More Teacher Resources

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/school/FX102781621033.aspx

Reaching The Problem Child

Reaching the problem child
By Robert Stelmach
What is the problem? That’s often the first question. What can I do to fix it? That’s often the second. There are many others I can ask: questions about grades, life at home, even choice of friends. Each of these most likely will lead to other problems, more things to fix, and certainly more questions and still more problems. Which makes me think, can I fix things for someone else? Can I truly understand what a problem child is going through, so as to make the right choices for that child? Or am I fighting a loosing battle?
Perhaps, there is another way. What if I start, not by thinking of the child as a problem, but as a person, let’s say a brand new friend? His name might be Jordan. So, what do I know about Jordan? This new beginning suggests a whole new series of questions. Where does he live? What does he really like to do? If he could have one wish, what would that wish be? And what can I do to encourage him to follow his dream?
Now, if my friend Jordan is particularly difficult to deal with, perhaps I could think about what colour, plant, or animal he reminds me of, something that helps to smooth out his rough edges. When growing exotic plants or dealing with wild animals, one needs to be patient—take one step at a time. I could picture him as a young colt, a bit frisky, moody, and sometimes even cantankerous. But he is young, strong, and shows promise. It’s worth the effort.
Then again, what if Jordan turns obnoxious, gets under my skin, or really pushes my buttons. Friction is inevitable, even with the best of students. However, when friction does occur, I could concentrate on a mantra, a word picture that puts difficult moments into perspective. I could think of Jordan as K2, a mountain in the Himalayas that has killed more climbers than any other.
I could think as follows: K2 is nothing more than a mountain, while Jordan is nothing more than a child. “K2 K2.” The mountain has no intent to kill. “K2 K2.” One minute, the sun is shining. A moment later, a sudden storm literally chokes the mountain with snow, making survival almost impossible. “K2 K2.” Is this not true of Jordan as well—how he changes in an instant from amiable to outrageous, leaving me feeling the dagger of his words or eyes? “K2 K2.”
What I need to realize and think about is that the dagger is not meant for me, but is pointed at the reflection of what really bothers him, something that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Like the storm, his anger is only an act of nature. And it is up to me to protect myself from that storm. And so I say, “K2 K2.” It is through my own strength of will that I will survive and walk away from this battle of wills unscathed.
Helping a child like Jordan is not easy. There will always be setbacks. There will even be failures. It is also true that helping troubled kids is not for everyone. But, the rewards are as great as those for climbing K2 and surviving, or turning a wild horse into a winner. Though in cases like Jordan, the rewards are usually silent and within, the gift is greatly worth giving. I know from experience. I was once like Jordan.
And who am I in this process, the teacher or the Kid Whisperer? I prefer to think of myself as the latter. Teaching can wait until I have won Jordan’s trust.
Robert Stelmach, (aka MaxTell), troubadour, author, and musician. www.maxtell.ca.

Best Wishes To Everyone

Is Singing a Good Way to Learn English??

It has been reported that learning English by singing is an interesting and effective way (Baker, 2007; Calvert and others, 1993; Hamner, 2003; Lems, 2002; Shih, 1980), but a systematic investigation on its effects of learning English seems to be lacking.

The researcher conducted a quantitative study (sponsored by Providence University) in 2008 to discover the effects. 20 college students in Taiwan participated in the study. 10 of them were in the prose group and the other half ‘learned English by singing’.

Ten English songs were chosen (Always, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, She, Memories, Dream, Yesterday Once More, On Top of the World, Let it Be, Trouble Sleeping, and Fernando) and were rewritten into the prose form by two Americans.

At the beginning of the study, all of the subjects took pretests of listening comprehension (on the levels of sentences, dialogues, and paragraphs) and an oral test (of 1 minute impromptu speech with 2 minutes preparation on a given topic).

Then, the prose group studied English paragraphs with the same content as the 10 English songs, introduced to the ‘singing’ group, with lyrics explained. After these 10 weeks, all of the subjects took posttests (the same listening comprehension test, the same format of oral test on a different topic, and a cloze achievement test).

The test scores did not support the general belief that learning by singing is more effective. That is, in the song group the differences between pre-tests and post-tests were not significant except for the listening tests, but in the prose group the difference was significant.

These results showed that the prose group instead of the song group made significant progress. The implication of this study parallels that of Calvert et al. (1993); i.e. singing with little effort leads to limited information processing.

How Exercise Can SuperCharge Your Brain

http://aplustutoringservices.vpweb.ca/SuperchargeYourBrain.html

Human Rights Day

Elementary Teachers Celebrate Human Rights Day
Education can provide a pathway for change
TORONTO, Dec. 10 /CNW/ - December 10 is Human Rights Day, a day to celebrate 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights' proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The Declaration affirms that everyone is entitled to fundamental rights without restrictions of any kind.
"Elementary teachers understand that educating children and the greater community about the negative impacts of discrimination and exclusion can be a pathway to a more just and equitable society," said Sam Hammond, President, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO)
"A main objective of ETFO is to foster a climate of social justice and equity and take a leadership role in confronting individual and systemic discrimination and inequality in all its forms. The federation has focused on lobbying for social change at the provincial level and developing classroom resources and professional development to share with educators across Canada and internationally," Hammond said.
ETFO's human rights materials address issues such as homophobia and heterosexism, ability, violence against women and children, equity and inclusion, racism, classism, and rights of the child and can be used in the elementary classroom to help teachers and students begin conversations about human rights.
Two years ago with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Education, ETFO began an intensive program of addressing poverty and its impact on education, The goal of ETFO's 'Education and Poverty' project is to educate teachers and the broader community about the impact of poverty in the classroom and to develop strategies to address some of its impacts.
In conjunction with Right To Play International, ETFO is working with the Ministry of Education and the national teacher union in Benin, West Africa on the implementation of an early childhood education program under Education International's 'Education For All' plan. This initiative will enhance the learning of their young children but will also allow young girls to go to school and not have to drop out at age 6 or 7 to watch their young siblings.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario represents 73,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada

Anti-Bullying

A good read: http://aplustutoringservices.vpweb.ca/AntiBullying.html

More resource sites to check out

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.learnnc.org/instructify/
http://primaryschoolteaching.co.uk/feed.xml
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

A good resource site

http://bctf.ca/IssuesInEducation.aspx?id=10564

Please add yours!!!

Your Favourite Links

Do you have some favourite links that help you with your teaching? If so please share them with us.

Here are some of ours:
http://www.ascd.org/
http://www.scribblar.com/
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://www.foreign-language-teachers.com/
http://www.epals.com/
http://quizlet.com/
http://www.readwritethink.org/
https://www.msu.edu/~sandinkr/tprsarticles.htm
http://classtools.net/
http://www.alline.org/
http://www.tut-world.com/

Auto Backup and file sharing

If you have two computers or devices and would like to easily share documents between them, Dropbox is the tool for the job. Your files are automatically updated, so there is no need to worry about copying and dragging, pasting and cutting or backing up.

Also, Dropbox shared folders let you share or collaborate on a set of files. When someone joins a shared folder, the folder appears inside their Dropbox, and syncs to their computers automatically.

I use Dropbox daily. It works perfectly and saves me a lot of time. The best part is it is free!

Just use this link to sign up: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI2MDA0MjU5

Canadians - Last chance for RESP

Contribute to your children's future

If you have a child or grandchild who has never participated as a beneficiary in a Registered Education Savings Plan and who turned 15 sometime in 2009, Dec. 31 is the last chance to contribute at least $2,000 to his or her RESP to be allowed to collect the 20% Canada Education Savings Grant for 2009 and create eligibility for the grant in 2010 and 2011. If you miss the deadline, the child or grandchild will not be eligible for any grants in the future.

Homework

How Much Homework Is Appropriate?

To What Degree Should Parents Become Involved With Their Child's Homework?

Here are two interesting articles on homework:

http://aplustutoringservices.vpweb.ca/WhatCanadianSchoolBoards.html

http://aplustutoringservices.vpweb.ca/HowInvolvedShouldParentsBe.html

Ways To Learn English

It’s never easy learning something new, like learning English for the first time. It’s not an easy process, but with some guidance in the right direction you can be successful in no time. So here are the best ways to learn English:

Spare Some Time, Make an EffortLearning English requires a great deal of time and effort. The less time you can devote to learning, the slower you will be to grasp new concepts and sentence structures. If you feel you can’t dedicate even a little time to learning, maybe you’re not ready to learn English right now. If, however, you feel you could spare around an hour a day, you will be amazed at your vocabulary by the end of a month, and within six months, you could easily be speaking fluently.

Start with the BasicsThe best approach to learning English is to start with the basics; numbers, letters of the alphabet, days of the week. Learn the basic vocabulary and most importantly write down everything you learn with the definition in your native language. This will enable you to produce your own reference guide to refresh your memory, and allow you to chart your progress over time.

Surround Yourself with EnglishAnother good way to improve your English is to surround yourself with English by reading English books, magazines or newspapers, watch English movies and tv series and listen to English broadcasts and songs. It’s fun because you can pick any materials you like: celebrity news, your favorite English bands, or your favorite English author. Write a journal or start writing your diary in English. This way you learn to think in English instead of your native language. Speak English with your friend. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or sound stupid because speaking the language is the key to learning English, or any language.

Read English Books, Magazines or NewspapersReading helps you learn new words and build your vocabulary. While you read, write down any new words you encounter and find their meanings using a good English dictionary. So make sure you always have a dictionary with you when you’re reading. By reading you also learn to form sentences and indirectly learn your grammars. Make sure you start with lighter materials like magazines, newspapers and novels to make it easier for you to learn.
Watch English Movies, TV Series and NewsAnother fun yet very effective way to learn English.You can watch English movies and tv series (the ones with English subtitles are better) to expand your vocabulary and listen to the flow of speech from the actors. By listening to the news you can also hear different accents spoken by the newscasters.

Listen to English SongsEnglish songs are very popular and played all over the world by radio stations and MTV. Who doesn’t know The Beatles or Michael Jackson? Listening to music can be the most fun way to learn English. You just have to get the lyrics and try reading them as the singer sings. Try to understand the meaning of the song. Find the meanings of any new words you encounter. This way you also practice your reading and listening skills at the same time.
Test, Test, TestYou can only know how much you’ve progressed by completing exercises and taking tests. Just like in school where we have exams, exercises and tests give you a benchmark to compare your future results with. Only by comparing your score you realize just how much you have learned.

A Little TravelingVisiting England or any states in the US or any other English-speaking countries to try out your skills might also be beneficial, as this could help you practice your skills first hand and develop the necessary analytical skills to converse freely with the native speakers. Plus you’re surrounding yourself with everything English.

Learning English requires time and dedication, but if you use your investment wisely, you will soon reap the benefits. Within weeks you should be structuring complex sentences and contemplating your own punctuation, and within several months you should be able to write and structure prose. If you’re dedicated enough, you’ll see the results sooner than you think.

SPEAK FIRST

There are countless recommendations on how to learn English, or any other language for that matter.

While a 'variety of methods' approach may lead to a balanced learning style, the problem is trying to focus on the one method that works the best.

If you think about yourself, or any other person for that matter, and how you learned your native language, you will recall that you learned to speak first.

Speaking a language on a regular, sometimes forced, basis is the single most effective way to learn a language.

This fact was driven home to me when teaching English in China. I found myself in front of 30 High School English teachers. I had come prepared with reams of material all geared for people whom I thought would have some grasp of English. I discovered, to my amazement, that they could barely speak the language.

Yes they knew grammar; some better than I, but the silence at the beginning of that first class was palpable. I quickly jettisoned all my materials and began to encourage them to speak. By injecting a lot of silly humour and many, many games they began to loosen up and speak.

So, if you want to learn English, throw out the grammar books, ditch the writing assignments and immerse yourself orally into the language. There are countless way to do this...just select the ways that are the most convenient for you - but remember: you must push yourself outside of your comfort zone if you want to make serious progress.

If you have any suggestions on how to immerse yourself orally into English, please let me know. I love to find new ways for my students to enjoy speaking English.

ENGLISH MANIA

I love the English Language. It is so flexible and adaptable that it is no wonder it has become the world's language of choice. If you are a sceptic, take a boo at this: http://aplustutoringservices.vpweb.ca/didyouknow.html and click on "How Important is English?"