New Teacher Tips on Using Meaningful Rewards and Awards
June 21, 2010 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
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).
New Teacher Tips on Helping Slower and Lower Performing Learners
May 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under Teaching and Learning Styles
You may have noticed already that your slower and lower performing learners have been labeled as discipline problems. Often, their behavior has nothing to do with motivation, but rather with their low self-image and low present level of proficiency. They may lack self-discipline or have a short concentration span. You might have experienced their negative attitude towards school and teachers. When they feel threatened, they are unwilling to invest in a learning activity.
From my experience, the greatest gift you can give these learners is the gift of time.Always allow your students to process the information before expecting them to demonstrate what they know about a specific task. Sometimes we tend to talk too fast or speed up instruction without even knowing it.
Another thing that has worked from my experience is to provide these learners with lots of opportunities for success to raise their self-esteem. Use worksheets with a heterogenous design containing varied types of tasks, varied levels, with easier tasks at the beginning and at least one optional task at the end.
A third important thing that works is to make instruction interesting by to use authentic instruction consisting of games and puzzles. When you teach this way, students won't even notice they are learning new skills.
Provide lots of explanations and conduct frequent mini-assessments. Avoid lessons based on 'ping-pong' teacher-student interaction; these don't provide the instructional support and instead of using group work, use individual and pair work instead.
For today, see how you can enhance your instruction by including or different teaching technique to cater to these groups of learners. Make notes before and after the activity. How has your instruction or student behavior changed as a result?
Tips on Creating a Balanced Life: It Begins with You!
January 25, 2010 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
What do you do to create a stress-free teaching life? Despite the crazy first few years, new teachers (including veteran teachers as well) MUST take out time for themselves otherwise they will experience burnout at a faster rate. This is not a luxury but a requirement!
Here are some daily routines I have done over the years that have helped me create a more balanced teaching life. In general, I make it a habit to do things that bring me pleasure WITHOUT feeling guilty.
FUN ACTIVITIES
I spend 30 minutes daily meditating. I listen to the BLUE Room meditation and it works wonders!
I schedule at least an hour of family time every weekday. I do NOT compromise on this! This means eating together as a family, reading stories together, taking walks in the park.
I read for pleasure before bed for at least 20 minutes a few times a week.
I work out at the gym and/or do yoga.
I make the weekends a time to take care of the soul. I work in the garden pulling weeds or catching up with old friends.
How many fun activities do you do? Before you begin your work week, schedule some time off wher eyou can catch up with yourself and your thoughts.
2. Nurture Social Interaction
I have a few great mentors - My mentor at school is my librarian friend because we love to talk about children's books since we are both children's writers and she is also a great listener! Another mentor is my colleague because she has great insights on teaching and has a great sense of humor.
3. Collaborate!
I believe in sharing ideas as a quick way to collaborate. You can find many of my teaching ideas and tips I've shared with other professionals in my ebooklet: "Yes! You Can Teach K-12 English Language Learners Successfully" or in my ebook "Tips and Tricks on Surviving and Thriving: Practical Activities Made Easy"
If I'm starting to bond with another teacher, I'll approach a teacher with a lesson plan or idea and ask: "What do you think of this idea? I'd like to get your feedback on it. Let me know what you think." I'll also share a worksheet or an activity that went well which is great for relationship-building.
In strengthening that bond, we use our collaboration as a channel for intervention and support. For example, we meet in grade level teams during a planning period once a week. Every week, we look at the subject and the group and plan joint lessons for our struggling English language learners.We try and ask: What do we need to do with this group by way of incorporating support and literacy in the lessons?
Working with Conflicts
In cases where I don't get along with a co-teacher, I first keep a distance but still offer help and support as needed. I keep reminding myself that this person has some good qualities too and has helped me in certain situations. I try not to get too bogged down with personal conflict (i.e. blaming) and details as this is especially draining and interferes with teaching; Rather I focus on the students and our collaboration.
If the problem continues to severely affect our collaboration and work, I'll initiate a private talk. I try to avoid defending myself and/or attacking the person. I try and do this as discretely as possible - usually over the phone, in an email or in a quiet corner of the school.
I actually learned that the best way to deal with anybody who has a conflict with me is to avoid taking myself too seriously. I try and listen as best as I can to what they have to say.
What tips do you use to create a balanced teaching life? Did I leave anything out? Leave a comment. I'll respond to it. I'm curious to read your answers.
Feeling Stuck? 5 New Teacher Tips on Getting Through Negative Situations
January 18, 2010 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
Confronting new classroom situations is part of every teacher's job. The challenge is of course, how to cope with the tension in the most effective way.
I received this email last week from a teacher who feels stuck.
"I teach a combo 7th-8th grade elective and the behavior is getting worse.There are a few students who are disrespectful and they make disrespectful comments in the most subtle ways. I have tried talking with kids, pointing out positives, but they still make their comments, working
with students, and eliciting the help of the stronger performing kids with the lower ones. I even had a kid hold a conference with the AP back in March and he was given a choice of whether to stay or go. He stayed, yet he continues to make comments about how he hates the class. Nothing has seemed to work."
Does this classroom management situation sound similar to something you are experiencing or recently experienced?
A lot of teachers are experiencing burnout at this time of year. Coping with negative situations is part of this burnout. Here are a few things to help you toughen it out so you can end the school year with a smile on your face.
1.Listen to your students.Try these four creative classroom management steps to listening better and see if you can have a better dialogue with your student. This really works!
2. Make up your mind to start fresh next year. Perhaps it's too late in the school year to make any real significant influence with classroom management issues you've been struggling with all along.Sometimes, teachers get a bad mix of students who feed off each other negative energy.Don't blame yourself for issues you felt you didn't succeed with. Make up your mind to start fresh next year.
3. Control your thoughts and feelings.The way we respond to difficult classroom management situations with our thoughts and feelings can determine our reality.Just smile and repeat the following mantra: "I know I can do this... I know I can do this...". Read the Law of Attraction by Esther Hicks for your summer reading list.
4. Neutralize negative classroom management situations. By that I mean, responding from a positive place. Negative students and their comments are not personal. Spend 3 minutes a day over a couple of weeks speaking personally to the main trouble maker(s).Say anything positive you can think of such as, "Nice shoes" or "What's your favorite movie/book?" Comments like these show you are paying attention to the student. You'd be surprised at how it magically creates a relationship and can change the dynamics. Try it!
5. Do something good for yourself. Happier teachers make more relaxed students. Do yoga, write your novel, read a good book, get a massage, work in your garden - do anything that lifts your spirits and puts you in a calmer state of mind. This is not an option but a requirement!
And if you are a writer like me, you'll want to take advantage of Suzanne Lieurance's Morning Nudge so you can plan your precious weekly writing time without feeling stuck.
Remember, you can work it!
Tips on Engaging Students More and Mark Less
January 1, 2010 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Who doesn't want an easier marking load? If you’ve ever taken loads of paperwork home, you know how time consuming and draining it can be. You are constantly speeding up with the curriculum and the textbook to grade as many assignments as possible.
Good teachers need to allow students to make their own choices, grade their own work and learn from their own mistakes. New teachers find this part difficult because they feel they are giving up their authority. But by giving up control, students take over the learning process.
When students are encouraged to grade their own work for example, they soon learn that the teacher’s grade alone does not give the confirmation they are seeking of their own abilities.
Read on for five new teacher tips on how to spend more time teaching wile engaging your students.
1) Distribute answer sheets after students completed an exercise. In order to save paper, have students complete the assignments individually in their notebooks. Have them share their work with a partner or in small groups. As a final step, they also check their answers.
2) Create rubrics using Rubrics.com. Students can suggest categories for assessment, self-check and assess their own work as well as their partner’s. Also, if you will be doing a lot of essay marking, teach and use a correction key and encourage students to correct their own mistakes. You’ll be glad you did.
3) Encourage student teaching and presentations. Students learn best when they are motivated to learn about a subject that interests them. Students can prepare 10-15 minute talks or teach the class about a subject that interests them.
4) Have students create their own tests. Based on the material you taught, students can prepare in advance test questions. You guide students on types of questions and language use and then collect their questions. Choose a number of questions and then students can take a traditional test or talk about their answers in groups. By doing so, you then give an individual and a group grade averaging all the grades together.
5) Do Jigsaw Reading. As students acquire more vocabulary and reading skills, involve students in the reading process using jigsaw reading. Have students choose to answer questions based on a certain reading passage. In expert groups, they go over their answers. Then they teach the contents of their passage back in home groups (different representatives of different texts) so that each member of the group knows the main idea of the other passages. In doing so, they are able to answer the other questions relating to different passages. share their answers in home
Remember these tips as you encourage more learning independence and reduce over time, your marking load.
Try it!
New Teachers: Stick With It!
December 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
Stick With It!
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Suzanne Lieurance from the Working Writer's Coaching Program says about successful writers:
"On good days, they keep going.
On bad days, they stick with it."
That's great advice which can also be applied to new teachers.
Even when you think you aren't making (enough) progress, keep in mind the objectives (the steps) you need to take to reach your goals.
You might need to switch gears and make changes right on the spot.
Maybe you need to give more hands-on material or spend more time practicing new skills before giving students a quiz. This is also a great discipline preventer.
Don't worry if you can't see any success right now at the moment.
Just write your lesson plan (so you're committed to it) but be constantly open to experimenting with new ideas and activities.
Over time, you'll see the success just because you've stuck with it!
To purchase your own ebook of classroom tested tips - "Tips and Tricks for Surviving and Thriving in the Classroom," visit: www.MakeYourTeachingSparkle.com
Answers to Your Questions: How Can You Become a Confident and Successful Teacher
December 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
Building confidence and success takes a lot of practice but there are many ways for new teachers to learn the tricks of the trade. During the first year of teaching, it is possible for any teacher to acquire confidence especially during moments of shortcomings and unsuccessful lessons.
With that, I share with you several questions from new and preservice teachers on how they can become confident and successful. This advice will surly help even teachers from online universities. Here are my responses:
Linda: "How do I know the best classroom management plan for my students?
Dorit: Well, Linda, the best classroom management plan takes into account both effective instruction and rules/procedures that are crystal clear to the students.
Students are really looking to be engaged from the moment they walk into the classroom. And many effective teachers are also effective classroom managers. Basically, you want to help your students become more self-directed in their behavior and learning using three simple systems.
You’ll want to set up expectations for success in the classroom so students always know exactly what to do.
Make sure you set up a system of rules, procedures. Teach and reinforce those rules and procedures. Ideally, you should have three or four rules and a variety of procedures that help your class run smoothly.
And finally, you’ll want to cater to a variety of learning styles and abilities.
Marletta asked: "I get the feeling that many of my students are not listening to me? What can I do to change that?
Dorit: Well, that’s a good question that Marletta is asking. With the classroom management piece, you really have to have your day planned very tightly where learning is at a high level and behavior is at a low level. Students need to know your routine such as expectations, consequences, rewards, procedures and classroom organization and what they can expect from you. When they feel there is uncertainty is where they start to push the limits.
You also have to be ready to address the behavior problem before it becomes worse. I called a parent on the first day of school. Being proactive helps a difficult situation before it becomes worse. By taking action, teachers should communicate right away that misbehavior is going to interfere with the learning.
Here’s another question submitted by Dan. Dan asks “how do I create lesson plans that engage learners more effectively?"
Dorit: Teaching effectively is all about actively engaging learners in the learning process itself. By actively engaging I mean providing learners with a variety of experiences, activities and assessments so that each student can reach his/her potential.
These all be should be student-centered as much as possible taking into account their learning styles, what they are interested in, and of course their abilities. Remember, we are also teaching in a digital age and this means adapting our instruction to fit the technologies of today utilizing the possibilities of the Internet, smartboards, webquests, powerpoints anything with a visual medium that we can combine to stimulate students’ motivation.
And now here's a question on time management strategies from Sarah. "As a new teacher, I am often overwhelmed by all that I need to do to make sure that I'm top of everything and also ensuring students' success? What are some good time management strategies?"
Dorit: For every challenge, there are many possibilities. I am a great fan of checklists. They make my life so much easier and manageable.
Having a working checklist is so important if you're a new teacher trying to establish a positive relationship with your students or a seasoned teacher trying to teach fresh content. A working checklist really helps keep you on track to achieve what you really want in your teaching career.
Teachers make many decisions both in and out of the classroom and a working checklist can help you become less frazzled and more focused on developing meaningful goals that are crucial for developing a successful teaching career.
The best kinds of checklists are those that include weekly and monthly tasks or, short and long terms goals. Keep your weekly checklist focused to no more than 3 weekly tasks. Be flexible too – if you find yourself having a very busy week with grading and/or semester grades, then plan to put aside your goals for the following week without feeling guilty. Your working checklist should have tasks that relate to different areas of classroom management and organization as well as lesson planning and assessment that you are working hard to improve.
Well, that's it for now! If you've got a question that you would like answered, please email: sassondorit@gmail.com
5 New Teacher Tips for Bonding with New Colleagues
August 31, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
It is not practical for any new teacher to work in isolation. New teachers who do not feel nurtured in their school environment, are usually to first to consider the prospect of leaving their teaching positions.
While starting out can be uncomfortable, there are ways to approach teachers that can naturally lead to collaboration which is a necessary and vital ingredient for new teacher survival.
If you are new to your school or have changed grades and don't know your co-teachers very well, consider the following ideas to help you bond with your new colleagues:
1.Quick 5 minute idea share. Approach a teacher with a lesson plan or teaching idea and say: "What do you think of this idea? I'd like to get your feedback on it? Let me know what you think." Why not share a worksheet or an activity that went well? This is great for relationship building. Avoid keeping things to yourself.
2. Volunteer to take an active role in a professional learning/teaching committee. You don't have to spend oodles of volunteer time just enough to stay connected. Are you good at organizing or filing? Perhaps volunteer to organize materials for a staff in-service day. If you aren't sure if any volunteer work is needed, ask around.
3. Start an email chain. This is perhaps the least time consuming activity which can be easily implemented at any time of day. It's the best solution for harried new teachers You can decide on the purpose or theme of the email beforehand. Is it a quick check-in or to disseminate important information? Perhaps you want to just share a few ideas. Again, you can use tactic #1 to help start the conversation along.
4. Connect with teachers online. Create an informative online presence and help teachers network using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Before you befriend a colleague on facebook, send them a private message letting them know that you wish to connect with them professionally and you understand that there are limited time and resources available during a busy school day. Many teachers these days do supplement their teaching efforts online.
5. Create a professional learning community or committee. I realize teachers are busy people but learning is a necessary part of new teacher survival. If you are interested in a teaching methodology or idea, spread the interest with your co-teachers. If this doesn't generate enough interest in the beginning, then start small by sharing ideas or an activity that worked well. (see tactic #1)
Remember, bonding doesn't necessarily mean you owe allegiance to be that teacher's best friend but to connect professionally by building a learning community. Always have something to bring to others and your bonding efforts will gradually pay off!
New Teacher Tips: Be on the “Ball” of Classroom Management!
July 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Teachers are actors and actresses who are always watched by many eyes at a time.
Students watch closely and inspect the ways in which you deal with discipline problems and other classroom situations.
Teachers have to keep in mind that they always need to be "on the ball" no matter how they feel.
In the classroom, every element and emotion is legitimate: anger, joy, irony, humor, seriousness which are appropriate in a given situation. Teachers can even exaggerate their reactions to make them clearer to the students, not forgetting to ignore things which they think are better to ignore at that stage.
In time, students should know exactly which reaction they are likely to cause if they didn't do their homework or make noise in class.
They should also know the consequences for such behavior and what they also need to do to get recognized for their good behavior.
Once they get used to your classroom management ways, you can start working on spontaneity and creativity and "surprise" them from time to time.
Keep the emphasis on managing whole class behavior rather than individual students. Later, you can shift your attention to individual students and start building personal relationships with them.
When you reach this stage, you can safely say that you know your class from inside out.
So continue to be on the "ball" and soon you'll achieve success.
Who says that classroom teaching and management need be only work and no fun?
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!
