What Worked Successfully

Today I substituted in a school I had not been to in a very long time. It's still a great place to teach. But it was a tough class. They were fifth graders. Fifth graders have wonderful and varied personalities. These students were grumpy, chatty, active, attention seeking, snide, and selfish. The saddest was the child hiding like she was in preschool.
        But, the positive part was getting them to cooperate lining up for gym and lunch. I explained what I wanted them to do by steps. I told them I would send them back to their seats if they were noisy or pushy in line. Then I had a student give the directions to the class again in her words. Unfortunately I had to follow through in sending students back to their seats and returning the line back to the classroom a couple of times and they were a little late for gym.
        By the end of the day when I had room to move the seating, I had the opportunity to sit with students in different groups. It was great to have time to talk with them and for us to get to know each other. I hope I am back soon.

What Day is It? Calendar Activities

What Day Is It? Teaching with a Calendar

Classes for young children provide needed routine while teaching children about their immediate world. There are many activities that make using a calendar at home fun and educational. Whether for homeschooling or extending learning from the school day a calendar is an exciting tool for many interest topics.

There are at least five exercises that parents can easily incorporate into the family’s daily routine. The exercises open the door for discussions about science, community, math, reading and writing topics.

·         Reading and writing. Typical daily exercises begin with talking about or copying a morning message. The morning message goes something like “Today is ______ (day of the week), _______ (month), ______ (date), and ______ (year). Today we are going to ___________________ (activity).” For example: “Today is Wednesday, October 8, 2014. We are going to walk to the firehouse.” If your child is a preschooler she may learn what letters look like, how the letters take up space on a page, how letters form words and words make sentences. Many teachers are partial to correct modeling. But be careful to keep it fun. Don’t pressure your child to be perfect. Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and period stops at the end can wait until the end of Kindergarten of first grade.

·         Numbers and number sense. Each day has a number. There are seven days in a week and twelve months in a year. Each day the child can learn a different number. She can also learn the concepts of yesterday and tomorrow. She can count how many days have passed and how many days left until a special event such as a birthday or holiday.

·         Science and exploration. Besides discussion about the year, seasons, months, weeks and days, a calendar activity can stimulate discussion about weather, change, health, the outdoors, weather events, natural disasters, the sky, the sun, clouds, rain, snow, hibernation, migration, flowers, food, nutrition, insects and other bugs, observing changes and making charts to record them like a scientist, asking questions and developing experiments like a scientist.

·         People, places and things in the world around me. Using a calendar activity can stimulate discussion about birthdays, holidays, celebrations, family, community, city, state and country, jobs, important people, games, rules, feelings, belonging and citizenship.

·         Sports and arts.

This is a general list of topics and activities. Future posts will show how to build on themes suggested by the calendar. Is there anything you have a desire to see in more detail? 

Just Missed Kindergarten - Mommy I Really Wanted to Go

        Your child or your sister’s child misses the cut-off date for entering Kindergarten. This can mean more time with her parents as she expresses her disappointment in her five year old ways. But wait! It can also mean more time for her body and brain to mature and get ready for the demands of school. There is no hurry.
        But she wants to go to school just like her friends. She feels left out and your sister has asked you to provide her with Kindergarten curriculum. You are happy to oblige, however you caution her to keep it fun. You do not want your niece to dislike school before she even gets started. Here is the first of a series of posts to help your five year old cope with the extra time and to help her be ready to approach school with readiness and excitement to learn.
        There are six skills and competencies your five year old needs to know and be able to do. She needs to be able to get along socially with her peers, follow directions, know how numbers make sense of our daily lives, that stories are fun and informative ways to learn about the world, that she can tell and retell stories in a variety of mediums. And she needs to ask questions and investigate her world to discover the answers.
        The seasonal, monthly and weekly themes assist her in acquiring the necessary skills and competencies for success in school and life.
       Keep coming back for more details and fun examples of these tips that will make spending the extra time something you’ll be glad you had.

What is Good Teaching - from http://www.articlesbase.com/ezine/2845299

What is Good Teaching ?

Author: Bhushan Manchanda

All students must have  had hundreds of teachers in their lifetimes. A very few of these teachers they would remember as being exceptionally good. What are the qualities that combine to create an excellent, memorable teacher? Why do some teachers inspire students to work three times harder than they normally would, while others inspire students to avoid their class? Why do students learn more from some teachers than others?

 Here I have  focused on the four essential qualities that distinguish exceptional teachers:

• Knowledge,
• Communication skills,
• Interest, and
• Respect for students.

 

An Experiment

Here's an experiment I had done in one of my  earlier assignments. The results may surprise you. Go into one of the classes you are teaching and have your students take out a sheet of paper. Ask them to list for you the qualities they feel are important in a good teacher. Ask them to identify the qualities they admire in the best teachers they have had. Then give the students enough time to think about it and write something down. Five minutes is good, but ten might be better. Let them answer the questions anonymously if they desire.

What you will get if you combine all of the responses is a fascinating collage of ideas. I have found that most of the responses fall into two specific categories:

1) a set of "core qualities" that students recognize in good teachers, and

 2) a set of "specific skills" that are developed by good teachers.

"Core qualities" are the essential characteristics needed to be a good teacher. I would like to concentrate on these core qualities in this article as under.

1. Knowledge

 Students have consistently and clearly targeted as the number one quality of a good teacher exactly what you would expect: knowledge of the subject. You must be an expert in your field-both theoretical and practical –preferably with an industry interface and experience if you are going to be a good teacher in a Management college or Business School. This is a prerequisite.

2. Communication

The second core quality that good teachers possess is the ability to communicate their knowledge and expertise to their students. You may be the greatest expert ever in your field, but what would happen if you lectured in  a style and language the students are not able to comprehend clearly? How much would your students learn?

It is a common misconception at the College level that knowledge of a subject is all that's required to be a good teacher; that the students should be willing and able to extract the meat from what you say- regardless of how it is delivered (even if it is delivered in a incomprehending language or different style). This might be true at the post graduate level, but elsewhere it is definitely untrue. It is especially untrue at the undergraduate level. The teacher's job is to take advanced knowledge and make it accessible to the students. A good teacher allows students to understand the material, and to understand what it means (because it is one thing to understand how nuclear bombs work, but quite another to understand what nuclear bombs mean).

A good teacher can take a subject and help make it crystal clear to the students. A bad teacher can take that same material and make it impenetrable. Or a bad teacher can devote so little time and effort to preparation that the material presented is intrinsically confusing and disorganized. A good teacher is willing to expend the effort needed to find innovative and creative ways to make complicated ideas understandable to their students, and to fit new ideas into the context available to the student. A good teacher can explain complicated material in a way that students can understand and use.

There is a saying, "Give me a fish and I eat for a day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime." This is the philosophy of a good teacher. Give your students an answer and they can solve one problem, but show students the techniques needed to find the answer for themselves and they can become self-sufficient in the field. Students need to be shown how to apply the new techniques you teach to problem solving.

 

3. Interest

A good teacher starts with a firm knowledge of the subject, and builds on that with a clarity and understanding designed to help students master the material. The best teachers then go one step further. Because good teachers are interested in the material being taught, they make the class interesting and relevant to the students. Knowledge is worthless unless it is delivered to the students in a form they can understand. But the effort expended making the material understandable is wasted if the students are disinterested  when it is delivered, or if the students can see no point in learning the material.

Good teachers recognise this, and work hard to make their material relevant. They show students how the material will apply to their lives and their careers. Bad teachers make material "relevant" by threatening students with failure on a test. Good teachers go far beyond this: they make students want to learn the material by making it interesting.

This is one of the things that makes industry and business examples  so important and vital to learning in a business school or college.Industry interface and practical real life examples make the ideas discussed in class exciting and important to the teacher, as well as to the students. If the teacher isn't interested in what's being taught, then why should the students be?

 

4. Respect

Good teachers always possess these three core qualities: knowledge, the ability to convey to students an understanding of that knowledge, and the ability to make the material interesting and relevant to students. Complementing these three is a fourth: quality: good teachers have a deep-seated concern and respect for the students in the classroom. Why else would a teacher put in the time and effort needed to create a high quality class?

The creation of a good class requires an immense amount of work. You don't simply come up with clear explanations,industry cases and examples and experiments for the class off the top of your head. You don't create fair, consistent, high quality tests,questionaires and homework assignments (read "learning experiences") five minutes before you hand them out. You don't figure out ways to integrate new materials and research into a class in an understandable way on your way to your college or institute  in the morning. You work at this sort of quality all the time. You spend time with your students so you can learn about holes in their understanding. You read and write and create to build an exciting and interesting class every day. The only thing that would drive you to do that is a concern and respect for the students in your classroom.

 

Conclusion

When you strive and work to become a good teacher and to create a good class, the four core qualities are essential:knowledge,the skills to convey that knowledge,the ability to make the material you are teaching interesting and relevant,and a deep-seated respect for the students.Without these four core qualities,good teaching will just not exist and take place.

 

 

Article Source: http://bhushanmanchanda.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/what-is-good-teaching-2845299.html

About the Author

MA,DMM,MBA (Faculty of Management Studies,University of Delhi,India), Management Education Consultant. Over 30 years Industry,Education and Training experience

Unique and Special

I have often encountered the following interview questions:

·               What makes you the best person for the job?

·               Why should I hire you?

I think both of the above questions imply that the interviewee needs to be competitively more educated, more experienced, and more able than a colleague. To me my reason for applying for a job is to work in a collegial atmosphere with equals and for equals. So I think it is better to ask what makes me unique and special.

My answer has to do with the way I view the people I serve and serve with. Whether you call them customers of guests, patients or clients, or consumers of a service, they are human beings. When trying to sell a good or service to a potential customer, I believe it is absolutely necessary to know in your heart that those who employ you to perform a service or create a product deserve the best you have to give.

As a teacher that means

·                  I come to work prepared and organized

·                  My students are not animals corralled and made to wait

·                  Nor are they soldiers marching in step and following orders

·                  Students are all different as their fingerprints

·                  Lessons have a plan and flow

·                  Activities enhance and deepen the lesson and have authentic application

·                  Homework gives meaningful practice

·                  I am always improving myself and my practice

As a writer that means

·               My readers deserve reading that is easy to follow

·               My readers need a reason to read

·               They do not all like the same thing presented in the same way

·               They deserve nonfiction that is factual

·               They deserve fiction and nonfiction that entertains

·               They deserve stories that honor their intelligence

·               They deserve information they can use

·               They deserve material that makes them think

·               I am always working to improve my skills

Since I am also a student, reader, and purchaser of goods and services I have expectations that if not fulfilled will cause me to look elsewhere. I expect of myself no less than I expect of others.

·                     I do not want a push to buy or buy into anything that is not well organized

o        I expect treatment like I am a valued human being

o        I expect to understand and be understood

o        I expect high quality

o        I deserve goods and services that will enhance my life

o        I deserve material that is factual

o        I deserve goods and services that stimulate my curiosity and creativity

o        Consider my financial, physical, spiritual and intellectual well being

My view of the students and customers is why you should contract with me. I am just as intelligent, knowledgeable as all the others. But I will give you the best service based on the way I treat and value my clients, students and readers the same as I deserve to be treated and valued.

Recognize When to Give Yourself a Break

I was typing away about something like finding my niche, myself, my identity. I was on a roll. Before I knew it the earth was on a roll. The earthquake only lasted a minute. But, there were news stories and Facebook posts for the next hour. Then my grandchild rocked my world. My daughter found out the sex of the baby today. I just had to make phone calls and send text messages again.

Today my writing time was interrupted by an unforeseen interruption and then a happy one. I think I need to give myself a mental break for this one. My heart and mind are still racing. I did read another writing blog and am more focused than I was. However, I think today my writing is a lost cause. The niche article was good. It will appear later this week.

Deadline Anxiety

This afternoon I saw a strategy presented for parents to help their children complete dreaded homework. I know and use this strategy when I teach with good results. Here it is: to get a child to complete overwhelming and seemingly difficult homework, break it into chunks. Completing small chunks at a time makes the child feel a sense of accomplishment and increased self-esteem as smaller tasks are successfully finished.
The same strategy is supposed to work for getting long term projects handed in by the due date. However, there are people who are just not motivated until the stress that occurs as the deadline approaches makes them difficult to live with. Some children and even adults need that stress before getting motivated like a junkie needs drugs. I understand that more now. But what's a teacher of parent to do about it?

Various Voices in Development

This blog will be about writing and using language to communicate. We all say and do things that others interpret. Others interpret our communication through filters. Filters of values, judgments and goals determine how well others hear what we say. How do we get our voices heard? Whining is certainly audible and annoying enough to get a response. Often someone will cringe and cover his ears, but not listen. Supposedly, talking quietly will get someone to listen more attentively. Maybe they'll listen for a minute, but not for long when there are other distractions. Yelling might make someone do what you say out of fear, but the impact will be lost over time or others will avoid you. There are many reasons people tune each other out. So what works to get others to listen?   We have to break through the filters, find common ground and respect each other. No one judges a baby. The goal is simple; to help the baby thrive. As the baby gets older, the goals are not so simple. The whining starts. We tune it out. Other things compete for out attention. And their yelling becomes embarrassing. Communication gets out of control. Communication is a back and forth exchange and relies on mutual understanding and listening. We must learn where the other person stands.