New Teacher Tips: Plan Smarter, Not Harder!
April 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
When it comes to lesson planning, it’s more important for new teachers to plan smarter than harder.
What is planning smarter?
Planning smarter simply means knowing your purpose behind activities of a lesson plan – why is that activity important and what can it do for your students?
As a teacher trainer, I’ve seen new teachers more concerned by how a lesson “looks” and making sure that each activity fits according to its place in the lesson of a beginning, middle, or end.
This is planning harder.
When a lesson backfires, the first thing you’ll want to know is – why? But when you have a purpose to your activities, you can reflect on specifically what worked and what didn’t about the activity and what you should next.
So basically, there are just a few important categories for lesson planning when it comes to planning smarter. As you plan this week, keep these two categories in mind:
1.Include activities where you allow your students to direct their own learning.
By allowing students to direct their own learning, they are involved in the “doing.” In doing, they learn to also grow more responsible for and respond to their learning. Research shows that students who learn to direct their learning are more successful in life later on. This is why we teachers need to be less controlling and teach our students to become responsible for their learning.
This category is endless -
Students can choose topics for projects, decide how many reading sections to read and which level of a reading passage best suits them. They can also prepare their own materials like review questions, cloze passages and worksheets.
Students of ALL grades should also be encouraged to reflect on their own successes and failures so they know what they need to improve and HOW.
These are important life skills, not just subject skills.
2.Always try to engage your learners with meaningful activities.
Jigsaw reading and STADs (Student Teach Achievement Division) are two types of cooperative learning activities that are both fun and educational and encourage students to work according to their level and ability.
Including a wide range of activities is good – but knowing your purpose for engaging your students is key.
Remember, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
But that doesn’t mean you need to plan harder.
You just need a plan to work smarter!
Work it!
Preventing Your Classroom Rules From Falling Apart: 21 Guidelines
April 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
From Chapt. 12 A. of Prof. Seeman's online course and book at Pro-Ed Media: Classroom Management Online:
1. Decide on a consequence that you will enforce, in the form of a warning, if the rule is broken.
2. Obviously, don't make a rule that enforces a miscall. Check the "typical miscalls" in Chapter 4, section B. You certainly should not make (or have) a rule that helps you go after what is actually not a discipline problem.
3. You should feel congruent with your rules. Don't blurt out something you don't really believe in or that you later realize is too harsh. How do you stop such incongruent blurts? Again, go back to the list of misbehaviors on page 260-261 and formulate a rule now about each that you believe in. If you plan your rule according to your feelings now, you won't be apt to put your foot in your mouth in class.
Of course, your rules must also be in line with the rules of your school, what the administration (and, hopefully, with consent of the staff) has decided. You should be able to feel comfortable with the school's rules, such that they do not cause you to be incongruent with your rules. If you do have problems here, see the discussion on pages 258-262 to help you sort out this problem.
4. You should be able to follow through with the warning you design for each infraction of your rule. Again, don't blurt out "I'll suspend you!" if you can't really do that for, say, calling out. Again, go back to page 285 and decide on a warning you can follow through for each infraction. And keep in mind that not to follow through on one is to weaken your whole system and credibility.
5. Your rule should be one that is for the sake of their education, not just for your convenience. It should be appropriate, professional. If the rule keeps order so you can teach and they can learn, fine. If it only helps you, e.g., get your work done or wash your car, it's inappropriate.
6.The rule should be fair. You need to keep track of your warnings or the points that earn rewards for them. If you forget, or lose track, the students will experience this as unfair. Also, we all have biases. Realize yours and then monitor that you are not judging one student over another by unfair criteria, or over-reacting.
7.Your first response to an infraction should be as nonverbal as possible, e.g., a disapproving look or no recognition to an answer called out, instead of a verbal reprimand, “John!” Why? Because the latter gives more attention to the misbehavior. You don't want to accidentally award “negative attention” to behaviors you're trying to extinguish. If you have to reprimand, reprimand while giving the misbehavior as little attention as possible. Thus, for example, putting a disruptive student’s name on the chalkboard or asking him or her to come to the front of the room, etc., places the student in the limelight. It’s a negative limelight, but some students would rather get negative attention than none at all.
8.Along with the above, starve students who seek negative attention, but reward these students immediately as they “turn over a new leaf” and newly try to get attention for being good. Go deaf, dumb, and blind to a call-outer,[According to our criteria listed in questions (a)–(j) on pp. 268–269.] but call on him or her the second s/he does raise his/her hand. (For more on handling “calling out” see pp. 348–349.)
9.Try to deliver your warnings in a place, or in a way, that has the least audience reaction. Don’t reprimand a student in front of the class if you can at all help it. Try to remember that a reprimand in front of the class, especially for adolescents, is always much more severe than the same one given in private. Students reprimanded in front of an audience need to revolt against your warning to save face. Always, if you can, deliver your warning after class at the “See me after class!” meeting. Or deliver it at least in the back of the room while others are working. In both these situations, you should have your back to the wall (not the student) so when the student faces you, s/he is not exposed to others as you scold him/her. If you don’t do this, the student will be facing you and his/her friends and will resist “facing the music” to save face. Or you might arrange with a teacher next door that if either of you have a disruptive student you’ll just send him/her next door with, for instance, a punishment assignment to be done by the end of the period. The student suddenly must sit in the back of the room of a class s/he doesn’t know. This strategy is usually better than sending students to the librarian or chairperson who may give the student a task the student enjoys. It’s also a better idea than sending the student to the principal, who then wonders if you can handle discipline problems by yourself.
10. Don’t deliver your rule in the third person. Be direct and say, “I won’t tolerate....” Don’t say: “We don’t do that....”or “One wouldn’t do that in....”
More at: Prof. Seeman's book and training video at: Pro-Ed Media: Bk/Vd/Cd and its: Table Of Contents
15 Tips For Keeping It All Together: How to Survive and Thrive During the Last Few Months of School
April 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization, Teaching Tips
Here are some more tips on how to survive and thrive during the last few months of school. For more tips, click part one of this article.
6. Hang Out with Supportive and Positive People. In times of difficulty, you'll need a supportive network of teachers and other professionals with whom you can reach out, vent and share your successes.Professional isolation, especially towards the end of the school year, is an enemy. Plus, you'll probably get some nifty ideas for your own teaching.
7. Start Your Day in a Positive and Affirming Way. Remember the law of attraction - positive attracts positive. Don't say: "I wish my classes were be easier to teach at this time of year" or, "I wish I didn't have to go through this..." because you're still focusing on those negative elements and affirming to yourself that they are there. Instead, focus on the positive in your teaching: the ability to inspire and motivate students and teachers.Write down these affirmations in a place where you can see them every morning as you begin your day. They might even empower you.
8. If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em! Participating in school and field trips is a great way to experience school culture in a refreshing way. Students will appreciate it, too and may perhaps view you in a different light.
9. Adapt classroom management skills and instruction to suit new classroom situations. This requires a great deal of flexibility and teacher intuition to know what skills you need to be using at a given moment. For example, if you find yourself teaching a small class for one lesson, provide interesting and well-paced lessons to suit small groups of students. Click here to read my article, "Tips for Motivating Small Groups to Learn."
10. Have Lots of S.O.S. Kits!
Some classes may need a Plan B and even Plan C. There's nothing wrong with overplanning.
11. Think Outside of the Box. When planning interesting and motivating lessons, ask yourself: what resources are available to you? You may wish to use the computer room to supplement a reading lesson. Click here to read "5 Lesson Planning Tips on How to Use Technology Successfully in Your Classroom." If you don't have a computer room available at your disposal, plan games as part of authentic instruction. (Don't overdo them, either!)
12. Praise, praise and praise! Use a lot of positive reinforcement to suit the ages of the students you teach. A little bit of praise will go a long long way.
13. Have a Plan to Prevent Your Rules From Coming Apart.
14. Keep a Reflective Teaching Journal. Writing about your teaching experiences helps you acquire objectivity and clarity especially on those difficult and unpredictable days. Five minutes is sometimes all you need!
15. Have Fun and Interesting Review Sessions. Have practice and review sessions of the material you've taught. There are so many many ways in which to do this but choose those activities that speak to your teaching style. For example, you could have a game or mini-competition. Show a film to reinforce important themes or concepts followed by a worksheet. Use songs to review grammar structures and vocabulary. Have a textbook treasure hunt. The list is endless.
Am I missing anything? Email me and let me know and I'll include your ideas and tips in next week's weekly ezine. So until then....
And remember, students will always continue to try and push the limits. That is just their nature. So make sure you understand your own rationale for what you are doing in the classroom.
You can teach with confidence and successfully when the going gets tough.
So work it!
15 Tips For Keeping It All Together: How to Survive and Thrive During the Last Few Months of School
April 19, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization, Teaching Tips
Note: This is a three part article.
With just a few months left until the end of the school year, you may already be wondering just how it is possible to get to the end without becoming batty. With spring and warmer weather still to come, students continue to have their own excuses for not putting 100% effort. And of course, there are more non-school related activities that may distract them. Perhaps you already for example, teach fewer students because of some of these "distractions."
So how can you keep it together and still thrive in the classroom? This guide will show you how:
1. Don't fight the system. When it comes to cancelled lessons and other unpredictable and school-related matters, there is really nothing you and I can do about it. Keep your cool and continue as best you can. As the old saying goes, "pick your battles wisely." Fighting the system will only make your job harder but there are plenty of things you can do that aren't just about surviving in the classroom.
2. Don't Compare Yourself to Other Teachers. So what if other teachers seem to have better control of their classes? It might take you an entire year to develop a classroom management plan that is effective for your class, but again, so what? You are unique.
3. Stick to teaching core subject skills until the very last school day possible.
The trick is to continue teaching important educational and subject skills (not just those that are test-related) in a fun and motivating way. (see #9,#10)
4. Set your intentions for success especially during the last few months of the school year when time and curriculum constraints and high-stakes testing can wear you down. As Suzanne Lieurance says, "have every thought, statement and action reflect that all day long. Teachers know that they generally get what they expect of their students. What someone says about you can help you create a totally different and new expectation for yourself - so get a friend to write out a positive statement about you. Then notice how you strive to LIVE according to that statement every day."
5. Balance Your Life. Don't compromise on fun and meaningful activities that make you feel good about yourself. Start each day in an empowering and confident way. Don't succumb to the pressures but rather accept them for what they are, realizing that they too, shall pass.
Like these tips and consider them helpful? For more teaching tips, subscribe to my free daily teaching tip of the day. Simply sign in at the opt-in-boxes of the left hand side bar of the home page. When you do, you'll also receive a FREE weekly ezine containing tips, news and other information.
Tips on Preparing a Resume for a Teaching Position
April 16, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
Applying for your first teaching job and need some resume writing help? While there is no one exact and sure way to write a resume, there are a wide range of possibilities. These guidelines are based on experience, but in the end, you know what is best to put on your teaching resume. It is advisable to get feedback not only from a professional career consultant, but also from two to three professionals in the teaching field that you know and feel comfortable with.
For starters, a resume should include the core sample sections, which are elaborated below highlighted with a few examples.
Professional Summary
Highlight key skills and experiences relevant to a particular field or position. This may be referred to as a Career Profile, Career Summary or other terminology. This section could be a bulleted list, but no more than 6 sentences.
Professional Experience
Develop the core section of your resume using skill clusters that directly support your career goal. The core section may be called Professional Experience or Related Experience. If your career goal is a teacher's aide, add relevant teaching experience. This may be in lieu of employment, if you do not have directed teaching experience.
Skills, Activities, Affiliations
A core section should also include a number of other relevant sections:
Include special skills to list a number of relevant items such as teacher training, foreign language skills, etc.
Activities: These may be community activities or leadership activities. Focus only on those that are relevant to your career goal.
Professional affiliations: List professional members or leadership positions and/or professional presentation.
Resume Writing Format
Keep to a standard font such as Arial or Times New Roman; font size 11 or 12 point
Margins: 1.5 margins
Bulleted format works well for easy skimming and reading
Formatting: Use boldface, italics and underlining for highlighting important pieces of information.
Other Resume Writing Tips
It is advisable to send a cover letter where possible even when not requested. It makes you look much more professional. Always send a hard copy resume and cover letter as a follow-up to ensure receipt of the documents and for presentation.
Use action verbs wherever possible. Sample action verbs for teaching include:
achieved
administered
built
coordinated
created
designed
developed
directed
established
expanded
formulated
headed
implemented
introduced
managed
organized
planned
presented
structured
wrote
Resume writing for teachers follows the same format for general principles of resume writing. It differs with keywords specific to the profession and the action verbs you use when describing your qualification in the first section and your professional experience and training in the core section.
Please note: Take a look at the sample resume in the free teacher resources section of this blog. Also, check out the ebook on "Looking for a Teaching Job" which contains 50 interview questions and answers, tips and lots more. You can click on the icon on the left hand side bar of this blog's home page.
Six Ways to Choose The Best Teaching Approach That’s Right For You!
April 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching and Learning Styles
What is a teaching approach?
Whether you're a new or experienced teacher, a teaching approach is simply HOW you plan on engaging your students from beginning to the end of a lesson. There are many ways to engage students in the learning process. But the key is to choose the one approach in the beginning, that best suits your personality and style. You won't be able to please ALL parents, teachers and administrations so it's important to work with a teaching approach (or approaches) that is/are right for YOU!
1. Write down your strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to BE HONEST. What do you honestly love about teaching? Many teachers quickly forget their passions and what they love to do BEFORE they are responsible for managing a class. Then, they become frustrated while managing a class which also takes away the FUN of teaching.
Here is a FREE handy assessment tool which I think, will help you take stock of your strengths so you can best decide on the right teaching approach that is suitable for YOU!
Click here to learn more.
2. Match your teaching approach to the ages of the students you teach. This will make a significant impact on the children you'll teach. Remember, the lower the grade level, the more interaction you will need to provide, so choose wisely! If you aren't sure, read other teacher blogs, websites and articles to get a feel of teaching for this particular age group in terms of combining classroom management with effective instruction.
If you can't find any experienced teachers to follow online - then look for workshops or in-service courses in your school district(s) who can show you sample approaches of the age groups you are interested in teaching. For example, don't simply gather information if you want to become a successful and confident teacher. Find out what it takes to also teach successfully.
3. Keep an open mind. Finding your own teaching approach is largely a process of experimentation as you adjust and readjust your instruction. But most importantly, you need to adjust your instruction to suit the needs and abilities of your students. For example, if your students are digital learners, find ways to incorporate technology in the classroom even if it is on a small scale.
4. Add additional ways of engaging your students that suit your personality and style. This will help you cater to different learning styles and appeal to different levels of instruction. (differentiated instruction)
5. Consistently, evaluate the effectiveness of your teaching approach. If you are not successfully engaging students, chances are, you need to be more flexible in terms of suiting the needs of your students and be more intuitive to your own teaching style. Some new teachers, become particularly frustrated and burnt out by many unsuccessful lessons. Many more, decide to leave teaching altogether. Way before this starts to happen, a teacher trainer can provide guidance and direction as to how new teachers can maximize their (limited) resources to benefit their teaching and students. Consider this option before you experience any signs/symptoms of early burn-out.
6. Don't give up! A few unsuccessful teaching experiences are NOT reasons for failure. If anything, they are only setbacks which occur to ALL teachers. What's more important, is to recognize those setbacks learn and grow from these experiences. Constantly think BIGGER all the time as you find new ways to cater to students. Experiment with new activities and ideas. Keep your teaching fun and educational for you and your students!
Your Questions and Answers on Effective Classroom Management
April 3, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
On Monday, March 30th, I hosted Professor Howard Seeman for a teleclass "Conquering Classroom Management" where Dr. Seeman provided informative responses on various challenging classroom management situations teachers cope with on a daily basis.
Here are the first two questions asked by teachers-
Question -
I am an ESOL teacher in a very poor, urban elementary school. I pull groups of fourth and fifth graders every day to work with for a limited time in my room. Sometimes it takes several minutes to get them to settle down, and valuable teaching time is lost from my short (30 minute) teaching opportunity.
Any suggestions for behavior management for assorted groups of children that I work with briefly, sometimes just once a week?
Professor Seeman's Answer-
Have ten minutes task sheets [ a do-now] that you hand out at the beginning of the period - students can work privately at first. Then, share with a neighbor what they wrote on the task sheet. Then each pair can report back to the rest of the class. Short task worksheets like ID cards, fill-in-the-blanks, matches, puzzles, easy to do activities that build confidence. See Chpt. 15 C of Seeman's book at: Pro-Ed Media: Bk/Vd/Cd activities that are not graded, just sharing, and give reassurance. They can also put their anwers to the task sheets or work sheets on the Blk. Bd. for a kind of show and tell.
Question: I teach art once a week for 55 minutes in a portable classroom away from the main building. I have completely lost control of one of my fifth grade classes. I will have the majority of them next year. There are at least 3-4 students who make it impossible to teach. How can I gain at least a minimum of control.
Professor Seeman's Answer:
Have a system of rewards that have incremental steps to earn these rewards, warnings with consequences, again with a system of steps, and keep track of first offense means the student must..., 2nd offense means the student must..., etc.
Have a do-now activity at the beginning of the period. See these at Chpt. 15 C of Seeman's Book at: Pro-Ed Media: Bk/Vd/Cd
Make it clear to the students they know where they are going Have your lesson be like you driving a railroad train down a track. Show them the "track", where you are going, e.g., on the Blk. Bd. And only answer questions when you get to a good place, a "station".
