Welcome Back! Some great resources to get your school year started

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer and was able to relax and recharge. Our district starts with teacher professional development and classroom setup this coming Thursday, K-9 start next Tuesday, and 10-12 start Wednesday. The summer has flown by!

The beginning of the year is always a little crazy for all teachers. Getting your room setup, implementing new ideas into your lesson plans, getting to know your students, and just settling back in to the routine can be busy and stressful. Remember to not over do it and take time for yourself. 

One thing I've done that helps me is I've created a check list of everything I have to do when school starts, including setting up my room (computer, bulletin boards, etc), things I want to post in my room, lesson ideas and more in Evernote. I modify it each year, adding new things for the following year. 

Here are some more tips, resources, and help to get your school year started on a positive note, and keep it that way. 

Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession 

Summary of new teacher tips, urban schools issues, technology resources

My Favorite Resources for Teachers and Students

Evernote for Education Resources - the ultimate note taking, web clipping, lesson planning resource

Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.

Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).

Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient.


Good luck and I hope everyone has a great school year!!

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Traits & Skills of "Great" Teachers - my list - add yours

I work with new teachers and pre-service teachers quite often and I think about what traits are indicative of a "Great teacher" and try to help them develop these traits and skills. Here's my list. Add yours and your comments.

(in no particular order)

1. Positive Attitude - being negative will make you angry, pass negative attitudes onto colleagues and students and not make you effective.

2. Lifelong learner - teachers need to know that they don't know everything and that things change, so they must always be learning and keeping up with new ideas, trends, research, and pedagogy.

3. Curious and Explorer - teachers should be curious and want to explore and learn more. Pass this along to your students. Try new things, and see what works best.

4. Connect with students - make personal connections with students. Show them that you care about them as people. This helps with behavior issues, along with helping students want to come to class and do well. Be mindful of their home lives, experiences, and issues that may affect their learning.

5. Pedagogy and Content - it's hard to teach if you don't know your content or how to help students learn it.

6. Tools - need to know what tools and resources exist to help you teach and help your students learn. This includes technology, research, lesson resources, help, and more.

7. Ask for help. There are people who will help you.

8. Compassion - remember what it's like to be a student. Realize that your students may have major issues outside of school that will affect their learning.

9. Be self-reflective and seek to get better at your career. Always reflect on what you are doing and how you can do it better.

10. Flexible and think on your feet - plans go awry, schools change plans, stuff happens. Be flexible, be able to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sometimes students start a great discussion - roll with it, and be flexible and use it as a great learning experience.

11. Connect and communicate with parents. Parents are a huge influence on student learning. Home life, parental support, and more. Connect with parents and help them help their children.

12. Teach students, then teach your content. We are not just teaching science, math, or history. We are teaching our students life skills that will help them in the future. We are trying to make them informed, educated, productive members of society.

13. Prepared and Organized - be prepared to teach and support learning. Be organized. Both of these are important and will help you overcome obstacles and last minute issues.

Here's a great quote that was Tweeted out the other day that applies here:

#cue12 Products don't close the gap or make scores rise: meaningful learning, student centered, passionate teachers, supportive families do

What traits would you add?


Related:

List of What Makes a Good Teacher - created by students

Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training

Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession

Making School Relevant for Students

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

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Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession

Welcome to the hardest job you'll ever love!

As I think about the fact that most colleges will be holding graduation in the next few weeks, I thought about all those new graduates that will be joining the education profession next year and thought I'd share some advice and resources for them. I'll be speaking to some from a few different area programs and I hope you will share these with new graduates that you know. I also figured this would be a good time because many seniors are still doing student teaching now. 

• Your best resource as a new teacher is yourself. Use what you learned in school. Seek out more information from colleagues and the Internet. Use your creativity. Remember what it was like to be a student yourself.

• Ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask other teachers for help. Do not isolate yourself in your classroom. Make connections with other teachers, whether it is in person, by email, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Ning, web sites, or blogs. Create a Personal Learning Network of people and resources that can help you.

• Don't reinvent the wheel. Use the resources that are available to you. Most textbooks come with instructor resource CD-ROMs and companion web sites. Use the resources that they have and then modify them as needed. Search the Internet for lesson plan ideas, activities, classroom management tips, and other tips and tricks. Check out Discovery Education's free resources. Use some of the great free resources that are available out there.  As and example, as a Physics teacher, I use PhysicsClassroom and PhET (online virtual labs) quite often with my classes. They are both excellent, and free. 

• Stay organized. You need to stay organized. Make sure you have a lesson plan guide and calendar of some sort. You can use a paper based planner and lesson planner or use an electronic or web-based system. Smartphones are great for staying organized, accessing your files and apps at anytime, and being very productive. You can also use online resources like Google, Evernote and others to keep your files, calendar, tasks, and lesson plans organized.

• Write things down and make sure you have your classroom materials organized and labeled.

• Take advantage of professional development opportunities. Your district and school will run professional development sessions, but don't limit yourself to those. Look for free online sessions, webcasts, conferences, and sessions run by your local educational resource agency. Create your own, on-demand professional development using Twitter. 

• Join a professional society in your area. As a physics teacher, I have joined the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Find out what organizations are in your area and join them. You will find resources and contacts through these organizations.

• Read journals. Subscribe to and read educational journals. Most are free, so you don't have to worry about the money. There are journals on general education, educational technology, pedagogy, assessment, and just about every other area of education. Here is a great, free journal: Tech and Learning Magazine - great magazine with educational and technology information and resources. Free subscription for teachers.

• Be creative with your lessons. Think outside the box. Come up with new, fun ways to teach the students. Use projects and project-based-learning as a way to engage and teach your students. You can find a huge number of resources and ideas for projects on the web. Don't allow the textbook or curriculum to limit how your students learn. Make sure you address the needs of all of your students (Differentiation).

• Read some books on education. My personal favorites to start with are "First Days of School", by Harry Wong, and "Your First Year as a High School Teacher", by Lynne Rominger, et al.

• Don't pay for things if you can get them for free. There are tons of free resources, from software to web sites, that can help you in your classroom. Here are some tips for finding free resources. 

• Make connections with the secretaries and custodians in your building. They will be some of your best resources for supplies, ideas, and help.

• Make connections with local businesses, especially those that are related to your subject area. They can be a huge resource for guests, supplies and equipment, and funding. Many local businesses, such as Staples, have Teacher Appreciation Days with discounts and free gifts. Find out about these. Remind businesses that instead of throwing out things, they can donate usable items to your school as a tax write-off.

• Get to know the publisher's representative for your class's textbook. They can get you a lot of resources.

• Be flexible. Remember Murphy's law. Have plans for when your lessons run short or long, to deal with interruptions and fire drills, assemblies, and days when much of your class is absent because of a field trip. Here are some good ideas for backup plans.

• Have back up plans for everything and especially have backup plans in case of technology issues.

• Know your local and State curriculum. Know what is expected of you. Know what is expected of the students.

• Track your personal expenses and save receipts. There is a tax deduction for educators.

• Copyright issues - be careful and make sure you know about Educational Copyright issues

• Keep up on your certification requirements.

• Spend this summer relaxing and getting ready for your new career. Once you get hired by a school, get a copy of the curriculum and review it over the summer. Think about the kind of teacher you want to be. Get yourself organized. 

• If you are still looking for a job, don't worry. Teachers retire, move to different school systems. There will be openings. If you can't find a job by August, keep trying. Sign up to be a substitute teacher in the towns nearby. That is a foot-in-the-door for a permanent job when one opens. Don't despair, you will find a job. 

• Ask for help, and look for help. Again, don't be afraid to ask for help.

Good luck and welcome to the profession!

Some more resources for new teachers:


Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training

Summary of new teacher tips, urban schools issues, technology resources

This blog, Educational Technology Guy - tips, resources, free technology, and much more. 

New Teacher Advice - some good advice for new teachers (and old ones too!)

Discovery Education New Teacher Survival Central - a great resource for all teachers (and free).

List of Discovery Education Resources for Educators - very good, inclusive list of Discovery Educations resources.

131 Tips for New Teachers

Google for Educators resources

Evernote for Educators Resources

Android for Educators Resources

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Summary of new teacher tips, urban schools issues, technology resources

This past Saturday I spoke with the pre-service science teachers in Connecticut's Alternate Route to Certification program about new teacher tips, urban schools issues, and technology resources.

Here is the handout I gave them as we chatted.

ARC-A-Palooza 2012

David Andrade, M.S. Ed

New teacher stuff

• ask for help
• lots of resources online - lesson plans, classroom management, activities, new teacher help
• remember what you have learned here
• be organized!!!  (Evernote, Google Docs, Google Calendar)
• take advantage of professional development opportunities and find some outside of district
• join a professional society (NSTA, AAPT, etc)
• use Projects in your classroom
• Have a backup plan and be creative

Resources, Links and Articles to read:

• (my blog and website listed up top) - free stuff, educational ideas and resources,
• new teacher advice  http://goo.gl/kkIqR and  http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/17362
• Article from 2010 ARC-A-Palooza: http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/22478
• http://www.techlearning.com/ Tech&Learning Magazine - great resource
• http://www.edutopia.org/ - Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation - great info and resources
• http://www.pbs.org/teachers/classroom/9-12/ Lots of free stuff!
• http://discoveryeducation.com/survival/ - Great info, resources and advice for new teachers
• Create a Personal Learning Network (starting with your ARC colleagues): http://goo.gl/SBxe
• Differentiation http://goo.gl/xEFWF

 
Urban/low income schools
Student issues

not all students think school is important	no support at home (hmwk, etc)
no parents, too many kids, no parental involvement	poverty, drugs, violence (HS kids work to pay bills)
work part time jobs to help pay bills	no ride to school
issues at home - absences, tardy	take care of siblings
no computer/internet at home	cultural beliefs are different
high turnover of students (pregnancy, crime, drugs)	move a lot - change schools
English as Second Language	Reading comprehension

School Issues:

high teacher/admin turnover and burnout	large classes
limited funds and resources	hard to change things due to lack of resources
lots of new teachers	lots of new initiatives to fix (don't work)

Things to do to help and support urban students:

give students time to do work in school	make  your classroom available after school
create a safe haven in your classroom	be sensitive to issues they face
remember cultural/socio-economic issues	connect learning to THEIR lives and experiences
look for grants (www.donorschoose.org)	create a PLN for ideas and resources (see below)
connect with business, colleges, and other schools	Enthusiasm is contagious! Engage & Excite them.
translation (Google translate)	differentiate and individualize

What advice do you have for new teachers, teachers going to urban districts?



Related:

Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training - resources, articles, links and more. One-stop-shopping for new teacher resources.

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