Helping You Become a Successful and Confident Classroom Teacher

Welcome!

I'm Dorit Sasson, freelance writer, ESL teacher, and creator of the New Teacher Resource Center, your online new teacher support site dedicated to helping you develop strategies for taking control in the classroom.

Here you'll find a wealth of information on lesson planning, classroom management, learning styles and teaching methods, and many other issues new teachers face. Take time to look around, and please leave a comment.

Listen to this FREE teleseminar
Tricks of the Trade:
How to Become a Successful & Confident Teacher
Jul 17

New Teacher Tips: Capturing Your Ideas

Uncategorized1 Comment

Capturing Your Ideas
by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity™

At any given moment, ideas will come to you. Some of these ideas are major, some are minor, but when you don’t capture the ideas, they whirl around in your head, diverting your attention away from the other work or pleasure on which you need to be focusing. The following are possible bins, buckets, boxes, and baskets (and how to use them) so that you capture your ideas for later processing.

1.Your physical inbox. Write down the idea and drop it into your inbox.
2. Your planner. Write down the idea in a designated spot in your planner.
3. Your voice mail. Call yourself and leave a message. This is especially convenient for things you need to bring to work the next day if you leave a message on your home voice mail. If you need to remember to bring something home from work, then call and leave a message on your work voice mail.
4.Your cell phone voice mail. Call yourself and leave a message.
5. Voice recorder/digital recorder. Keep one handy so you can record even if your cell phone isn’t working because you’re “out of range.”
6. Send yourself email. If an idea pops into your head when you are working at the computer, just send an email to yourself with the idea.
7. Pieces of paper. These will later be dropped into your physical inbox for processing.
8. A pad you love to write on. Keep it handy and delight in jotting down thoughts and ideas as they come to you.
9. Post-it® notes. Later you will stick each post-it® to a piece of paper for processing through your physical in-box.
10. Productivity assistant. If you have a person who is there for you, then tell him or her your idea and task that person with capturing your ideas and getting them into your system.

Please note: choose a *few* of these rather than *all* of these….and make sure that you systematically clear out the bins where you’ve captured your ideas. More on how to do this in upcoming Top Ten Productivity Tips.

Jul 08

Teachers - Put in Pockets of Time & Energy - Then Bring Your Joy and Passion to School For Students

UncategorizedNo Comments


1267744_time
from Meggin McIntosh, the PHD of Productivity

Do you ever lose focus at school? Do you sometimes have difficulty distinguishing between what’s most important? Have you ever wondered if you’ve lost some perspective? Here are five tips for planfully putting the pockets of energy and time into your life that will allow you to make the most difference for your students - joyfully.

1.Decide on all dinners at the beginning of the week. It’s a relief not to have to worry and wonder about what you’re having or fixing for dinner during your school day. On Saturday or Sunday, decide exactly what each dinner meal for the upcoming week will be. Put it on your refrigerator or in your planner. Shop or delegate accordingly. As a teacher, you have enough to focus on throughout the day that you don’t need to worry about ‘what’s for dinner?’ This may seem like an idea that is not that big of a deal, but it is.

2.Distinguish between urgent and important. Stephen Covey has brought this concept to widespread attention. There are parts of your life and your work that are both urgent and important, parts that are one or the other, and parts that are neither. Focus on what’s important, including that which is urgent and important. Chuck the rest. If you aren’t familiar with the 4 quadrants, just do a search on ‘urgent and important matrix’ and you’ll be rewarded with many examples and explanations.

3.Spend time with people who aren’t teachers. Regardless of the field you are in, without the perspective you gain from those outside your field, you really have no perspective (and that means no ‘pockets’). Other people certainly gain from hanging out with teachers and you will gain from hanging out with people in other professions. See how this works?

4.Say “no” to non-essential tasks. While you might enjoy serving on the “Sunshine Committee,” it might do more for your sunny disposition to get your job done. Teachers are asked to do EVERYTHING and let’s face it…some of what you are asked to do is valuable, some is somewhat valuable, and some is not only non-essential, it’s completely unnecessary. Think through your commitments carefully. Maintain your energy for the most essential task which is the instruction of your students.

5.Work when you’re at work. Don’t be lazy, disorganized, or unfocused and then claim that you don’t have enough time (or pockets) to complete your job. Read Larry Winget’s book, It’s Called Work for a Reason! Your Success is Your Own Damn Fault. This is an in-your-face book and it’s worth reading and sharing with others. If you’re really feeling brave, buy a few copies and suggest it for a book club book.

Life is too short not to have all the parts working together to create a fabulous life. For teachers, a significant portion of their lives is the work they do in education. Please make sure you’re loving it - and if you aren’t, then see if you can figure out what happened that caused you to lose that passion for what you do. Then make some changes, as needed.

And if you would like to receive weekly suggestions on putting pockets of time and energy into your life as an educator, just click here and you’ll see a place to sign up right on the home page of PumpernickelPublishing.

(c) 2009 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc. Meggin serves those who are striving for peaceful, predictable productivity - so that they can consistently keep their emphasis on excellence. It’s great fun and very rewarding!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh

Jul 03

Modification Reading Strategies for English Language Learners: Modified Reading Assignments Support Struggling Students

UncategorizedNo Comments


1069769_thinking_at_the_classroomThere are various ways to provide modified reading assignments for struggling students, especially English language learners in mixed ability classes. By understanding how modification strategies work, you can wrestle more effectively with questions such as: How can I scaffold content for my lower performing readers?” or “How can I provide instruction for all levels of student reading proficiency?”

Once you know your students’ reading abilities, you can provide instructional support so struggling learners can succeed. In a mixed ability classroom, modification strategies are instructional support, or more specifically, what you can do to simplify the task.

Modifying Reading Instruction Based On Students’ Abilities

When you identify significant areas in which students struggle, you can create new targeted instructional goals and objectives. These specific instructional goals will guide your teaching. You may need to experiment with a variety of modification strategies to determine the best way to help students meet instructional goals.

Modifying Reading Assignments

Locating Specific Information

Providing instructional support in reading can begin with small things such as providing the paragraph numbers so students can find specific information easily like extracting and listing all the names of people, places and numbers and then classifying them into groups.

Understanding Vocabulary in Context

Struggling learners often have difficulty comprehending vocabulary in context because their language skills are still in transition. Modification strategies include:using words that have something in common, focusing on no more than 5 words in a given lesson, having students underline all the words they know, composing questions to ask/clarify in class, asking T/F questions where students correct the false questions, and giving evidence. Additionally, teachers can use cognates and provide guide-in questions that help students elicit the meaning more effectively.

Help Students Find the Main Idea or Message in a Story or Text

ELLs need instructional support to help them synthesize information. Teachers can first start by using simpler and shorter texts where 99% of the vocabulary is understood so that the focus is on comprehension.

Modification reading strategies reinforce vocabulary development and provide opportunities for students to practice comprehending deeper meanings of vocabulary and texts. In this way, modified reading assignments take into account the wide range of students’ reading abilities. As you discover which modified reading assignments and strategies work for your particular classes, you can continue to provide instructional support.

Jun 25

Top Ten Productivity Tips for Putting in Pockets of Time

Uncategorized1 Comment

by Meggin McIntosh | The Ph.D. of Productivity™

Teaching can be a 24/7/365 career–and in many ways, great teachers don’t consider it an 8 - 5 “job,” which is part of why they chose it. However, if every moment of every waking hour (and most of your sleeping hours, too) are jammed full (and I mean JAMMED), then you don’t have any time “pockets.” Time pockets are daily, hourly, monthly, and yearly reserves of time that you can build in. Tips to create those reserves include:

1. Get a planner–and use its calendar. On the calendar page, when you agree to a commitment of any type, add time before and after that commitment. It might be 10 minutes–or an hour–on either side, depending on the type of commitment.

2. Get a planner–and use its to-do list feature. When you’re in a meeting or you think of tasks you want to accomplish, write them in your planner. Don’t just try to “remember” them.

3. Get a planner and use it as your “information central.” Coordinate all of your tasks, responsibilities, and commitments in one planner. You don’t want to find yourself at an IEP meeting while your son waits for you to pick him up from his piano lesson (which was scheduled on the home calendar, but not in your planner).

4. Clarify how many evening and weekend commitments are sensible for you. As a teacher, you have an enormous number of possibilities for how and where to devote your time. Determine what your number is…and then stick to it. Use your planner to stay clear on what your commitments are.

5. Double the time you estimate it will take you to grade. When you are thinking about how long it will take you to get your grading done, double that time and then plan for that. It may not take you twice as long as you thought, but it will definitely take you longer than your original estimate. If there is extra time, it’s your “pocket.”

6. Double the time you estimate it will take you to enter your grades in the computer. As with all technology, there are the upsides and the downsides. If you are trying to enter your grades at the last minute, then you might triple the time you estimate it will take you, since Murphy’s Law may come into play.

7. Double the time you estimate it will take you to plan your lessons. Block in the time on your planner so that you have adequate time to think and plan. Once you get in the planning “zone,” you want to stay there.

8. Double the time you estimate it will take you to be in charge of a sport, club, or other school-related activity. When you are asked to be a chairperson, faculty sponsor, coach, or the like…the person asking you might say, “This will only take ___ hours/week.” Whatever number you’re given, double that and then you’ll have some “pockets.”

9. Prepare stickers or labels to put on your calendar that designate “grading” or “prep” time. Once the sticker is on that spot, consider it an appointment and don’t schedule on top of that time. You have made an appointment to get your work done.

10. Arrive at school with adequate time to get yourself “settled” for the day. If you are arriving at the last possible minute, then you already feel rushed and out of control and the school day has barely begun. Get there with time to spare. It affects everything the rest of the day.

© Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. (also known as “The Ph.D. of Productivity”™). Meggin was a classroom teacher for many years and then a teacher of teachers, both at the university level and in jillions of workshops. Feel free to peruse some of the teaching materials she has created. Also, if you are a writer, you’ll want to check out the learning tool “10 Tools, 10 Tricks, 10 Tips, 10 Techniques, 10 Tactics, 10 Talking Points (& Much More) To Propel Your Writing Productivity” at http://meggin.com/WritingTips.php.

Jun 21

New Teacher Tips on Using Meaningful Rewards and Awards

Uncategorized1 Comment

How to say it, when to award it, how to encourage continued learning… These are just three of the considerations for giving rewards and awards. With most students being used to extrinsic trinkets for performance and achievement, how do you honor them extrinsically while encouraging intrinsic motivation and internal drive for success?
(And you thought handing out happy stickers might solve the reward dilemma.)

1. Be sure that your rewards honor learning and academic progress. Rewards bestowed haphazardly for “just good enough” encourage more “just good enough” work.

2. Applaud effort and determination. Individual progress is a key consideration when giving rewards.

3. Be stingy. An award for every movement is exhausting, expensive, and becomes meaningless.

4. Link rewards to classroom instruction: a field trip to the museum, extra research time in the library, a visit to the elementary school to read with younger students.

5. Study each student to discover the perfect reward: John loves solving problems - a Sudoku book; June adores drawing - a sketchpad; Mary Ann and Trent are avid readers - new books from your book order. Since you are being frugal in your rewards, you can justify the extra expense as all will balance out in the end.

6. Giving whole class rewards/awards can be counterproductive. If Jim and Ann rarely come to class, never complete assignments, and are unpleasant to boot, is it right or fair to include them on the field trip? Oh, this is tough - you want to encourage them with the trip but they haven’t done the work… Sometimes you can make a deal in advance with all students and their parents so that your expectations are clear: We are going to the newspaper office Tuesday. To be eligible to attend ______ needs to (then delineate the responsibilities) prior to our trip. Students who do not complete this work will work in the library with Mrs. Smith to finish these assignments. You have set the rules and everyone knows the expectations.

7. Be kind, be specific, be encouraging. Reading the face of each student will help you discover just the right words and “gifts” to promote learning.

8. Carefully design your praise to make it a verbal reward: Saying, “Susanne, the artistic display on your science lab report really demonstrated your total understanding of the process. I look forward to seeing more work of this superb caliber,” is powerful, indeed.

9. Be ready for reward/award backlash. While it seems that for a student the honor of being honored would encourage more study and learning, sometimes the honor tells the student “I am the greatest; no more work is necessary.” Sad, silly, and often true.

10. When colleagues help you with ideas, when they offer support in bleak moments, when they accomplish great feats, thank them both verbally and with a written note. We each need to feel valued.

© Gini Cunningham (adapted from her book, The New Teacher’s Companion: Practical Wisdom for Succeeding in the Classroom (ASCD). In addition to her writing, Gini is an author, workshop leader, and consultant and provides education for educators through her company Energized Learning (www.EnergizedLearning.com).

Jun 08

Staying Positive - Do You Radiate Positive Energy? Assess Yourself on a Radiance Scale

UncategorizedNo Comments


1170492_young_woman_smiling_at_cameraPart of being an indispensable teacher is being positive. As Sue Vaughn states so aptly, “Remember that this is your job and part of your job is to have a positive attitude. My dad, a businessman, said that minimum wage meant that you were, at a minimum, paid to smile.”

But just how is it possible to remain positive all throughout the school year - during exams, at parent-teacher conferences, with a difficult student, class, teacher or parent, while checking papers… the wear and tear on our emotions can be difficult.

In looking for that answer, I came across this article and found that there are many ways to maximize our positive attitudes. All we need to do is radiate more positive energy. This will help preserve our teaching careers and keep us going.

As Meggin McIntosh says (and I’ve shared many of her fabulous resources with you) it is possible to “work together to stay positive in this sort of crazy, kind of freaked-out, somewhat wayward world.”

I hope you’ll learn more about your radiance scale and take advantage of Meggin’s special offer.

Staying Positive - Do You Radiate Positive Energy? Assess Yourself on a Radiance Scale
Do you radiate positive energy? Does it have an impact on others? Are you unsure about what qualities you may want to be radiating out to others?

Winston Churchill said:

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.

There are people you know (and I know) who radiate everything that is positive (vs. everything that is negative). For example, contrast the person who radiates

* Passion vs. Apathy
* Positivity vs. Negativity
* Kindness vs. Disdain
* Thankfulness vs. Ingratitude
* Light vs. Darkness
* Creativity vs. Destruction
* Optimism vs. Pessimism
* Brightness vs. Dullness
* Intensity vs. Colorlessness

You can probably think of additional contrasting pairs. We want to think about the positive radiance factor of the ones in the first part of each pair when we are assessing ourselves on the Radiance Scale.

First, let’s look at two definitions of radiance from www.MyFavoriteThesaurus.com:

* The quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
* An attractive combination of good health & happiness

Hmmm…sounds nice doesn’t it?

Let me explain the idea of the concept of a Radiance Scale. Draw a series of embedded circles. Put at least 5 circles with each one somewhat larger until you have filled up your page.

YOU are at the base or core of the Scale. You will want to consider how metaphorically ‘radiant’ you are (using our previous definition, i.e.,

* The quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
* An attractive combination of good health & happiness

Once you have thought about your particular radiance, you can begin to determine how far out you radiate through the various layers of other people.

There are ways of thinking of who else is in the various strata and how far out your impact goes through them. You could think of family as being near the center of the diagram, co-workers maybe being a little bit further out, acquaintances being in the next level, and those you don’t know being toward the outside.

There is not one way to think of this because each of our lives are structured differently and are intertwined with other people’s lives in a host of ways.

As you consider the idea of a Radiance Scale and make your own assessment, ask yourself these questions:

1. How radiant am I?
2. Do I display light, gratitude, optimism, hope, and delight - and at what intensity?
3. Do I want to increase my radiance so that I glow or shine even more? Or, would it be better if I turned it down a bit?

As an adult, you can exercise the executive functions you possess as a part of your cognitive system as an adult human being. You can use those executive functions to control and manage your other cognitive processes. So, determine your radiance and then strategically control and manage it so that YOU, first and foremost, are taken care of and then, and only then, can you strategically make an impact on others.

You’re welcome to access the Radiance Scale diagram I have prepared for you (for free) by clicking here:

And if you are well aware that you - or those around you - are freaked-out to one degree or another and you can see that it is taking a toll, then you’re invited to join the Staying Positive Society where you can access tools for yourself or your team. Click here to find out all about it:

We have a positive group and would love to have you join us.

Article source: Meggin McIntosh

May 31

Teleseminar with Rhonda Chuyka on Best Teaching Practices

Uncategorized2 Comments

Click here or on the link below for the teleseminar with middle school teacher, Rhonda Chuyka on “Best Teaching Practices.”

In this teleseminar, I speak about tips for differentiated instruction, authentic instruction and how to cater to mixed ability classes.

I’d love to know what you think. Feel free to post comments or send an email to: sassondorit@gmail.com
dorit-sasson-rhonda-chuyka

May 31

Viewing Teaching As Magical (Instead of Just a “Job”)

UncategorizedNo Comments


1274623_magic_boxTeaching is a magically powerful career. In what other profession can you wake up every day with a definite plan to help students succeed? Where else can you go to bed each night with the sense of well-being for a job well done (and a smidgen of stress for the tasks ahead tomorrow)? Keep the following productivity tips in mind:

1.Always plan for excellence - in yourself and of your students. You are the magic that can ignite the excitement of learning in young minds. Teachers make a difference.

2.Believe in yourself as a teacher; believe in your students as proficient learners.

3. Set goals for teaching excellence; set goals for attainable and challenging learning.

4. Honor achievement with direct feedback and encouragement that rallies students to even greater heights.

5.Accept and promote responsibility. You are the greatest factor in the successful learning of your students. Guide your students to share responsibility for - and a love of - learning so that they can move to independence, needing you as a facilitator but not depending on you for the answer to every problem.

6.Love teaching every day. It is a wonderful adventure that opens your eyes to children as they travel the knowledge pathway to adulthood.

7.Design lessons that make learning a wonderful adventure for your students so that they can open their eyes to the boundless possibilities of the world.

8. Take care of your PIESS: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual health so that you can operate at 100% each day.

9.Enjoy the magic of Ah! Ha! Moments, individual success, and the thrill of interacting with and developing young lives. Your impact as a teacher, as a dedicated professional who truly cares, lasts forever.

10.Create a vision of teaching:

What must your students know and be able to do to succeed?
What must you do to get them there?
How will you challenge the brightest?
How will you re-teach and fill in the blanks for students who struggle?
What will the last day of the school year look like? Feel like? Be like?
What will be the greatest accomplishments?

© Gini Cunningham (adapted from her book, The New Teacher’s Companion: Practical Wisdom for Succeeding in the Classroom (ASCD). In addition to her writing, Gini is an author, workshop leader, and consultant and provides education for educators through her company Energized Learning (www.EnergizedLearning.com).

May 31

Time Management Tips for Teachers

time management tips1 Comment


1267744_timeSeconds and minutes can tick away, empty and unfulfilled if you are not aware of every moment of instruction. A wasted minute today times 180 school days is three hours worth of nothing, something no teacher and no student can afford. Time management is critical to the flow of teaching but it is art that is acquired and developed over time. It is easy to jot down 5 minutes for this, 2 minutes for that… but it is nearly impossible to stick to the clock without practice and close attention to fleeting minutes.

1.Buy a timer or download one onto your computer to project on a screen (several are free at www.meggin.com. Set the time for each part of your instruction and practice completing it within the time limitations.

2.Why, you ask, is timing so important? Without careful timing students miss out on vital practice time as their teacher drones on in the lesson. Students snooze or impatiently wait for the bell to sound knowing that their teacher will shout out the bewildering homework as they race out the door. This is not good if you want to be certain that homework practice is done correctly so learning is cemented, not cracked by confusion and misunderstanding.

3. Pace instruction briskly but not in a fashion that overwhelms. Clear lesson plans mean that you can accomplish miracles of instruction within a time allotment.

4.Always allow time for opening and closing a lesson. The first sets students up for success because they know your goals and expectations; the second wraps learning together, offers feedback for planning tomorrow’s lesson, and lets students know how learning links together.

5. Timing holds you accountable for the teaching just as it holds students accountable for learning. For example the routine of 5 minutes teacher lecture and explanation followed by 2 minutes of debrief and practice linked with 1 minute of interaction by students with peers moves lessons right along while clarifying for you what students know, where to head next, and what needs re-teaching.

6.Evaluate your lesson at the end of the period or day: did you allow adequate time for the opening, the vocabulary and concept review, the introduction of new material, practice, and closing? (plus anything else that needed to occur)

7.Time management paces the hour, the day, the week, the grading period… Are you moving along at a speed that will allow you to teach the standards and benchmarks required of your school, district, and state?

8. A breather is all right as long as the breathing space means time to write, reflect, share information with a partner. Say, “I felt like I might be clipping you along too rapidly here so now you get to breathe!”

9. Time management means managing your time before school (are there interruptions that drive you nuts?), during instructional time (covered), after class (are you allowing adequate time to prepare for tomorrow; are you assigning so much work that your life is consumed with grading?) Balance is the key. All things are possible when you manage time wisely.

10. Wasted and empty minutes breed confusion and naughtiness. Who needs either of these?

© Gini Cunningham (adapted from her book, The New Teacher’s Companion: Practical Wisdom for Succeeding in the Classroom (ASCD). In addition to her writing, Gini is an author, workshop leader, and consultant and provides education for educators through her company Energized Learning (www.EnergizedLearning.com).

May 20

Teaching Tips for ELLs: Make Learning Physical and Visual

UncategorizedNo Comments


1078846_fire_planet_3
by Linda Evans | Guest Author

One of the best ways to help your students learn a new concept is to connect it to something they already know. These various concepts that they already know are called Background Knowledge. Second language learners do have “Background Knowledge;” it’s just in a different language. Here are some strategies for Building Background knowledge with your English learners by making the lesson physical and visual.

Use concrete objects to introduce a theme. If the subject is baseball, bring in a baseball. If you have a bat and a mitt, that’s even better.

Borrow a concrete object to reinforce meaning. I don’t happen to own anything made with Kevlar, but our school police officer does. Just ask. I have found that people are happy to lend items that will help you teach your lesson.

Bring a loaf of bread and brainstorm different uses and names for it. Let that discussion lead into the next unit of The Great Depression. Think of simple, everyday items that you can connect to your next unit.

Bring a handful of pine needles and let the students break them open, smell them up close and feel the sticky sap as you read aloud from a story or reference text. Reading is a virtual experience. This is a great way to add direct experience and smells are powerful memory triggers. (Note: Paper towels and Pam will remove sap from desks and fingers.)

Role-play the especially important scenes. Let the students improvise the lines according to the scene or theme. For example, if the story you’re reading involves the theft of a bicycle, your students could act it out in a few minutes.

Arrange for a local field trip. Students can carry a pocket size notebook to jot down the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and ideas during the day.

Share personal memories of field trips you took as a student. Students love to hear you tell a story. When you share your memories as you show pictures, photos, maps, or pages from the text, you’ll build experience for students too.

Use a guest speaker. I’ve noticed that sometimes my advice falls on deaf ears. But, somehow, when my students hear it from a guest, it rings truer. So, if your next unit includes the development of the printing press, invite a local print shop owner to talk about his/her job and how the history of its creation is still being used today.

Use picture books, even in the upper grades. They are an invaluable resource. Using this kind of visual tool is a great way to connect in a direct manner, and it’s fun!

Print a picture from the internet. Besides finding individual pictures of items, you can use it as an alternative to physical field trips. Use pictures, music, and short videos from the internet to create a virtual field trip experience.

You have a lot of knowledge about your subject. As you think about what your students know, consider physical or visual items that could help them get on the same page with you. Also connect an item that is already familiar to them to a new way of using it. Now watch your students engage and remember more of your lesson!

Linda Evans |Linda@FildaDreams.com | www.TeachingELLStudents.com

« Previous Entries