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Edublog AwardsDec
30
My new year’s resolutions
Filed Under Goals, positive climate, Teacher Support, The way I see it | 3 Comments
The excitement of Christmas is over, well almost, and it’s time to make those new year’s resolutions. Some years I don’t bother making new year’s resolutions, but this year I want to. I’ve been taking stock of the past year and thinking about personal goals, projects and behaviours I could adopt or change to improve myself and my life circumstances. I know that I’m a life-long learner, I guess I’m also a life-long improver. I’m definitely a work in progress!
Today while surfing the net, I found a list of things that I want to adopt as personal goals for the coming year. I’m cool with the fact Anonymous created the list. I don’t have a compelling need to create my own list given this one is perfect!
A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;
A work to do which has real value,
without which the world would be the poorer;
An understanding heart;
A sense of humor;
Time for quiet, silent meditation;
The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
With the wisdom to recognize them when they come (anonymous).
Notice these goals do not include the goals of reducing the time it takes me to return students’ work, or creating more meaningful report card comments or even going for a walk at lunch time at least three times a week. No my resolutions this year are more spiritual ones.
I’d be delighted if you’d share some of your new year’s resolutions. Is there something else I could add to my list of resolutions to help me improve myself or my life circumstances? There’s still time. Even though the due date for new year’s resolutions is usually January 1st, Policy 14 will allow resolutions to be submitted after this date. I think the absolute deadline for new years resolutions for 2012 would be December 31, 2012- of course, there are always exceptions. We could recover the resolutions in January 2013 <sarcasm>.
Happy New Year.
Jul
16
Are you frustrated and stressed in your teaching practice because you have to spend more and more time doing things you don’t value?
Filed Under Goals, SOS for Teachers, Teacher Support, The way I see it, The Way I See It | 4 Comments
“So much of our frustrations and stress arise from incongruity- incongruity between what we think, feel or say is important and how we actually spend our time” (Cirocco, p. 52)
Isn’t that the truth. I don’t know about you, but in my teaching practice I seem to be spending more and more time doing what I think isn’t important and less and less time doing what I think is important. That’s so frustrating. I don’t want my teaching practice to be distracted by the frustrations of having to do things that I don’t value, so I plan to find a way to match my values to more of my actions in my teaching practice.
I have to be realistic. There’ll be forms I have to complete, meetings I’ll have to attend, and PD sessions that aren’t optional. Oh yes, there’ll be hall supervisions I can’t escape . But, I think I can find a way to spend most of my time doing what I actually think, feel and say is important.
The first thing I have to do is clarify what I value as a teacher and decide how these values can inform my teaching practice so that I’m not stressed and frustrated. Now, I remember doing value clarification exercises years ago when I was a newbie teacher or more likely during teacher training, but I haven’t really sat down and made a list of what I value as a teacher in a long, long time. I think I know, but maybe there’ll be surprises. Maybe I can’t walk my talk in the classroom anymore because of all the changes and the directives from the-powers-that- be . What do I do then? Any ideas?
Cirocco’s book Take the Step: The Bridge Will Be There offers guidance on how you can eliminate or more realistically reduce the incongruity between what you say you believe and what you do. I find it ironic just as I was thinking about refining my teaching practice to avoid frustration and stress as much as possible, I find a book just lying on a table at my local bookstore that I can use to help me do this. I’m just reading the part near the beginning of the book about choosing core values and using them to create a compass to guide your actions.
Usually, there’s more than one way to do anything. Have you found a way to avoid frustration and stress at work that allows you to remain true to your values? I’d love to know if you have or are in the process of finding a way that lets you walk your talk at work.
Resource:
Cirocco, Grace. (2001) Take the Step: The Bridge Will Be There. Toronto. On: HarperCollins Publishers LTD.
Photo by oddstock
Feb
13
Nine things parents can do to help students develop good organization skills so students can do their best at school.
Filed Under Behaviour Management, Goals, Learning Strategies, motivating students, Organization, positive climate, Special Education, Study Skills, underachieving students | 3 Comments
Image by Jeff Hester via Flickr
Some students have good organization skills and some do not. Managing time and materials efficiently are skills students need in order to do their best in school. Parents can help students do their best by helping them develop efficient time and materials management skills.
To help students develop efficient time management and materials management skills, I encourage parents to
- Create several calendars with all the important events at school such as due dates for assignments, quizzes, tests and exam dates, field trips, after school practices etc, and post these calendars in prominent places where the students are most likely to see them- their room, the kitchen, inside the front door etc. Students can also set things up so that they get email messages to remind themselves of due dates etc.
- Negotiate a time to do homework. School is important, but it’s not the only important thing in students’ lives so flexibility is in order when working out a homework schedule.
- Encourage students to complete homework, and if no homework was assigned then to review the day’s lessons, work on major projects or spend the time reading. Reading for just 20 minutes a day can improve students’ vocabulary and grammar skills. It’s amazing how so little can do so much- just like exercise.
- Establish a routine time for things like dinner, television watching, computer use and bedtime. Following routines helps reduces stress on students’ attention and memory controls and enables them to be better rested the next day so they are better able to meet the demands of school.
- Establish a homework and study area for students away from the distractions of TV, computers, phones, computer games etc. The reason is obvious- too much temptation.
- Suggest that students tell their friends that they are not available to talk to them on the phone during the time set aside for homework. Homework time is for homework, not for socializing.
- Store school supplies and materials in a specific place. A place for everything and everything in its place enables students to find things easily when they need them.
- Have students pack their school bags with all the things they’ll need the next day. This helps ensure students have what they need for school that day. It also reduces the stress of running around looking for things the last minute.
- Clean out students’ backpacks at the end of the week, file assignments and old tests in the appropriate spot and throw out any unnecessary things.
These are some of the strategies I suggest parents use to help their kids develop efficient time management and materials management skills. Parents can help their children who struggle with organization strategies by modeling organization strategies for their children. After a while, the behaviors will become a habit and children will do them automatically.
I’m sure there are other strategies that are also helpful that I haven’t thought of. What else could teachers suggest parents do to help their kids be better organized?
Jan
16
Helping students take ownership for better test preparation.
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Evaluation, Goals, Learning Strategies, math, motivating students, Study Skills, underachieving students, Useful Handouts | 1 Comment
I want my students to reflect on how well or how poorly they prepared for tests. I want my students to think about being better prepared for their next test. Often, they don’t prepare at all beyond the review for the test I do in class. I see this happening all the time. I think my students may intend to prepare for the test, but when they leave my classroom they leave their intentions behind. I’m hoping the test reflection handout I have them complete will encourage them to remember to prepare for the next test. I’m thinking that maybe after completing a half dozen or so of these reflections, the idea of preparing for the next test will stick in their mind. Now that I’m telling you about my plan, I think I might even have them reflect on their quiz preparation as well. Then the idea of preparing should be deeply embedded in their minds and they will remember to prepare. Here’s a copy of the reflection handout.
I have tried to use kid friendly language, you can change it to suit your purposes. Also, this reflection was about a math test ; you can change it to suit your purposes.
Test Reflection Sheet
| Name: ________________________________ Date:______________________
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| How do you feel about your performance on this test? (circle one)
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Awesome!! Cool Lame Get Real
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| Do you think you demonstrated what you knew about the topic on this test?
Why?
Why not?
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| How much time did you spend studying for this test?
I spent about
Days ____ Hours ____ Minutes____
studying for this test.
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| How much of the assigned work did you complete on this topic?
All____ Almost all_____ Some_______ Little_______
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| What would you do differently preparing for the next test? Why?
What would you do the same? Why?
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