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

Feb 24

Getting Through ‘n Sticking Like Glue

Linda Evans, one of my ESL colleagues, will be giving a FREE 55 minute free teleseminar that is jam-packed with tips for Building Background for your English Language Learners.

www.TeachingELLStudents.com/BBMeggin.html

* · You’ll learn why it’s so important to build background knowledge to get through to your ELLs.

* · You’ll be able to apply simple tips that will make your lessons stick like glue with your ELLs.

* · You’ll get custom tips based on your questions and suggestions that you send Linda prior to the teleseminar. Linda@FildaDreams.com

Register today by clicking here www.TeachingELLStudents.com/BBMeggin.html

All registrants will receive the MP3 download right after the call.

Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., known as “The Ph.D. of Productivity™” is a former teacher, university professor, and director of her university’s Excellence in Teaching Program. She is currently (and happily) the president of Emphasis on Excellence, Inc.

Dr. McIntosh is a professor, mentor, and coach. Please visit her website

www.meggin.com

I hope you and your colleagues will be able to “attend” this free teleseminar.

Feb 24

Try the Morning Nudge Now - for FREE!

The Morning Nudge is a short inspirational, motivational, and informational email I receive every weekday morning. As a writer, a teacher and a mother, I need a little “Nudge ” to help me get a little bit of writing done each and every day.

Each nudge contains different tips, inspiration messages, and information. Today’s Nudge for example was about leaving our comfort zones and doing something new to help advance our writing careers. Yesterday’s Nudge was about keeping and maintaining focus. VERY IMPORTANT! Other Nudges include fiction and nonfiction writing tips and techniques.

If you’d like to make more money this year AND improve your writing and build your writing career ALL at the same time, you’ll want to try out The Morning Nudge for FREE. In addition to daily words of inspiration and motivation for writers, Suzanne Lieurance provides special offers and additional tips, articles, and other resources that you won’t find anywhere else.

As a subscriber to The Morning Nudge, I also receive FREE membership in The Morning Nudge Club. The club is a Ning group with a “clubhouse” where members can gather to interact and access additional resources, including helpful checklists, templates, various forms freelance writers use for their businesses, and audio files of recorded instructional teleclasses for writers.

If you’re a writer, I really don’t see how you wouldn’t benefit from a subscription to The Morning Nudge.

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And, at just the miniscule price of $12.00 for an entire year’s worth of Nudges, it’s an incredible bargain that you won’t find ANYWHERE on the web - GUARANTEED.

As the old saying goes, you just got to experience it.

Click here now to get your 5-day FREE trial subscription to The Morning Nudge and find out for yourself.

This is a totally risk-free offer.

No need to submit credit card or PayPal information.

All you need to do is just give your name and email address! That’s it!

So what are you waiting for?

Get nudged!

Feb 23

Jumpstart Your Children’s Writing Career


cwcc-272x78I am a member of the Children’s Writers Coaching Club and I write for both teachers and children. I thought transitioning to writing for children would be easy after many years of teaching, but boy was I in for a real wake up call!

I am uniquely placed to tell stories that not many others can, stories that bring new information and insights to my young readers. All of my life, I have straddled two countries, (Israel and America) two cultures, two histories, two languages. But getting these stories published requires a plan. Even with the best marketing plan and strategies for developing a fulltime writing career, I still faced challenges. In the beginning of my journey for writing for children, I constantly felt frustrated because I didn’t seem to get anywhere with my writing career. But after joining Suzanne Lieurance’s Children’s Writers Coaching Club, (CWCC) I learned that without a marketing plan and important tricks for the trade about writing for children, I couldn’t be serious about my writing. A simple change like a marketing plan can lead to big results.

In addition to incredibly informative weekly teleclasses, coaching tips and advice, and checklists for revising my manuscript, I receive every week an individual manuscript critique from Suzanne and I spend the following week revising the manuscript. After sticking with the club for over a year, I am pleased to say that I have built some very good habits that have paid off with a few publishing credits of some of my stories. This is a dream come true!

My writing has improved greatly with Suzanne’s guidance and I continue to improve and benefit from this club. It’s wonderful to grow with this club and share my publishing success. We are like family! I don’t think there is another club online that offers so much for such a reasonable price per month. The Children’s Writing Coaching Club has truly changed the way I look at writing for children and my work as a business!

Feb 18

FREE Ebook on Elementary Education


being-a-school-teacher-no-reflectionCityTownInfo.com, is a website providing over 50,000 reference pages of real-world information on careers, communities, and colleges to over 10 million annual visitors.

They just released a free 64-page e-book which provides a candid, real-world perspective on the elementary teaching profession via interviews with 25 teachers from grades 1 through 5, across a variety of disciplines including reading specialists, PE, and music teachers, to name a few. The book offers advice, tips, best and worst parts of the job, as well as words of wisdom, inspiration and caution from working teachers. One quote from the book:

“Many people think that because the school day ends at 3 PM teachers just leave, but, the truth is, we stay late and often put in more than an eight-hour day. Almost always we take work home with us. Yes, we do have summers off, but we are constantly thinking about the school year to come and working on our skills.”

I’d like to share this relevant information with my visitors. I hope you’ll take a bit of time to review the book – it’s a fairly quick read – and then consider passing along your thoughts to your colleagues and friends.

Click here for the ebook

Feb 17

5 Tips on Dealing with Difficult Students


1145532_3d_maze_2Last week I listened to a wonderful webinar on “Dealing with Difficult Students,” by an experienced educator who talked about fostering relationships based on good content and patterns. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about and have confronted this before. We create “scripts” in our heads or bad patterns based on the stories students tell us. I’m talking about students who say: “I can’t focus if I sit next to that student” or “He’s disturbing me” or even the very silent student who doesn’t participate much.

What threatens communication with these particular students is not what we say to them, but how we perceive them. Believe or not, our thoughts and perceptions can cause students to misbehave.

How Does this Work?

What Threatens Communication with Students

Some students carry a lot of emotional baggage with them throughout their schooling years. Imagine a student finally gets to study a subject he loves but he is afraid of failure. He stops coming to class or when he does come, he doesn’t participate and disturbs other students.

There are many obstacles that can threaten communication with students such as a feeling they can’t succeed, getting a grade without an explanation, the fear of always being wrong/fear of failure, mixed expectations, can’t meet the requirements, and lack of an opportunity to show their expertise. These are the signs… but what can we do as educators? What are the steps?

Start by Asking Yourself the REAL Questions

When responding to the student, consider the following questions:

·1.How much is s/he hurting the class?

2.Why might s/he be doing this?

3. Why might s/he want to stop this?

When you know the answers to these questions, then it’s possible to recreate the story.

Remake the Meaning - Focus on Content

Think of one situation where you can change the outcome by retelling the story. Remake your stories of how you decide to perceive a particular student. Decide to make a difference.

Work the Dialogue - Focus on Content

By focusing on content or what happened in the “story,” students can retell the story in a way that allows success. The first important step is to dialogue with the student:

· Apologize/Ask for clarity: “Please help me undertand why you have been turning your work in late.”

· Contrast: “We discussed this the first two assignment but now I’m seeing a pattern begin.”

· Commit: “I really want to see you succeed and we need to come up with a plan…”

Stopping the Scripts

We might not be able to reach all the students and even during challenging moments, it’s alright to report to a mentor and ask for intervention

· Listen, research and expand what you know.

· Invite new people to participate or give input, like a teacher mentor.

· Tell the story a different way.

Teach Courage to Change

Remember, you are not perfect. Let go of the past and start each new day with a clean slate. Separate the students’ behavior from the student. Always put your energies on the class and not on the individual. And celebrate your successes for all! After all, you’re also there for your students.

Dorit Sasson is a freelance writer, educator and founder and director of the New Teacher Resource Center.

Make Your Teaching Sparkle. Teach for Success. Make a difference in the classroom.

Subscribe to receive your FREE e-zine and e-book, “Taking Charge in the Classroom” when you visit the New Teacher Resource Center at http://www.newteachersignup.com.

Purchase your ebook of classroom tested tips - “Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom,” at: http://www.MakeYourTeachingSparkle.com and you’ll receive a FREE ebooklet, “Yes! You Can Teach K-12 English language learners Successfully!”

Feb 15

Online Jobs for Teachers


959917_informationUsing the Internet for Research to Find Teaching Employment Online

Online jobs for teachers are slowly on the rise which does not only mean teaching and tutoring. Many educators and post educators are finding the benefits of working as online educational consultants, presentators, workshop organizers. There are also numerous online freelance writing jobs for the educational writing markets such as writing curriculum, readers, textbooks, correlating academic standards; writing text passages and lesson plans; in addition to actual teaching online. Using the Internet to find teaching work online has quickly become a niche of its own and is continuing to grow. But the allure of online teaching jobs does in fact, demand a bit of research and it can be slow. And while using the Internet can be useful and even fun, it is not the only way to access information.

Research Online Teaching Jobs

One of the major trends in the online teaching workplace is telecommuting. Try targeting online teaching companies and organization using freelance writing boards such as Freelance Writing Gigs . Since online teaching jobs is a niche based industry, it is a good idea to research the kind of online teaching company and industry you do find, so that ultimately you are a good match. Since some of these online positions also represent the newest in educational technology, they are only now, gaining ground. In evaluating ultimately if you are a good match for the company, try and evaluate the company in various ways by looking for the following answers:

What is the company’s educational mission?

Issues to consider: age groups you possibly have teaching experience with, compensation, job titles and deadlines.

Teaching Employment Online
Eduwizard represents an online learning and teaching platform that is becoming increasingly popular with educators who are looking for a break or to diversify their knowledge and expertise of their subject and for students who are looking for a unique tutoring experience. Teachers
looking for a diverse online teaching employment will be sure to find one here. These platforms work differently with regard to technology, so it’s best to research and perhaps experiment accordingly. Technical issues might be another consideration as well as differences in time zones as some students live in other parts of the world.

Remember, people are still your best source of information during your online teaching job search. Knowing how to use the tools effectively will maximize results and lead you to success!

Feb 12

Listen and learn best practices for teaching your diverse learners

Now Playing On IRA Radio!

Many teachers today are challenged to efficiently respond to the cultural and linguistic differences presented in their classrooms. Tune in to IRA Reading Radio and hear IRA President Kathy Au present
specific strategies and techniques to help you effectively teach second-language and culturally diverse learners.

This free program comes to you through a collaboration between IRA and Body and Mind (BAM!) Radio Network, a radio website for the education community. Kathy Au’s interview is just one of many thought-provoking programs that will be posted monthly on the IRA website and address topics that range from reading assessment to the role of parents in literacy development. Each radio broadcast will feature IRA’s Dr. Harvey interviewing an expert on a key topic in reading education.

Click here to listen to the program!

Feb 10

Help for Teachers!


ell-cover-webHave you taken a look at my latest eproducts?

It’s always nice to receive emails from teachers and other professionals letting me know how helpful these products are.

Here’s what a few people had to say about these eproducts:

“I have really learned a lot from your ebooklet on teaching ELLs.”

“This is the material I look for. It’s really good, interesting and ready to be used in the classroom.”
-Susana Gomez, TESOL Spain Newsletter Editor

“Professionally presented, inspirational and practical, Dorit Sasson’s booklet addresses such issues as differentiated instruction, evaluation of comprehension, and teaching vocabulary. New teachers will find these 97 tips and strategies a life-saver in the English Language Learners (ELL) classroom. Experienced teachers will glean valuable insight as well. Highly recommended.”
-Nancy I. Sanders
Author of America’s Black Founders

Click here to read more about the ebooklet on teaching English language learners

Click here to read more about my ebook

Feb 10

8th Day of the Blog Tour: A Great Teaching Resource for Black History Month


152It’s a real treat to share with you an award-winning and extraordinarily prolific (she’s written over 75 books, after all!) author Nancy I. Sanders. To promote the release of her latest children’s book, America’s Black Founders, Nancy will be touring the blogosphere this week until February 15th. And for teachers there an extra special treat. Nancy is giving away freebies that include teacher resources and activities from her new book.

Read my review of America’s Black Founders here

Check out the Virtual Book Tour of America’s Black Founders

I’ll be giving away a FREE teaching report on how to improve fluency in English language learners to those who leave a comment at the New Teacher Resource Center. Now…I hope you’ll visit the next site on the blog chain sponsored by the National Writing for Children Center. That site is: http://mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/. For a list of all the links on the chain, go to www.writingforchildrencenter.com

Feb 06

Why Are Some ESL Learners Quiet in the Classroom?


640941_creativityAll ESL teachers have the same phenomenon of quiet learners in their classrooms. Come parents day, many teachers and parents will be talking about how much progress the student has made and most inevitably the comments of “s/he’s too quiet” will be brought up. What is the cause of this quietness that involves second language learning?

A learner may be quiet in the ESL classroom, but he may also be deeply processing the language. It is important to weigh in this factor when discussing the student’s performance in front of the parents. Bilingual children whose first language interferes with second language learning should not be forced to produce but only to listen to the language. It has been found that this act of listening greatly enhances the speed and quality of learning. Therefore the language environment, whether it be formal or natural, plays a crucial role during the silent period in terms of second language acquisition.

The silent period is a conscious and active period where simply listening to the target language is associated with the notion of a one-way communication which can extend for many months at a time without producing the language. Dulay states that when language finally does appear, it is produced quite minimally either in some form of elicitation or the communication of basic needs. (Dulay 19)

Premature pressure upon the second language learners to perform in the target language in terms of taking examinations, writing compositions and participating in oral classroom discourse can be exacerbatingly intense as well as discouraging and futile. in this learning situation, the
second language learner such as a tourist in a foreign country, does not possess an adequate amount of knowledge of the target language and so, he or she will lean on the first language in order to facilitate communication. A “silent period” therefore, may be tremendously beneficial in terms of helping the learners to strengthen some competence in the target language which can be “enough to permit some spontaneous speech production without relying on the first language” (Dulay 25).

Works Cited
Dulay, H., M. Burt and S.D. Krashen. 1982. Language Two. Oxford University Press.

I’ll be giving away a FREE teaching report on how to improve fluency in English language learners to those who leave a comment at the New Teacher Resource Center. Now…I hope you’ll visit the next site on the blog chain sponsored by the National Writing for Children Center. That site is: http://terri-forehand.blogspot.com/. For a list of all the links on the chain, go to www.writingforchildrencenter.com