-on interaction) create a visual, auditory or interactive experience for children who are learning new things, delivering learning objectives in a way that is highly engaging.

The verdict is in, and when it comes to homework, it appears that less is more. Research shows that several of the countries scoring top in the world for education, surprisingly dole out the least amount of homework to their students.

Online education is a fast-growing industry worldwide, with over 6.7 million students enrolled in at least one course in 2011. More recent U.S. statistics provided that 5.8 million people were learning online last year, which means that the international number grew to at least 10 million.

As a social studies teacher in the Common Core era, my curricular responsibilities have gradually shifted away from historical material and more towards the realm of teaching strategies for reading and creating nonfiction text. More and more, teaching the skills required to engage with social studies content has usurped the push to memorize names, dates, locations, and stories.

Congratulations on making it to the end of this year’s first term. It seems to me like the Christmas holidays arrive faster every year!

But no matter what fun you have planned, it is worth using a little of this time to take a moment and plan your next few steps. The Christmas break is the perfect time to get your head down with your teaching application. So before you crack open that bottle of bubbly, here is some great advice to help you nail your teaching application this Christmas.