Teaching tips: Using technology in the classroom. Part 2

Making sure that the learning process is as relevant to your students interests as possible ensures a more successful teaching and learning experience. And what can be more relevant than young people's heavy dependance on technology? Web 2.0 applications, mp3 players, gaming consoles and cell-phones all form part of today's generation, so it is a very good idea to use these tools in your classroom as a means to deliver some of your lessons.


Here are some ideas that can help you get going:

• Youtube: The video sharing website has a wealth of educational videos if you know how to properly use the search feature. You can quickly find a relevant video and show it to the class as part of your lesson.
• Twitter: Among other things, you can use Twitter to keep in touch with your students while they are away from the classroom or to encourage group-work. Check the previous blog post for a more detailed description.
  
• Mp3 players: there are many ways for using an mp3 player in the classroom. They're great for listening comprehensions and are extremely helpful for teaching foreign languages.
• Blogs: encourage each student to start a blog and use these periodically to compliment particular subjects. You can tell them to write an article and publish it in their blog and then encourage them to comment and rate each other's work.
• Gaming consoles and video games: there are many educational games available on the market. Many of them available on popular hand-held consoles such as the Nintendo DS. Make sure that you read online reviews about the video game and that you plan on how these will be used in the classroom before committing yourself to buying them.

Any other ideas? please share them by leaving a comment. Thanks! :)

Teaching: The power of Twitter in education

N.B. This post is mostly written for teachers who are still fairly new to Twitter.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two years, you'll know about Twitter: the micro-blogging site which lets you post 140-character updates about any topic or, simply, about life in general. Twitter has become one of the most popular social networking website, competing with Facebook and Myspace.

Many teachers have realized that Twitter can be a powerful teaching and learning tool if used properly. I will be making a small list of the different ways you can use this website in the classroom.

• Follow other teachers: If you're new to Twitter you need to become familiar with its most basic feature: following. When you are following a person you will start receiving posts, or 'tweets' from them in your public timeline. If they follow you back, they will receive your own tweets in their public timeline. This is a great way to share ideas, important links, etc. with other teachers from around the world. It would be best if you follow teachers who are teaching the same age-group and subjects. Get familiar with the search feature which allows you to browse specific tweets before you hit the follow button.
• Groups: while Twitter doesn't officially support the creation of groups, you can use third-party services such as Tweetworks or TwitTangle to create and maintain groups. You can create groups about any subject that you might be covering in class and ask your students to join them. Encourage students to take part in these groups by asking questions or stimulating a debate. You can discuss important points, mentioned in the group when you next meet in the classroom. You can also use groups as an online meeting place, where students can voice...tweet any concerns, questions, queries etc while they're away from the classroom. This is a great way to keep in touch with your students. Edit: Twitter now supports the 'Lists' feature which is very similar to Groups.
  
• Hash Tag: this is an official Twitter feature and is similar to groups. You create this by putting the '#' sign in front of a keyword and place it in a regular tweet; for example: "let's discuss #medievalArt here!". By clicking on the keyword, you will be shown all the tweets which have that particular keyword and hash tag. A great way to use this is by allowing students to tweet while watching a video in class. Let's say that you decide to show a video about Medieval Art during an art lesson and students tweet their opinions/questions while watching the video. You can then access all the tweets submitted during the lesson and discuss all the points in detail. There are many advantages to using this method such as not having to stop the video to reinforce important points or ask/answer questions, and allowing shy students to actively contribute to the lesson.

I admit that there are many other ways to use Twitter as an educational tool. If you have any more ideas please leave a comment with this post :)

Education Tips: Develop your Educational Philosophy

Hopefully none of you have decided to become teachers so that you can enjoy the summer holidays. If you are still studying to become a teacher and this was the main reason for choosing this type of career: STOP NOW or you're in for an ugly surprise. Unlike regular jobs, teaching is a vocation, a strong desire to affect the future by educating young minds. Truth be told, teaching involves more work than most other jobs. The amount of planning and preparation involved takes a lot of time and, often, teachers have to work during their free time. Because of all this, it is important that all teachers develop their own philosophy that helps them stay motivated while doing their job. This is a list of questions that need to be considered while writing your educational philosophy:

• What is your definition of a good education? Why is a good education necessary?
• What defines a good teacher?
  
• How can you, as a teacher, contribute to education as a whole? Teaching is not only about following textbooks and correcting students' work; you need to involve yourself on a more personal level...think of ways to make education more effective and share your success with other educators.
• How will you make teaching more effective? (this can be tied in with the previous question)
  
• How do you feel when you think about expanding your students' knowledge?/As a teacher, what do you owe your students?

By writing down your educational philosophy you will be able to more easily understand what makes education important and, thus, helps you understand the importance of your role as an educator so that, ultimately, teaching becomes much more rewarding.

As per usual:
Please feel free to share more ideas with us by leaving a comment with this post.
Take care, and as always, I'll keep you posted.

Teaching tips: Dealing with difficult parents

As if our job is not made hard enough when we're given unruly students, we sometimes have to deal with difficult parents who seem to be hell-bent on making our lives more complicated. It is important to understand that these parents where once students themselves. As we all know, traditional teachers were allowed to use discipline policies which are generally frowned upon in today's modern classroom. Some traditional discipline methods included whole-class punishment, psychological abuse and, for the older parents, even corporal punishment. Of course things have now changed but it should come as no surprise that some parents regard teachers with great distrust; for them we are, and always will be, the scary dictators who ruined their childhood. You have a certain responsibility to show difficult parents that times have changed, show them that you are their friend and that you and them share a common interest: the success of the student. Showing them how concerned you are for their child's long-term well being is key for obtaining a healthy relationship with the parents. These points may help you deal effectively with difficult parents:

• When talking to them, make sure that your eyes are at the same level as theirs. Don't let them look down at you. If you are sitting down, then stand up.
  
• Listen attentively and don't interrupt. The need to justify yourself may be strong but it is important that you take your time to device a proper response.
• Be rational. Offer a reasonable solution to whatever it is that's bothering them and make sure that you both agree on the solution. It is important that you don't make compromises in order to avoid further conflicts, otherwise this may be harmful in the long run.
  
• Mind your Ps and Qs.
• Constantly be assertive, if the parent tries to verbally bully you need to show them that their behavior is unacceptable...if the parent doesn't get the gist then show them that you won't continue the discussion unless they change their attitude. This is EXTREMELY important, failing to do this might cause the situation to quickly get out of hand.
  
• If the parents try to haress you outside the school, then you have the right to call the police. Your responsibility does not extend outside your classroom.

Please feel free to share more ideas with us by leaving a comment with this post.
Take care, and as always, I'll keep you posted.

Teaching tips: The importance of teacher collaboration

As every teacher already knows, the job of a teacher is not only restricted to the classroom. Teaching involves a lot of time spent on planning lessons, creating resources and assessing students' work. Most people who are not teachers do not always appreciate how much time all this takes. Teacher to teacher collaboration can definitely make teaching easier by reducing time spent on planning and creating resources. It can also make teaching more effective when teachers give insight about the abilities or interests of individual students. I will be listing the different ways of teaching collaboration.

• Communication between colleagues: simply communicating with other teachers who are involved with your students' education is enough to find out more about the weaknesses, strengths or interests of the students. Use this knowledge to create more targetted lesson plans. For example: you might learn that your students are very interested in painting, so you might find that using the theme of art in your lessons will help students learn better.
  
• Share resources: why spend time creating lesson plans or resources when another teacher has already done this? Resources do not have to necessarily belong to your students' age group. Talk to the teachers who was teaching your students the year before and ask them for the lesson plans used for a particular subject that you are going to be teaching in the near future. Use this information to tie-in your lessons with what the students have done in previous years. This is a great way of introducing a new lesson.
  
• Share the work load: if you know of teachers teaching the same subject as you, then it might be a good idea to plan your lessons together. Decide on who does what; for example you can work on the lesson plans while the other teacher creates the resources to be used for those lessons.

Please feel free to share more ideas with us by leaving a comment with this post.
Take care, and as always, I'll keep you posted.

Social Networking Websites and Education

It's no secret that many schools discourage the use of social networking sites (SNSs) and some schools even go as far as to block access to these websites. SNSs allow people to publicize a lot of personal information which might jeopardize the professional relationship that teachers need to maintain with their students. There's also the fact that spending too much time on social networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, will reduce productivity. However social networking websites are a social phenomenon and it is not showing signs of slowing down. What teachers need to understand is that, on a very basic level, these websites are there to connect people and allow them to communicate better. Education is heavily dependent on communication, so SNSs can be seen as a powerful educational tool.


As I wrote earlier, if you sign up for an account on an SNS you need to make sure that you don't share any personal information that may cause 'role conflicts' in your work place. Having said that, a social networking site will allow you to automatically share important online resources with you colleagues. You might be able to find Social networking sites which offer tools specifically tailored for teachers. These SNSs are sometimes referred to as Niche Social Networking Sites, the niche being education. SNSs will also allow you to easily share with your students, any information related to school and to the subjects you are teaching them. Social networking websites are not only about connecting people, they also offer a new way for encouraging participation through open services.

Education - The importance of Technology in the Classroom

I am currently working on a thesis regarding the use of technology in the classroom. Below is an excerpt from my dissertation:

The use of computers and the Internet is fast becoming an important tool in the education sector. It is becoming very common for technology to be used for assessing, training and educating students. According to a number of studies conducted by Barbara Means et al. (1997), the use of technology in the classroom has a number of advantages including, better collaboration between students, enhancing student motivation and adding to the students’ perception that their work is credible when properly referenced from the internet. Most educators are overcoming the barrier posed by these ever-more sophisticated technological tools and they now understand that technology is a particularly important tool for assessing their students. The fact that modern students are very dependent on technology proves how important it is that their teachers employ more modern methods in their classroom so as to meet the interests and capabilities of their students.

The use of technology in the classroom can certainly make teaching easier and more efficient by saving us precious time. I am currently in the process of creating an online application (which is part of my thesis) to be used by teachers and their students. I had been searching online for the ultimate teaching tool for years and I failed to find it. The applications that I found were too complicated, limited in functionality, or required a monthly subscription payment...so I decided to create it myself. This will be a website created by a teacher for teachers and it will be 100% free. As you might have noticed, the website will be called Mentor Buddy (www.mentorbuddy.com). I'm putting the last finishing touches to the whole thing and hopefully it should be launched sometime in late October. In the meantime the internet has a wealth of resources for teachers: from lesson plans to tests ready for printing. The internet can make our job so much easier, the trick is to know how to search for the proper information.

Teaching: staying creative

It's easy enough for new teachers to let their enthusiasm create creative and fun lessons. However, more seasoned teachers usually struggle to deliver a certain level of creativity in their lessons. Enthusiasm may start running dry after some years, particularly if you are being given students who just don't seem to appreciate your efforts.

None-the-less, there is no excuse for delivering boring lessons. Here's a list of things to do to give that little extra-something in your classroom:

• Care about your students: Knowing your students as individuals and understanding their needs, will give you a big motivational boost.
• Games: the internet is the best way to get great ideas for games to be included in your lessons. Games don't need to be fancy. Simple crosswords, word puzzles can be easily included in exercises and they make such a big difference.
• Re-use old materials: there is nothing wrong with re-using lesson plans, games, activities, etc, from previous years. Just make sure that you deliver the lesson with the same enthusiasm as the first time.
• Be modern: stay up to date with what's going on in the world. You might never know when you'll be able to use the latest cartoon character or movie star in your lessons. You need to understand what students are interested in and then incorporate that in your lesson. All it takes is to ask some direct questions...you don't need to be a detective :)

That's it for today. I'll keep you posted.

Teaching: Effective classroom management

I have already written a post about effective classroom management. This should hopefully be a more detailed and direct post tackling the subject.
As a teacher you MUST avoid:

• Over-appeasing students: some teachers will do anything to be the students' best friend. Keep in mind that before you are the students' friend, you are their teacher. If punishment is needed then use it.
• Ambiguous questions: questions need to be direct and easy to understand. A good way of overcoming this problem is to tell students who have understood a question to explain it to their peers.
• Not learning students' names: it is very difficult to conduct an effective lesson when you don't know the names of your students since directing questions to particular students or correcting student's behavior becomes overtly-complicated.
• not acting on bad behavior: verbal threats alone will not accomplish anything.
• Ignoring bad behavior: this is a definite no-no. Bad behavior will not stop simply by ignoring it. Act immediately on it. Set down some ground rules and give out punishment if students challenge these rules. Punishment may involve writing lines, take away a fun activity, whole-class punishment (use this sparingly as a last resort)
• Standing in the same area of the class during lessons: While conducting your lessons, move around the whole area of your classroom. This will discourage bad behavior.
• Silent classes: unless the students are working on a test or an individual exercise, your classroom must not be silent. It should constantly be a flurry of ideas and information.
• Being too serious: Lessons need to have some fun elements in order to make it interesting otherwise students will get bored and break your class-rules. Crack some occasional jokes and use lots of media for your lessons. On the other hand you must not over do this, otherwise students will not take you seriously.
• Overpraising students: don't praise students for doing things that they are expected to do.

That's it for today. As always, If you have any questions or ideas that you want to share with everyone, feel free to leave a comment.

Teaching: Using Videos in lessons

Videos can be extremely effective educational tools when used properly. They're a great way of breaking the usual monotony of ordinary lessons (although lessons should never be monotonous) and offers students a new and more exciting way of learning. Let's take History an an example: is there a better way for students to learn than showing them actual footage of real places? It's like a field trip without the included hassle. However you cannot simply rely on a video to do the lesson for you. You need to make sure that the lessons is geared towards the right direction and that the students understand the main points of that particular lesson.


The following list will hopefully help you understand how to incorporate the use of videos in your lessons:

1. Make a brainstorming session on the main subject and, on the white-board/chalk-board, write all the important points.
2. Instruct students to write down the points in more detail while watching the video. For example, if the video is about the effect of heat on objects, and one of the points is 'effects of heat on metal', then students should be able to write down more information while watching the video, such as: "heat forces the molecules of the metal to vibrate, this vibration allows the metal to expand..."
3. Allow yourself to pause the video when it reaches a specific point, and take the time to reinforce what the students have just heard. This will help students to easily understand which points are important.
4. After watching the video, the students should be more knowledgeable about the main subject. Go back to the points on the white-board/chalk-board and help students use the notes they took during the video, to give detailed explanations.
5. Tell students to write down a report on the subject. This is a great reinforcement exercise.

I hope that this article will help you deliver more interesting and entertaining lessons. As always, don't hesitate to leave comments.

Teaching: Physical Classroom Layout

Teachers who have their own classroom need to avoid the traditional classroom layout, i.e. straight rows of desks facing towards the white-board/chalk-board. Such classrooms are boring and, often, make teaching and learning less effective. A classroom needs to be dynamic, it needs to accommodate each lesson and facilitate different methods of teaching. Let's take group work as an example. Traditional classroom layouts were designed in a way to avoid interaction between students. However we are now aware of the importance of peer-tutoring. Education is all about communication and the classroom needs to allow this to happen. Arranging small 'islands' of desks is a very effective way of encouraging group work in the classroom. the best way of doing this is to arrange four desks facing each other. Arrange them in a way so that students can still see the board. Such classroom layouts will also allow you to move freely between desks. You cannot allow yourself to stand in just one area of the classroom. Moving around will allow you to interact better with the students and to easily supervise their work. You need to experiment with different layouts and don't be afraid to ask the students for feedback. Involving students in such decisions will allow for a better understanding between you and your learners.
For elementary teachers, it is a good idea to divide the class in different areas. For example, the 'Science Area' will include a small exhibition of materials used in previous lessons or a display of the students' own work. The "Reading Area" will allow students to spend some quite time reading, make this area as comfortable as possible, throw some cushions or small recliners. Make students understand that reading can be a fun way to relax. The reading area may also be used by students who have finished class assignments earlier than their peers.

Education: Dealing with shy students

Teachers tend to think that they are the only ones allowed to talk in their classroom. However, as you might have noticed in my previous posts, I strongly suggest that students are allowed to engage in active discussions about the main topics of the lesson. However it is important to know the different ways of going about doing this. Class discussions are not enough and many students, particularly shy ones, will find it very difficult to engage in such discussions. Such students are usually terrified of the prospect of being at the center of attention. On many occasions I have asked a shy student a question and I see them cringe when I tell the rest of the class to be quite so that they can hear what the student has to say. I've made it a personal goal not to try to put shy students in such situations. Many teachers erroneously think that forcing shy children to speak in class is an effective way to "bring them out of their shell". This is very far from the truth since making a shy person feel inappropriate makes them dread theses situations even more. Such students need to be respected and given their space. In time they will overcome their shyness, but this needs to happen on their own terms. Never treat shy students differently; just because they don't raise their hands does not mean they don't know the answer. What you can do is give them an opportunity to show the class, and themselves, their true capabilities. You need to understand their niche area and help them excel in what they are truly capable of doing. A few examples: recognize their capabilities and praise them for it .Do not exaggerate this, shy students are not stupid and when they realize what you're trying to do they will not trust your 'reactions' anymore. Another effective method is to divide students in small groups, give them an assignment and have each student present their work to their group. It is much easier for shy students to present their work to a small group rather than to the whole class; remember that even the most seasoned speaker sometimes gets stage fright. Another successful method is to hold 'contests' based on the target student's capability. For instance: if the student is a good artist, organize an art challenge and put the student's art-piece on display in the class. This is a good way of boosting their self confidence.
In the end, treating students the same is key to a fair and successful teaching/learning experience.

Please leave comments :)

Education: Designing a successful lesson plan

One of the most important thing to keep in mind when designing a lesson plan is the time you have at your disposition. You don't want to be too ambitious with your lesson. Likewise, you really need to make sure that there is enough content to make a successful lesson. Timing is key and it's all about the content you're presenting and the way the content is being communicated to the class. You need to take into consideration the learning abilities of individual students. Make sure that no one is excluded. These are the stages that all lessons should include:

1. Introduction: A good way to start a lesson is by engaging students in a small discussion. Ask questions about the topic so as to understand what the students already know. Another good idea is to make a brainstorming session and, on your chalk-board, write a list of all the important points brought up by the students. You can use these points later to further develop the students' ideas.
   
2. Presentation: chances are that most of the students will not be very knowledgeable about the lesson's main topic. This is the chance to present the main points to the class. Make sure that you engage your students in the lesson. Ask lots of questions and highlight the main points of the lesson. Write these points on the chalk board.
3. Active engagement: if you have not engaged students in a discussion, then it is important that you do so. Active engagement can also involve students working out exercises in the classroom. This reinforces the new knowledge that students have just learned.
4. Feedback: Ask your students questions about the new topics. This will help you understand if your students have learned the main topics of the lesson.
5. Follow-up practice: You may refer to this as homework and may involve your students in conducting research, writing essays or working out exercises. This further reinforces the main points of the lesson.

Any other ideas? Feedback? Please leave comments.

Education Tips - Lesson Planning

Many seasoned teachers are able to walk into their classroom without having planned their lessons. They have become so familiar with their subject that they don't need to plan how to deliver their lessons anymore. In my opinion this is a somewhat objectionable way of educating. Teaching is a dynamic process and a successful teacher needs to make appealing lessons which accommodate the ever changing mindsets of his/her students.


Lesson planning can be divided in two: Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans. Schemes of work will allow you to plan in the long run. To create a scheme of work, choose a time-period and create a grid of days or weeks. You can add as much detail as you want (example a scheme of work showing daily lessons is more detailed than a scheme of work showing weekly lessons). In the scheme of work you need to set deadlines for when certain topics need to be finished. After you create your scheme of work, you need to make sure that you create lessons plans complimenting what you have planned in the scheme of work. Lesson Plans will detail how you need to deliver individual lessons and will allow you to add all the details you want in order to capture the attention of individual students in your classroom. Making your own lesson plans will allow you to deliver targeted content, for example: if your class are very interested in a particular movies, you can create a website with the theme of that movie. Lessons should allow room for individuality in the classroom and can be seen as a way of communicating particular topics in an interesting way.
I will be making more posts about lesson plans, giving more tips and downloadable lesson-plan formats...so stick around :)

Education - Maintaining discipline in the classroom

Most teachers dream of the perfect classroom, where all the students respect them, are easily motivated and work hard...now lets get a bit more realistic.
This post will cover some important points which will help you be more assertive in your classroom.


As a teacher you might already know that motivating a student who is absolutely not interested in learning is extremely difficult....some would say that it is practically impossible. However you are responsible for the education of these students, and, whether they like it or not, you are expected to teach them. If all positive motivational tools fail (please read previous post) you need to assert your position in the classroom. Often, students who don't want to learn will disrupt the rest of the class so it is very important that these students are kept in check. The right modes of discipline will allow you to, not only help difficult students stay more attentive, but also to easily deliver your lessons to the rest of the class.

• Consistent strictness - it is important that you are consistently strict, start being strict from day one and always be assertive. Don't be biased towards some students, i.e. don't be strict only with the difficult students. Preferential treatment is a definite no-no. It's not fair and difficult students will pick up on this and will purposely make life more difficult for you. Also, you need to make sure that you follow through with what you say. If your threaten writing lines as a punishment for disobedience, and a student still disobeys, then follow through with the punishment...otherwise you won't be taken seriously.
• Don't shout - Raising your voice does not make a noisy situation better. If anything, it will make rowdy students shout even more. Instead, make a sharp noise that will easily get the students attention (clap your hand, beat a ruler against the board) and immediately lay down some ground rules before continuing with the lessons.
  
• Positive reinforcements - don't rely solely on punishing bad behavior. Make sure that good behavior is praised. This makes students realize that you are taking notice of their good actions. This method will also motivate difficult students to do better.

As always, if you want to ask some questions or leave your own ideas, then leave a comment on this post.

Cheers :)

Education - Motivating your students

Many teachers find it difficult to properly motivate their students. While it is important to keep in mind that every student is unique and each has different interests, it is also important to understand that many motivational tools can be successfully applied in order to achieve a higher level of interest during your lessons. I'm going to be listing some methods which I found extremely successful while teaching.

• Common Goals: while educators are obviously aware of what their role in the classroom is, the same cannot be said about all students. Arrange for a class discussion and ask each student why they feel the need to be learning that particular subject. I would not suggest that you make this the first lesson...wait a couple of weeks until you feel that the students are comfortable with your presence in the class. This will allow students to be open and honest about their responses. Touch topics such as: "Do you think it is important for you to know this subject?" or "How will this subject help you in real life?" or "How will, this subject help you to continue your education?". A discussion such as this will allow students to understand that, even though their personal motivations are different from each others', they still share the same goal with the rest of the other students. Some students do not lend much thought to why they are in the classroom, this discussion will help them understand their role and why it is important for them to learn that particular subject.
• Education and entertainment: no matter the age group of your students, it is a well known fact that merging an element of entertainment with education is the best recipe for success. It is important that you do not rely entirely on books...break the monotony by engaging students in fun activities. Make use of games, PowerPoint presentations, movies...the possibilities are practically unlimited.
• Mutual respect: sometimes we, as educators, fail to understand that respect needs to be earned. It is true that students are not as knowledgeable about your subject as you are, but that does not make them any less intelligent. You need to understand that each student is an individual, with different opinions and ideas. Make sure that you allow room for discussion, make sure that each student is heard. Do not be biased about your responses. When you respect your students they will respect you back. Respect is one of the best motivational tools to be used in a classroom.

I have found that the above are the most successful tools to be used when motivating students. Motivated students make our job much more worthwhile and so much easier. If you have any more ideas, don't hesitate to share them with us by leaving a comment.

Cheers :)