5 Tips on Dealing with Difficult Students
February 17, 2010 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
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
Imagine a student finally gets to study a subject s/he loves but is afraid of failure, or gets a grade without explanation. S/he may be afraid of always being wrong or can’t meet the requirements and therefore, won’t show what s/he knows. S/he stops coming to class or when s/he does come, he doesn’t participate and may disturb other students. These of course, 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 perceive the student in a more constructive and positive way.
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.
Dialogue with the Students
The first important step is to dialogue with the student and open the doors of communication. Here are a few ways:
· Apologize/Ask for clarity: “Please help me understand 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…”
Ask for Support
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.
Teach Students the Courage to Change
We are not perfect. As teachers, w need to let go of the past and start each new day with a clean slate. Always separate the students’ behavior from the student and 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.
7 Ways to Begin a Reading/Vocabulary Lesson
November 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
Planning is such an important part of anyone's career. Just like writers need to plan a story and have marketing plans to sell their work, teachers always must have different kinds of attention grabbing activities and especially in the case when a lesson beginning backfires.
The most important part of a lesson occurs during the first five minutes. If the activity engages students right away, you know there will be enough "sparks" to fly for the rest of the lesson and your job will be relatively easy. If the activity however is not challenging, repetitous, ("We've done this before!" Sound familiar?) there will be "lulls" that more often than not, result in discipline problems.
The key of course, is to keep the "sparks flying," but it all really depends on how you can spark up your classroom right away. These tips are just meant as a guide: consider using those that speak to your teaching style and experiment with others later.
1.Aim for open ended activities that generate more student responses. Good types of open-ended activities are brainstorming and prediction which are perfect for mixed ability classes.
2.Start the first stage of vocabulary teaching by having students notice the words. Flashcards are ideal for introducing word families and for pointing out capital and small letters, consonants, and other sound blends.
3. Use a large number of photos or tangible and concrete objects like images, pictures and hand movements, and gestures to pre-teach images. Visual methods are important for supporting meaning and generating interest.
4.Elicit what students know about a topic before presenting them new information. Many teachers rush through the beginning of a lesson. When they reach the middle part of a lesson, students aren’t
engaged and discipline problems may have already taken over.
5.Personalize parts of a lesson. The best time to personalize an activity is during the first five minutes of a lesson. Students are more motivated and engaged that way.
6. Encourage students to think about the possibilities of a text. Do this by having them anticipate and predict the next paragraph or page of a read-aloud or story.
7.Use a K-W-L teaching technique to engage students from the beginning of a reading lesson by activating prior knowledge. The K-W-L technique also helps you keep students interested as students think about what they want to know and what they have learned. K = What do I know about subject x? W = What do I want to know about subject x? L = What did I learn about subject x?
Keeping students engaged for an entire lesson IS possible. This is what makes teachers sparkle and by getting into your students' heads a little, you can help your students succeed.
Make Your Teaching Sparkle. Teach for Success. Make a difference in the classroom.
For more teaching tips, click here to download my new special eBook "Tips and Tricks to Survive and Thrive in the Classroom: Practical activities and tips for teachers made easy"
In this eBook, you'll find tips on various areas of managing a classroom with mixed ability students, differentiation teaching tips, teaching ELLs, and much much more!
6 Tips for Using Blogs in the Classroom
June 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips, Teaching and Learning Styles
written by contributing writer, Caitlin Smith
Whether you teach young kids or those on their way to college, technology has become an ever present force in their lives and yours. Why not bring a little of this into your lessons as well? Many teachers have begun incorporating blogging into classroom projects, giving students a chance to learn how to use the web for practical purposes (rather than just to social network or chat) and share their hard work with people from all over. Here are some tips to help you get started using blogs as part of your assignments.
1. Give students immediate feedback. One of the great benefits of blogging is that you can give students feedback right on the content they create. You can send it any time and they can read it at any time. Take advantage of this, as it may help kids get excited about the process.
2.Avoid singular class blogs unless all students can participate. The point of blogging isn’t just to get kids using the net, it’s to teach them how it works, how to communicate in text and what information is appropriate for the public sphere. Students may be better served by creating their own blogs or by working in small groups where each student takes a turn at the blogging wheel.
3.Assign a specific purpose. Don’t just let your students blog as they please, make sure that blogging in your classroom serves a specific purpose. Whether you want them to record their daily activities or create weekly reports about an in-class science project, make sure the boundaries of a blog are clearly outlined.
4.Use good blogging tools. This is one area where you want to make sure you use the best tools out there for blogging, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the intricacies of technology. The good thing about this is that many of these are free, at least in a basic form and it won’t cost you a thing to set up accounts and learn more about their features.
5.Consider class RSS feeds. This way, students will be saved the work of checking for updates on their classmates or classroom blog. They’ll have an automatic listing of every time something is updated, making it easier to keep up with the project and get involved on a more personal level. If you have a smaller class, you may even want to consider creating a single aggregation blog that can be a central location to direct students.
6.Tailor it to your own needs. Some teachers state never to use blogs as discussion forums while others encourage it heartily. The reality is that things like this are entirely up to you. If you feel it’s more beneficial to your students one way or the other, it’s up to you to decide, regardless of what any other educator thinks. You know your lesson plan and your students better and can make an informed decision.
Most of all, remember that like any new technology, learning how to make the most of it in the classroom may have a bit of a learning curve. The best way to find out what works is to try new things, so be patient with your blogging endeavor.
This post was contributed by Caitlin Smith, who writes about the accredited online universities. She welcomes your feedback at CaitlinSmith1117 at gmail.com
Get Their Attention in 5 Easy Steps: Tips for Teaching Reluctant Readers and ESL Students
June 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips
This article originally appeared in Teacher and Principal Quarterly, Fall 08.)
There are few things more challenging than motivating a student who doesn't want to learn. But as all good teachers know, no such student really exists.
Many of my reluctant ESL students became passive when faced with a reading text. Simplifying the texts and giving them a choice in assignments did not help with motivating them. So here are 5 easy tips you can do to help with that problem.
Tip 1: Teach topics that are motivating. Interest and topic are key. As Richard Day points out in "Selecting a Passage for the Reading Class," relating to student interests has implications for facilitating second-language acquisition. Part of getting students interested in reading is to expand their knowledge on topics they enjoy.
Tip 2: Choose Your Text Carefully. Always look at the texts from the students' perspective. Not all texts are exploitable. To evaluate texts, consider the following questions:
1.Lexical exploitability: Do the texts offer an opportunity to acquire some new vocabulary?
2.Structure exploitability: Can students explore text meanings by how the text is set-up?
3.Thematic exploitability: Does the text have the potential to lead into some aspect of discussion?
Don't limit your students' reading experience. Let them read non-fiction and fiction. Poetry offers an almost musical quality to the written word.
I love when I read a "chapter book" to the children from the Usborne book collection. The first time I do this they often say "You forgot to show the picture!" It is with this statement that the book is put aside as we create the images that are missing; I tell them this book does not have many pictures and I ask them what it is they would like to see. In response, I get a description of the people and places created by the children. It is with their imagination that the story comes to life.
Tip 3: Create step-by-step lessons. Start small by using bits of text such as word clues, titles and subtitles. Important vocabulary used in a pre-reading activity can serve as a lead-in to the topic.Encourage predictions whenever possible.
Tip 4:Identify phonic and phonemic skills. Word and letter recognition is the foundation for future comprehension. Once students can decode the words, introduce those words to students and then only in short passages. This builds up their confidence and gives them a reason to continue reading.
Tip 5: Emphasize authentic and meaningful language communication. Students remember targeted words and chunks of language when they are taught in a meaningful way.
Remember, fluency will not occur on its own. Reluctant readers/ESL students need a variety of exposure to and practice with texts that are motivating if they are to become fluent readers. Meaningful vocabulary and comprehension activities help complement the text so that students become motivated and engaged.
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!
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!
5 Lesson Planning Tips on How to Use Technology Successfully in Your Classroom
March 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Teaching Tips, Teaching and Learning Styles
The signs of technological revolution are everywhere - kids with their cells and ipods; teachers with their laptops, digital presentations, and parents and teachers and kids with their blackberries. The possibilities of course, are endless.....
Since we are teachers working in a digital age, we also need to think a bit more digitally in both the user and learner sense of the word. This can be challenging especially if you are used to working (and thinking) in a certain way.
I love watching this video which was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways and also inspired me to write this article!
In an ideal media based lesson, we use technology to cater to motivation and (media) literacy. And like a regular pen and paper lesson, we still need to think how to engage students while we also monitor their behavior on-task as well as measure their progress and achievement.
While it's impossible to always keep up with all the new technological classroom trends, there are certain lesson planning basics teachers need even before they know what they are going to teach. Here are five suggestions for planning a successful media-based lesson.
Tip 1. Start small. While there are endless possibilities on how to engage students, we also need to feel comfortable with whatever digital technological media we are using.
Stick to the technological type that best suits you and your personality and your students' learning needs. However, If you are obligated by your school to use a Smartboard, accept your destiny peacefully for the time being and learn from the experiences.
Tip 2. Here's an important but tricky tip... LEARN the new technology as often as possible. As you do, get into the heads of your students by critically evaluate the products. Anticipate any problems your students and yourself might encounter and quickly write them down. Ask other teachers how they cope. There's nothing better than making an informed decision.
Tip 3. Plan Your Lesson.
Here are just a few suggestions to help you plan a digitally mediated lesson.
What might be hard for them to understand/cope with/manage? Easy?
How can you pace the material using differentiated instruction techniques?
When might a student go off task?
How do you mediate the technology before, during and after students have worked?
How will they get instructions?
What do you expect students to learn by the end of the lesson(s)?
How will you assess their work?
How many lessons will you use this product?
How much practice time will students have?
Will students work separately, in pairs or in groups? If necessary, use a seating chart to help you neutralize group dynamics.
Tip 4. Get Help and Support. If you plan to start using the new technological product or resource soon, have a mentor or techie expert or coach walk you through. Learn bit by bits (either on your own or with a partner) to avoid stress and being overwhelmed.
Tip 5. Think organized. Every well-planned digital lesson has its flop. No internet connection, slow computers, not enough computers, no tech support. Hot classrooms .. any issue can be a potential problem. Try to minimize the number of these annoying issues, by making sure your lesson is running as smoothly as possible.
1.Reserve the computer room in advance (if needed)
2.Make sure the equipment is in running order.
3.Make sure you have enough computers. Use a seating chart to configure seating arrangements.
4. Make sure you have Plan B and even Plan C. This might be using worksheets, or working strictly from WORD. Have also a support plan for difficult and challenging students and situations.
Don't assume that because kids think digitally, your lesson will be smooth. Kids need to be instructed thoughtfully on exactly what you expect them to know and do. Keep learning the new technologies and plan successfully, and your students will be more engaged.
A New Teacher’s Checklist of Important Rights and Responsibilities
March 13, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Wow - It's been a crazy week trying to keep up with my teaching and writing duties but so many wonderful possibilities have been opening up for me. I’d like to take the opportunity to answer a question on teacher's rights and responsibilities.
Here’s the question (it was submitted by Sene):
What are the most important rights and responsibilities of a teacher and why?
That’s a good question, Sene. And one that many teachers have.
When you ask the teacher's responsibility, the main thing is to look at what does the teacher need to do to manage the class.
My guess is, the teacher should start the year with each class in an organized and controlled manner. And here's where some of the "rights" come in.
1. Ask the students what they expect of you.
2.Ask the students what they expect of themselves.
3. If you feel comfortable, ask the students to set classroom rules with you making sure they understand WHY such a rule is good for them by eliciting ideas from them.
4. Let them know your procedures and consequences.
4. Let them know your goals.
5. Get to know them as soon as possible including their names, learning styles and interests.
6. Be positive and encourage the students to have a voice.
7. Use a bit of humor and open up a bit to them. (share a bit of yourself - it doesn't have to be personal)
8. Let them know YOUR teaching beliefs and what you will stand for and what YOU won't stand for and WHY!
In order to gain their trust and build a positive atmosphere in the classroom, you need to be:
1. Respectful - children learn to be respectful if they get it in return.
2. Friendly (a smile is almost never turned away!) Being friendly doesn't mean being one of the students. Sometimes we can build a good relationship with our students by talking to them OUT of class. This really means a lot to them.
3. Optimistic and Positive - As teachers, we need to work with the positive. If we set rules with them, make them positive. For example: Be on time (NOT - DON'T be late) Give praise for the good things they do even if they are minor. SEE the good in the most challenging students. Catch them when they are GOOD! Recognize effort, not correctness. If a child is giving us his/her best, we should be happy!
4. Knowledgeable and Purposeful. Our students expect us to KNOW our material. So for new teachers, this does mean to overplan to some extent. (Students will know otherwise)
Letting our students know our purpose or reason for teaching some things is important to them. For example, I need to tell them WHY I am teaching reading strategies or past simple, etc.
5. Organized - A way to show students how organized we are (even if we aren't always!) is to write at the beginning of class the lesson's objectives or what we plan to teach. (an agenda). This shows students that we have a plan. This is VERY important and keeps both teacher and students ON TASK. Then at the end of the lesson, together the students and teacher can check together if they covered the plan and if not, then discuss why.
6. Clear - We almost must be clear in terms of what we expect from them. IF we really want to know if they understood us, we need to ask. Getting feedback either by a show of hands or a more formal written page with feedback questions, will help us know if the students are with us or not.
7. Calm and humorous. Sometimes things go wrong and there might be students yelling or some making trouble. This is where we need to keep our cool. Yelling is never a good response. Yelling creates yelling. Stay as calm as possible and try to diffuse the tension even if it means leaving the room for a minute with a student to sort things out OUTSIDE. And don't forget humor. Making a joke or doing something funny is a great way to draw the students' attention and create a nicer classroom atmosphere.
Make up your mind to foster positive classroom behavior.
Once you make that commitment, you’ll be motivated to use your rights and responsibilities to create a classroom culture of success. And you won’t accept that type of negative behavior that doesn't help students do their best. You’ll start “attracting” positive attitudes that you know will help you reach your potential and truly create a positive classroom atmosphere that you deserve.
Happy Teaching!
