Video Diagrams – Help your students visualize your instructions Adding animations to them not only caught the attention of the students but it really helped the students to understand what they are expected to do. The downside is that it seemed to require a certain level of technology in the classroom to utilize them effectively. You would need a screen, projector or at the very least an overhead camera. This isn’t always practical, especially if you teach at different locations and to different class sizes. I needed a way to make these diagrams more universal, so that they could be viewed from any tablet, mobile device or computer without worrying about formatting issues or installing additional apps. I decided that the best way would be to produce video diagrams. I have produced these three video diagrams for tekhnologic and they are free to download. Play the video and click on share in the top left-hand corner and you will see the option to download the video. Rotating Circles I might give the following instructions while playing the video: Take Care!
peer observation In this article I shall look at the basic principles underlying peer observation and its value to institutions and to individual teachers. What is peer observation?Quality control or professional development?How should peer observation be organised?What are the advantages of peer observation for teachers? What is peer observation? Peer observation is the observation of teachers by teachers, usually, though not always, on a reciprocal basis. Pairings may be mentor/novice or experienced teacher/experienced teacher. Quality control or professional development? Quality control Peer observation may be used by an institution as part of its quality assurance procedures. How should peer observation be organised? Choosing your partner As far as possible, pairs should have the freedom to choose their own partners. What are the advantages of peer observation for teachers? Peer observation gives teachers an opportunity to learn from each other in a non-threatening environment.
Realia In this tip I’d like to offer a few suggestions for activities using realia and to consider why we may want to bring things into the class. Why use realia in class? The main advantage of using real objects into the classroom is to make the learning experience more memorable for the learner. To give a couple of simple examples, if you are going to teach vocabulary of fruit and vegetables it can be much more affective for students if they can touch, smell and see the objects at the same time as hearing the new word. This would appeal to a wider range of learner styles than a simple flashcard picture of the piece of fruit or vegetable. (With very young learners, classroom management can become trickier if you bring in real objects as excitement levels tend to rise. A second example would be if you are going to teach some functional language for asking for the timetable for a train. Here is a selection of activities involving realia. Further reading
APPS – Patricia Diaz For more apps connected to English, please visit Skolappar and Kunskapsplattan! Here is a compilation of 25 iPad Apps for Learning Spelling Scroll down for more iPad apps! Apps for iPhone (iTunes Store) Google Translate – translate words and phrases between more than 50 languages using Google Translate for iOS. New Oxford American Dictionary – With more than 350,000 words, phrases, and senses, and hundreds of explanatory notes, this dictionary provides the most comprehensive and accurate coverage of American English available. Wordbook English Dictionary & Thesaurus – professionally recorded pronunciation for every single entry, word origin information, built-in spell checker with pop-up spelling suggestions, user’s bookmark and note management, unmatched sounds-like and wild card search and a powerful word puzzle solver. Norstedt’s English Dictionary Pro with 276.000 words and phrases. Norstedt’s English Dictionary Pocket version. 32.000 words and phrases. Norstedt’s English Quiz.
How Should Teachers Give Instructions? Teaching instructions The way teachers talk to students, the manner in which they interact is crucial to both successful learning and teaching. Perhaps the most important point that determines how successfully students will learn is the way instructions are formulated and sometimes it is this point which distinguishes good teachers from bad ones. It is important, therefore, that teachers directions relating to academic activity and behavior are clear, precise and effective. It goes without saying that the best activity in the world will turn into a disappointing failure if students don’t understand the instructions. Failure to get instructions through Amazingly, while some students may remain focused on tasks, others may appear to be distracted or confused. How to give better teaching instructions There are two general rules for telling what students need to do: instructions must be kept as simple as possible.and they must be logical. What is the important information I am trying to convey?
Great Web Resources for Teachers These web pages contain very useful material to assist your efforts in educating for character. There is a lot in this list that you can use as the basis for class discussions, writing assignments and student activities. We have not attempted to sort them according to the virtues they teach because they all teach many virtues. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation www.actsofkindness.org This website is just packed with great stuff for propagating basic human kindness. Their own description is way too modest, but here it is: "Want to encourage kindness on campus? School Counselor ToolKit - Student Development In promoting academic, career, and personal/social development, school counselors provide support to students in every grade level by providing comprehensive, proactive lesson plans surrounding character development, relationship education, conflict resolution, and much more.
TeacherTube Motivating Children by Leah Davies, M.Ed. By Leah Davies, M.Ed. Young children develop attitudes toward learning from the significant others in their lives. If parents or other adults nurture a child's self-confidence and curiosity, and provide resources that invite exploration, they instill the message that learning is useful and fun. Children, who observe adults being enthusiastic toward education and coping positively with setbacks, will likely follow their adult role models and pursue knowledge as well as persevere when faced with failure. Through school attendance, children develop beliefs about their abilities and acquire skills to cope with new situations. Low-ability or disadvantaged children and students who have learning or attention disorders must work hardest to succeed. How can educators foster motivation in children? Provide a caring, supportive environment where children are respected and feel a sense of belonging. inShare Click Below for More.
Teaching Strategies: The Balance Between Challenge and Frustration Imagine a very thin line stretching across your classroom. On one side of the line is the land of “too easy,” where students have to exert very little effort and hardly grow. On the other side of the line is “too tough,” where no matter how hard your students work, they’re unlikely to find much success. Your goal: To facilitate learning right along this line using teaching strategies. When you’re teaching along this line, you’re striking an important balance. But perhaps more importantly, the teacher who strikes this balance is not creating an environment of frustration. So how does a teacher successfully strike this balance between using teaching strategies to create a challenging, enriching environment without going too far and frustrating their students? How to make the teachers’ lounge a more positive experience for all in the... We call out some great technology in the classroom alternatives to Today’s Meet... Teaching strategies that help kids build self-confidence.
Zaption - Interact & Learn with Video Lessons motivation tips There’s nothing worse than going into a class full of people who don’t really want to be there. As an EFL teacher most of us have the chance to work with a variety of age groups. Adults are usually in your classroom because they have made the choice to be there and in most cases they have made a financial commitment towards their learning and they know exactly what they want to achieve by improving their language skills. However, children and teenagers often haven’t made their own decision to attend the English class and they are obliged either by their parents or school to do so. It is sometimes appropriate for teachers to take an active role in trying to improve the motivation levels of a group. A highly motivated group of students is generally a lot easier and more fun to teach. Star charts and effort chartsStar charts are a simple way to acknowledge the effort students make in your class. Set goalsTry to negotiate some realistic goals with the group. Further links on motivation
Project work with teenagers A project involves students in deciding together what they want to do to complete a project whilst the teacher plays a more supporting role. Some advantagesPlanning the projectSome possible drawbacksExample projectsReferences Some advantages of project work are: Increased motivation - learners become personally involved in the project.All four skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking are integrated.Autonomous learning is promoted as learners become more responsible for their own learning.There are learning outcomes -learners have an end product.Authentic tasks and therefore the language input are more authentic.Interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group.Content and methodology can be decided between the learners and the teacher and within the group themselves so it is more learner centred.Learners often get help from parents for project work thus involving the parent more in the child's learning. Planning the project Some possible drawbacks to project work
Zaption – Zanslöst bra! | Mitt Flippade Klassrum I tisdags var jag i Ronneby och föreläste för gymnasie/komvux-lärare om flippat klassrum med förmågor i fokus. Under föreläsningen hade jag inslag av interaktion, bl.a. fick pedagogerna möjlighet att själva, med hjälp av den digitala anslagstavlan Padlet, synliggöra olika metoder och verktyg som de använder i sitt klassrum. Ett av namnen som kom upp på vår padlet var Zaption, en av deltagarna berättade att Zaption är ett fantastiskt verktyg när man arbetar med flippat klassrum. Zaption ger användarna en möjlighet att dela flippar, men även en möjlighet att lägga in frågeställningar inne i flippen, vilket gör eleverna mer aktiva under tiden de tittar. Jag blev nyfiken och ville ta reda på mer. Nu blev jag givetvis så nyfiken att jag var tvungen att skapa ett konto på Zaption. Du får en rundtur i form av en flipp när du loggar in, här får du en kort överblick över de funktioner som finns och hur du ska göra för att använda verktyget. Då får jag fram några olika alternativ. Ps.
14 Tips on Classroom Management and Motivation [1] | Psychology for Educators [And More] An annotated lesson: This made-up story is meant to be an exercise. A chance for you to test yourself. Just read through it and try to see whether you agree with the teacher’s decisions / practices. There are at least 14 interesting points in this short narrative. John’s story: John walked confidently into the classroom. Then John turned to the class. ‘OK – as I recall, you had to write an ad for an imaginary product. ‘Right’ said John ‘we are going to work on a mini presentation, because it’s one of the best ways to develop your speaking skills. John went around monitoring the groups as they worked, helping with language as necessary. The people in Group C seemed to have finished their list and they were already rehearsing. ‘OK’ he said. ‘ This is the idea. ‘OK’ John said ‘Who would like to start? When they had finished, John told the class: ‘OK – so today we have looked at different strategies which people can use to improve their English. ‘OK – John said. The takeaways – 14 Tips: