Posts Tagged ‘Teaching’

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10 Important Tips for New Teachers

September 2, 2013

 

new

 

Courtesy of Alex Quigley at huntingenglish.com:

1. Expectation is everything. Call it a self-fulfilling prophesy or the ‘Pygmalion effect‘ – but it is simple common sense that the expectations a teacher has for their students has a huge impact upon how they will go on to perform. New teachers need to possess an infinite capacity for hope and optimism: despite the challenging students, the bad days at the whiteboard and the energy whittling workload. Such optimism helps us to retain high expectations in the face of such spirit-sapping salvos. Couple high expectations with both determination and perseverance and you have the qualities to survive and thrive in teaching.

2. ‘The Rule’: ‘No speaking when I’m speaking’. If one small ring can rule Middle Earth, then one simple rule can surely spread orderliness in our classrooms. Novice teachers often take for granted that students understand what we mean by the simple act of listening. They don’t. Show them what ‘active listening‘ looks like and feels like. Hold onto this one rule like a wild dog with lock-jaw. They need to listen to you and others – unequivocally. Explain, repeat and reiterate exactly why listening makes for successful learning. Expect it and demand it consistently.

3. Consistency is king. Good teaching is all about consistency. Forget about brass band parades that masquerade as outstanding lessons. Great teachers grind away at challenging learning; they have clear classroom rules and they use them consistently and with unstinting fairness. Students may not like your rules, or the challenge presented by your towering standards, but if you are consistent and relentless they will respect you. Execute your three Rs: relentless and rigorous routines. You can smile before Christmas (a smile is an excellent behaviour management tool) or whenever you like, just be consistent.

4. Focus on feedback. I will spare you the catalog of research, but feedback matters. It works. Formative assessment is the daddy, so ensure your written feedback is top notch (I have written a post with some tips here) and don’t forget how crucial oral feedback can be for developing the knowledge and understanding in every lesson (once more, I have a doc for that! See here).

5. Ask great questions. Sometimes even the best of teachers are distracted by shiny new teaching tools or the latest acronym driven craze to sweep the teaching nation. Effective teaching comes down to what effective teaching has been built upon since Socrates was busy corrupting the youth of Athens – great questions! We want students to hoover up knowledge and understanding and asking great questions lets us know exactly what they know and what they need to know. Probe and prize away at your little cherubs to help them succeed. This post of mine hopefully (my most popular) can give you a few further tips for great questioning – see here.

6. Know thy student. Relationships matter. In most classes many students spend hours with their teacher but they actually spend little time speaking directly to them. We need to develop our knowledge of students so that we can develop our relationships and best help them learn. As stated in tip 5, we need to know what they know and what they need to know. We also need to know the nuances of their character: who they work well with, why they are in a sleepy stupor when they should be slaving away, or what books they enjoy reading. Don’t be frightened of data. It helps. Own the data and don’t let it own you. All this information connects to successful learning. I won’t go into the nuances of differentiation and all that jazz, but that is about knowing your students too. The better we know the students in front of us the better we can help them learn. Simple.

7. Make lists. Make a list of your lists! Being an NQT can be a confusing storm of activity. Any given Monday can be a dizzying barrage of lessons, meetings, data management jobs etc etc etc. So make lists. Identify priorities on those lists (I suggest your lesson planning and marking are high on the priority agenda) and manage them as best you can. Allocate colour codes, timings, deadlines, or whatever helps you to get the job done.

8. Ask lots of questions. The best teachers were never the most assured novices. They were/are humble enough to know they need help and support. They ask lots of great questions. The seek out knowledge and ask politely for help. Don’t worry if your mentor or Subject Leader appear snowed under, it is their professional responsibility to guide you. Not asking questions will likely cause you and them more work and heartache in the long run!

9. Learn to say no. By all means get involved in the social life of the school. Build support networks, make friends and keep what is the crumbling semblance of a personal life, but also learn to say no. Being a new teacher is incredibly hard. Select a school trip perhaps, but don’t book a season ticket for such trips. Read a good book, but don’t look to run the book club. What you are aiming for is that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – a work/life balance. If you find it please let me know and we can share the patent!

10. Build a memory palace. This a cracking revision strategy for students – see here – but my version is one where you build a palace where you store rooms full of positive fragments from your novice teaching experiences. Those moments to actively remember are that make the crappy days tolerable. The moment diffident David bellows out an inspired answer like a modern day eureka, or when your resident hardened crim’ solves a quadratic equation or unpicks a Hamlet soliloquy. Place the small card at Christmas from the unassuming quiet kid on the mantle-piece of your memory palace. Remember and revisit the good stuff. The fragments we shore against our ruin. They make perseverance possible. They pave the pathway from novice to toughened expert.

 

I particularly like points 6 and 8.

 

Click on the link to read my post, Do experienced teachers give enough back to the profession?
 
Click on the link to read, ‘Teachers Trained Very Well to Teach Very Poorly‘

Click on the link to read my post 25 Characteristics of a Successful Teacher

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7 Tips for Building a Better School Day

August 11, 2013

 

yay

Courtesy of parade.com:

1. Begin the Day “Over Easy”—with Breakfast

At Ellis Elementary in Denver, teachers are reinventing homeroom as a morning meeting over eggs and toast. “When students eat a good, nutritious breakfast, they can hit the ground running,” said Mayor Michael Hancock during a visit to the school last year—yet a 2011 survey found that though 77 percent of young children eat breakfast every day, only 50 percent of middle schoolers and 36 percent of high schoolers get a regular morning meal. According to nutrition researcher Gail C. Rampersaud of the University of Florida, “breakfast consumption may improve cognitive function and school attendance,” and Ellis principal Khoa Nguyen notes that tardiness and missed school days have dropped off significantly since the program began. And he’s noticed other benefits. “Both the kids and teachers know that they will have a few minutes every morning where they can eat, chat about what’s happening that day, and not be rushed,” he says.

2. Emphasize Learning, Not Testing

As a result of government policies like No Child Left Behind—which requires schools to improve on students’ standardized test performance year over year—educators are overwhelmed with testing and test prep. And that has contributed to an increasingly dysfunctional public school system, says Diane Ravitch, Ph.D., research professor of education at New York University and author of the upcoming book Reign of Error. “Schools and teachers are under so much pressure to get students to pass that most of the school day is spent teaching to the test. Subjects that don’t appear on the tests—art, foreign languages, even science and history—are being dropped from the curriculum,” she says. The result, says journalist Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed, is that we’re producing many grads who are great test takers but not great learners. “Students don’t know how to deal well with confrontation, bounce back from defeat, see two different sides of a problem,” he says, “things that are essential not just in adulthood but in continuing your education past high school. It turns out the students who are most likely to graduate from college aren’t necessarily the ones who do best on the standardized tests, but the ones who are able to develop these other qualities.”

3. Teach 21st-Century Skills

In a Gallup poll this year of 1,014 young adults, those who said they had learned “21st-century skills” (like developing solutions to real-world problems) during their last year in high school were twice as likely to describe themselves as successful in the workplace. How can we get students to develop such talents?

Three ideas:

a. Emphasize long-term projects. Consider the way most professional jobs work, says Tough. “You’re probably not working on one assignment today, and another one tomorrow, and another one the day after that. Instead, you’re working on a project over a period of time—revising it, perfecting it, presenting your findings to others.” Those are precisely the skills that students need to develop, he says.

b. Use technology. How can schools get kids to embrace technology inside the classroom the way they do outside of it? According to former teacher Will Richardson, author of Why School?, “it’s got to be in service of answering big questions.” For example, at the Science Leadership Academy, a public magnet high school in Philadelphia, 10th graders studying chemical engineering asked: How can we make an efficient biodiesel generator that people in developing countries could use to create their own electricity? “And they did it!” says Richardson. “Technology was able to augment the students’ work, allowing them to connect with leading engineers or create 3-D computer models.”

c. Make classes multidisciplinary. At New Technology High School in Napa, Calif., classes combine different disciplines (think: digital media arts/geometry). Last year, in bio-fitness, ninth grader Haley Kara used deductive reasoning to diagnose a mystery illness; and in chemistry, 10th grader Brian Shnell designed a bio-dome that could sustain life on another planet. “Splitting subjects into slots is easier for us,” says Richardson. “But that’s not what the real world looks like. It’s much messier.”

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Women Teachers Lack Confidence in Teaching PE: Lord Coe

July 28, 2013

 

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Was Lord Coe being sexist or merely relating the findings of research? You be the judge:

Lord Coe was plunged into a sexism row last night after saying that most women teachers lack the confidence to take PE lessons in primary schools.

The former London 2012 chairman blamed their failings on training colleges that offer only six to ten hours of sports tuition over two years.

Although he was simply highlighting research carried out by a sports charity, his comments drew an angry backlash.

‘It is entirely unacceptable to be peddling such sexist nonsense,’ said Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers.

‘I’m sure Jessica Ennis and all those other female Olympians would be outraged by such views. To imply that female primary school teachers don’t have as much ability as men to teach sport isn’t right.’

But Lord Coe, the Government’s Olympic legacy ambassador, insisted it was not a question of ability, but one of training.

‘I was shocked by how little they get,’ he said.

‘Eight out of ten teachers in primary schools are women. And this is not remotely pejorative but I think that something like 80 per cent of them said they just did not feel confident taking physical education.

‘I am guessing that there will be a lot of men who will feel the same way.’

Lord Coe has long emphasised the ‘crucial’ need to provide better PE teaching in primary schools.

Click on the link to read my post, Do experienced teachers give enough back to the profession?
Click on the link to read, ‘Teachers Trained Very Well to Teach Very Poorly‘
Click on the link to read my post 25 Characteristics of a Successful Teacher

 

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Posted in Teacher Training | 2 Comments »

My Teacher, the Pedophile

July 24, 2013

icky

Today, 25 years after my pedophile teacher abused my friends, he has finally been sentenced for his heinous crimes.

I was only 10 when I was first subjected to a teacher that would later be exposed as an evil pedophile. He taught me for 2 years, and I am relieved to say that I cannot recall being personally abused by him.

But my friends have been devastated by this man. One such victim, who has a daughter in my daughter’s class, has received ongoing therapy for assaults at the hand of this awful excuse of a human being.

Whilst I wasn’t old enough to know what a pedophile was and although I never liked the guy, I wasn’t aware he was abusing my friends until he fled the country in controversial circumstances. I do remember vividly him organising a party as a treat for us, purportedly due to our good behaviour. He arranged for the use of a classmates pool whilst the classmate’s parents were at work. We were so excited. Excursions tended to be of a boring, strictly educational nature. The thought of spending the morning swimming was so new and exciting for all of us.

I remember him getting in the pool with us and playing around in a jovial and almost immature fashion (very different from the type of teacher he was in the classroom). I also remember him instructing us to freely undress together and that we should embrace our naked bodies as it is natural.  To demonstrate he stripped off in front of us in a casual and carefree manner. For some reason I have never felt comfortable displaying my naked body in public and I was a bit bothered by my teacher’s open display of nudity. I remember thinking it was weird for a teacher to be acting in this way. I was one of two children who decided not to undress in front of him and opted for a private spot instead.

When his secret was exposed and he fled the country, I remember my parents reaction. They sat me down in the lounge room with concerned expressions on their faces. They asked me if this teacher had touched me in a certain way or acted towards me in an inappropriate or threatening manner. I answered then, as I do now, that I cannot recall any such treatment. Unfortunately, some of my friends were not so lucky.

The truth is, that we were raised to have total reverence for our teachers and see them as perfect. I fear that I would have let my teacher do as he wanted with me had he tried. I did not know what a pedophile was and in those days parents didn’t discuss personal space and molestation avoidance with their children.

Today my teacher received a minimum sentence of 18 months and, after time already served in custody, he is eligible for parole in just three months! Try breaking that news to his victims who have waited for justice all these years.

The threat of such instances has made it difficult to be a male primary teacher. The constant stories of male teachers who have abused their responsibilities and offended against their students is a reminder to parents to stay alert. It means that we have to be more careful than our female colleagues when it comes to interactions and must avoid being alone in the classroom with a student.

But this is a necessary safeguard. Just think of the poor victims.

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Posted in Professional Conduct | 1 Comment »

You Don’t Warn Teachers Not to Have Sex With Their Students

June 15, 2013

jem

 

Can someone explain to me how a school invested with the responsibility of looking after the welfare of its students chose to warn a teacher 6 times not to be romantically involved with his student? Surely he should have been suspended straight away. Warnings are for late submissions of lesson planners or making a thoughtless comment in the classroom, not for having sex with your student!

Teacher Jeremy Forrest said a 15-year-old schoolgirl was lying about a sexual relationship when he spoke to his bosses, a court heard today.

The married teacher was challenged by assistant head Alicja Bobela, after pupils had raised suspicions with her, the jury heard.

Miss Bobela, responsible for child protection, said two schoolboys claimed the schoolgirl had told pals Forrest, 30, had been picking her up from work experience at another school.

Forrest was warned on six occasions about his relationship with the girl before being challenged by Miss Bobela Bishop at Bell CoE school, Eastbourne, East Sussex, on July 12 last year.

And he had twice been told to keep his distance and was banned from messaging her privately on Twitter, Lewes crown court heard.

Ms Bebola said: “He came to find me and he talked to me.

“He said that he did not know where this was coming from, ‘why was she telling people these lies,’ and what could he do, ‘why is she doing this to me?

“He meant the schoolgirl telling friends about what he was doing.”

 

Please click on the links to read two related posts on the same story:
Is Anybody Still Defending Jeremy Forrest?
Now that Jeremy Forrest is Arrested …
The Court System Should Deal Severely with Teachers Like This
Make an Example out of Jeremy Forrest
School Allegedly Turned a Blind Eye to Peter Forrest’s Relationship with Schoolgirl
Why Jeremy Forrest is Foolish and Megan Stammers is too Young

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Posted in Professional Conduct | Leave a Comment »

Teachers Addicted to Referring Their Students to Specialists

June 13, 2013

As a social experiment, wouldn’t it be wonderful if teachers decided not to refer their students for 12 months to an occupational therapist or speech pathologist? Wouldn’t it be interesting if they had to provide for the child and adjust their teaching to cater for the special needs of these children instead of relying on specialists to do that for them.

Just wait a minute! Aren’t teachers catering for children of special needs already?

Of course some are, but many aren’t. Here are some questions I have compiled for you to determine whether or not your child’s teacher is relying too heavily on a specialist:

1. Is there evidence that your child’s teacher is in regular contact with the specialist?

2. Is their evidence that your child’s teacher follows the recommendations based on the child’s assessment evaluation?

3. Does your child’s teacher blame a lack of progress solely on your child’s learning difficulty?

4. If you have ceased sending your child to a specialist has the teacher shown signs of giving up on your child and blaming a lack of progress on your decision?

This might seem harsh on teachers but believe me it happens all the time. Parents are put under pressure to have their child farmed off to a specialist with concerns over attention, comprehension, processing, integration, coordination etc. The parent then has to pay for a costly assessment. The assessment is not unlike a trip to the orthodontist. The orthodontist will almost always see a problem worth fixing – an imperfection that can always be adjusted with a stint on braces.

So too, a speech and occupational therapist will always see scope for therapy. There will always be a recommendation to fix this or manage that. Should the child not be eligible for Government funding, the parents would be pressured to pay for the services of a specialist. The going rate for an occupational therapist for a one hour weekly session is about $500 a month (from personal experience). If the parents refuse to pay, often the teacher will secretly accuse the parents of being selfish and putting money ahead of the interests of the child.

The truth is many specialists are called on, not because there is a major need for therapy, but for the teacher to defer responsibility. No teacher should be allowed to pressure a parent into such a move without first demonstrating a meaningful attempt at accommodating the child within the classroom.

It seems to be that this is a boom time for specialists. The scale for measuring learning difficulties has been expanding, new disorders are being invented overnight and more room is being reserved for this ever increasing ‘spectrum’. I once questioned a psychologist for pronouncing that a student of mine was on the spectrum when I didn’t feel it was warranted. His response – everyone can fit on the spectrum in some way or form. What does that mean? If everyone is on the spectrum, how is that fair to people with autism and low functioning Aspergers? Their condition will surely be undermined if they have to share a spectrum with you and I!

Be very mindful that teachers, like other professions, are prone to short cuts and self interest. It is in the best interest of teachers to outsource their students to specialists, because it means that any lack of progress can be blamed on a ‘disorder’ or processing issue rather than the teacher’s ability to cater for the student.

Of course not all teachers are like that and some students clearly require specialist intervention. There is no doubt about that. But this scenario does happen, and it does happen regularly.

Click on the link to read I am a Proud Defender of the Mixed-Ability Classroom

Click on the link to read The Difficulties of Parenting a Special Needs Child

Click on the link to read Schools Have to Wake Up to Confidence Issues Amongst Students

Click on the link to read If Only All Special Needs Students Were Treated this Way

Click on the link to read Labelling Children is Extremely Harmful

Click on the link to read The Insanity of Modern Educational Thinking

 

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Posted in Special Needs | Leave a Comment »

10 Important Steps to Stop Yelling at Kids

May 7, 2013

yell

As much as it is largely ineffective and unprofessional we have all yelled at our students at one time or another. It can be extremely hard to remain calm when students become unruly and uncooperative.

Although intended for parents, this list by Laura Markham, Ph.D. provides sound strategies for maintaining composure around children:

(more…)

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The Best Phonics Apps for iPads

April 15, 2013

The apps, courtesy of readingrockets.org, assist with reading, writing and spelling.

Interactive Alphabet

Interactive Alphabet icon

Price: $2.99
Grade Level: Pre-K-2nd
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Interactive Alphabet offers alphabet matching for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Your child can hear words, letters and phonics sounds. This app also includes a “Baby Mode.” It auto advances every 15 seconds. This interactive game also teaches upper and lower case letters.

iSpy Phonics

iSpy Phonics iconPrice: $1.99
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Match phonic sounds with letters, through colorful illustrations, pictures and accurate pronunciation, while playing the age old game of I Spy. It provides a fun and highly interactive way to help children learn to recognize letters and their phonic sounds. iSpy Phonics allows children to match phonic sounds with letters, through illustrations, pictures, and accurate pronunciation while playing the game of I Spy.

ABC Expedition

ABC Expedition iconPrice: $2.99
Device: iPad only

ABC Expedition is an app designed to help children with their alphabet. However, this app not only helps kids with their alphabet; it also helps children learn various animals too. This is promised to be a fun app for both parents and kids.

Alphabytes

Alphabytes iconPrice: $1.99
Device: iPad only

Alphabytes is an educational app that helps kids learn their letters, the sounds letters make, how to write both upper and lower case letters, and how to spell a few words. The game has four sections: Alphabet, Trace, Spell, and Play. Trace teaches kids how to print both upper and lower case letters. The play section of the app has a memory game where kids match letters with the picture of an item that begins with that letter.

Simplex Spelling with Reverse Phonics: Lite

Simplex Spelling Lite iconPrice: Free
Grade Level: Pre-K-and Up
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Simplex Spelling Lite is designed to improve spelling and reading skills in a fun and interactive way by using “reverse phonics.” Simplex Spelling Lite contains over 50 high frequency English words; it also enables students to build on each word, which goes above and beyond the sheer memorization of words. Simplex Spelling Lite enhances understanding in a variety of students as it appeals to audio, visual and tactile learners. It is a great tool to have for kids learning to spell, remedial students, or those learning English as a second language.

Word Wizard: Talking Movable Alphabet & Spelling Test for Kids

Word Wizard iconPrice: $2.99
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Word Wizard is the first educational app that utilizes natural sounding text-to-speech voices to help kids learn word building and spelling. Movable Alphabet help kids hear the text they wrote, as well as verify spelling using the built-in spell checker. This app has the ability to turn whatever words kids create — even words that do not exist — into spoken words. This app also consists of the most frequently used words, body parts, and family members — just to name a few.

Word Wagon by Duck Duck Moose

Word Wagon iconPrice: $1.99
Grade Level: Pre-K and Up
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Word Wagon helps kids learn about letters, phonics, and spelling with Word Wagon. Parents and kids can set it to one of four progressively harder levels: letters, phonics, and spelling of short and long words and also to display either upper- or lowercase letters. In the first two levels, kids can match the letters to form the words; in the latter two levels, there is no visual cue, and kids have to arrange the spelling of the word on their own. There is also a nice variety of word topics such as animals and food to choose from. The level of customization makes Word Wagon a good fit for kids at different skill levels.

FirstWords Deluxe

FirstWords Deluxe iconPrice: $4.99
Grade Level: Pre-K and Up
Device: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

FirstWords Deluxe helps kids learn to spell words in five categories with FirstWords Deluxe: Animals, At Home, Colors, Shapes, and Vehicles. Parents can add more categories with in-app purchases. Touching the picture reveals the name of the object. As kids drag and drop letters into boxes to spell the object featured, they can practice sounding out letters with the phonics feature or hear the actual letter names as they’re placed — or go all out and turn off the sound. Kids get good spelling practice while working on listening skills and building their vocabulary.

 

Click on the link to read Should Teachers be able to Text Students?

Click on the link to read 50 Ways To Use Skype In Your Classroom

Click on the link to read Top 10 Educational i-Pad Apps

Click on the link to read Top 10 Math Apps for Children

Click on the link to read The Pros and Cons of iPads in the Classroom

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Posted in Phonics, Technology in the Classroom | Leave a Comment »

Classroom Management is Getting Harder

March 24, 2013

manage

Teacher training really falls flat when it comes to providing new teachers the practical tools to deal with the increasing difficulties of managing a class:

Teachers have warned that disruptive behaviour in classrooms has escalated sharply in recent years, as funding cuts to local services have left schools struggling to cope.

A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) found that the vast majority of staff had recorded a rise in the number of children with emotional, behavioural or mental health problems.

The union collated numerous examples of challenging behaviour, ranging from violent assault to defamatory campaigns on social media.

Suggested reasons for the deteriorating behaviour include a lack of boundaries at home, attention-seeking, an absence of positive role models at home, low self-esteem and family breakdown.

The ATL, which has 160,000 members across the UK, said aggressive cuts to the traditional safety net of local services have left schools dealing with complex behavioural and mental health problems on their own.

Earlier this month it emerged that two-thirds of local authorities have cut their budgets for children and young people’s mental health services since the coalition government came to power in 2010. A freedom of information request by the YoungMinds charity found that 34 out of 51 local authorities which responded said their budgets for children’s and young people’s mental health services had been cut, one by 76%.

Alison Ryan, the union’s educational policy adviser, said: “Services are struggling for survival or operating with a skeleton staff, so there’s now a huge pressure on schools to almost go it alone. Schools are absolutely on the front line of dealing with these children and young people and trying to provide a service that means they don’t fall through the cracks.”

, general secretary of the ATL, said: “The huge funding cuts to local services mean schools often have to deal with children’s problems without any help.”

The survey of 844 staff found that 62% felt there were more children with emotional, behavioural and mental health problems than two years ago, with 56% saying there were more than five years ago. Nearly 90% of support staff, teachers, lecturers, school heads and college leaders revealed that they had dealt with a challenging or disruptive student during this school year. One primary school teacher in Cheshire said: “I have been kicked in the head, spat at, called disgusting names, told to eff off, had the classroom trashed regularly and items thrown. We accept children who are excluded from other schools so they come to us with extreme behaviour issues.”

A teacher in a West Midlands secondary school said: “One colleague had a Twitter account set up in front of him on a mobile called Paedo ****** [their name], which invited others to comment on him and his sexual orientation.”

Another teacher in a secondary school in Dudley added: “I’ve been sworn at, argued with, shouted at, had books thrown at me, threatened with physical abuse and had things stolen and broken.”

Bousted added: “Regrettably, teachers and support staff are suffering the backlash from deteriorating standards of behaviour. They are frequently on the receiving end of children’s frustration and unhappiness and have to deal with the fallout from parents failing to set boundaries and family breakdowns.”

On the positive side, most of the disruptive behaviour facing staff was categorised as fairly low level, with 79% of staff complaining that students talked in class, did not pay attention and messed around.

Some 68% added that students were disrespectful and ignored their instructions, 55% said they had dealt with verbally aggressive students, and a fifth with a physically aggressive student. Among secondary and sixth-form students, smoking was considered a significant problem.

On most occasions challenging behaviour was deemed an irritation which disrupted class work, according to 74% of staff, but 42% revealed that they suffered stress and almost a quarter said they had lost confidence at work. Forty of those questioned said they had been physically hurt by a student.

Click on the link to read The Dog Eat Dog Style of Education

Click on the link to read Problem Kids, Suspensions and Revolving Doors

Click on the link to read Useful Resources to Assist in Behavioural Management

Click on the link to read When Something Doesn’t Work – Try Again Until it Does

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Posted in Classroom Management | 3 Comments »

Support Teachers Before they Have a ‘Meltdown’

March 5, 2013

chalk

Teacher meltdowns are often ugly and they are toxic in a school environment. When they occur, inevitably, disciplinary action must be taken to ensure that the offense doesn’t happen again.

Whilst a teacher doesn’t have an excuse when they act unprofessionally, it is vital that more support and greater welfare provisions are available for what is a highly stressful and sometimes quite unforgiving occupation.

The teacher that wrote an intimidating message on the chalkboard of his classroom deserves to be severely punished for his inexcusable actions. However, with 28 years of service, I only wish he would have been able to seek help instead of  feeling the need to vent in such a way:

A northwest Indiana teacher is the subject of a police probe over a threatening message he scrawled on the chalkboard of his classroom.

According to ABC Chicago, the teacher at Edison Junior-Senior High School in Lake Station, Ind., wrote the following message on his chalkboard following after he had a “meltdown” during his sixth-period personal finance class last week:

A.) You are idiots!!!!!!!!B.) The guns are loaded!!!

C.) Care to try me???????

Students took a photo of the message and the image was circulated on social media, prompting school administrators to take action. The teacher was told to leave the school last Friday morning while an investigation into the apparent threat is completed.

Both police and the Lake County prosecutor’s office are working on the matter, according to Fox Chicago, and charges may yet be filed against the teacher.

According to CBS Chicago, the school sent out a district-wide call to students’ parents assuring them that “your student was never in danger” and that “the staff member is currently not in school.”

The teacher, a 28-year veteran of the school, has never been disciplined before, according to ABC.

 

Click on the link to read I Also Had a Student Hold a Toy Gun to my Face

Click on the link to read Who is Going to Stand Up For Bullied Teachers?

Click on the link to read 12 Tips for Managing Time in the Classroom

Click on the link to read If Teachers Were Paid More I Wouldn’t Have Become One

Click on the link to read Different Professions, Same Experiences

Click on the link to read Our Pay Isn’t the Problem

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Posted in Teacher Welfare, Teachers Stress | Leave a Comment »

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