Summer Is Here!
January 1, 1970
The Practical EducatorWelcome to The Practical Educator, a Web Newsletter for All Teachers!
The Practical Educator is a monthly Web forum designed to make the professional life of teachers easier and more rewarding.
At The Practical Educator, teachers can
• learn practical teaching tips
• develop professional expertise
• find useful Web resources
• be inspired!
If you would like to subscribe to this free newsletter of teacher-tested tips, activities, and techniques, please just follow the directions in the left column. Please feel free to forward this address to your friends, too!
If you have strategies, tips, or insights that you would like to share with other teachers, please email Julia Thompson at thompson_juliag@yahoo.com.
This month, you also have a chance to win a signed copy of Julia Thompson's newest book, First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide, Second Edition. Just click on Contest at the top of this page and follow the directions to enter.
Welcome to Issue Five
Summer Is Here!
"Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use."~Charles Schulz
Summer days are meant to be savored! If you are teaching, on vacation, or even taking summer classes for the next few weeks, June and July are good months to reflect on the past year and look ahead to plan how to be an inspiring teacher for your new students this fall.
Because of this relaxed schedule, there will only be one newsletter for the months of July and June. Expect the next one August 5!
Even though you may not be actively engaged in daily teaching, there is still a great deal that you can do to improve the way you teach. With that in mind, here is what you can find in this summer’s newsletter:
• A celebration of the publication of a new book
• How to find Resources for K-12 Teachers
• A reading list for teachers
• Reading list sites for students
• Two more writing-to-learn activities
• Some teaching activities to jazz up your plans
• Questions to guide your reflections on the past year
• Some useful sites to help refine your thinking about the new school year
"The way to be nothing is to do nothing." ~Nathanial Howe
A Celebration of the Publication of a New Book
First-Year Teacher’s Survival Guide, Second Edition will be published later this month. To order your copy, please click on one of the Quick Links in the bottom right corner. If you would like to win a free copy, please go to the contest page and take a few minutes to enter.
According to the press releases about this just-revised bestseller, it gives new teachers everything they need to succeed in the classroom: a wide variety of tested strategies, activities, and tools for creating a positive and dynamic learning environment while meeting the challenges of each school day.
Packed with valuable tips, this new edition is fully revised and updated to cover changes in the K-12 classroom over the past five years. Updates include:
• New ways teachers can meet the professional development requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act
• Entirely new section on helping struggling readers, to address the declining literacy rate among today’s students
• Expanded coverage of helpful technology solutions for the classroom
• Expanded information on teaching English Language Learners
• Greater coverage of the issues/challenges facing elementary teachers
• More emphasis on how to reach and teach students of poverty
• Updated study techniques that have proven successful with at-risk students
• Tips on working effectively within a non-traditional school year schedule
• The latest strategies for using graphic organizers
• More emphasis on setting goals to help students to succeed
• More information on intervening with students who are capable but choose not to work
• How to share a classroom or teach in a mobile unit
• How to find teacher “freebies”
• Updated information on teachers’ rights and responsibilities regarding discipline issues
• Latest educational Web sites and software.
How to Find Resources for K-12 Teachers
www.juliagthompson.com is now listed with Sites for Teachers, a terrific collection of hundreds of Web sites geared to provide teachers with resources and information. You will find this site listed as Resources for K-12 Teachers. Please click on the Quick Link at the bottom of the page to find the site and to check out the other links to resources you may find helpful. Good luck!
A Reading List for Teachers
June is a good time to gather books to read over the summer. Try some of these classics taken from Julia Thompson's Amazon Listmania.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne: This wonderful book will change how you view your students and their behavior. Dr. Payne helps teachers understand and reach the students who so desperately need caring adults in their lives.
Improved Instruction (Madeline Hunter Collection Series) by Madeline Hunter: Dr. Madeline C. Hunter provides a solid foundation for those teachers who want to improve how they deliver instruction. It is an excellent book for every teacher, no matter how experienced.
Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More than IQ by Daniel Goleman: Daniel Goleman offers sensible suggestions and insight for understanding and dealing with students of all ages. This should be required reading for every teacher.
Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Centuryby Howard Gardner: Howard Gardner explains the theories of multiple intelligences in a clear, matter-of-fact way that will help teachers design instruction that appeals to every child in a classroom.
The ADHD Book of Lists: A Practical Guide for Helping Children and Teens with Attention Deficit Disorders by Sandra F. Rief: Dr. Reif offers fundamental suggestions for teachers of students with attention disorders. It is a must for educators who want to make school a success for students who struggle with attention disorders.
I Read It, but I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers by Cris Tovani: We all teach reading no matter what course we teach! The valuable suggestions in this book can make a difference for those instructors who work with older students who struggle to read.
Classroom Instruction that Works: Researched Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement by Robert J. Marzano: Each of Marzano’s books is packed with thought-provoking ideas for teachers. This one is particularly useful for teachers at all grade levels because it translates theory into classroom practice.
How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson: Almost every teacher will have a class of students with varied abilities. This book and the others by Carol Ann Tomlinson offer effective suggestions for teachers who want to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of every learner.
Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers by Marva Collins: Marva Collins offers inspiration for those teachers who may be experiencing burnout. If you are a teacher, this book is for you.
Reading Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techniques by Jim Burke: Jim Burke is a practicing teacher who understands the reality of a classroom. If you are trying to reach students who are reluctant to read, this book offers advice that can make a crucial difference for you and your students.
Reading List Sites for Students
Here are three sites to help you plan reading experiences for your students, no matter what subject you teach. While the first two offer wide-ranging suggestions for student books, the last one offers different places for your students to share their opinions about a book with an authentic audience.
1. http://www.ala.org: The American Library Association maintains this useful site. Just click on the tab for “Booklists and Book Awards” to find extensive information about how you can find appropriate books for your students to enjoy.
2.http://www.reading.org/resources/tools/choices.html: This site maintained by the International Reading Association gives a variety of lists and tools to help teachers use their lists.
3. http://www.surfnetkids.com/bookrpt.htm: You’ll find great information on how to publish your students’ book reviews, thus giving them a real audience.
Two More Writing-to-Learn Activities
Try these two activities to engage your students’ minds as they engage their pens.
1. As soon as students have finished an activity, ask them to write an expanded definition of the topic. Use these definitions to review concepts and provide opportunities for students to discuss, clarify, and extend their definitions.
2. Ask students to divide a page into two columns. In the first column, students should create a series of questions related to the topic under study, skipping a few lines between questions. Then, students should swap learning logs with a partner, and respond in the second column to their partner’s questions
Some Teaching Activities to Jazz Up Your Plans
Do you find it all too easy to get in a rut while you are planning lessons? One way to keep your instruction interesting is to brainstorm a master list of activities to keep in your plan book. When you find yourself struggling to create interesting lessons, you can flip to this handy list for inspiration.
1. Write exit slips
2. Cornell Notes
3. KLW charts
4. Preview reading activities
5. Class discussion
6. Word walls
7. Bulletin boards
8. Choral reading
9. Making collections
10. Oral questions
11. Discussion groups
12. Illustrate vocabulary words
13. Reading assignments in texts
14. Lecture-demonstration by teacher
15. Guest speaker
16. Biographic reports
17. Socratic groups
18. Summaries by students
19. Vocabulary drills
20. Individualsreports
21. Student-group reports
22. Small group work
23. Reading assignments in supplementary books
24. Create a crossword puzzle
25. Solve a crossword puzzle
26. Flannel boards
27. Jigsaw puzzle maps
28. Experiments
29. Panel discussion
30. Researched reports
31. Mini-essays
32. Written book reports
33. Oral book reports
34. Students design or identify flags
35. Games such as Scrabble, Bingo
36. Create a Hall of Fame
37. Create timelimes
38. Pretests
39. Salt map
40. Draw and label a map
41. Simulation games
42. Flash cards
43. Flowcharts
44. Interviews
45. Transparencies
46. Mobiles
47. Field trips
48. Models
49. Mock convention
50. Writing editorials
51. Collect old magazines
52. Role playing
53. Notebook
54. Murals
55. Collages
56. Pen pals
57. Students take and write about photographs
58. Skits
59. Students make graphic organizers
60. Open textbook tests
61. Making posters
62. Students drawing pictures or cartoons
63. Real life problem solving or
64. Case studies
65. Booklets
66. Analolgies
67. Students make exhibits and displays
68. Power point presentations
69. Students view a film
70. Learning centers
71. Work contracts
72. Debates
73. Filling out forms
74. Use of television
75. Book talks
76. Matching exercises
77. Word sorts
78. Vote on an issue
79. Sand tables
80. Community resources
81. Story telling
82. Surveys
83. Literature circles
84. Peer tutoring
85. Word association activity
86. Workbooks
87. Making scrapbooks
88. Write a caption
89. Reading aloud
90. WebQuest
91. Differentiated assignment and homework
92. Class newsletters
93. Start a campaign
94. Investigate crime
95. Volunteering
96. Detect propaganda
97. Join an organization
98. Collect money for a cause
99. Set a goal for the day’s work
100. Lecture
101. Create a newspaper on a specific topic
Questions to Guide Your Reflections on the Past Year
Instead of just worrisome thoughts about how well you did or did not teach this year, try asking yourself these questions so that you can establish useful professional goals in the school year to come.
1. How can I improve my organizational and planning skills?
2. What can I do to handle the paperwork I have to manage more efficiently?
3. How can I use my time at school more wisely?
4. What technological resources can I use next year?
5. What can I do to improve the way that I prevent behavior problems?
6. What steps do I have to take to make sure that students are engaged in door-to-door learning?
7. How can I connect better with other teachers next year?
8. What can I do to keep my life in balance?
9. How can I improve the way I design tests and other assessments?
10. What can I do to prepare my students for standardized tests?
11. How can I make sure I cover the required curriculum?
12. How can I motivate my students to do their best?
Some Useful Sites to Help Refine Your Thinking about the New School Year
For technology help: http://www.180techtips.com
For worksheet templates: http://school.discovery.com/teachingtools/worksheetgenterator/index.html
For free supplies, materials, equipment: http://www.iloveschools.com/teachers/index.html
For a terrific newsletter on how to manage your time better:http://www.marvinmarshall.com/
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."~Unknown