8 Listening Habits to Avoid. Google Apps for Administrators: An Introduction.
10 reasons your educators (or employees) are resisting your change initiative. 3 Things That Need To Be Reciprocated in Schools. Cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Aunt Owwee A positive school culture is the only way that organizations will move forward, yet there is often a lot of little subtle messages on things that aren’t working that can slowly erode the climate.
I believe that I have said it before, but schools will not be “innovative” if they can’t work together. You will only get pockets of teachers/classrooms that will have this in spite of the culture. As teachers and administrators should be working together to do what is best for kids, in many conversations with schools there seems to be an expectation with some that some traits are the responsibility of either the teacher or the principal, not necessarily both. Here are some things that need to be reciprocal as opposed to coming from one direction: 1. “The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. 2. Those tough situations as well. 3. Six Insights About Teacher Evaluation. What Students Want From Their Teachers. So over the course of several lunch periods, I went from table-to-table, asking, “What qualities do you look for in the best teachers?
The best teachers (blank)…” While my methodology will cause my college statistics professor to cringe, the students were remarkably honest. I interviewed about 200 students and fewer than 5 answered “no work” or “allows us to sleep in class.” The answers reaffirmed that students really do want to learn and be challenged. Not surprisingly, the answers didn’t differ much from Angela’s list either.
To the best of my abilities I grouped the answers together and they are listed by frequency of response. We want teachers who make class engaging, interesting, captivating and fun. This was the run-away winner with more than the next three responses combined. Students used words like variety, creative, hands on, participation, fun, and real to describe the best lessons. Administrator. DYNAMIC SOLUTIONS FOR EVERY SCHOOL, EACH STUDENT.
14 Provocative Questions for the Faculty. It's back to school time.
Get ready for that opening day faculty meeting where you sit and listen, while wishing you could be getting some actual work done in your classroom. Here's some questions you might ask at the meeting to generate more meaningful back to school discussion. Can students learn to be innovative in a school driven by the routine of test prep? Every summer you get to reinvent yourself as a teacher. I've used the time to brainstorm a few disruptive questions I would pose to subvert the status quo in school. When's the last time we talked about who’s learning, who’s not, and what we are doing about it? Comment below to add a question you'd like to see posed at the opening day faculty meeting. Image credit: Banksy - subversive street artist. Tags: Critical thinking, Curriculum, Higher-order thinking, Innovation, PLC, Reform, Test prep Trackback URL.
Fair Isn’t Equal: Seven Classroom Tips. In last month's post, I mentioned that there are two skills that separate great teachers from good ones.
I explained that the first skill is the ability to reframe student behavior, to see it in new ways. Today I want to discuss the second skill: knowing how to treat students fairly by not treating them the same. Allen Mendler and I introduced the idea that fair isn't equal to the education community in 1988 in the first edition of Discipline With Dignity (an updated, more comprehensive explanation with examples is provided in the current edition). Since then, nearly all of the educators who have used our model have seen remarkable results when resolving a wide range of behavior issues. In short, treating students in a fair -- but not equal -- way works.
If you ask students what are the most important qualities they like in teachers, one of the universally top-mentioned is fairness. 20 Teacher End of the Year Reflection Questions. 20 End of the Year Reflection Questions. Here are 20 questions to help you and your students reflect on the school year.
You could use these informally for discussion when you have a few minutes or for a more personal reflection experience, take a few of your favorites to use for a survey or as writing/journal prompts. There is also a list of reflection questions for teachers here.What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of? What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year? What was the most challenging part of this year for you? UPDATE: May 2015: I just made these questions into task cards! I recently found out that Laura Candler of Corkbord Connections has posted this terrific freebie called School Year Reflections that could easily be used with the questions on this post.
Wiggio - Makes it easy to work in groups. 5 Steps To A (Nearly) Paperless Office. AntiBullying Plan. CrowdFunding/CrowdSourcing. Ed. leadership.