6 Strategies for Handling ADHD Meltdowns at Home and in the Classroom

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Most parents drop off their child at school with the hope that they are being left in a safe place to learn, and trust that educators will nurture their child's ability to learn. It's unsettling that a video surfaced showing an 8-year-old boy third grader with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder being handcuffed by a police officer, has sparked a much needed conversation about how children with ADHD / ADD behaviors are handled in classrooms.

The incident started when the 8 year old child experienced problems in the classroom that were related to his diagnoses for ADHD and PTSD. The problems experienced in the classroom could have possibly included behaviors such as the boy showing distress by acting out aggressively, which resulted in him being taken to the vice-principal's office where the situation escalated with the boy's arms being handcuffed. The police officer told the boy: "You do not get to swing at me like that … Now sit down in the chair like I've asked you to." As the boy's arms were shackled in handcuffs in what would become 15 minutes of restraint, he cried out: "My arm! Oh God. Ow, that hurts," Both this incident and a separate incident involving a nine-year-old girl in the same school district, is the subject of a federal lawsuit issued on Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Law Center.

A child acting out in school or in public can leave a parent or educator feeling powerless, frustrated, and unsure of what to do next. An ADHD child in the middle of a meltdown may be in tears and screaming with their arms flailing. In that moment it is easy for parents and care givers to feel like failures with the belief that we SHOULD be able to control a child's behavior. Do not fall into the SHOULD trap and recognize that children with ADHD can act out impulsively and can not control their behavior. A child having a meltdown does not reflect a parent's ability to parent or a teacher's ability to teach. It simply reflects the true nature of ADHD, which requires patience, understanding, and above all else … compassion. While this incident clearly demonstrates how NOT to handle a child's ADHD / ADD behavior, the question people may be asking themselves is "How do you handle difficult behavior or a meltdown?"

If you are the parent or care giver of a child with ADHD or PTSD, or an educator then knowing how to manage meltdowns can make a big difference for both the child and yourself in keeping calm. Realize that a person can only be upset or have a meltdown for so long before they exhaust themselves from crying or screaming, which requires the patience of a parent or educator to keep themselves calm through a meltdown. Here are 6 strategies for dealing with a meltdown:

Strategy 1: Know what soothes them

Before going out to a store or dropping them off at school, find out if there is anything that helps soothe or calm down your child if they get upset by asking them. If they have a meltdown, then knowing this can be a part of a plan to handle it. Their identifying what helps calm down is also their indicating what they are responsive to and can be most effective in you enforcing it. As a parent communicate and share this with their teacher or care provider. A child may identify an object or inform you about what is triggering their outbursts.

Strategy 2: Acknowledge the feeling and encourage communication

Let your child know that you understand what they are feeling. Using a calm voice, communicate and repeat, "I know you're feeling _____" or "I know you're upset because __________." If the child is calm enough to answer, then encourage them to talk about it. This gives them an opportunity for them to communicate and express what they're feeling without it escalating into a fit. It can also give you an idea of ​​how severe the problem is without having to remove them from the store or classroom. Avoid repeating what you say if the child is too unresponsive or upset to respond. Once they are calm, teach ways to handle situations that may lead them to having a meltdown.

Strategy 3: Set limits

Communicate to them that even though they're upset, they need to calm down, so you can continue shopping or teaching the class, and get on with what needs to be done in the day. Communicate that they have a period of time to calm down before needing to continue. If they can not calm down in five or ten minutes, then proceed with the next step.

Strategy 4: Give them time and space to have a melt-down.

A child having a tantrum or a meltdown can only go for so long before they exhaust themselves from crying or screaming. It is the time it takes for them to get it all out that can wear out a parent on the go or teacher trying to teach a classroom full of children. If you're at home during a meltdown, then inform your child that they need a time out in their room to calm down, which is not a punishment, but rather setting a boundary for them being upset and allowing them to express it. If needed then allow them to squeeze a ball, rip up paper, or punch a pillow or any other soft object that will not break. If at school, see if there is a quiet room in the school for the child to go if they're being too disruptive in class. If you're out in public or on a field trip then escort the child back to the car or school bus to wait until they can calm down and talk about what their meltdown was about.

Strategy 5: Teach them how to handle the emotion

Encourage your child to use a calming strategy by walking them through it. One example is asking them to take 3 deep breathes as if they were blowing air into a balloon. Deep breathing can help calm children who are upset. Tip: Keep a balloon or two around and ask them to blow all of their anger and frustration into the balloon. You can make it a game by saying, "Let's see how fast you can calm yourself down. Once enough air is blown into the balloon, release the air and make light of the noise that the air makes. You can also use blowing bubbles as a way of teaching deep breathing. While teaching calming strategies separate the behavior from who the child is as a person, and let them know that you care about them: "While I do not like you screaming at me and hitting me, I love you. "Do not forget to acknowledge and positively reinforce when they are able to calm themselves down on their own.

Strategy 6: Do not do it alone , ask for help!

If you are a teacher or care provider, then work as a team with parents, a teacher's aide, and principal for how to handle melt-downs. If your child often has meltdowns that are not responsive to any strategies or interventions, then get outside assistance. Find a therapist or ADHD professional to identify the challenges of melt down behaviors, and find effective approaches to manage ADHD behaviors.

As a result of the incident of a child with ADHD and PTSD being handcuffed, the board of education of the school where this incident occurred introduced new rules that restrict the use of handcuffs only to situations where there is behavior that poses an imminent danger of physical harm to self or others for students. Incidents like this are a wake-up call for parents and educators to communicate with one another about the needs of children with ADHD and impulsive or challenging behaviors. Children look to adults for safety and acceptance. As a parent, caregiver, or educator you are an important person in the life of a child. Having patience, understanding, and compassion are not only things needed in dealing with a melt-down, but are also things children need to learn as they grow.

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Source by Joshua J Soto

How to Increase Reading Comprehension Using the SCRIP Comprehension Strategies

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Readers fail to understand text because they lack cueing strategies to prompt effective interaction with what the text says. Reading research is clear that readers who internally monitor their own reading with self-questioning strategies understand and retain textual information far better than readers who simply passively read text. These cueing strategies to increase reading comprehension are more efficiently "taught," rather than just "caught."

The five SCRIP reading comprehension strategies teach readers how to independently interact with and understand both narrative and expository text to improve reading comprehension. The SCRIP acronym stands for Summarize, Connect, Re-think, Interpret, and Predict.

Take the time to explicitly teach and model the five strategies. Emphasize one strategy at a time on a given text. Use both narrative and expository texts to demonstrate how the SCRIP Comprehension Strategies can be applied to any reading. Have students practice verbalizing and writing down the SCRIP strategy responses. Post a SCRIP chart or make SCRIP bookmarks for student reference.

Summarize means to put together the main ideas and important details of a reading into a short-version of what the author has said. A summary can be of an entire reading, but it is more useful to summarize more than once at key transition points in the author's train of thought. It frequently requires the reader to skim that part of the reading once more.

Connect means to notice the relationship between one part of the text with another part of the text. The parts may compare (be similar) or contrast (be different). The parts may be a sequence (an order) of events or ideas. The parts may respond to other parts of the text, such as to provide reasons for or effects of what came before in the reading. Next, Connect also means to examine the relationship between one part of the text with something outside of the text. It could be something from another book, movie, television show, or historical event. Finally, Connect also means to see the relationship between one part of the text with your own personal experience. You may have had a similar experience in your own life to that described in the text.

Re-think means to re-read the text when you are confused or have lost the author's train of thought. Reviewing what has just been read will improve understanding. You may even understand what the author has said in a different way than how you understood that section the first time reading it.

Interpret means to focus on what the author means. Authors may directly say what they mean right in the lines of the text. They also may suggest what they mean with hints to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. These hints can be found in the tone (feeling / attitude) of the writing, the word choice, or in other parts of the writing that may be more directly stated.

Predict means to make an educated guess about what will happen or be said next in the text. A good prediction uses the clues presented in the reading to make a logical guess that makes sense. Good readers check their predictions with what actually happens or is said next.

Using the SCRIP reading comprehension strategies will make a difference in the reading abilities of your students.

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Source by Mark Pennington

What is Your EFL / ESL English Teaching Philosophy?

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The Interview

The interview seemed to be going along okay. Then the Director asked, "So what is your philosophy of teaching English?"

"My philosophy of teaching?" The TEFL interviewee twisted in her seat, tugging at the collar of a blouse that was suddenly too tight. She felt water running down her back. A certain dampness coated her palms.

"Yes. Do you have a philosophy of teaching? "The director repeated. The interview had taken a distinctive downturn. Top positions paying top dollars require top professionals.

"Well, I'm not really sure what you mean." The teacher responded. "I can tell you what I do in my classes, what materials I use and how I interact with the students. Is that what you mean? "

No, that's NOT what the Language Institute Director meant. The interview ended. So did the teacher's prospects at that high-level institution.

Philosophy of Education

A teacher's philosophy of education is now used as a major marketing strategy by savvy teachers and has become an essential component of a teacher's CV and portfolio. It has evolved to become part of the teacher's personal profile, which outlines all of his essential skill sets and unique qualities, and highlights the teacher's specialties. (D. Sofsian, 2006) Reference these web sites for further information:

• Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio

http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/iste2k.html

• My "Online Portfolio Adventure"

http://electronicportfolios.org/myportfolio/versions.html

• How To Create an Electronic Portfolio

[Http://www.essdack.org/port/how.html]

Damian Sofsian author Expert in his following article, "Teacher Join Education Philosophies", talks about five types of teaching Philosophies: ( Http://ezinearticles.com/?Teacher-Education-Philosophies&id=227410 )

• Liberal – which aims at developing intellectual powers

• Behavioral – these ideologies focus on the survival skills of a human being and the role of education in teaching them

• Progressive – motivates cultural development of an individual in order to bring about societal change

• Humanistic – trends look at the overall development of the personality and characteristics of an individual

• Radical – these philosophers are interested in beneficial changes that should happen in a society from time to time, and the role of education in bringing about political, social and economical changes

Teacher education philosophy is now a major marketing strategy used by EFL and TEFL teachers and has become an essential component of a language teacher resume and personal profile. (D. Sofsian, 2006)

Education Philosophy References

Before embarking on developing your own philosophy of education, reference these sites for more in-depth information and samples of Educational Philosophy statements.

• Samples of Philosophy of Education

http://www.wilderdom.com/philosophy/SampleEducationPhilosophies.html

• Materials on the Philosophy of Education

[Http://commhum.mccneb.edu/PHILOS/phileduc.htm]

• Philosophy of Education links

http://dmoz.org/Society/Philosophy/Philosophy_of_Education/

Your Philosophy of Education

What is your philosophy of education? If you "do not have one" now would be a good time to more thoroughly investigate aspects of one. Add your philosophy to all your teaching areas. Let it pervade what you do and how you approach your craft from every angle from preparation to class activities, problem-solving, discipline and assessment. Your philosophy helps set you apart from those who might just show up, do the minimum and collect their paychecks. In these days of increasing professionalism, increased requisites for teaching staff and higher expectations on the part of Educational Administrators, TEFL teachers, regardless of current status, simply can not afford to be lax.

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Source by Larry M. Lynch

Reading Strategies Good Readers Use

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A few years ago, educational researchers David Pearson and Nell Duke asked the question, "What kind of thinking happens when proficient readers read?" This question led to ground breaking research results that have changed the way teachers teach children to read.

They discovered seven key strategies that good readers use during the reading process. Innovative teachers teach the strategies directly using metacognitive thinking (thinking out loud about your thinking) by modeling their own thinking out loud during the reading process. Students apply the new strategies by practicing their own thinking orally and in writing. Books like Mosaic of Thought by Zimmerman and Keene, Strategies that Work by Harvey and Goudvis, and Reading with Meaning by Miller explore these ideas in great depth and apply best teaching practices to teaching reading strategies.

Strategy One: Making Connections

Readers bring their own experiences and background knowledge to the text. They make personal connections, they connect one text with another, and make connections with the world. These connections enrich the text and helps the reader to understand the text at a higher level of meaning. Teachers teach these connections directly: text to self connections, text to text connections, and text to world connections.

Strategy Two: Visualizing or Envisioning

Readers see pictures in their minds when they read. The best part of reading is watching the "movie in your head." Good readers experience seeing strong visual images. Children can be taught to visualize as they read. Often poor readers do not "see" when they read. We live in a visual world, yet it's the visuals that many readers lack when they read.

Strategy Three: Questioning

Readers are constantly questioning, predicting, confirming their thinking, and adjusting their thinking. Good readers have a purpose for continuing to read. The purpose lies within their ability to question and predict throughout the reading of the text. The adjustments made helps readers to understand the text at a deeper level. Their basic and deeper comprehension soars when their minds are constantly making meaning through questioning.

Strategy Four: Inferring

Good readers read between the lines. The answers are not always black and white, and good readers are able to infer meaning based on background knowledge and text clues. When a reader is inferring they are thinking, predicting, adjusting, and confirming. This leads to deeper understanding of the text.

Strategy Five: Determining Importance

Good readers understand the main ideas of a text and can determine what is important. Readers are answering questions, determining key points, and stretching their thinking as they connect the important ideas with their own knowledge.

Strategy Six: Synthesizing

Good readers are able to synthesize their reading and produce their own ideas or products from their knowledge. Synthesizing is a higher order thinking skill that requires you to reach beyond basic knowledge and create new thinking.

Strategy Seven: Fix-Up Strategies

Good readers know how to tackle difficult text. If they run across a word they do not know they chunk the word and use context clues to determine the meaning. If the just finished a paragraph and do not have a clue as to what they just read, they reread the paragraph and focus on thinking about its' meaning. They identify what they do not understand and read back or ahead to try and clarify meaning. They look at pictures or other text features (like graphs or sidebars) to help them understand the concepts or ideas. Fix-up strategies can be directly taught to help students break down a piece of text and find its' meaning.

These strategies are often taught separately, but they must be integrated and automated in the reader's mind. Once students are aware of these strategies and learn to apply them during their own reading process they begin to become an automatic part of their thinking. The strategies help readers to understand text and gain meaning by applying their own background knowledge or schema, as well as understanding the author's message.

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Source by Lisa Frase

Regain Control of Your Class: Top Classroom Management Strategies

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Are you worried about the unruly and undisciplined class? Every other day things are going out your control and you are clueless how to deliver effective lessons? As a teacher, classroom or training organizer, often you might find that things do not go smoothly as planned.

Do not go in a panic mode when your classes are going out of control and heads are not listening to you. These effective classroom management strategies would help you to regain control and deliver proper learning system:

Reconsider the Classroom Seating Arrangement

If you think seating arrangements have no role in proper class management, well think again. Social dynamics is a significant factor for rowdy behavior. Rethinking about the seating chart can bring in discipline in your class. Disruptive students should not be allowed to sit next to other, and seating arrangements to separate them can alleviate the indiscipline to a good extent. You will find easier to deliver lessons when you neutralize the social dynamics.

Stop and Think About the Lesson Plan

Good faculty, well researched course structure, and a good environment, and still your class not yielding the desired results? May be your lesson plan is not updated, and it's time to stop and think for a better execution. Various factors like lack of interest, monotonous teaching method, bad environment, too much pressure, and more, can be detrimental for proper class management. A proper plan, more observation, and listening to teacher intuition can help you to restore pace in the learning process.

Discipline Is Must

No class can be successful without the required discipline. Classroom management strategies and teaching approach should be able to motivate the students. Interesting course material plays a big role in effective learning. In the case of chaos, classroom rules and procedures should be taught strictly. Give your students small responsibilities that would lead them to behave in a matured way. Also, non-verbal communications such as eye contact is quite effective in regaining class control and make your students attentive.

Deep down inside, students have a desire to learn and succeed, and proper classroom training is integral to his overall development. Proper classroom management strategies help to devise a proper outline to improve control and enhance class ROI. These days' smart Class Management tools automate and streamline tasks like Online Registration, Calendaring, and Payment Management function, so that you can focus on class content and delivery.

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Source by Jonathon Reynolds

A Young Teacher's Guide To Using Guest Speakers

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Guest speakers can create greater interest and knowledge in a particular topic. The guest may give exactly the same information as you but the novelty of having a different person in the room often leads to a greater retention of ideas and information. Guest speakers are particularly useful in high school subjects where the teacher wants to link the subject to its real life applications.

I have used many guest speakers successfully during my career. What follows in this article is the 'who, when, why and the how' of using guest speakers.

How do you choose who to invite to speak to your class?

They should be:

  • Persons with special expertise or experience in the area you are teaching;
  • University lecturers, parents, education officers from outside organisations, people from industry and so on;
  • Other teachers.

Always try to pick people you have heard speak and speak well or someone recommended by a person whose judgment you trust.

When is the time to use a guest speaker?

These times could be:

  • To introduce a new concept or idea. This might occur following a syllabus revision.
  • As a talk during an excursion;
  • As part of a guided tour;
  • As an extension to a topic;
  • As a resource for an alternative assessment task or a real life investigation;
  • As an introduction to a topic where you need support.

Why would you use a guest speaker?

These are the reasons:

  • A different voice / personality adds interest to the topic.
  • Their love and enthusiasm for what they do can / will enthuse your students.
  • They have the latest data available.
  • They have real life stories to tell.
  • They have a real life perspective.
  • They will use the correct language / terminology of their subject.
  • They will increase your own personal knowledge of the subject.
  • They can review any assessment task for authenticity or help create one appropriate to the topic.
  • They can be a source of resources both physical, hard copy and online that

could be useful in the future.

  • They could be a source of teaching ideas / strategies or teaching aids.

How do you go about organising the guest speaker?

Below is a list of all the items you need to consider. They are not in order of importance.

  • Try to make the 'talk'a multi-class affair to spread the benefit.
  • Instruct students on how to behave for their guest so that they can be invited back again if their talk is well received and of real benefit.
  • Organise some students to ask some prepared questions as well as encouraging the class to ask ones during or after the talk.
  • Invite other teachers in your area to come as well.
  • You may need to ask questions along the way to keep the speaker on track or to guide them to gain the greatest benefit for your students.
  • Set a time limit for the actual talk so that there is time for questions. Tell your guest you will give him / her a cue when the time is almost up.
  • Organise a vote of thanks from a student as well as a school certificate of appreciation and / or a small gift (usually school memorabilia).
  • Arrange some refreshment prior to or after the talk (perhaps with the teachers involved or even your principal. Many principals like to be included in these occasions.)
  • Photocopy beforehand any documents the speaker wants to give the audience.
  • Organise an overhead projector, video / CD / DVD player as requested. Do not forget chalk, white board pens, eraser pointer and so on.
  • Write a letter to confirm your telephone arrangement and / or any late changes. Include a map showing how to get to your school plus a map of the school showing where you will meet him / her. Indicate the building and room you will use. You might give them an estimated time to travel to your school as well as where to park. Include a summary of the work unit you are doing to help concentrate the talk on the topic you require. An assessment task might help also.
  • Ring your guest the day before to confirm all arrangements and ask if there is anything more you can do.
  • Write a thank you letter. Include some positive feedback. You might also discuss how it went immediately after the talk to get some feedback from your speaker on how they felt and to give some advice to them from your observation of the proceedings.
  • Pass on any data to other staff who teach this unit for their edification.

Please note: You normally will need to seek permission for outsiders to come to your school. Each school will have its own protocols for this. Make sure you follow them to the letter.

Always do a review of the guest speaker 's presentation.

Here is what I would do:

  1. I would have an evaluation sheet, a simple one for students and a more elaborate one for teachers.
  2. I would consider suggestions for improvements that come from these evaluations.
  3. I would decide if the exercise is worthwhile.
  4. I would decide if we need to give the speaker more guidance to make a future talk better fit what we want?
  5. Then I would ask myself these three questions. "Was our speaker a good communicator? With extra guidance will they be better? Would I use this speaker again?"
  6. I would give the guest a copy of the positives evaluation comments.
  7. Finally, I would decide how we would change our planning for next time to create a better result.

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Source by Richard D Boyce

Teaching – Seven Uniquenesses of the Teaching Profession

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No One Can Do What You Do?

Who can do what you do? The reason a shortage exists in the field of teaching is simply because few can do what you do. The teaching profession is profoundly unique. In some areas of the country, a shortage is impacted by economics; other places are effected by geography and weather. For the most part, metropolitan cities have fewer issues in recruiting teachers than smaller, less populous locations. Nonetheless, the field of teaching is unique and shortages prove that few have the calling and desire to do what more than 3.1 million public and private educators are already doing. Let's look at some of the reasons teaching is unique and why shortages are common across the country, specifically in specialized subject areas such as science, math, and special education.

There are seven ways in which teachers / educators are unique professionals:

First, we've already established the fact that teachers embrace the field of education as a calling not as a job. Let's face it, teaching is a very complex and demanding career that requires teachers to be managers of people, analyzers of data, and researchers of best practices and instructional methodologies-and these skills are utilized each day. In any other major profession that required the same unique qualifications, teachers would make significantly more money. Undoubtedly, the salaries for teachers must be reexamined and adjusted to reflect the uniqueness of the profession and provide balanced scales for all teachers, whether they work in a big city or a small town or country hamlet.

Second, teachers are also unique because the profession is now driven by so much data. Teachers must now be statisticians and researchers, fully accountable in some form or fashion for managing data in the areas of assessment, attendance, graduation rates, discipline percentages, and gifted and special education progress. The administrative responsibilities of the teacher have definitely increased, but the resources necessary to make the management of these duties efficient are minimal. The new demand for data is needed, and critical to enhancing results, but resources are likewise needed to help teachers be effective and efficient in collecting, examining, and utilizing the data.

Third, teachers are required to be learning and behavioral specialists and to be able to apply differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is a newly celebrated philosophy, and a mandate for all teachers, that requires teachers to find effective teaching strategies that will meet the needs of students with different learning styles, all in the same classroom at the same time. Teachers must, then, be competent and active in enlisting the unique resources and skills necessary to meet the needs of kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learning styles. Additionally, the special challenges of addressing emotional behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, and attention deficit problems-all in the same classroom-broaden the gap between teachers and managers. Today's teachers are practitioners, researchers, and change agents; but, none of these unique skills are recognized or rewarded.

Fourth, continuing on the same theme, teachers must work with every child, despite the challenges of that child. In nearly every other profession, management is able to pick out the bad product or the poor employee so that productivity and quality can be increased. Educators do not have that same luxury. Instead, public education demands that every child be given the resources and opportunity to succeed. This includes those students who truly want to learn and will become good "products" and those students who get energized from wreaking havoc and chaos in school by fighting, dealing drugs, taking part in gang activity, or constantly disrupting classes.

Instead of weeding out the bad students, educators are required to manage all situations, to provide alternatives to parents, and to somehow effectively guide troubled students through the educational process. And teachers realize that they must do so, regardless of social and economic situations and, in some cases, the lack of positive parental guidance that might influence the behavior of the student. What becomes most frustrating is recognizing that, if these challenging students refuse the positive alternatives, they may end up dead, in jail, or in a hospital or wallowing in a continuing cycle of poverty. No one gets into teaching to celebrate such a potential loss of lives and potential. Teachers get into the business to change and enhance lives-uniquely, and one by one, as needed.

Fifth, teachers are unique because the line of accountability in education has many levels and tangents. This accountability is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has added to the complexity of teaching. In one way or another, teachers are impacted by the federal government, a state department of education, the local school district, and administration at their school. What does this mean for teachers? It means that the results of classroom practices go far beyond the classroom, students, parents, and principals. I can not name another career field that has as many accountability variables and levels as does the field of public education. As a teacher-educator, be aware that your individual results in the classroom are data and will be analyzed as data and that those results will be evaluated in ways that are unique to the field of education. Your successes or failures in the classroom, as reflected in the data, will impact your longevity in the field of education.

Sixth, educators are unique in that no other professional group manages so many people and is so responsible for individual progress. Teachers work with up to one hundred and eighty students or more each day and are required to ensure that each of those students succeeds academically. Young people, from the ages of four to twenty, are instructed, counseled, directed, nurtured, motivated, inspired, and coached by teachers-a cycle that continues until high school graduation, in best-case scenarios.

You may be surprised to know that children spend more time at school than they do awake at home and that children are influenced by more adults in school than in any other social circle. That makes the public school system the single most influential force on children-more so even than church. Teaching, then, is a unique career that is faced with high liability and tremendous responsibility-because real lives are dependent on competent and professional adults. These demands are tremendous, and very few people can meet them successfully.

Lastly, teaching is unique because it is the only profession where the federal government has mandated absolute perfection. Specifically, the No Child Left Behind Act requires that all children-that's 100 percent-reach proficiency on state level assessments. Between the lines, this legislation essentially requires teachers to provide effective and rigorous instruction, which will hopefully translate into providing the necessary skills and information sets so that students can be literate and competent. However, the mandate that all students be made to pass assessments is largely unrealistic because of unforeseen and calculable variables that prohibit the attainment of such a goal. Yes, the goal is lofty, but it is worthy. The expectation that teachers teach is warranted. At the end of the day, we all know that students must be able to think and apply their knowledge in real life. After all, primary and secondary schooling is a training ground with the ultimate goal of preparing young people to successfully navigate college, a profession, and the world of adults. But the attainment of such an idealistic goal as what is outlined in No Child Left Behind creates an all-consuming stress that has hurt and will continue to hurt the teaching profession if not taken in stride.

As this federal policy stands, I expect it to cause numerous educators to leave the profession-not one scientist or researcher would ever purport to achieve 100 percent accuracy on any research or experiment due to variables. Even 99.9 percent acknowledges the influence of some variables, even if it is only 0.1 percent. Yet, in the world of education, teachers must live with and comply to that unrealistic federal mandate or find a new line of business, which could be extremely detrimental to hundreds of districts across the country.

So, yes, teaching is unique, and it requires educators to be multi-faceted and multi-talented. It is my strong belief that very few professions demand what is required of teachers in the public sector. The demands are not necessarily bad, but they are indications of the complex nature of the teaching profession. Those who are cut out for this unique profession are called, often naturally skilled or highly and thoroughly trained, and committed to success. And, no, not everyone is cut out for a career in the most challenging occupation on the planet. It also requires an awareness of self. And, it is not for the weary. No, not everyone can do what teachers do. Join the movement – The Teachers Movement and make a difference.

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Source by Graysen Walles

How Can Teachers Keep Students Engaged in Learning?

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How many of us can remember not wanting to get up and go to school? Even as an "A" student, I can certainly remember feeling that way! The days spent filling in worksheets and completing textbook pages were often torturous! They were so BORING!

As an educator now, I have come to discover it does not have to be that way. There are so many ways to thoughtfully teach children by truly engaging them in the content they are learning. Making their learning relevant, hands-on, collaborative, project-based, providing them with choice, and simply differentiating their instruction are just a few effective teaching strategies educators can use to make learning engaging in their classrooms!

With pressures from standardized test results, many educators are resistant to break away from lectures, textbooks, and worksheets, as these vehicles of learning ensure they are "covering" everything needed to be successful on those tests. Think about, however, the amount of learning students are getting out of those activities. As a simple example, do you think a 10-year old would get more out of a worksheet with probability questions, or a hands-on activity and reflection that focuses on probability? When students find the work they do to be fun and engaging, they are better connected to the content of the activity.

It is a traditional practice for teachers to stand in front of her audience of students and tell them everything she knows about a topic. She assumes, of course, that the kids are taking it all in. I still have notebooks from college where the notes I was taking on those "engaging" lectures turned into straight lines due to falling asleep! Yes, some teachers can make lectures fabulously entertaining, which helps immensely; however, most teachers, due to time constraints and pressures, do not take the time to do that.

What's wrong with letting students explore new content when learning? Why not foster their sense of wonder? Instead of lecturing about democracy, let them explore about it through a Web Quest. Instead of telling kids all about physical and chemical change, let them make discoveries about it through experiments. Instead of teaching students research skills through making them research a specific topic, let them decide what they want to learn more about and research that.

There are endless ways to help engage students in the classroom. Through utilizing various effective teaching strategies, the opportunities to increase student engagement are endless. Truly, by even changing one practice, a teacher can increase her students' achievement in the classroom. Is not it worth it?

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Source by Kim Amburgey

Teaching Strategies For Developing World Literature Appreciation

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There are many wonderful teaching strategies educators can use to cultivate and develop an appreciation of world literature within their students. Initially, developing an appreciation for world literature in high school students requires that teachers select reading material with themes that are relevant to the modern era in which we live.

Interest and appreciation for the book To Kill A Mockingbird for example could be generated by having a brief class discussion on race relations. The teacher and students could collaborate to create a detailed timeline of 15 to 20 social, cultural, and political events that occurred in the 1930s. The activity would familiarize students with the attitudes and issues of the Depression era in the deep South, while simultaneously teaching students how African-Americans overcame such prejudicial attitudes.

Following the class discussion on race relations, teachers could ask students to keep reading journals and document their reactions to the book as they read it. Reading journals allow students to enjoy literature and make remarks about points of interest as they come to them during the reading.

Next teachers can assign students free writing exercises in which they can respond to elements of the story, as well as prompt driven responses. Important elements of the story, aspects crucial to the theme, and anything of unique interest to a student should be encouraged to be reflected upon during the reading. The story's main conflict, it's level of importance, and possible solutions are all worthy topics for students to evaluate and discuss.

Evaluations containing students' assertions and assumptions should cite supportive textual evidence. This will clearly demonstrate students' mental comprehension processes.

Worthy of recognition in Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird is the author's observations of her family and neighbors. The events which occurred in her hometown in 1936, made a profound impression upon the ten-year-old Scout. The issues of rape, race relations, gender bias, and class conflict all were found throughout the text. These issues are seemingly universal in nature and therefore effect every generation. The primary themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence are both disheartening and enlightening. These themes provide students with a sufficient amount to think about, when posed in the form of meaningful and probing questions.

The noble lessons within the novel emphasizing tolerance and decrying prejudice are instructional for students, while giving them much to discuss and write about.

The character Atticus stated, "You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them." This heartfelt instruction to his children awakened compassion in them to not be so quick to prematurely judge a man, nor a matter. Teachers can ask students when if ever they prematurely judged a person or situation. Students should also be asked how they remedied the wrong and made it right.

Jem, Scout, and Dil all attended the court hearing of Tom Robinson, a negro gentleman who had been falsely accused. As a sign of solidarity and racial unity, the children sat upstairs in the courthouse with the black Pastor and folks. Questions about the role of each character, what their temperament portrayed and revealed, along with the possibility of what that person might be doing today all are excellent and thought provoking questions for students.

Tying the literature together with modern day events will also enable the students to apply what they are learning. A discussion about what Atticus would have said and done had he been alive in our day would be a stimulating conversation for students.

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Source by Paul Davis

Effective Teaching Strategies Classroom Management And Teaching OESL

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In my six years of experience of teaching English as a secondary language to both students from the intermediate (4th-6th grades) and high school levels, I realized that no amount of knowledge and language competency could ever make up for a teacher's ability to actually "sell" information so that he / she develops in the student an inherent love for learning English. I graduated from one of the prominent schools in the Philippines. I could say that in terms of mental aptitude, I fair well with an IQ of above 110 mark. But this was not my ticket to success insofar as being able to raise the bar in implementing my teaching objectives effectively.

My epiphany came to me one summer when, bluntly, a student of mine said as a form of reaction to the plummeting results of their final examinations that since most the class failed, there must be something wrong with the way I taught. Before my blood could curdle, I began to think that maybe he had a point.

I tried to look at the individual anecdotal reports of my students. I was surprised to see that the very same students who were flunking my subjects used to ace English during the previous year. I started asking about the teacher whom I have replaced. Most of the students answered, "She was strict." The manner by which the word "strict" was said did not strike me as something said out of bitterness; it was more out of utmost respect for the teacher that allusion was made. I had asked some of my closest students and most of them said that I lacked the capacity to manage the class, behaviorally speaking.

I was dead set to setting things right before another school year began. I had decided to implement out-of-the-box strategies and techniques to classroom management and teaching oral English as a secondary language, some of which, to this time, I still use because of its efficacy:

1. The Four Houses – the teacher divides the class into four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin) in reference to JK Rowling's popular novel. The grouping is based on certain qualities that each member have in common with other students. The Four Houses will serve as the class' permanent grouping scheme each time there will be group activities. The teacher also gives reward points – House Points – to members who actively participate during recitation. Each house is to acquire as many House Points as possible. At the end of each term, the teacher treats the winning group into watching a Movie of their choice. (CAVEAT: the movie titles require teacher's approval before viewing).

2. Popcorn Party – The Popcorn Party works side by side with the concept of the Four Houses. The House with the most House Points gets to enjoy watching a Movie over popcorn.

3. The Silent Walker – The teacher mentally picks out names of students before the class begins. The students whose names have been picked are expected to behave throughout the entire period; they will be the Silent Walkers of the day. If a Silent Walker violates any of the house rules, the class loses 3 Silent Walker points. The objective of the game is for the class to acquire enough Silent Walker points because each point is equivalent to 1 minute free time. If the class successfully completes the 60 point mark, the entire class will be in for a treat of a) a home movie or b) a free reading time.

4. Friday Letters – each Friday of the week is allotted to writing activity. The implementation of this activity would make the students think that they are not really having a lesson but that they are simply expressing themselves through. The teacher provides parameters (the theme and objectives) to which the students will base their compositions. Class is almost always conducted outside of the classroom; in a place which usually encourage students to think creatively and leisurely.

NB: The techniques mentioned are not original concepts. They have been practiced in some American schools. There are plenty of effective techniques which are not mentioned. The use of such techniques will prove to be for the benefit of both the instructor and the students. Not only will the classroom be more manageable in terms of the class' collective behavior, but it will also improve the its attitude toward learning secondary languages ​​or any lessons from any academic discipline, for that matter.

If this article happens to get published and you happen to read it, feel free to share with us some ideas (borrowed or original). Teaching is fast becoming a serious science. The implementation of each lesson requires the instructors full contemplation on its planning and execution.

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Source by Giancarlo Dizon