It is important that the text is carefully selected, bearing in mind the abilities of the students in the group. The groups are generally small in number, with just 4 to 6 students. This makes it easier to focus on the development of each student, and allows the teacher to monitor and guide the students individually. The groups also often consist of students from different grades but with the same reading level.

The guided reading program that is generally for around 15 to 20 minutes starts with an introductory session where the teacher introduces the book, establishes its background and provides the students with some prior knowledge on the subject. The book is then read aloud by each student, in turns. The teacher responds to each student’s reading, dishing out praise as well as giving them useful tips to improve. The teacher may also collect notes on the students’ skills and abilities.

After the reading, the teacher leads the students into a discussion, with questions like ‘What were you thinking as you read?’ as well as focusing on words that the students struggled with. It is important that the students reflect on themselves as readers and question how they are meeting their goals.

Additional activities could include identifying important words, writing an outline of the text, or drawing pictures of important parts of the text. You can use any other creative ideas to help improve interaction with the text.

Students are generally not expected to show progress at the beginning of the program or the starting of a book. Also keep in mind that, students should make their way through both fiction and non-fiction categories before they are bumped to a higher reading level.

Guided reading is a great strategy to help increase motivation and interest toward reading. Putting students in the right group, and choosing the right text will directly influence the effectiveness of the program.

Have you used guided reading in your classroom? Share your experiences.

Learn more about reading strategies through Professional Learning Board’s course for online continuing education and professional development: Reading Across the Curriculum and Tackling Tough Text

Wiggio

Connect with parents and students with this free tool: share documents, create polls, and even host online meetings or presentations.

Ahead

Create non linear presentations that are fun to explore, and interactive, using this tool.

CrocoDoc

Use this to mark up and share documents in a variety of formats. You could add your comments to a PDF or a website and share it with the class using this tool.

Class Pager

This website makes it simple and easy to keep your students updated during the rest of the day using a group messaging feature.

RESOURCES

Own Your Space Ebook

This is a free downloadable ebook for teens, parents and educators on protecting ourselves online.

Stixy

A virtual bulletin board space that is easy to use. Teachers can put together resources, links and ideas related to a project or an assignment and share it with the class.

Fun Math Games

Fun and enjoyable academic games for children.

Art Integrated Lesson Plans

Integrate art across subjects and topics.

GIVEAWAYS OF THE WEEK

Lego Storage Solution

Post a comment and win a clever storage solution for all those little Lego pieces.

iHome Speaker System

Subscribe to this free magazine for a chance to win this speaker system.

As always before using tools or resources be sure to conduct due diligence regarding alignment of the material and content with your local values, curriculum, and standards.

My thoughts on homework are plentiful and while I vacillate across the spectrum they’re riddled with questions, some rhetorical and some thought provoking. Should we be giving students homework? What is the purpose of homework? What are we teaching children through homework?

Are we teaching students that they have to bring their work home? That relationships with family and friends and people in their community are less important than the job (homework). Will we have students so trained after 17 years (with college) to place their job over everything else? Will their inter-personal relationships suffer? If the pedagogy is effective in school, why homework? If the current scheduling system of 5-6-7 classes during the day necessitates a need for homework because not enough can be done during the day, might it be better to switch to three 2-hour long classes so that there’s time to collaborate and focus on learning while diving deep into content that allows teachers and students time to flourish?

When we have a student who has homework in every subject does it push them to stay up late and reduce the amount of sleep they get? What impact does reduction in sleep have for students on their health? In their ability to perform in school? Are students, by the result of doing too much homework, less awake or unable to focus because they spend so much time outside of school on homework? Does homework lead to potential behavior problems because students need the opportunities and time to socialize IN school?

What are your questions, concerns, solutions and thoughts regarding homework?

An LEA lesson is centered around a learner-generated text. The rationale behind LEA is that materials with familiar vocabulary and ideas are more meaningful and accessible than texts found in pre-prepared books. For teachers wanting to work on reading fluency with emergent readers, learner-generated texts are ideal.

The following sections describe the steps of an Language Experience Approach lesson.

STEP #1: A Shared Experience
The LEA process begins with something the class does together, such as a field trip, an experiment, or some other hands-on activity. If this is not possible, a sequence of pictures (that tell a story) can be used, as can a student describing a sequence of events from real life.

STEP #2: Creating the Text
Next, the teacher and students, as a group, verbally recreate the shared experience. Students take turns volunteering information, as in a large-group discussion. The teacher transcribes the student’s words on the board in an organized way to create the text.

STEP #3: Read & Revise
The class reads the story aloud and discusses it. The teacher asks if the students want to make any corrections or additions to the story. Then she marks the changes they suggest and makes further suggestions, if needed.

STEP #4: Read and Reread
The final story can be read in a choral or echo style, or both. Students can also read in small groups or pairs, and then individually.

STEP #5: Extension
This text can be used for a variety of literacy activities like illustrations or creating comprehension questions.

How can you use this approach in your classroom?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers:   Teaching English Language Learners

Sensible, Adaptable, Active (SP)

33% people have this temperament. They have a combination of sensate qualities and perceiver qualities, and are usually very tuned in to the here and now.

They like doing and playing today, and not being too worried about tomorrow. They are spontaneous and easygoing. They like to get involved in new and interesting activities.

School can be boring for the SP, if it means sitting still and doing a lot of written work. But school can be fun for them if that’s where the “action” is.

Sensible, Decision-making (SJ)

30% people have this temperament. They have a combination of sensate qualities and judging qualities. They are usually the dependable and responsible ones.

The SJ is very service-oriented and are good “team players.” They like situations that have been spelled-out and are well organized. SJ’s like institutions like school, teams, church and family.

They don’t mind step-by-step work, and they like and do well in school (partly because most teachers are SJ’s themselves).

Enthusiastic, Insightful (NF)

22% people are NFs. They have intuition combined with feeling qualities and are generally very good with people and language.

The NF is usually very enthusiastic and warm. They are very oriented toward cooperative things, and stay away from competitive things. They usually have very strong feelings about things and people – they either really like them or really don’t.

NFs are very personal and thrive in supportive, creative, and harmonious situations.

Logical, Ingenious (NT)

15% people have this temperament. They have a combination of intuition and a thinking style, resulting in someone who always needs to know “why.” NT’s are less interested in how things have been done, and more interested in how they can improve and in changing them.

They are very imaginative, and are very comfortable in the “world of ideas.”

They like to be good at things, and always want to be learning. They can appear unemotional, and can be accused of having an “attitude”, which is usually not the case.

Do you recognise the different temperaments of your students in these four types? How can you enhance the learning process to work through their type of temperament?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Accommodating All Learners

However, Facebook also poses a lot of threats, which is why it becomes essential that we moderate our actions on this social medium, to safeguard ourselves and our students.

The first step is to build a separate teacher page for your “teacher presence.” Do not mix your teacher profile with your personal page. It is essential that students ‘friend’ you as your teacher self and understand that there are rules to be followed.

Create a closed class group, so that people will have to request to join the group. Ensure that you are positive and praise rich in what you post. Appreciate the work and efforts of the students. This space can also be used to clarify information, like the school staying closed due to bad weather. It can be used to guide students on study materials or answer queries. This will also help you sneak in a fun ‘educational’ discussion!

Avoid using Facebook chat or sending students’ messages. Keep everything in the open. It will protect you against any accusations. If a student messages you, post on his wall instead. Wish students on their birthday. It makes them feel special. You may also play a few simple Facebook games. It could help you engage with students who may otherwise not interact much.

Facebook in the classroom may just be today’s future. Let’s make the best of it.

What are some of the other ways you could use Facebook in the classroom to lighten the education process?

Learn more about integrating technology in your classroom through Professional Learning Board’s courses for online continuing education and professional development: Web Tech for Teachers and Technology in the 21st Century Classroom

Witty Comics
A simple way to create images of short conversations between two comic characters. No design skills needed. Use it to add life to presentations, or even to illustrate or demonstrate concepts.

Virtual Swimming
Watch animations of various swimming strokes. Students can also watch the strokes at different speeds. This tool can be used to teach swimming, of course, but also to help students understand more about 3D animation.

Rubric Maker
This tool might help you create and design your own rubrics.

Clock Block
This is a time management tool that helps to show tasks in order of priority using an innovative method.

RESOURCES

Number Game
An online number patterns game from BBC.

Field trip reflections template
A ready-made template that you can print out and get children to fill up after a field trip.

Bulletin board ideas
This resource has links to many websites providing ideas for bulletin boards.

Number2
This website offers free online preparation tests and tutorials for SAT, GRE and ACT.

GIVEAWAYS OF THE WEEK

MacBook Air
Subscribe to to a free copy of Woman’s Day for a chance to win a MacBook Air.

Hoot Owl Hoot Board Game
Comment on this blog for a chance to win this educational board game.

As always before using tools or resources be sure to conduct due diligence regarding alignment of the material and content with your local values, curriculum, and standards.

It struck me how it’s become accepted and normal for life to be busy and full of work and other activities. As I thought further, I wondered what it was that she was busy with.. Work? Family commitments? Hobbies? I hope it was something that gave her satisfaction and fulfillment, but I also hope that she was giving herself enough time to rest and relax.

Maintaining this balance is a skill that each of us needs to learn and develop. There are so many things that we would all like to do, and even plan to do, but it’s just not possible to do it all. We might succeed for a short period of time, but in the long run,we are left tired and exhausted.

So how do we bring this balance into our lives? I think it starts with knowing our priorities and making choices based on that. Learning to say no kindly and politely. Cutting down “junk tasks” or tasks that fill up our time without achieving much for us, or others. Scheduling time for rest and relaxation.

We have just 24 hours in our day. Each of us chooses with what we are going to be busy.

What do you do to bring a balance into your life?

We can use any word, signal or sound to signify that we need our students to be 100% attentive. However, over time the cue comes to represent all that is involved within the expectation, related to what it means to demonstrate quality attention and to take on the demeanor of a participant within a culture of listening.

For younger students, clapping a rhythm and having the students respond with the same rhythm can be very effective. In a physical education setting, a whistle can be a good choice. Some teachers find that silently raising their hand can act as an effective cue.

At the secondary level, a simple cue word is typically effective. There are many types of cues that are used to good effect. Find one that works for the needs of your students and you.

An effective attention cue is one of the best classroom management techniques as it elicits a response that is as much on the level of the unconscious as it is on the conscious mind. Therefore, it should possess autonomic as well as behavioral qualities.

Autonomic Response

There should be a behaviorally conditioned response to your cue. Students should respond in large part because it is automatic and unconscious, and less because they are making a situational choice.

Behavioral Qualities

The most effective cues are those that exist symbolically (a word, a sound, or a signal) and/or behaviorally (an automatic response such as clapping a response or chanting a refrain), not as verbal information (Elias & Schwab, 2006). They should not occupy conscious energy in the students’ minds. They trigger within the students an internal mechanism in which they raise the class’s level of attention, focus, and awareness.

What are some attention cues that would be appropriate in your classroom?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Transformative Classroom Management – Strategies to Engage Positive Behavior

A great feature for newly driving teens is to have a cell phone with a global positioning system (GPS) but combine GPS with a camera and you may be giving predators specific location information without even realizing this is happening. This is why cell phone cameras and privacy do not go together.

Digital photographs contain information that is not visible from simply looking at the image. This data (camera settings, type, file name, etc) is called Exchangeable Image File format, or Exif data for short. The amount and nature of data embedded in the image file varies depending on the camera. Cameras with GPS capabilities enabled record and automatically include the GPS coordinates of the camera in the image when a photograph is taken. The GPS coordinates enable anyone to locate where the picture was taken simply by looking at a picture’s Exif data.

Most people don’t realize that when they take a picture and send it to someone else, the receiving person can easily view the Exif data, take the GPS coordinates and plug them into a mapping program or at a mapping website like MapQuest and see the location of the camera.

As a teacher, we have an opportunity to explain to our students the dangers of cell phone cameras and privacy concerns. Here is a check list of things people might do to prevent location data from being included with pictures:

• Know the equipment’s capabilities.
• If the phone is GPS enabled know how to disable this and do so before ever taking a picture.
• If you don’t turn the GPS feature off then you should learn how to remove the Exif Data using programs like Irfanview. This is a free program and can be downloaded and installed to view and edit Exif Data in pictures. Get the free software here: http://www.irfanview.com/
• Talk with everyone who uses the camera or phone and explain how they may be sending their location information to anyone they send a picture to.
• Have rules for what type, when, and to whom pictures can be sent. Talk with your kids about their cell phone use and families should complete a cell phone user agreement.
• Check any sites you upload your pics to by downloading one after its on the site and use a Exif reader type program to check to see if the data has been removed. If not, delete the picture from the site. Some social network sites strip off Exif data when someone uploads an image to those sites.
• Keep up on understanding the technology that your putting into your family’s hands and that children are using today.

How can we, as teachers, protect our students from any dangers of technology, like cell phone cameras?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Internet Safety: Protecting Children in an Online World