GrimmFairyTales.com Making a Great First Impression - Communication Skills Training from MindTools Getting off to a Good Start Learn how to make a great first impression, in this video. It takes just a quick glance, maybe three seconds, for someone to evaluate you when you meet for the first time. With every new encounter, you are evaluated and yet another person's impression of you is formed. So, whether they are in your career or social life, it's important to know how to create a good first impression. Be on Time Someone you are meeting for the first time is not interested in your "good excuse" for running late. Be Yourself, Be at Ease If you are feeling uncomfortable and on edge, this can make the other person ill at ease and that's a sure way to create the wrong impression. Present Yourself Appropriately Of course physical appearance matters. But it certainly does not mean you need to look like a model to create a strong and positive first impression. No. Start with the way you dress. And what about your grooming? A Word About Individuality A Winning Smile! Be Open and Confident
The Secret to Feeling Energized at Work? Autonomy. Imagine there was something you could add to your car’s engine, so that after driving a hundred miles, you’d end up with more gas in the tank than you started with. Wouldn’t you use it? OK, that product doesn’t exist, and maybe never will. But there is something you can give your team that will have the same effect: interesting work. Most of us think of interest in our work as a luxury — something that is pleasant but unnecessary, like chocolates on your hotel pillow. But it’s not a luxury, it is, in fact, a powerful motivator. In their studies, psychologists at California State University gave participants a task to work on that was particularly draining, and then varied whether the next task was difficult-but-interesting or relatively easy-but-dull. In another study, the researchers found that working on something interesting resulted in better performance on a subsequent task as well. Liberally share your goals. Allow your team to dictate their personal processes. How about you?
Anchor Charts Here are some other Pinterest ideas that I have made into small anchor charts. I don't know about you, but my classroom is limited on space to display all the charts that I would like to. I made this alphabet because I'm tired of the one in my classroom that takes up so much space. I hope this will be a better fit and give me room to display my sound cards as well. I got this idea from Pinterest a couple weeks ago. Wanted I just finished reading Daily 5 and I'm gearing up to start it at the beginning of next school year. Good Fit Book Free English Teacher Resources This page contains materials I've used at conferences and inset sessions - including the PGCE course at the University of Cambridge, Lighthouse Training, SSAT, the DfE, Leading Edge, Gaining Ground, ARK, Teaching Leaders, ASCL, the National Association for Teachers of English, the National Association for Advisers in English, and schools and academies around Britain. Teachers of English may be interested in the Pick 'n' Mix site where I post occasional articles and other documents that may be of interest to students (and teachers) or A-level English Language. Note that files are all uploaded chronologically, so the most recent additions are at the bottom of the page. All are free of charge. If any of it doesn't make sense, email me. 1: English Association Conference (October 2000) "85 Things to do with Non-Fiction Texts". 2: Three documents I use in my 'Teaching Tension' talks: 3: Teaching Writing at KS3 (Suffolk Heads of English Conference) 4: Whole School Literacy (October 2001)
Leading Innovative Change Series – A New Staff Experience I wanted to try my hand at writing a series of blog posts on “Leading Innovative Change.” As I am looking at writing a book on the same topic, I thought I would put some ideas out there and hopefully learn from others on these topics. I also want to give these ideas away for free. A New Staff Experience “The only source of knowledge is experience.” — Albert Einstein Staff meetings were something that I dreaded in my beginning years as a teacher. I saw the following quote on a slide, and I have shared it many times in talks that I have given to leadership groups. “If I die, I hope it’s during a staff meeting because the transition to death would be so subtle.” Time is limited, but is this how we want it to be remembered? Epiphany A few years back, as principal in a school, I had an interesting conversation with my brother (Alec Couros) and Will Richardson. That changed everything. “…And truth be told, teachers should be responsible for their own PD now. A New Look Staff Experience Forward
Movies and famous people lesson plans Page Design Peter Snashall Copyright 1999 ESL Lessons for Teaching Movies/Theatre <span><a target="_blank" href="/search.html">Search</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/PreIntermediateLessonPlans.html">Past, Present,Future</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/describingplaces.html">Lifestyles/cities/houses</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/futuretenselessonplans.html">Plans/Predictions</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/complaintsandrequestslessonplans.html">Complaints/Requests</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/interculturalcommunication.html">Intercultural Comm. Movie worksheets and exercises Famous people/celebrity lessons for ESL students
Teacher HACKS: Innovative Teaching Tips and Strategies Teachers these days have a tough job (was it ever easy??). So we reached out to dozens of teachers and asked them for their favorite “hacks” that help make their lives easier and their jobs more manageable. So what’s a hack? A hack is an actionable tip or suggestion that doesn’t fit the norm for time and resource management skills. What we’ve put together is a list of our favorite hacks that can instantly breathe new life into old routines that haven’t gotten the attention they might deserve. Behavior management Address the students who need more attention, and reward those who positively contribute. Stamps for behavior management: When the classroom gets too loud, go around to the students working quietly and give them a stamp. Attendance/time management Making sure time is on your side, around the clock. High school Spanish: Take attendance using a ball. Organization/grading Keeping your classwork, homework, and work-work on track and in the right place. Classroom tips User-provided hacks
Connected Educator Month...What You Need To Know #CE13 "Alone we are smart but together we are brilliant." October has been declared by the U.S. Department of Education to be Connected Educator Month. Started in 2012, an entire month of webinars, blog posts, ideas, discussions and more are dedicated to increasing awareness of the importance of educators to get connected. I have been honored to be a part of the planning process and give input and ideas to the entire team that is working tirelessly to promote various events, tools and resources for educators to use throughout October. What do you need to know about Connected Educator Month? The main website is The hashtag is #ce13 While the calendar on my laptop says September, events have already begun. One thing that can be tough to do is explain what exactly a connected educator is and why it matters. Another set of resources you want to be sure to take some time to check out are the Starter-Kits. The other not-to-miss resource is the District Starter-Kit.
ESL Classroom Fun Teaching Tools - Game Count Down timers Free ESL/EFL Online & Classroom Games ESL Games World is the ultimate English learning fun lab with lots of interactive exercises for teachers and students of English. This site is brought to you free of charge by the same team that brought you the ESL-galaxy.com, englishmedialab.com and esltower.com. We are committed to making teachers' & students' lives a lot easier by providing useful free esl resources for teaching and learning English as a Foreign or Second Language. We have no doubt that you will find this website a handy tool for your teaching and learning of English. ESL Powerpoint (PPT) Games If you are the type of person who prefers to have games on powerpoint or as printable handouts, we have been thinking of you. It is total fun and highly engaging fun lessons with these resources. Printable ESL Board and Card Games We offer a variety of printable ESL board games and card games to help give your students lots of communicative practice.
Insights- A New Educational Tool for Creating Paperless Interactive Lessons June 25, 2015 The popular educational app TinyTap has recently released a new tool called Insights. This is basically a data management tool to help teachers access real-time analytics on data related to classroom teaching such as which lessons students completed, how they scored on them and how they are improving. Insights is designed to help you engage your students, improve grades, and save valuable time. Here are some interesting video tutorials to help you make the best of Insights. 4 Apps For Optimizing Teacher Workflow We know that you’ve got a lot of cool tools in your digital arsenal that help to make your life as a teacher easier. Things like Google Drive and Dropbox make for paper free classrooms and never losing assignments that your students hand in. But beyond these basics, what’s worth spending your time (and sometimes money) on? There are a lot of apps and web tools out there that are designed to optimize your workflow. There are a lot of very good ones that will only be useful for teachers of specific subjects, and others that will be great for someone who is super detail oriented, but awful for someone who isn’t. Some are designed specifically with teachers in mind, others are not, but we think that these all deserve a shot at a spot on your home screen. Oxito Oxito is a web tool and app that serves as a one stop shop for you to access all of your cloud- based resources. TeacherKit (formerly TeacherPal) *Coming in a close second, we really love TeacherTool as well. Essay Grader Good Reader
Curriculum Guides Featured Curriculum: Understanding News Media The goal of Understanding News Media is to help young people think critically and act responsibly as they navigate communication media. The features and graphic organizers were created for middle school students but with modification could be used by younger or older students. Courtesy of the New York News Publishers Association NIE Program. New York Times NIE Curriculum Guides These New York Times curriculum resources are made to be used with any daily issue of The Times. English Language ArtsWriting Skills and StrategiesGrammar RulesThe Careful ReaderCurtain Up, Teaching About TheaterSAT Success History, Government, Social StudiesGlobal EconomicsChecks and BalancesGeography ThemesHuman Rights in History and Today ScienceCurrent Knowledge InterdisciplinaryLiteracy Skills Across the CurriculumElementary Enrichment Document-Based Units of Study Developed with CUNY and LaGuardia Community College
Five Ways to Create More Teacher Rockstars in Your School “Rockstar” is a term that is being thrown around among educators lately. A few teachers and administrators who try new instructional practices—many that inevitably involve tech tools—earn that rockstar praise from their connected colleagues online. But, teachers are driven by the same thing at their core: they want to do what is best for kids. If that is true, then they all deserve to feel like rockstars! They all deserve to feel the rush of knowing that they took a risk and it paid off in their classrooms. Here are five ways school leaders can create a culture that motivates all teachers in your school to take a risk and try something new. 1. We have all heard it while crowding around the microwave waiting to warm up lunch or pacing the playground for recess duty. School leaders can tap into those smaller conversations and spread that excitement. Open staff meetings with 3 quick stories from teachers about something positive that happened in their classrooms recently. 2. 3. 4. 5.