Online Resources

By Carolyn Wilhelm

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Wise-Owl-Factory/Products

Students are excited when computer time rolls around!  There are so many online resources to use when teaching or letting children use computers at home or at school.  The many options can be overwhelming.  A great way to narrow choices for site selections is by using the following criteria:

 1. No or limited advertising

 2. Educational values

 3. Benefits for teachers and parents

 4. Associated with nationally known groups or businesses

 5. Students should be able to explain what they learned

 6. Includes SMART Board use that engages all students in the class

First, limited or no advertising is an important requirement, especially for young viewers.  However, there is still the need to teach children not to follow extra links that look enticing without asking permission and being willing to accept “no” for an answer.

Second, reinforce that cheating to complete online activities is not acceptable.  Many students use codes, tricks, or advice from friends to win while playing electronic games at home.  Therefore, they are very familiar with such techniques.  Parents and teachers need to point out that getting to the end of activities is not the goal whether working at home or on school computers.  The goal is to learn.

Third, the best sites have teacher or parent resources associated with them.  If you look at home pages for educational sites, there are varieties of free resources and materials for students, parents, and teachers.

Fourth, the sites should be associated with nationally known groups or businesses that are likely to remain in business over time.  These are the most excellent and reliable types of sites.  Websites that look like they could change hands tomorrow may disappear quickly.  Also, be sure to review new sites for appropriate child content.  Remember, parents and teachers need to be nearby during children’s computer uses.

Fifth, children should be able to explain what they learned during computer time.  The best sites offer print-outs of activities, which children are happy to share.  If children simply "had fun", check the site for education values then assess whether new or different sites might be needed.  Having fun, although it can be a motivational component of the lesson, is not the goal of educational computer time.

Sixth, if SMART Boards are available in classrooms, educational sites meeting the above criteria should be able to hold interests of students for whole group site demonstrations.  SMART Boards save time in computer labs, and they help students avoid advertising links. 

By following these simple guidelines when looking for appropriate online resources for students, your computer lessons will be educational, as well as engaging and fun!

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Reaching Out to English Language Learners

By Rosshalde Pak

 Rosshalde's TPT store

Often there is the view of ESL students being low or lacking in intelligence.  In reality, they are lacking English language skills. Being an English Language Learner (ELL), or learning English as Second Language (ESL) students, means needing the skills to be proficient in the language.  It’s as if a native English speaker went to live in a foreign country and had to learn that language fluently.

As our classroom sizes continue to grow, more and more students who need 1:1 or pullout instruction times, aren’t going to receive it.  With that in mind, I came up with some tips on how to best reach and teach your ESL students in mainstream classrooms:

1.   Get to know students and their backgrounds:

                     

Everyone wants to feel special, unique, and important. Too often we are so focused on teaching these students English that we forget they have deep cultural heritages.  As you get to know all of your students, spend extra time with your ELL students by learning about their cultural backgrounds.  Ask questions such as:

                                          ·         How long have you been in this country?

·         What do you like about America?

·         How is it different from your home country?

·         What are some of the special days celebrated in your  country/culture/family?

·         What are popular games or sports in your country?

·         Who lives at home with you?

By taking moments to solely get to know your students’ backgrounds you are showing who they are is important to you, and it will allow them to open up more to you. This also helps them to want to win your approval and work harder to grasp those English Language skills.

2.   Integrate students’ native languages into your classroom:

Closely connected to understanding your ELL’s background, is the idea of integrating their home languages into lessons and learning. Some students, especially younger ones, may be confused as to why they are learning another whole language. Others may be afraid of learning new languages and forgetting their native ones.  This is especially common for students whose (extended) families live with them and/or speak native tongues. As the teacher, use the below ideas to easily integrate learners’ home languages into their lessons:

·         Create flashcards that have words/phrases/sentences written inh English on one side and home languages on the flip side.

·         Have students teach you how to say social greetings in their languages.

·         Have students use English for lessons then you try to learn the same phrases in their home language.

By using these small steps, you are, again, showing your ELL students that you respect their first languages and are not trying to erase them.

                    3.   Utilize peer support:

As an ESL teacher, I’ve come to appreciate how much it can help to have students around. They are so eager to help!  I’ve never had a year when there weren’t several students eager to help their peers. For ESL students this is great news!  By utilizing students who are proficient in English (and perhaps another language), your ESL students can read and work on their fluency and pronunciation skills with peers rather than you. This is important because sometimes ESL students are embarrassed or nervous about their lack of understanding with the English language.  When they can have classmates listen to them read, or vice versa, it helps to build confidences.  Plus, ESL students are not as worried about ‘disappointing’ their teacher with errors made.

                     4.    Break material into smaller chunks:

Who doesn’t feel overwhelmed when faced with reading five chapters in an Ancient Civilizations text or frustrated when you have to write a ten page paper on why David Bowie is the modern renaissance man?  Now, imagine having to do that in a foreign language.  By allowing your students to complete assignments in smaller chunks, you’re giving them the chance to be successful and feel pride in what they have been able to accomplish.  This also helps them from falling further behind. As the teacher, let them focus on writing a single paragraph at a time.  If their task is to read an entire chapter, you could let them focus on one page at a time, reminding them to read aloud at their own pace.

            To make tasks even easier, provide students with checklists of work needed to be completed (useful for any learner).  Watch out—you want students to focus on what they have achieved rather than putting all their attention into seeing how much they have yet to accomplish.

           In addition, keep in mind ELL students are learning the same science materials that their classmates are—plus, ELL students are learning English, too. Sometimes, especially when students are all together, it’s easy to be so in the moment of teaching you forget students with various learning needs are there, too.  

           If you are able to put a few of these tips in place before classes begin, they can save time in the long run.

             5.  Utilize colors and images:

    After repeated use, a grey pencil or blue pen becomes monotonous. Adding splashes of color can help liven up mundane materials. In that same respect, books with pictures can provide more entertainment than plain textbooks. Colors and images can also diversify works.

            Try to utilize colors and images when having ELL students do their class work.  Have them write different parts of grammar with certain colored pencils.  Then, utilize the same colors to identify parts of speech within whole sentences and paragraphs. Colors can help distinguish between spelling and vocabulary terms and how to conjugate those terms.

            Using color-coded images is key for students who are working to develop their English language skills.

                 6.  Learning a language is comprised of four components:

    To learn any language, even learning one language, there are four key steps to fully acquiring a language: (1) Listening, (2) Speaking, (3) Reading, and (4) Writing.  It is crucial to keep these in mind when aiding your English Language Learners:

1.        Listening is the easiest to do, and it takes very little effort on the part of the person listening. It is the most basic of the four steps.

2.       Speaking is just beyond listening.  Now, instead of just nodding along in agreement, students have to respond to what others are saying.  They have to have basic understandings of sounds of words in order to pronounce them correctly.

3.       Reading is the beginning of advanced skills. With reading, students have to know spelling, grammar, phonics, pronunciation, and sentence structures.

4.       Writing is the most difficult and advanced component of learning new languages. There is not as much flexibility with writing—either your students know it or they don’t.  Here, all the previous components come into play.

Although these strategies are specific to needs of ESL students, many of them can be utilized with all types of learners.  In addition, remember we all do better with some encouragement and positive reinforcements.  

Think back to when you were taking foreign language classes in high school and college.  Remember how much time it took to practice those verbs and conjugation?  How difficult was it to learn to ‘trill’ your R’s just the right way? Those same frustrations are happening to English Language Learning students. Those frustrations are even more prominent in young children who are trying to learn the fundamentals of lone anguage—let alone two. Plus, as they become older, people who are proficient in multiple languages have distinct advantages and opportunities that are not open to people who only speak one language. Give students and learning time, put work into smaller chunks, and keep in mind they are learning many required subjects, as well as English.

Our students want to gain our approvals and being English Language Learners can be quite challenging.  If you remind them of how super they are, it will make them feel great!  It’s takes time, but with your patience and support—your students will get there.

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First Week, ESL lessons ESL Daily Lesson Chart

The Power of PowerPoints

Interested in actively engaging your students?  What about mastering key content standards?  Then, think about opening up your Microsoft Office tab and taking another look at PowerPoint.

Powerpoints provide visual stimulus that students crave.  When used correctly, the presentations bring engagement to difficult to master standards, and they can provide fun to dull concepts.  PowerPoints are worth the time because they will be enjoyed and reused over and over again.

Here are some tips when using pre-made PowerPoints in the classroom:

            Is it BORING?  Does it teach what it needs to? 

            Are there errors in grammar/spelling?

            Is there enough guided practice? 

            Does the presentation go far enough—does it provide tricky
            problems/common student errors and give solutions?

            Make sure the presentation's answers are correct!

Here are some tips for making great PowerPoints for your classroom:

Begin with the essentials:  standard being taught, explanations, examples, guided practice, and independent practice.  The content of the presentation is the key!

                 If you’re using graphic organizers, provide students         
                 visual representations to they know exactly what is expected.

                       Minimal text is best. You don’t want to overpower your students 
                too much on the screen.
                  Stick with Windows fonts.  Increase the font size.  Bigger is better!

Get a clicker!  You want to be able to roam your classroom and see how your students are progressing.  These are available for under $20.00 at your local office supply store.

Don’t use the pre-created text boxes and bullets.  They are set up for business presentations not teaching.  Find the “insert text box” button…and use it!

Use clip art and animations sparingly, and make sure your students can relate to them.

When it comes to video, sounds, and eye popping words, keep it simple!  For instance, the typewriter animation where words come out one letter at a time is cool, once, and then it becomes annoying.

When choosing colors of background and font, use as much contrast as possible, and keep it the same throughout.

Edit, edit, edit! Check your Powerpoint for errors several times before you use it.  You don’t want a student calling you out in class, but, if they do…reward them!

Be thematic. Students gravitate towards thematic Powerpoints.  It makes them cohesive and memorable.

When finished with your lesson, take a moment to write yourself a note on how the presentation went.  List any mistakes and add any needed practice.  As you close, rename your presentation and use the revised date.

Powerpoints aren’t rocket science, and they are easy to do, so go out there and impress your students and yourself!

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This Isn't Your Grandma's Social Studies Class!

by Michele Luck

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Michele-Lucks-Social-Studies-English-Page/Products

Each year, I interview my students on the first day of school. I ask them what they think of Social Studies (History, Geography…) and what their classes have been like in the past. I usually receive groans and many complaints about the “boring” classes they have endured with lecturing teachers and tired, old content about “dead people.” Sounds like a bad horror film, but for many students, this is still Social Studies reality. However, this does not have to be the case.

Every Social Studies classroom can be exciting and fun! Kids can be on the edges of their seats in anticipation of the next facts, and they can be ready on a moment’s notice to fire off their thoughts and ideas about the changes and major events of our world.

To start, the old materials and old ways of teaching Social Studies have got to go. This would include many textbooks, or at least the dependency to use textbooks as main sources of information. With the many activities available on TpT, you can have great content instruction. Create, or buy, ready-made placard kits with graphic visuals and easy directions for students to gather information through investigations. Set up games or adventures for students for critical thinking while learning the content needed. Most importantly, add technology and allow your students some choices in materials used in your classroom.

Here are a few other ideas:

· Turn your classroom into an archeological site. Let students “dig” for facts or clues to materials you want them to know. For example, let students crawl through trenches made from desks and form plastic tunnels to simulate trenches of WWI.
· Use scavenger hunts and other exploratory games to provide students opportunities to get them up and moving. This also helps them remember what they read or see.

· Allow students chances to become content “experts” and share their knowledge with the next group in a Jigsaw activities.
· Let students create content products to assess their learning, such as skits, songs, or board games. These engage students while offering opportunities to practice content.
· Let them act! Assign students historical figures and encourage them to “meet and greet” one another in an information exchange activity.
· Use visuals to help students picture what they are learning about: character collages drawn by the students, images provided through an internet field trip... Visuals make learning real!
· Provide for freedom of speech in your classroom. Give students forums to express their thoughts on topics. Hang up “Big Paper” for written comments or place a “Soap Box” (a small crate will do) in the front of your classroom to create a public square.
Social Studies classrooms can be the most fun (and most learning) your students can have each day. Take a little time to prepare to make your lessons more engaging and more interesting for your students. In the end, your class will be the one they remember, and appreciate, for a lifetime!

Visit Michele’s Blog at:

http://alessonplanforteachers.blogspot.com/

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Hunting for Writing Help? The Answer's in the Clouds!

By Natalie Hunter, Guest Author     

    

Word cloud resources (not to be confused with cloud computing) create colorful visualizations of essays, spreadsheets, and articles, which makes them easier for students to visually process.  These are developed from software that generates "word clouds" from user-provided texts.  Images are generated from inputted resources and consist of artistically arranged mixtures of words and phrases from documents.  In turn, these are presented in different sizes according to word frequencies.  Because of the streamlined information, word clouds are particularly suited to aid in analysis of papers.  Because students can change colors, shapes, fonts, and styles of word clouds, they are fun for everyone in real classrooms or online schools.  

One area word clouds can be used as a teaching aid is in classroom writing assignments.  Students write drafts of essays before running them through easy-to-use word cloud generators, like Wordle at http://www.wordle.net/create or ABCYa for Kids at. http://www.abcya.com/.  This allows students to easily see which words they frequently use, and it helps determine whether any words are being overused.  Also, word clouds help facilitate lessons on the importance of word choices and varied uses of vocabulary, as well as lessons on using thesauruses.  With word frequency information and synonyms in hand, students revise their essays using the information gleaned from their word clouds to improve their works.

Word clouds can be used to study works of exemplary wordsmiths, as well as historical documents and other texts of academic interests.  By running documents through word cloud generators, images are created which demonstrate simple, easily readable ways which words and concepts are central to understandings of particular documents.  By creating something concrete and easy to grasp, students (especially at younger levels of education where capacities for abstract thinking are still developing) are able to clearly see the main points of documents, which increases comprehension and discussions of documents.  This is a smoother process than traditional methods of classroom lecturing for studies of secondary documents.

Word clouds possess the potential for positive impacts on classroom learning, particularly in areas of reading comprehension and compositions.  Due to their adeptness at taking complex and difficult documents and turning them into something clear, concrete, and comprehensive, there are lots of other uses for word clouds in classrooms.  The writing and reading of intensive core subjects, such as English and history, stand to gain the most from applications of word clouds in classroom lessons. 

Try using word clouds for free at the embedded links or at: http://tagcrowd.com/

About the Guest Author:

She grew up wanting to be a teacher and is addicted to learning and research. As a result she is grateful for the invention of the internet because it allows her to spend some time outside rather than just poring through books in a library. She is fascinated by the different methodologies for education at large today, and particularly by the advent of: http://www.onlineschools.org/

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Teaching Tools - Special Needs

By Karla Banks

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Karla-Banks/Products


Teaching presents many challenges even for veteran teachers. Special education teachers have even more challenges to prepare for than your typical teacher. They need many tools to be successful teachers who enjoy their job and want to continue teaching. Special education teachers must be all of the following:

1.      Actors :

Teach the same skill in multiple formats. All children need lots of practice to master any new skill. Special education students need to be able to practice a skill in many formats. They may need to act it, draw it, sing it, dance, read it, play it, and any other way you can think of to teach it to them. The more they practice it and connect to the skill, the more likely they are to master the skill.

2.      Flexible:

Evaluate students’ understandings during lessons. Sometimes, even the most prepared lessons fail, even those hugely successful with other classes. You may have to change gears in the middle of lessons. Always have a back-up plan. The key is to be flexible and meet the needs of your students. Their needs will change frequently especially when you take into account home situations and medication issues.

3.      Behavior Specialists:

Class behavior plans work wonders. Try to focus on the positives as much as possible. My students begin each day with 100 points. Their job is to keep all 100 points. The more points they keep, the more privileges they are able to earn. If the students are misbehaving, I brag on others’ appropriate behaviors. If students misbehave, I tell them, “You are failing to earn your points.” The point system is a great motivator to encourage students to behave and treat classmates/teachers with respect.

4.      Paperwork Extraordinaire:

Invest in a good clipboard that has a compartment on it. All important papers go into the clipboard: emergency info, parent notes, etc... I keep a three ring binder for everything else sectioned by: blank spreadsheet (planning and differentiation), different days for special area classes, IEPs, standards, scheduling, students’ homerooms, teaching evaluations, etc…

5.      Detectives:

You will constantly be searching for solutions to various problems: how to teach  students to read, do math, write, speak, behave, cope… The best resources you have are the other teachers in your building, so ask for their advice. When in doubt, go with what feels right

6.      Learners:

A good teacher is always learning. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from your students. Take classes, read and share as much as you can. Support each other and develop a real network of people you can confide in.

7.      Mothers:

You will fix boo-boos, comb and style hair, wash faces, explain the facts of life (even in 1^st grade), buy shoes and socks, teach children how to cook simple meals in the microwave, and so much more. Without building this caring relationship, the children will have no reasons to do any of the foreign things such as finding nouns and verbs.

The hardest lesson learned has also been the most valuable: behaviors of students cannot be forces to change.   If I don’t like how my students are behaving, then I must figure out how to change my behaviors so my students will also change. Find ways to use meaningful praise with your students because they respond the most to positive feedback. Get to know them and their situations by inviting parents in and speaking with them, which gives an indication of what the family believes is “normal” behavior. If you can build a relationship with the child, they are more willing to try things your way whether it is behaving or learning.


Karla Banks has been teaching special education for 12 years in a Title One, urban school. The first 5 years were in a pull-out resource classroom. The last 7 years have been spent in a self-contained k-5^th grade classroom with students of various disabilities.


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For Teacher Authors: "To Blog or Not to Blog?" That is the Question!

Four months ago, I didn’t know a blog from a Sqworl, and now I have both! Consequently, my Teachers Pay Teachers sales have gone up 238% compared to last summer! Unconvinced? Look at these numbers! Pam’s Vintage Teacher blog had 2,100 page views in 5 hours when she posted her popular feature, Five Friday Freebies.

My blog, The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers, showcases free products from TpT sellers who have posted their products in the Sellers' Forum thread I originated, “Freebie Promotion = FREE ADVERTISING!” Rather than have one seller give permission to another seller to promote a particular free product, this thread allows sellers to give permission to all present AND future sellers to use their free products in promotions...you just cannot sell the items for profit. If you want to suddenly increase the number of page views on your blog by giving away free products, go to the Blog Archive on the right hand column of “The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers” and click on a free product that looks interesting. You will see the full product description of the product and you can easily decide if it would be a good choice to entice potential buyers to your blog. You can then cut and paste the title, seller’s name, and link to the product. At the bottom of each post, I cite the thread in the Seller’s Forum and the date when the seller-author gave permission for all teacher-authors on the Seller’s Forum to use their free product. I also have an index of the free products listed by subject. Thus, if you use “The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers” as a resource of free products, you can quickly and easily increase the number of page views for your blog.

If you would like your free product or all of your free products in your TpT store to be seen by thousands of potential buyers, post your links in “Freebie Promotion = FREE ADVERTISING!” Be sure to give permission to all sellers on the Sellers' Forum that they can use your free product or all of the free products in your TpT store in their freebie promotion.

Denise Boehm has tripled her TpT earnings since creating her blog, Sunny Days in Second Grade. She credits Charity Preston’s TpT product, “Teaching Blog Traffic School” for helping her blog followers grow from 200 followers to 750 followers in two months. Denise is now averaging 2,500 page views per day. Charity’s “Teaching Blog Traffic School” is like a gold mine of ideas. Her 30 videos teach you what to do and, more importantly, what not to do when creating a blog: how to earn extra money, in addition to your TpT products; how to save time, so that you can actually have time to be with your family and friends; and etiquette, so that you won’t lose followers. In short, it is “required reading” for anyone who is serious about creating and/or managing a blog. An added bonus of purchasing “Teaching Blog Traffic School” is that you will be able to join a special TBTS group on Facebook. This cohesive group of sellers work together to show the true power of cross promotion. Charity Preston is offering 10% off “The Teaching Blog Traffic School” from 9/12/11 - 9/15/11.

If you are still undecided “to blog or not to blog,” you may want to download my TpT free product, “How to Increase Your TeachersPayTeachers Ratings, Page Views, and $$!” Track the number of followers and page views you have on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts using my Excel or iWork spreadsheets. Compare the data with your daily, weekly, quarterly, and yearly TpT earnings. You will have statistical evidence to conclude if all the time you have spent working on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter has actually paid off in an increase in TpT earnings. This free product also explains how I received 17 TpT ratings and comments in 6 days. It includes a systematic marketing plan which you can use to increase your TpT earnings.

There are only so many hours in a day. Is it worth the time to create a blog and then manage it after a long day at school? You can probably answer that question if you can reflect on why you spend so much time creating products for Teachers Pay Teachers. For me, I just wanted to give my two children supplemental income which they can draw on for the rest of their lives. While at the same time, I really do believe that TpT teacher-authors can become millionaires. TpT has enabled teachers throughout the world to use my lessons. Moreover, the free products I post on The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers blog are used in France, Canada, Australia, and Russia. Teachers Pay Teachers has made a difference in many teachers’ lives, but it has also had an amazing impact on our students’ lives as well. The time we spend on cross-promotion is a win-win situation for all. Teacher-authors will be able to promote their products, new and veteran teachers will have access to inexpensive classroom-tested lessons, and our students will learn concepts in new and exciting ways. I hope this article helps you to decide whether “to blog or not to blog...”

Wishing you the best in the new school year,

Vicky Leon
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Back to School Night

Open House: Mario Andretti and Cats

Year One:

Gentlemen, start your engines!  Just as Mario Andretti mentally prepares himself before getting into his car, I prepare with a deep breath.  As a middle school teacher, I have seven minutes with each group of parents tonight. In this amount of time, I will need to discuss:

·         an overview of the school year,

·         my expectations and goals for the class,

·         my teaching style and how it best serves their child,

·         a quick review of what supplies their child should have for class,

·         and, lastly, build rapport.

My piles of informational sheets are now sitting pristinely by the door, ready for quick distribution and even quicker discussion.

I check the clock on the wall, then my watch, then the schedule.  Open House did indeed start at 6pm.  I should, in fact, have parents for my “first class.”  I quickly move to a team teacher’s room, peek in and see she has one parent seated in her room.  Surprisingly, no one showed up for my first class or even my second one.

During the entire evening, I had two parents, so I decided to tackle this lack-of-parental-involvement issue.  I discovered there seemed to be three main causes for this situation:

1. Teenagers do not usually find open house or their parents attending Back-to-School night as “cool”, “tight” or any other “word of the day.”

2. Parents have attended at least seven open houses in the past.

3. Parents understand the “Andretti Principle” I mentioned earlier and know that little information can be given in short periods of time.

If I wanted to get parents to attend, I would have to make open house an experience that was new and different, and I would have to provide lots of information in a short amount of time.

Open House Year Two: Cats and an Informational Buffet

The waiting area is filled with people milling about, grasping tickets, and waiting impatiently. Yet, this is not the premiere of a Broadway play, such as Cats.  Instead, it is Middle School Open House.  I gather my materials and prepare to open the door to a waiting crowd.

As parents enter my classroom, their tickets are promptly deposited into a box designated with their child’s class period.  Menus with selections are provided to make their experiences more meaningful and unique.  First, parents analyze the menu.  Then, they make their selections from the informational buffet in the middle of the classroom.  Finally, they select their seats.  I check with each table, answer questions, and assure their successes on activities.  After six minutes, parents are advised to finish up and to move on to their next scheduled classroom. This pattern continues throughout the evening.  Approximately 70% of my students’ parents attended.

During the week of open house, I gave each student two open house tickets. I explained that as parents entered my classroom (or sent a note on the ticket they couldn’t make it to school), their tickets would be collected and entered into a drawing the next day for a highly coveted homework pass. Parents came to Open House just for my seven minutes of scheduling just to turn in their tickets!

In order to build interest, I told the students their parents would be going through a “menu” experience, which outlined various choices they could complete during their visit.  These included reading the year-long scope and sequence (1 point) to writing a note to their child (6 points).  Parents were expected to complete 10 points before they left my classroom.  This also helped parents understood “menus” implemented within my classroom curriculum.

Open House Year Ten:

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

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