Now more than ever, teachers are struggling with more questions about teaching than they can find answers for. Let’s start with those you may have about running your classroom. Maybe your school doesn’t offer mentors that will answer these on a daily basis. Maybe you’re new and don’t want to appear too new–or you’re experienced but not in some of the new teaching techniques. Does these sound like questions you have:
I know from my network that eachers are struggling with the massive changes occurring in education. They wonder if they’ve burned out on what once was their passion. Should they keep trying or make changes? If any of this applies to you, don’t feel you have to handle it alone. Consider a career coach. Check out these resources from colleagues: Or feel free to contact me. My path may be like yours. I started teaching in a classroom, switched to online classes and then grad school classes. Now, I teach, coach, mentor, and write about education for a variety of ezines and ed companies. I’d love to talk to you about what you’re going through. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Do you need a career coach? published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr Do you need a career coach?
0 Comments
They Call Me Mom
by Pete Springer
5/5
x
Pete Springer’s memoir They Call Me Mom (Outskirts Press 2019) about his first years teaching will delight new teachers and have experienced educators nodding along with him. As a teacher, Pete’s early experiences remind me of the joy inherent in teaching:
“This job required about as much brainpower as my tree planting experience.”
“This is the story of how I fell in love with teaching and the joys and challenges that this noble profession provided to me over the course of thirty-one years.”
x
He breaks the book into chapters every teacher will understand:
x
x
…and more. Aside from grading, parents, lunch duty, conferences, and yard duty, these are the biggest issues teachers face. Even as a veteran teacher of thirty years, I still couldn’t wait to read Pete’s take on these timeless issues.
x
“Instead of saying, “Do everything my way, and you can become a successful teacher,” she was giving me her permission to find my way.” “…storytelling was one of the most successful methods to get my students to pay attention.”
“…when we lose our calm, we are teaching them that it is okay to behave in this manner when something is not going right.”Xx
Every new teacher will benefit from Pete’s daily experiences of what in the end results in a journey well traveled with more importance than most of us would care to admit. Educational philosophies change. Favorite tools like iPads and Chromebooks change. What doesn’t is the fundamentals Pete covers in this book:
x
“…tell the kids when I made similar mistakes growing up.”
“I do think that it is possible for parents or schools to provide too many rewards for kids.”
x
Overall an excellent book. If you’re a new teacher, I’d call this an essential read prior to your first day.
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. A Book New–and Veteran–Teachers Will Want to Read published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr A Book New–and Veteran–Teachers Will Want to Read SmartBrief, news on technology in education, recently published an article, Uniting technology and SEL to teach the whole child, on the importance of SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) in an educational landscape shaped by COVID-19. In part, they shared: Social-emotional learning is seeing a surge in mentions in the educational landscape. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly illuminated the fact that academic growth and social and emotional wellness are interdependent and that educators must take into account the social and emotional aspects of a student’s reality as they consider academic development. I know firsthand the power of SEL, both as a teacher and as a former student. I was born and raised in the rural mountains of North Carolina and was greatly influenced by a teacher who led with compassion. This educator forever changed my life because she saw “the whole child” — she recognized me as more than my abilities in reading and math. She saw me as a hurt child from a broken home, although it was the only home I knew, and knew she could help me reach my potential by engaging me on a social and emotional level. For more background on SEL, check out our article discussing “The Importance of SEL to Education Success“: Life is much simpler when you — as a parent or teacher — can point to one solution for a problem, solve it, and everything is golden. Success in school was like that when grades were the barometer and studying harder was the tool. Now, we know academic achievement is much more complicated. “Students are telling us there’s a big missing piece in their education” –John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Today’s educators realize learning has as much to do with academics as how students get along with themselves and others. This is called “Social Emotional Learning” or SEL. It’s akin to the importance of play in teaching preschool kids to socialize with others, develop tenacity, and learn respect for those around them. If you’re not convinced of the importance of SEL, here’s what students say:
A positive attitude about themselves and others is linked to not only academic success but correlated to lessening the negative impact of future-ending problems such as drug use. It should surprise no one that as of mid-2018, two states have passed SEL measures, sixteen SEL-related bills and resolutions have been introduced, and twenty-three states are working on SEL standards.
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. SEL in Your Classroom published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr SEL in Your Classroom In these169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education. Today’s tip: Turn an Address into a Link Category: MS Office, Google Apps, internet, Edit/Format Q: I get documents from friends with links to websites. How do they do that? A: When you want to send a website address to people, here’s what you do:
If you want to paste a link behind words:
This works in MS Office, Google Apps, and lots of online webtools. Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom. What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Tech Tip #3: Turn an Address into a Link published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr Tech Tip #3: Turn an Address into a Link Here are a few of the popular resources teachers are using to
Click here for more Click here for updates to this list. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. 16+ Websites on Assessments published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr 16+ Websites on Assessments Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Christian Miraglia, taught for 36 years before retiring. Here is Part 2 of his discussion on technology’s place in education: Part II Technology is Here to Stay: A Conversation with TeachersIn my previous post, I wrote about the permanency of technology in the instructional setting for educators. Over the past weeks, I have spoken to a few educators about what has changed for them in this area. There is no doubt that the use of tech tools beyond the general record-keeping for attendance and grading has now found a footing in most classrooms around the nation. Some teachers who were initially hesitant to jump into the depths of technology integration find themselves fully immersed. Some who were on the proverbial edge of the diving board have been pushed into the pool and some have embraced the change with the excitement of a child playing with a new toy. I recently spoke with a fellow history teacher who has embraced the technology and been quite creative in the process. With a focus on the social-emotional component of instruction, he utilized a master Google Slide deck coupled with one of the Eduprotocols skills such as Number Mania or Iron Chef and the content he was covering. This procedure allowed him to see all of his students responding to the prompt and kept him connected to the students throughout the year. Taking the learning to another level as well as incorporating the 21st Century skill of communication, his students showed their parents an exhibit using Flipgrid they had built based on the unit essential question. Without the use of this recording tool, the work would have been relegated to the school’s LMS as a click-through for the teacher. Moreover, with the exhibit being published, the student’s parents now had validation of their child’s work. Very powerful indeed. Another teacher found that utilizing an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that was cloud-based gave her students round-the-clock access to work in their programming class instead of relying on a downloaded file to a school computer. In our current environment, this addresses the issue of student access to content extending beyond the limitations to work only done in between walls of the classrooms. In another conversation with a colleague of mine who is also a history teacher at the high school level, it was pointed out that because students were just glad to be back in a classroom setting they embraced any assignment that he pushed out. Because of the social distancing mandate in his district, it was important that he be strategic in his instructional strategy. In the previous year of pandemic instruction, he explored how discussion panels could be used specifically using Canvas. He found that students were inclined to post well-thought responses as they looked forward to the feedback from their peers. The same collaborative approach was taken once students returned back to school in the summer utilizing the Eduprotocols. Once school started a couple of weeks ago with limitations on classroom movement students were able to collaborate on Google slides and communicate with each other by using the same strategy. More importantly, after students collaborated they had to report out on their choices. The selection of the strategy and technology tool was very intentional to create a more engaging environment as well as providing for a platform for the students learning experience. What is clear in these conversations is that these teachers have adapted and for the good. Providing more student agency, collaboration opportunities, and embracing the 21st Century Skills in this new environment has taken on new meaning. Purposeful selection of technology tools and platforms has become key. As the pandemic continues to affect educational institutions, teachers are becoming innovators in their strategies for instructional delivery. Yet as I read commentary on school openings and interact with teachers nationwide I hear a resounding cry for investment in professional development in these areas. Along with an investment should be a concrete plan for reviewing what is working in the classrooms and a commitment to training teachers in these platforms and applications. Technology is here to stay and is now very much part of teaching whether it be with delivery platforms or applications. The ultimate question remains, how does it affect student achievement? Bio Christian Miraglia is a recently retired 36 year educator and now Educational Technology Consultant at t4edtech where he also blogs. He can be found on Twitter @T4edtech and on his YouTube Channel Transformative Edtech. @T4Edtech #edtech Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Technology and Teaching: A Conversation with Teachers published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr Technology and Teaching: A Conversation with Teachers Many of my most popular articles are about mouse skills. Every year, tens of thousands of teachers visit Ask a Tech Teacher to find resources for teaching students how to use a mouse. No surprise because using a mouse correctly is one of the most important pre-keyboarding skills. Holding it is not intuitive and if learned wrong, becomes a habit that’s difficult to break. The earlier posts are still active, but I’ve updated this resource with more websites and posters to assist in starting off your newest computer aficionados. Check here for updates on links. Mouse Skills
Puzzles
Adults Trackpad Many of these are simply repurposing mouse skill sites to the trackpad. Posters Bookmark this page on Mouse Skills to stay up-to-date as I find more resources. I received this comment from a reader: “We haven’t had “mice” at our school in quite a few years. I teach trackpad skills via Chromebooks which requires a different mind/skill set. Younger children need to press with the index finger on one hand and lightly drag with the index finger of another hand for optimum control. Right-click is the simultaneous two finger press. Paint programs are a nice way to develop these skills. All of the aforementioned sites are certainly adaptable to trackpads. In keeping with the KISS principle, the attention to the fine motor-skill capability per age/grade is important. I’ve found it isn’t until the second half of the school year that first graders are able to attempt mastery of holding with one finger while lightly moving with the other for a drag and drop or selection [NOT highlighting]. The temptation to push with one finger while dragging doesn’t give young students control over the cursor, and thus, the beauty of practicing this via simple paint program lessons. The correlation is also made to first holding the shift key with one finger while capitalizing with another finger. That is about as posty as I get if you’d like to use it. I have been on the lookout for good trackpad skill sites. Let me know if you have any. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. 16 Websites and 5 Posters to Teach Mouse Skills published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr 16 Websites and 5 Posters to Teach Mouse Skills District Administration recently published an interesting article on how mindfulness creates kinder classrooms and reduces problematic behaviors by 18%. Click the link and check out their thoughts. If you’d like background on Mindfulness, check our article published earlier on How to Incorporate Mindfulness into Your ClassStudents learn best when they are relaxed, happy, and feeling loved. It is challenging to include those characteristics in classes when you are concurrently trying to achieve school goals, comply with curriculum timelines, juggle parent concerns, and blend your lessons with those of colleagues. This is where mindfulness becomes important. It reminds teachers that the fulcrum for learning is the student’s emotional well-being. Let’s back up a moment: What is mindfulness? Buddha said:
If that’s the plan, mindfulness is the path. It teaches students how to quiet themselves — get to a place where their mind is settled sufficiently to pay full attention to the task at hand. Experts offer many suggestions for incorporating mindfulness into your classroom experience. Consider:
Delving into these rudimentary steps isn’t the goal of this article. Today, I’ll share five ideas on taking mindfulness to the next level in your classes: SpeakingTeach students to look at classmates while speaking. Eye contact is inclusive and personal. It allows students to see how others react to what they are saying. Are there nods, or frowns? Is there a need to clarify something that didn’t come out right? Are classmates bored or riveted? This applies to teachers, too, as we run our classes. Our lessons may be prepared in advance, but our presentation must be agile, flexible to circumstances, and scalable to student reactions. Mindfulness asks us to be aware of our effect on others and make the effort to consider their feelings, attitudes, and needs. Don’t be afraid to suggest that a student presenter take a deep breath, restart or even start over. Don’t be afraid to do that yourself when you see the lesson isn’t going as planned. The message you deliver is as much about attitude and non-verbal cues as words. ListeningRemind students that the goal of listening isn’t to sit quietly with eyes forward, but to acquire knowledge. They are expected to hear what the presenter is saying and integrate it into their personal database. Whatever way they best do this is fine (well, you may have to set a few limits, depending upon how creative your students are). For example, it’s OK to close their eyes — as long as they continue listening. Removing the visual makes the auditory and scentual more powerful enabling some students to better hear the nuances of the presentation. They will also hear the noisy students around them, disrupting the speaker and trying to distract their neighbors. We won’t get into things they may smell! MusicMusic has long been accepted in classrooms. It calms students, mitigates stress, and entertains them while completing difficult tasks. One of the most difficult tasks, albeit often used, is correct keyboarding. Because so much of student work requires keyboarding, from reports to essays to homework to simply logging into accounts, it has become an essential student tool. Teachers think they’re finished when students know key placement and hand position, but there’s one more critical step students must master: typing with an even rhythm. Most students type faster on words they know and slower on others. They must learn to type all words at a steady pace. That is easily done through music. Play popular music whose rhythm is compatible with the grade level typing speed. Demonstrate how you type to the rhythm. Once students get the hang of it, they’ll find that their typing speed has increased and the process itself is less stressful. Anytime they’re typing class projects, play music. Encourage them to do the same at home. ImageryTeachers know how effective it is when students imagine the sensory load associated with what they’re studying in class — smell, taste, feel, visual, and sound. Take this to the next step by asking students to incorporate that into their projects by adding multimedia pieces. This can be audio, where they tape the ocean waves or a bird cawing, or visual where they record a bird in flight or chimpanzees grooming at the zoo. For events they can’t personally experience (most students don’t live next door to a zoo), find videos and images online that can be included. A note: Anytime students use online media in classwork, remind them to respect the copyrights of the creators and only include multimedia they have permission to use. FeedbackLots of schools provide opportunities for collaborative work, sharing knowledge through class blogs or webtools, and student-driven feedback. Remind students that their participation in these should be positive, supportive, evidence-based, and tied to the original activity. Let them reflect on how they would feel if they received confrontational or negative comments and how destructive that is to their personal learning process. *** Mindfulness can be incorporated into any activity, be it a group project, homework, or recess. It’s a state of mind that encourages students to think, create, and evaluate. It should have pride of place in every teacher’s toolkit. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Does Mindfulness Make Your Class Better? published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr Does Mindfulness Make Your Class Better? America, we love you. 9/11… We Remember published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr 9/11… We Remember With schools closed for in-person learning and many children being educated at home, parents are scrambling for quality alternatives that work in a home environment. One of our Ask a Tech Teacher contributors has some ideas you may not have thought of: How to Make Remote Learning Work For Your ChildrenMany parents are choosing to opt-out of traditional schooling, but the question of how to create a well-rounded curriculum or who to hire for this task is often the barrier that prevents at-home learning. In this article, we’ll help you make a decision by presenting popular remote learning options or childcare resources that can support homeschooling or non-traditional approaches. Traditional Homeschooling Homeschooling is a progressive movement where parents educate their children instead of sending them to public or private schools. Families will choose this option for various reasons, including dissatisfaction with public education, constant relocation, or a bad social environment. Some of the many positives of homeschooling your children include:
Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but the legal requirements for this education option vary from place to place. If you’re in the process of pulling your children out of public education, you’ll need to write a letter of withdrawal to the school board that describes your intent to homeschool. There are many curriculum options available for parents. As long as your curriculum of choice follows the requirements of your state, they can apply for college once they graduate. Parents don’t need a formal teaching degree to qualify as homeschool teachers. It may be beneficial for you to take an online course that goes over teaching fundamentals and how to run a classroom. Live-in Nanny Teacher A live-in nanny is similar to a babysitter, except they will care for your children full-time. Nannies are responsible for creating daily schedules and engaging your children in activities that promote their healthy mental, physical and emotional growth. Live-out nannies will have their own place of residents, but full-time and part-time nannies will support you a few hours a week. Nannies are first and foremost experts in child development and a valuable asset for any family. They’re just as much a family member as they are your employee, but the IRS is more concerned with their status as a worker. To pay them legally, use a nanny payroll service. Some nannies have a teaching degree or classroom teaching experience and can support a parent’s homeschooling efforts. You can either hire a nanny with a teaching background to take on the educator role, or they can watch your children in between classroom breaks. Exchange Program Au Pair An Au Pair is defined as a young person who lives abroad with a native host family in exchange for childcare. While they can’t formally educate your children, they can help look after your family while you teach. You can sign up as the host family, where they’ll spend most of their time with you and your family. Some Au Pairs will teach your children another language. The host family will be responsible for the health and safety of the Au Pair, even when they’re not working or performing light childcare duties. Au Pairs work between 20-45 hours a week but must be given enough free time and pocket money to fully enjoy the experience of living abroad. In-Home Tutor An in-home tutor takes on another supporting role for a fully remote or homeschooling education. They typically fill in knowledge gaps the parent or child cannot fill, but an in-home tutor can also help your children get ahead of their peers. Tutors are highly beneficial for subjects like math, English as a second language, science, Spanish or special education. Online Learning Portals Many parents will use online learning portals or educators to tutor their children temporarily. Online portals offer an alternative way to sparse out a child’s education away from a traditional classroom setting. Some subjects are better taught from the computer, like coding or graphic arts. Beyond school, children should know how to use technology that’s integral to their lives. If you prefer to hire a teacher that can keep your child engaged in the subject they’re learning without having to watch them, you can do so for any subject. Online teachers can help your children keep a routine because they need to be at the computer at the same time every day. Final Thoughts Transitioning your children into an at-home learning environment will take some getting used to, but in the end, your family will reap the rewards. Not only will your children earn a higher quality education, but they will also have more free time to explore their surroundings and socialize. Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. Creative Options for Remote Learning published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow via Tumblr Creative Options for Remote Learning |
About UsI'm a freelance writer and keenly interested in a variety of fields including health, history, travel, literature, film, technology, and sports. This enables me to write passionately about a wide variety of subjects. Writing any kind of book or even short stories used to be a long and tiresome task, check out my blogs on successfull life. |