Planning with the New Educators

Planning with the New Educator can be held when there is no intention of following up with an observation. The sole purpose, in this instance, can be simply to plan a lesson, unit, or map out a semester or course. When planning with a New Educator before an observation it is important to ask the following questions.

• What are the students suppose to know and be able to do?
• How are the objectives related to the State Standards.
• How will student progress be measured?
• What will the New Educator do?
• What will the students do?
• How will the assessments be used to adjust the lesson or re-teach the lesson?

Contributed by: Dr. Doug Miller

Mastery Learning

The idea of mastery learning amounts to a radical shift in responsibility for teachers; the blame for a student's failure rests with the instruction, not a lack of ability on the part of the student. In a mastery-learning environment, the challenge becomes providing enough time and employing the correct instructional strategies so that all students can meet or exceed standards. (Levine, 1985; Bloom, 1981)

My Greatest Success

I think that my greatest success was taking a group of students that didn't necessarily get along well with each other and forming a classroom that learned to respect each other. When I first tried to have the students work in groups, they did not know how to work in a productive manner. There was conflict and they were unsuccessful at completing even simple tasks.

They now work very well with each other, after I have been consistent with rules and consequences. They clearly understand my expectations and we have talked about the need to be able to work with different types of people. They act as a team and help one another. We have reviewed the need to have good character traits such as respect, kindness, responsibility, self-control, tolerance and cooperation. They have come a long way and it makes me proud to see them take responsibility for their actions and their work.

Elizabeth, Hollywood Park Elementary

I Ain't Never Leaving

As a new educator I find myself facing new experiences - new challenges - every day. My greatest success is that I'm still here - I'd thought I'd make a good teacher ever since high school. People always have told me I explain math in a way they can understand it, so I thought that was all I'd need - a good personality and mathematical ability. I was wrong.

Education courses I took prepared me only slightly for the reality of being in the classroom with 25 eleven-year-olds at a time. Each of them carrying their own personalities and emotional baggage, I am only beginning to understand how to work with all of those personalities and how to have them work effectively with each other and myself. Every day is a new adventure for me in the classroom, and I'm loving every minute of it.

To paraphrase an old country music movie - "Look out teacher city - 'cause I'm here now and I ain't never leaving!" I've found my niche and I look forward to continuing this adventure for many years to come.

Source: Brian, Rickards Middle School

Effective math questions: to promote problem solving

What information do you have?
What do you need to find out?
What strategies are you going to use?
Will you do it mentally?
Will you need pencil and paper?
Will you need a formula?
What tools will you need? Will a calculator helps?
What do you think the answer or result will be?

Source: www.pbs.org/teacherline

Study Group Protocol: Diversity Begins at Birth

Most of us believe that everyone looks at the world the same way with just a few minor differences. This may not be a true assumption. Dr. Kevin Leman author of The Birth Order Book says that there are some recognizable differences in patterns of behavior in people that are partially due to the order of their placement in the family. It is a fascinating field of study, and certainly worth exploring if one works with children and families.

Procedures
1. Explain to participants that: birth order plays a role in our development; there are often common experiences and feelings shared by people of the same birth order; this is an opportunity for us to discover those commonalties.
2. Ask participants to gather themselves into four corners of the room by the following birth orders:

• oldest child,
• youngest child,
• middle child,
• and only child.

Explain that middle means anyone who is not an oldest, youngest, or only child.

3. After participants move to their corner's ask them to identify a recorder and a presenter. The recorder writes down the major points of the discussion and the presenter will share the team’s discussion with the large group.
4. Then the team shares their experiences as the (oldest child, youngest child, middle child, or only child) in their family with each other identifying commonalities for the recorder.

5. Next the team answers and records their agreed-upon responses to the following questions:

• What were the advantages of being a _________ child?
• What were the disadvantages of being a _________ child?

4. When each team is ready, ask the persenter in each team to share the responses with the large group.

Question for Debriefing:
1. If birth order has such an effect on a person’s behavior, “What effect would race, religion, cultural, and ethnic background have on a person’s behavior?”
2. Knowing this, “What is a teacher’s responsibility in dealing with diversity in the classroom?”

Leman, Kevin (1985) The Birth Order Book. New York: dell Publishing

Developing Active Reading with Effective Questions

Before reading ask….

1. What can you predict about the story form the front and back cover of the book?
2. What does the title tell you about the story?
3. Who or what do you predict this story will be about? Why?
4. Where and when do you think the story will take place?
5. What other stories have you read that are like this one? In what ways?
6. Have you read anything else by this author? Do you see any similarities between this story and the author’s other stories?
7. What questions do you have about this story?

Use the comment section and add pre-reading questions you have used to motivate or focus students.

Source: www.pbs.org/teacherline

Preparing for FCAT

Teachers should always use the "same language" that the FCAT uses because it reduces the chances for students to be confused. New Teachers received an invaluable document from the Florida Department of Education called Reading and Math Performance Task Specifications. This document has an abundance of information. Presently the best sections for New Teacher to review with their students are:

1. The test stems (the ways the questions will be asked) and
2. The content limits. Both of these areas will help students to be better "test takers" and also help new teachers become aware of how the FCAT is presented.

Source: Susan Littlefield, Curriculum Support K-12

Quotes from Outstanding Coaches

Coaches in sports sometimes say things in the most insightful ways . The quotes below were collected from several sites on the internet. As you read these quotes think about how they apply to our work as teachers. Please respond to one or all the quotes in the comment section.

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." -- John Wooden

"People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to." -- George Allen

"Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear."
--John Madden

"A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are."
--Ara Parasheghian

"Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers."
--Pat Riley

" Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer." --Rick Pitino

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”--Lou Holtz

“It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”--Bear Bryant

"Sit up straight, listen, and participate."--Pat Summitt

How To Be An Ineffective Teacher

Don't take responsibility for results. Its not me I covered the material. The research is clear the only way to increase student achievement is with a competent, qualified teacher.

Make excuses for your students. I believe all my students can learn but... The effective teacher not only establishes high expectations for their students, they also model appropriate professional behavior in their relationship with others.

Don't plan just cover the textbook. I have more than enough to cover in the textbook to worry about planning. In a standards-driven- system the effective teacher identifies learning objectives, develops appropriate assessments, and designs lessons that provide students an opportunity to learn those standards.

Be a "know it all.” Been there done that. Effective teachers, no matter how good they are, know that they can always improve their instructional practice.

Show no interest in professional development. I have a college degree and am State Certified; I don't need anything else. Effective teachers are enthusiastic life long learners and constantly seek ways to improve their lives and practice.

Let's have some fun, what do you think are some other qualities of an ineffective teacher?

Learning is NOT a Spectator Sport

One of the most frequently used teaching strategies in the classroom is as follows:

1. The teacher asks a question.
2. Student who wish to respond raise their hands.
3. The teacher calls on a student.
4. The student attempts to state the correct answer.

Since this strategy is so frequently used, it is important to ask, “Just how effective is it?” The answer is the teacher is the only person actively engaged with all the questions and answers. Only one student per question is actively engaged in the lesson. The follow up question is - "How can teachers get more students involve during a question and answer session?"

Think-Pair-Share can be used as an alternative strategy for asking your students questions. The process is as follows:

1. The teacher asks a question.
2. The teacher gives all the students time to think.
3. The teacher directs the students to discuss their thoughts with their buddy.
4. The teacher calls on one of the pairs to share their answer.

Notes: Establish buddies before the lesson begins. Also before each question announce length of time for student thinking and discussion.

Please post in the comment section a strategy you use to encourage your students to be actively involved during your question and answer sessions.

Incomplete Student Assignments

Every teacher faces the situation that students do not always complete their classroom or homework assignments. One way to address this problem is to ask the student to fill out an "Incomplete Assignment Log". The log could contain the following:

• Title of the Assignment
• Name of Student
• Date and Period
• Explanation of why the assignment was not complete
• The students plan to make up the work.

After the student completes the Log, file it in the student's folder. The folder will help you at the end of the grading period for determining grades and when conferencing with the student's parents. If you have another strategy for handling incomplete student work please post in the comments section.

Rubrics

The rubric is a vital link between assessment and instruction. Rubrics operationalize quality in our minds so teachers can effectively assess student performance. For most educators, a rubric is a printed set of scoring guidelines for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.

RubiStar and Discovery are websites to help the teachers who want to use rubrics but do not have the time to develop them from scratch or need ready-made rubrics on a number of topics.

Source: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
Source: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html

Advice From My Coach

First year teachers in the Broward County Public Schools shared the best advice their coaches gave them during their first semester on the job. If you are a new teacher and have any additional advice you received please post it in the comments.

The best advice my Instructional Coach gave me was...

Take one thing at a time. My coach noticed that I tend to take on too much, so he told me to pace myself. He gave me some great ideas on how to be more effective and use time more efficiently. This way I can help the students but still have time to plan other interesting activities instead of doing work that will not be as beneficial to the students.
Irene, Second Grade, Colbert Elementary

Review the Florida Performance Measurement System (FPMS) observation tool used by my AP when doing his formal observation. She explained each category in depth so I understood what I would be observed on.
Megan, First Grade Teacher, Palm Cove Elementary

Do not take on too many things. Its new and exciting, but I cannot do everything. Learn to say no and take time to complete my steps towards my professional certification.
Rachelle, World Languages, West Broward High School

Believe in myself and my abilities to change children's lives for the better!
Lauren, Davie Elementary

Take it one day at a time with a peek at the following day.
Dayana, Kindergarten teacher, Silver Shores Elementary

Don’t be afraid to ask questions!!
Nicole, ESE Teacher, Pembroke Pines Elementary

Don’t worry about things that I cannot control.
Savannah, Pembroke Pines Elementary

To always ask a lot of questions. It is better to ask a lot of questions then to be unclear.

Jenna, 3rd Grade Teacher, Silver Shores Elementary

Is There a Budget for Xbox?

Kurt Squire, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of curriculum and instruction, spoke on his experiences researching simulations and games in learning environments. David Williamson Shaffer, a professor at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, told the audience about his interest in how computer-based media change the way people think and learn.
Researchers say video games have many attributes that help people learn:

1. They activate prior learning, because players must use previously learned information to move to higher levels of play.
2. Games provide immediate feedback in scoring and in visual and auditory stimulus, which allows learners to more quickly modify their learning strategies before the ineffective ones become entrenched.
3. Skill transfer from games to real life is much more likely to occur.
4. Motivation to learn new ideas or tasks is higher when games are used for most people (although some prefer to learn in traditional ways).

When students come to your class with new technologies do you think of it as an opportunity or an obstacle? How can you use technologies like I phones, I pods, or blackberries to increase your students learning opportunities?
Source: Wisconsin Technology Network

Don't Waste a Minute!

What do you do with those awkward moments that arise in every teacher’s day, those times when a lesson ends five minutes before the bell rings or a few minutes before specials? Try some mini lessons, quick activities that fill time without wasting it! The following two examples are from the website.

• Ask each student to name one thing they learned today.
• Play the alphabet game, which can be used in any subject, Name a country that begins with the letter A, Argentina, and the next student a country that begins with the letter B, Belgium, and the next student a country that begins with the letter C, and so on.

Click the source below to access the Education World website for more mini lessons.
Source: Education World

Warm Up Activities

The following website contains a library of warm-up activities for each day of the school year covering the core subject areas. For example:

Language Arts

1. Correct all capitalization errors in the following sentence.

on mother's day we went to the iowa state fair.

Answer: On Mother's Day we went to the Iowa State Fair.

Geography

1. Name the seven continents.

Answer: North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia, Europe, and South America

Click the URL below to access the website for warm-up activities.

Source: http://712educators.about.com/od/warmups/Warm_Ups_Questions_to_Begin_the_Day.htm

Student Assignments

GLE - Grade Level Expectations

Beginning with Pygmalion in the Classroom (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968), an extensive body of research has been developed that describes how teachers' expectations can influence student performance. While it is misleading to state that teacher expectations determine a student's success, the research clearly establishes that teacher expectations do play a significant role in determining how well and how much students learn.

Research into the ways in which teachers interact with their students highlight how teachers form expectations about their students and more importantly how teachers' expectations influence the rigor of assignments they give their students. Particularly noteworthy are the findings of Douglass (1964) and Mackler (1969) on the effects that tracking has on teachers and students, "Teachers' expectations about a student's achievement can be affected by factors having little or nothing to do with the student’s ability and yet these expectations can determine the level of achievement by confining learning opportunities to those available in one's track."

Data Works, an educational software company, examined work assigned by teachers in thousands of classrooms and found that teachers from second grade through high school have reduced their academic expectations of their students. Astonishingly, the research showed that by 5th grade only 2 out of every 100 assignments given to students were at grade level. It would be nice to think that the other 98 assignments were above grade level pushing the students to expand their horizons, however, the chart above suggest otherwise.

It should be remembered that the students often internalize teachers' expectations over time. When this internalization occurs, a student's perseverance and motivation to achieve may decline until the student's ability to achieve is damaged. As a classroom teacher, “How do you determine the rigor of your assignments?”

Summary : http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le0bam.htm

A Teacher’s Influence

"I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized."

From, HAIM GINOTT, Between Teacher and Child

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The goal is to encourage and facilitate positive parental involvement in the classroom. Educational research identifies four reasons for encouraging parental support:

• Students perform better
• Teacher morale improves
• Parents become empowered
• Communities grow stronger.

Since there is no one reason for parental non-participation, the following are several approaches that seek to involve parents in their child's education.

Start Up Calls
Spend the week before school starts calling each parent to introduce yourself, emphasize their importance from the start and open lines of communication. Invite them to a parent meeting and take this time to discuss scheduling a meeting when the most parents can attend.

Calling Web
Establish a phone tree in which each parent is responsible for calling two or three other parents to notify of special events or news. Arrange the tree so bilingual parents call those that don't speak English well. Designate a neighbor to inform those without phones.

Beginning of the Year Questionnaire
Send a questionnaire home to parents on the first day of school. Ask them these kind of questions:

• Tell me about your child. What are his or her interests?
• What do you think is important for your child learn this year?
• Is there anything you especially want me to know about your child?
• How would you like to be involved in your child's education this year?

Suggestion Box
Have box mounted outside of the classroom door for student or parent suggestions. Let it be known it is perfectly fine to make anonymous suggestions or to send them in envelopes with students.
Thursday Folder Notes
Send home a folder on Thursdays with student work on one side, school communication on the other side. Staple a sheet that is permanently included for handwritten comments and communication between parent and teacher.

Weekly News Letters
Send home a newsletter in Thursday folders. Try to incorporate the help of a bilingual parent or coworker if necessary. Use the newsletter to thank parents and acknowledge their contributions and inform them of any new developments.

Source: Debora McDonnell, Elementary School Teacher