Wow!!!

A couple of weeks ago someone in my school district sent out an email letting us know about a special program that aired recently on CNN’s Glen Beck show regarding terrorists possibly targeting schools.

The email included a link to the videos on CNN’s web site.

For two weeks I left the email in my inbox without watching the videos. I kept putting off watching them because I was afraid of learning the truth about what these terrorists are planning to do to our schools, but that is the worst thing we can do…look the other way because the truth is just too horrific.

If history has taught as anything it is that looking the other way and/or not being prepared for the worst can have catastrophic consequences.

So I finally sat down and watched them. In fact, I just finshed about ten minutes ago.

This is shocking stuff, but it is important that we are all aware of what these terrorists are planning to do…

Please, please please watch these videos…AND please, please, please pass them on to everyone you know! Every teacher, parent, and American citizen should pay close attention.

Sorry for the “bummer” post, but after watching these videos I felt obligated to pass them on to others.

The four videos are listed under the caption: Exposed: The Perfect Day at the link below.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/glenn.beck/

Share

Many of the classroom management strategies discussed recently will be most effective when dealing with only one or two students. However, when the numbers increase, addressing the class as a whole may be necessary.

Unfortunately, this is also where many teachers make a crucial mistake. That mistake is dealing out whole-class punishments. “If this class doesn’t quiet down you’ll all be in for recess!” If you want to lose the respect of those students who ARE behaving appropriately then go right ahead do this because that is all you will accomplish.

Instead, a better approach is to use something know as the Premack Principle (a.k.a. “Grandma’s Law”)

How does it work?

Simple…

According to “grandma’s law” teachers should use a “preferred activity” as a reinforcer for a “less-preferred activity”.

For example, “If you can work quietly on your assignment for the next ten minutes, we’ll have time for a game of social studies bingo.”

******
A new school year here!

To learn how to make a difference in the lives of your students and inspire them to do their best for the rest of their lives with teacher tested techniques you can use immediately in your classroom…make sure to read How to Make a Difference @ www.howtomakeadifference.com

*******

Share

When teachers are faced with minor disruptions it can often times be more effective to praise the good behavior of students while ignoring the bad behavior. While this “praise-and-ignore approach” will not solve all classroom management problems, it can be quite helpful, but only if done correctly.

Unfortunately, praise is not always given appropriately and effectively. Many teachers are merely “handing out compliments” and this will not do much to improve behavior.

Here are some tips for using praise appropriately:

1. Be specific in giving praise ~ Make sure praise is tied directly to appropriate behavior. Make sure the student understands the specific action or accomplishment that is being praised. For example, “Thank you for raising your hand and waiting to be called on” is much more effective than simply stating, “Great job.”

2. Recognized genuine accomplishments ~ Do not praise uninvolved students just because they are quiet.

3. Base praise on individual abilities and limitations ~ Focus the student’s attention on his or her own progress, not comparisons with others.

4. Connect the student’s “success” with the student’s “effort” ~ Don’t imply the success is based on luck. For example, “I noticed that you studied and double-checked your test questions this time, your test score reflects your hard work…great job!”

5. Make it believable ~ Don’t give undeserved praise to students and don’t attempt to influence the rest of the class by praising one or two students. For the most part praising students will help those particular students only…not necessarily the rest of class.

******

If you can’t manage your classroom you can’t teach!

Adam Waxler, a full-time social studies teacher and adjunct education professor, has developed a FREE 5-part

Classroom Management e-Course…

Learn simple classroom management strategies that will result in an immediate and definite decrease in classroom management problems

To sign up for this FREE course visit:
www.Classroom-Management-Tips.com

*******

Share

The connection between parent involvement and student achievement is obvious. The question is how do teachers go about increasing this parent involvement.

There many different ways teachers can do this…such as a classroom newsletter, website, blog etc.

If you can do this on a weekly basis you will see a great improvement in your students’ performance.

Personally, I think the best way to do this is through your own website and/or blog (granted, nearly all of my students have internet access).

Nevertheless, I think every teacher these days should have some type of website/blog. Here’s mine: http://www.MrWaxlersClass.com

Notice each week I make a simple post informing parents (and students) of what we are doing that week and what the homework is each day. I can also inform them of important upcoming events and due dates (such as the History Fair, fcat testing etc.). I even include helpful links to the school calendar, district website, homework philosophy, curriculum map etc.

What I did is really not that difficult. But you should know that my way does cost a little money (about $6.95) per month…though you can easily make that back if you just throw some adense ads on your site (again, really easy to do).

First, let me tell you about a couple of free ways. First of all, check with your school….you may have some type of web creating software and you could host your site though the school’s servers. However, the program at our school is so bad I don’t even bother…it’s really a joke. The other thing you can do is set up a blog with blogger.com or wordpress.com. Both of these are free, but you are limited in some ways…not sure if you can have people sign up for automatic email notifications, and you do not use your own domain name. If these things don’t bother you then maybe you should go that route.

Personally, I enjoy having my “own” web site where I have complete control AND my own domain name. To do this you must purchase a domain name and host your web site. Fortunately, if you do this right it does not cost much.

Simply sign up for a hosting account with a reputable host such as Bluehost (http://www.bluehost.com)

If you sign up for a certain number of months you get to register your domain name for free.

Next, you simply log into your control panel and there is a link where you can automatically install the wordpress blog script…that is what I use. Again, this may have sounded complicated, but really it is not…it is quite easy and any good hosting company will have a great support staff.

Once you have your blog up and running you will want your parents (and students) to be able to sign up for automatic notifications. This way, every time you update the blog your parents will automatically get sent an email with the blog post embedded in the email.

Think about this from a parents point of view…how great would it be to get an email each and every week letting you know what your child will be working on that week and what the homework is each day of the week.

To do this you can use a site such as http://www.feedburner.com. Simply follow the directions provided on that site that show you how to publicize your “feed”. You basically copy small amount of html code from their site and paste it into the sidebar of your own site (via your control panel). Again, this may sound complicated, but it is actually very easy…you could have the whole things set up in less than 20 minutes.

Just think how impressed your parents, students, and administration will be, but more importantly, think about how much it will help improve your students’ academic achievement.

******
A new school year here!

To gain an arsenal of effective classroom management strategies that you can start applying to your very first class make sure read eTeach: A Teacher Resource for Learning the Strategies of Master Teachers @ www.TeachingTeacher.com

*******

Share

It is very important for teachers to learn their students’ names as quickly as possible. As I mentioned last week, this will help foster the student-teacher relationship, but it will also help teachers handle minor classroom management problems as well.

For example, teachers can become very frustrated during a lesson when students are talking to each other when they’re not supposed to.

This leads many teachers to call on the students who were not paying attention in an attempt to get the student to refocus.

Unfortunately, the student may become embarrassed and may deal with this “threat” in a negative way thereby escalating the classroom management problem.

Here’s my solution…

In my class, all my students know that they always have the option to say “pass” whenever they are asked a question. I tell them they can pass for any reason (don’t know the answer, weren’t paying attention, too tired etc.)

Students rarely use this pass option, but it does solve the problem above.

Since students know they have an out (the pass option) they are much less likely to respond in a negative way. If a student was not paying attention, the student simply says “pass”. Now the student knows to refocus their attention on the lesson, but without the embarrassment and without escalating the minor classroom management problem to a major classroom management problem.

********************************
Still looking for a teaching job?

Then read Your Basic Guide to Acing ANY Teacher Interview @ http://www.TeacherInterviewTips.com/

********************************

Share