Questions Every Teacher Should Be Able To Answer

For most of us, the sense of panic when presented with a Course Outline is thankfully a distant memory. For myself, the memory is not a fond one and it sometimes is the topic of an unpleasant dream. Such was the seeming life sentence for the secondary and post-secondary years: suck it up and do what is expected - do not question.
While the curriculum for secondary and post-secondary courses is very cut-and-dry, such is not the case with elementary education. While there is a prescribed curriculum, the teacher has more flexibility in deciding what, when and how a subject/topic is covered.
It is this flexibility and the immaturity of the young students that prompts many parents to take an active and vigilant role in their child's education.
Terry Heick, in his blog entry entitled, 19 Meaningful Questions You Should Ask Your Child's Teacher, looks at how parents can take a meaningful look at what is actually happening in their child's classroom.
While these 19 questions are not carved in stone, they do provide parents with a starting point for finding out more about the teaching style of the person who is working with their child. Are there more, or other questions a parent could ask? Certainly, and Heick's list will light the fire for further investigation.
Ideally, it would be beneficial if elementary teachers would forgo any curriculum outline, and focus more on providing parents with answers to these types of questions.
P.S. Be sure to read the Comments - they provide a lot of additional insight.
To read Heick's article, click HERE.

English Practice Activities - Listen and Watch

This British Council site is excellent for English Practice Activities.
Participants can either listen and watch on their computer, or download the video and audio files to an mp3 player.

Free Language Practice Activities

All of the audio and video above come with Practice Activities that you can do on your computer while you listen and watch, or, you can print them out and complete them at some other time.

Series Topics Include:

Popping the Question
Time is Money
Family Matters
Dumped?
Big City Small World

Check out this valuable site

To experience this excellent site, click HERE.

Teaching Good Morals

Many parents are compromised when it comes to teaching good morals to their kids. Parents feel helpless because they believe our society is in moral decline, and so much of what children are seeing and experiencing is contrary to what parents believe is moral.

The internet and social media occupy so much of children's lives, and they abound with people who are willing to do 'anything' to gain attention. Television is rife with violence, self-gratification and criminal acts.

Kindness, fairness and justice are key traits parents want to instill in their children, yet when parents are faced with so many contradictions to their own moral beliefs, it is very tempting to simply abandon teaching good morals.

Despite the seeming hopelessness of parents teaching good morals, there are a few good ideas for teaching goodness to kids in this article by Stephanie Manes.

Test Your Grammar

So you think your grammar skills are “Ok”?

Try this test of mostly basic grammar skills:

Grammatically Speaking

If you are not happy with your results and you are a chronic or frequent texter, you might like to read this: OMG! LOL!

Here are several sites that will help English learners with Christmas Vocabulary

ESL Christmas Vocabulary

Learn Christmas Vocabulary with this ESL  Memory Game (Santa, tree, elf, etc.). This game is also excellent for Vocabulary Teaching and Practice. ESL Learners and Teachers can use it to review English vocabulary or simply practice these words. This memory games has audio, images and text which makes it possible to practice spelling, reading, listening and word recognition. It is great for beginner and elementary ESL Lesson Plans.Click HERE

ESL Christmas Vocabulary

This site contains a list of key Christmas Vocabulary. There is also a list of Christmas Sayings. CLick HERE

ESL Christmas Activities

This site contains a wide range of activities for all ages and all levels of English proficiency. Click HERE

Critical Search Skills Students Should Know

There is a new digital divide on the horizon. It is not based around who has devices and who does not, but instead the new digital divide will be based around students who know how to effectively find and curate information and those who do not.

The New Digital Divide

The Digital Divide

In an age of information abundance learning to effectively search is one of the most important skills most teachers are NOT teaching. They assume students know how to conduct a search, and set them free on the internet to find information. They assume that students have the skills to critically think their way through the searching and the web. Sadly, this is not the case and everyday we are losing the information literacy battle because we often forget to teach these crucial searching skills in our schools:

Critical Search Skills Students Should Know

The Filter Bubbles

Finding Primary Sources

To learn more about these research skills click HERE

Your Brain Map - 84 Strategies for Accelerated Learning

Your Brain Map - 84 Strategies for Accelerated Learning

This unique and interesting site provides an excellent 3D of Your Brain Map & 84 Strategies for Accelerated Learning.

You begin by viewing a revolving brain map with each area labelled for easy click access.

Accelerated Learning

Once you have selected a particular area of the brain you are provided with several options that explain the function of that part of the brain and tips on how to improve the functioning of that area.

To access this excellent site, click HERE

Lernit Tutoring Services
For Tutors You Can Rely On

Finding The Right Tutor

All parents want the best tutor they can find for their child. Many parents choose to save money by screening tutors themselves and hiring them directly rather than dealing with a company or agency…but this process takes time and has many pitfalls.
What kind of tutor are you  looking for?
The one who lives next door?
Or, maybe the one who is offering the cheapest rate?
Now think about it….
There are no regulations on who can tutor.
There is no monitoring of tutoring quality or effectiveness.

So how do you find the right tutor?
Lernit Tutoring Services offers excellent tutors who are well-qualified,experienced and caring.
They use individualized teaching methods to help you achieve your learning goals.
We check our tutor’s credentials, do a criminal record check, and personally interview them to select only the best tutors for our students.

So contact us today…
Because you need an experienced, reliable tutor with a unique teaching style that suits your way of learning.

Questions to Ask the Prospective Tutor

The following questions serve as a guideline of questions to ask when contacting a tutor for the first time. Remember to spend time talking with the tutor on the phone to get a sense of the kind of person they are.

• What is your education background? (Lernit tutors have the necessary credentials)
• How long have you been tutoring? (Lernit tutors have a minimum 2 year’s experience)
• When was the last time you tutored someone in this subject/at this level?
• What method of payment do you take/when is payment due?
• When are you available? (Lernit tutors try to meet your schedule)
• What is your cancellation policy? (Lernit has a comprehensive cancellation policy)
• Where do you meet with students? (Lernit tutors meet in your home or at any convenient location)
• Have you had a criminal record check? (Lernit tutors have a recent CRC)
• Do you have any references I can contact? (Lernit has verified at least 2 references)

Lernit has vetted each tutor to ensure you are getting a verified educator. We also have a Customer Service Policy that ensures your satisfaction…so contact us today to begin achieving your learning goals.

Free Halloween Educational Goodies - Trick-or-Treat Bags

Just in time for the season this site offers great Free Halloween Educational Goodies for EVERYONE.
Halloween Freebie for Kindergarten
Candy Corn Contractions for Elementary
Spanish Halloween Freebie
Halloween Subway Art - Writing Prompt for Middle School
Who Am I? A fun game for High School
To access this site click HERE

The Best Sing-a-Long ESL Videos

Here are a few of the best sing-a-long ESL videos we have found. They are perfect for motivating and energizing your ESL class, or, if you are an ESL student, they will help your pronunciation.

HAPPY Song Video

"Happy" song by Pharell Williams, lyric video version. Really fun and repetitive language. If students don't get it the first time, they will one of the many other times....

What Does the Fox Say? ESL video song

"What Does the Fox Say?" is a viral video that is just plain fun, but also useful for animal name pronunciation. Fun to dance to.

Guess the Animal Game and Video for ESL

'Guess the Animal Noise" A fun activity for all ages and the video is funny to watch. Not a sing-a-long but still encourages l

Taking Effective Notes

Whether you choose to go old school with pen and paper, or prefer to have everything digital, the most important thing for taking effective notes is staying organized. That means attending classes, dating your notes, and keeping your notes and course info in one place so it can be easily retrieved. For computer note-takers, software like Evernote is a great way to keep all your course material in one place – your syllabus, readings, and notes can all be stored and accessed from any computer through your browser. Plus, you can tag your notes with keywords and retrieve all your notes with that tag in a click when you’re studying for a test!

It’s easy to get distracted in class, whether you’re sitting next to someone chatty or you’ve fallen into a black hole of GIFs. Minimizing distractions is key to getting all that important information down, so turn off your WiFi if you have to, put away your phone, or sit towards the front to stay focused.
Instead of just copying down what you professor says in lecture, try adding keywords and questions to your notes to help you see important themes in your lectures, brainstorm for essay topics, and create practice exam questions. If you’re taking notes by hand, the Cornell note-taking method uses different columns in your notebook to include your notes, questions, and a summary of the lecture to complete after class. There are lots of resources for Cornell note-taking paper that you can download and print to make it even easier.

Reviewing your notes this way is great for checking your understanding and researching any questions you have before you forget all about it. Even though re-reading your notes after a two-hour lecture might be the last thing you want to do, it’s important to make sure your notes are complete while everything is fresh in your mind – a break between classes is the perfect opportunity to do revise!

Ultimately, the best tip is to make a system that works for you and stick to it. It can be tough to stay disciplined but some extra effort throughout the year will have a major payoff when it comes to exams and assignments.

Content courtesy of: http://www.schoolfinder.com/news/article.asp?ID=2701&SectionID=7

Knowing How to Write Well

Communication skills are at the heart of what it means to be a student. Whether in college, university, or on the job, knowing how to write well is not only an essential skill, but also an important part of fostering good overall communication. Despite differences in study, improving your ability to communicate your ideas and concepts clearly will come in handy.

Planning and necessary preparing before you write is critical to your paper’s success. Teachers are famous for requesting an outline before any written draft of an essay. The reason is that an outline is highly effective for organizing your thoughts, ideas, and arguments. Writing without an outline is flying blind—make an outline and make your life easier.

“Does spelling count” is often heard in elementary, and even high school, but will seldom be heard in a university or college classroom – everything counts! A major part of writing is precision and discipline: which means editing, editing, and editing. Lazy mistakes, errors, and thoughtless words on a page will do little to impress your instructors or help you get your point across to the reader. Edit your work!

Often students will try to pump-up their essays with large words, clichés, wordiness, and poor grammatical and sentence structure. Make sure you approach your properly indented paragraphs with caution, and use words you know, always side with plain English, and try to avoid clichés that are commonplace.

Read over your work and be thorough – university and college professors will not take kindly to phrases that make no sense or that they cannot understand; there are no part marks.

To be a strong writer, a helpful place to start is to become a strong reader. Reading helps you understand structure, style, and content that will all inform and better your writing.

Most schools have writing resources to aid you with your assignments – take advantage of these services. Good luck!

Article courtesy of: http://www.schoolfinder.com/news/article.asp?ID=2705&SectionID=7

Study Tips for Your Learning Style

Everyone learns differently, so knowing Study Tips for Your Learning Style will help you to make your study time more efficient. A popular model for defining learning styles is the VARK model: visual, kinaesthetic, reading/writing, and auditory.

Educational group games & activities

Educational group games & activities

Access an ever-expanding online database of educational group games & activities specifically designed to equip teachers, corporate trainers, camp leaders, youth workers, outdoor educators and many others with outrageously fun and interactive activities.

Visual dictionary on the topic San Francisco

With this  visual dictionary on the topic San Francisco learn 14 new words and expressions related to this topic. For every vocabulary item there is an illustration, a definition, its use in a sample sentence, and audio pronunciation.

My Favourite Phonics and Literacy Websites

My Favourite Phonics and Literacy Websites from Teacher Suzy

Stop Multitasking

Stop Multitasking - it will destroy your brain. Such are the words of Deepak Chopra: "It’s the one skill that gets worse, so if you practice multitasking it will get worse progressively. It also damages your brain. It’s like any other addiction."
See this interesting video:

Free Reading Comprehension Cards

These free reading comprehension cards help students think critically and better understand stories and texts they read. Using the cards, students will practice the following reading strategies:
1) Predict
2) Connect
3) Clarify
4) Question
5) Comment
6) Synthesize
These reading comprehension cards can be used in large groups, small groups, literature circles, or individually.

Subject:

Reading, Critical Thinking, Reading Strategies

Grade Level(s):

Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Homeschooling

Goal Setting for the New School Year

“If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there?” – Basil S. Walsh

This quote by Basil Walsh really pinpoints the importance of setting goals.  If your children do not do goal setting for the new school year, they will be just aimlessly floating through their lessons.  By helping your child set goals you are not only teaching him an important skill that he will use the rest of his life, but you are helping him create a tool by which to steer his life.  These blogs will help you teach your child how to set goals, create a visual tool to stay focused on those goals and explain why setting goals is so important.

Good Homework Habits

Good Homework Habits

ABC Life Literacy Canada offers 10 tips on how to make homework a part of your family’s daily routine. Establishing good homework habits for younger children helps them develop effective study skills for high school and beyond.

1. Have a specific – and limited – time each day for homework. An hour should be enough for younger children. Early in the evening is best, so that when homework is done there is still time for play. Starting later means rushing to get finished before bedtime, when kids may become too tired to concentrate.
2. Have a regular place for homework. For older kids somewhere “quiet” might be best, but younger kids often do better in a common area like the kitchen or at the dining room table, with an adult nearby.
3. Limit distractions and temptation. Turn off the TV, cell phones and other electronics during homework hour – for the whole family.
4. Parents can do their own routine tasks during homework hour, but should be readily available to help, encourage, and answer questions. But don’t do their homework for them!
5. Start with the hardest subject first, since it will probably take the most time and effort.
6. Kids can become overwhelmed with big assignments or projects. Parents can help them break the project down into smaller steps.
7. When kids resist or delay doing homework, parents can help motivate them by using positive language (“When you finish your homework, you’ll be able to …”) instead of negative language (“If you don’t finish your homework, you won’t be able to …”).
8. Kids have different learning styles, and parents can help them develop effective methods for doing their homework. However, if homework is a constant struggle, talk to the teacher.
9. Show kids how the skills they are learning relate to real life. For example, if a child is learning math, collect receipts from the supermarket and calculate the weekly or monthly cost of your groceries.
10. Don’t limit family learning to homework hour. Make learning a part of daily life by embracing everyday learning opportunities.

To receive a FREE copy of our e-book, A Parent's Guide to Solving Homework Problems please visit our Facebook page.

How to Find the Right Tutor for Your Child

It can be painful to watch your child struggle through a particular concept or unit in school. Whether it is difficulty in understanding long division, struggling with standard English grammar rules or anything in between, there is only so much that teachers and parents alike can do. For children who are having trouble in particular areas of study, it often helps to hire a tutor. This can be a great way to help a child better understand concepts in a way that relates to him. Over time, working with a tutor can result in a significant improvement in a child’s grades and self-confidence.

This article, How to Find the Right Tutor for Your Child, provides 4 key points to consider when looking for that special tutor.

10 iPhone Apps to Help Kids Manage Homework

As kids get older, their responsibilities and schoolwork begins to increase, sometimes to the point that it seems like they need a dedicated personal assistant to manage the workload! Whether your child has his own iPhone or shares yours, these are 10 of the apps you can both rely on to make sure that homework gets finished on time and reference material is readily available.

18 OF THE BEST BLOGS FOR HELPING KIDS FIND THEIR PASSION

There has been much talk about helping kids find their passion so that they can live a full life, but how do you help your kids find that spark?  As a parent you can open the door to experiences and opportunities.  You can encourage your kids to try different things and to always be curious about life. But you can’t force your kids to love something. However, maybe one of the most important things you can do as a parent is to study your kids and take note of what kinds of activities make them excited and happy.  These 18 blog articles by Kenney Meyers will give you some ideas on how to help your kids find their passion.

10 Tips for Getting Back on the School Schedule

As the summer break draws to a close, many parents find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to get their little night owls back into a normal routine for the impending semester. Getting back into the swing of things with minimal fuss and relatively few tantrums will require a bit of effort, but it’s certainly not impossible. These ten tips will have your kids back on the school schedule before you know it, and the whole family will be back into a productive and reasonable routine in no time.

Online methods to gain class participation

Online methods to gain class participation

image courtesy of securedgenetworks.com

With today’s wired world, educators can now find venues in how to create an engaging activity with their students even when they are outside the four walls of the classroom. These activities help children gain knowledge and confidence to join class activities. Here are some ideas that you can use to extend student participation and learning online:

Post videos
Educational videos provide a good starting point for online discussions by giving feedback or asking questions about what they have watched. Try to find videos that your students can enjoy and learn. There are tons of websites out there that offers such a list.
Apart from informative films, you can also include shots of your class while doing an activity. With easy-to-use video editing apps for tablets, you can make your own videos about different events happening in your school. You can even do this as a classroom activity by letting them make their own using their gadgets. Most apps nowadays allow for frictionless sharing to social media, so it should be easy for them to publish and share their works online, as long as you have a fast mobile broadband connection or reliable WiFi coverage at school.

Post student achievements
Your classroom blog or online group is a good venue to publish their achievements online. These can help them gain confidence to achieve more in class.  For parents who usually check information on the internet, this is also an easy way for them to be updated with their kid’s class standing.

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Do team ups with other classroom blogs
Other classroom blogs meant interacting with other students from across the globe. You and your students could coordinate with fellow classroom bloggers and come up with online activities  like blog competitions or maybe conduct collaborative science projects. This approach gives a close-up view of other cultures.  The Skype classroom is a good way to find new classroom friends for your students.

Opening an online art gallery
Launching an online art gallery is an effective way to boost children’s artistic talents and confidence. Posting their works online allows other people to give their feedback on the students’ works. Instant recommendation can help them in improving their work because they get to discover their strengths and weaknesses. You can open your art gallery at www.artsonia.com. It offers millions of artworks to view. These are segregated into different school levels so kids can look for artworks made by their own age. Plus, it has a weekly contest where for students with great artworks.

Round robin short story writing
This activity helps students express their creative side through writing. It’s a method of writing wherein a group of people will write pieces of short stories in rounds.  You can assign a team of students who will contribute a these literary works to the blog every week.
Now that you learned some ideas on how get your students active online, what methods are you planning to use? Share us your thoughts.

About the Author
Reese Jones often looks at anything ipad, branding, alternative music and mobile applications. In her spare time she can always find time for playing guitar  and she also maintains a passion for cinema.

8 back-to-school tips for parents

 

The hustle and bustle of sending your kids back to school can be stressful. Here are eight back-to-school tips to help you stay stress-free and prepare for the coming school year.

By Jackie Middleton

It’s summertime.
Breathe deeply, hear the splash in the pool. For a few sweet weeks, let the chaos of the school year recede; forget about schedules and stop rushing around.
You can almost do it, until the dreaded question pops up on the radio, in a newspaper or magazine, or as part of a discussion thread on the neighborhood e-mail list:
What are you doing to prevent summer brain drain?

Math "Pac Man" Game

This math game is very similar to the classic arcade game Pac Man. Kids can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.

Top 5 Free Apps For Summer Fun Learning

Get these Top 5 Free Apps For Summer Fun Learning and help prevent summer brain drain. Click HERE.

The Fly Swatter Game - Vocabulary Practice and Development

 
The Fly Swatter Game is a lively and distinctive activity to practice and develop vocabulary.

10 Resources For Extending Learning Over The Summer

Now that May is here, the sun is shining, the days are longer–it can be very difficult to finish off the school year and plant seeds to avoid summer brain drain. Students are ready for the great outdoors, and teachers are celebrating the end of piles of papers and clutter on their desk. Even parents look forward to summer vacation–for a little while! This feature article is dedicated to keeping us focused for the end of the school year, so we can sneak in a few ideas to promote summer learning.

The Most-Used i-Pad Apps For Teachers

The 24 (all the apps you can fit on one screen without using folders) most-used and favorite iPad apps for teachers

What Job Skills Do You Need?

You might think a good education and top grades are enough to get a good job. So it may surprise you to learn that employers look for other important skills. This article from the Daily Mirror outlines the basic skills employers require and provides sample tests to see if you make the grade.
To read this article click HERE.

John Seely Brown on Motivating Learners

Innovative thinker John Seely Brown, known for his ideas for merging digital culture and education, shares lessons educators can learn from surfers, gamers, and artists on how passion and competitive hunger can drive intrinsic motivation. To visit his siite and view the video click HERE.

Free Photoshop Tutorial - Self-Publishing Class Books

This is a quick tutorial for those who would like to use Photoshop to create professional looking class books. The step-by-step photos and descriptions will guide you through importing students drawing and creating simple, colorful backgrounds for your class book. The pages can then be printed out or sent off for self-publishing.Click HERE

Physical Fitness and Sports Activities for Teachers and Parents

A healthy lifestyle should be part of everyday life. This link features activities suitable for teachers and parents who want to engage their students/children.

For more information click HERE

Nouns that Are Countable and Uncountable

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable, usually with different meanings for each. These pages list the most common ones, together with example sentences and quick quiz to check understanding. Click HERE to access.

Educational Videos

 

 

A Conversation with Elon Musk

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Geoffrey Moore - insights into education

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 Students Leaving the System to Learn

The day that Albert Einstein most feared has finally arrived...