Professional Development Opportunities

• Beginning Teacher Assistance Program - "I Can Do It"

• "Start Smart" teacher handbook

• Survival strategies for beginning teachers

• Missouri Mentoring Program

• Graduate Programs

• Preparing for the Praxis II

• Missouri NEA Professional Development Program

• Conferences and seminars

• Career opportunities

Help with student loans and college expenses

• MNEA/Reliant Financial Services Tuition Grant

• Grants, loans & scholarships

• STUDENT LOANS: the before and after

• Cancellation/Deferment options for teachers
  If you teach in a low-income school or one of the approved teacher shortage areas, you could get help with repayment of student loans.

• Sign up for Upromise
  MOHELA (Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority) is a co-sponsor of "Upromise," a program to help you pay off your education loan faster!
  
  When you join Upromise for free, leading companies will contribute a portion of what you spend with them into your Upromise account, which you can use to help pay off your education loans.

Connect with other beginning teachers

Sign up for the Beginning Teacher Listserv
Connect with other beginning teachers to share teaching strategies and access master teachers, information and resources. The Missouri NEA Beginning Teacher listserv is a moderated electronic mailing list that provides helpful assistance to beginning teachers on a wide range of topics. If you have an email address, you can access the listserv and ask your first year colleagues or ask a master teacher about issues related to teaching, teacher licensure, evaluation, professional development, discipline, performance assessment, and the list goes on.

Web sites of interest

• TEACHnow.org - Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim 's documentary, TEACH, chronicles four young teachers as they survive their first-year of teaching in America's toughest schools. Watch online.

• Missouri NEA Web site – Find resources and information to help you be successful throughout your career. Or find ways to get involved in advocacy for public schools.

• NEA Web site – Access the NEA resources and linked Web sites providing extensive access to data and services that can enhance your teaching and professional growth.

• Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

• Education—Related Web sites