When I began my teaching career in the fall of 1991, I was overwhelmed. I was teaching two high school-level math classes, and most of my waking hours were spent grading papers, lesson planning, and making sure I was at least one chapter ahead of my class. My resources to work with consisted of a textbook and the address to our district’s professional library. The professional library contained reel-to-reel movies, slide carousels, workbooks with reproducible worksheets – and a few other resources that weren’t much help. Materials had to be checked out and returned within 14 days. After visiting the resource library a few times, I gave up hope that helpful resources existed. I made everything myself, which was a daunting, time-consuming task. I cried when I was moved to another grade level because I knew that I would have to start all over again.

The Internet has changed all that! Teachers now have access to a giant Infosphere of resources. The question now is not “where can I find help?” but “how can I quickly curate all of the resources available to find the best help for me and my students?” The options can be overwhelming, and include apps, websites, PowerPoint slides, PDFs, Word documents, Learning Management Systems, Wikis, online textbooks, videos, podcasts, and much more! Another question teachers are asking is “is it worth it to pay for educational materials?” The answer to the question is “yes”…but when?

The answers to these and many other questions will be discussed on the next New Teacher Help webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Join webinar host Shannon Holden and dozens of educators from across the United States and the world as we examine our favorite free and paid educational resources. Hope to see you then!

This post was written by Shannon Holden, middle school assistant principal. Shannon Holden has been a high school and middle school teacher and administrator, and a new teacher coach, in North Dakota, Texas, and Missouri for 20 years. He is the host of the New Teacher Help and TechTools for the Classroom communities on edWeb.net. Follow him on Twitter @newteacherhelp.