July 2016 On SYWTT Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 1, 20160 July 2016 was a great month as I continue getting back into the blogging groove of things. Below are some highlights. I discovered Pinterest and began to see that many of the articles on my site don't look so great on there. As a result, I began making images to go along with my new articles. Additionally, I have begun going back through the archives to create images for some of the more popular older articles. As time progresses, I will get to more and more of them. Along with that, I continue going back and adjusting formatting of old articles, as web standards have changed quite a bit since 2007. I have also started work on curating some of the articles by creating resource
The Many Benefits of Music Education [Infographic] Music Education by Joel Wagner - July 8, 2016July 7, 20162 Research abounds regarding the incredible benefits of music education. The University of Florida has put together an infographic called "Why Music? The Many Benefits of a Musical Education."Among the benefits listed Benefits to the brain and general learning skills The benefits listed include verbal intelligence, reading skills, fine motor skills, abstract thinking, vocabulary acquisition, and memory. Benefits to academic achievement These include better listening ability, higher SAT scores, higher academic grades, better science skills, greater percentage of extracurricular participation, higher GPA, greater likelihood of enrollment in moderately- and highly-selective universities, much lower dropout rates, and these gains are more pronounced in low-income students. Benefits to life skills and personal enrichment These include helping students become more employable, participate in the political process, volunteer and engage their community, have higher self-confidence,
10 Teaching Myths Busted [Infographic] General by Joel Wagner - July 5, 2016July 10, 20160 Most teachers came to their first teaching job with some beliefs that we have since learned were not true. This article explores ten of those teaching myths.
The Impact of Great Teachers [Infographic] General by Joel Wagner - July 1, 2016June 29, 20160 Great teachers Many people live their lives without impacting more than a few hundred people. Teachers often make that kind of impact over the course of one year. This kind of responsibility can be intimidating, and is one of the main reasons that I continually encourage my readers to strive toward being great teachers. This infographic below looks at some of the qualities of great teachers. Keep aiming higher, my friends. The world needs great teachers like you! Image courtesy of Teacher Certification Degrees
10 Steps For Interview Success [INFOGRAPHIC] New Teachers by Joel Wagner - June 24, 2016July 5, 20160 Summertime is in full swing. That means that many new teachers search for their first job, and many more experienced teachers look for a new job. The interview is an inevitable part of the job hunt. For many pre-service teachers, a teaching job interview is the first real job interview they have ever had. But interviews often lead to rejection. The good news is you only need one interview success. Nowadays, numerous resources are available to help make sure the interview goes well. Unfortunately, few of them seem to be geared specifically toward teachers. Tradewind Recruitment is one company whose focus is helping teachers find jobs. They have put together a nice infographic to help guide you through the process. If you happen to be in the United Kingdom, you may want to check out
[INFOGRAPHIC] What Makes A Good Teacher In 2016? Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 17, 2016July 5, 20160 According to ITN Mark Education, there are 7 key components of a good teacher. Love of the subject Stress Management Complete control Organization Professional behavior Expert instructional methods Praise It's interesting that through the years, I have written about each of these concepts on this blog. Below are links to a few articles with a brief quote from that article. From Burnout To Ignited Passion: How Blogging, Information Overload, and Running Made Me A Better Teacher So I have to get back to me being me. I inspire people simply by being me. You do too. But do yourself and me and everyone else a favor and go out there to be the most awesome, amazing, passionate version of you that you
Teacher Turnover [Infographic] Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - June 10, 2016June 16, 20160 According to recent studies, 30% of teachers quit teaching by the end of their second year of teaching. I am convinced that many of those cases would be avoided with proper support networks in place. I recently came across an infographic from 2013 by USC Rossier that addresses this issue in their blog post entitled How To Save Our Educators. What interests me about this is that it goes a bit further than simply acknowledging that teacher turnover is a problem from the standpoint of it being bad to lose educators, but also at the average cost to replace teachers ($12,500), the impacts on student achievement, and looking at some of the possible solutions. USC RossierOnline
10 Teaching Myths [Infographic] General by Joel Wagner - July 10, 2008July 29, 20160 Last week, I wrote an article called 10 Teaching Myths Busted. Those myths were: Teaching preparation programs produce prepared teachers When I get my own classroom the students will respect me Students come to school primarily to learn I teach an elective class, surely all of my students want to be there If I have problems with a student, [SOME ACTION] will solve everything If I have problems with a student, I can request a schedule change The best teachers treat all students equally Teachers get three months off in the summer Teachers don't get paid well Standardized tests are horrible for education I decided to take a risk and design my first infographic based on this article. Please share your thoughts on this in the