Planning for Technical Difficulties: Knowing Your Backup Options Blogging & Technology by Maria Rainier - January 10, 2011May 30, 20161 Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, where recently she’s been researching different physical therapy assistant schools and blogging about student life. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop. If your school is like a lot of institutions these days, you have to share resources and probably don’t have much in the way of educational technology. So when you get to spend time in the computer lab or use the interactive whiteboard, it’s usually well-planned and eagerly anticipated. However, if you’ve been teaching long enough to lose greenhorn status, you know about the scourge of the lab – technological failure. Even with the best
Help A New Student Teacher Out With Resources New Teachers by Joel Wagner - January 6, 2011January 6, 20118 KMB writes:I'm starting student teaching this Spring and would really like some advice, tips, and resources to help me out. I'm sure 12th graders are very bright, and I don't want to bore them. I also want to appear knowledgable and professional. Anyway, please contact me if you have any suggestions. Websites with lesson plans, blogs, the latest technology, etc. would all be helpful.As a middle school band director with limited experience coming up with lesson plans and really has lost touch with edublogs lately, I'm throwing this one out to my readers. Leave links and answers in the comments.
Lesson Planning 101 General by Joel Wagner - November 9, 2010November 20, 20100 On this post, Karen comments: I need help. I've been teaching in NYC alternative high school for 9 years. I can't get my act together. I can't plan lessons, it just seems like such torture. my mentor(thank you UFT) keeps telling me to keep the objective in mind...well, I can't seem to do it, am I in the Dip or am i just a dip? I don't know where I would go if I didnt teach, but how can I get 20 lesson plans written each sunday? I can't keep it straight, any suggestions? Before I respond, I think you are in the Dip and need to press in a little bit further. You've made it through the tough part.
The Years Are Building Blocks: Part Five New Teachers by Drew - June 11, 2010June 30, 20100 This is a guest post by Drew, who currently teaches 7th Grade Texas History in the San Antonio area, where he has taught since 2004. Maybe this job doesn't pay enough for those with heavy material needs. But, working here has helped me with the most important part of my life. 10. Family – My comfort level with my material for class has improved each and every year. I spent Friday nights, usually until the wee Saturday morning hours, setting up lesson plans for the next week. I was never able to get ahead on my work. I had two preps and no lesson plans from other teachers to guide me. By November
Help A Struggling Teacher Out! Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - April 16, 2009June 30, 201015 I got a comment on one of my articles about quitting teaching last night that touched my heart. I will respond to her more in depth later on today, but I don't have time right now to get back except for briefly. I thought I would use the opportunity to tap the resources of the SYWTT community and throw the question out to the readers for some feedback. She writes in part: I think it is too late for me. In my 2nd year of teaching 5th grade - first year barely made it and this year is worse. I definitely have some helth issues that have just sucked away my creativity this year. I always struggled with lesson plans
Organizing Your To-Do List for Maximum Productivity: Part 2 Stress Reduction by Pamela - December 24, 2007June 30, 20101 This is a guest post by Pamela, who doesn’t currently have her own blog. Pamela teaches elementary in Michigan. Ideas for organizing your subcategories In part 1 of this series, I talked about the shortcomings of traditional to-do lists and the increased productivity that results from using a to-do schedule. With a to-do schedule, your list is organized by day, and each day is broken down into subcategories. The schedule makes it easy to plan ahead, since you have a list for each of the next 7-10 days. Today we’ll talk about some of the subcategories you might use for your daily lists. One way to organize your day is by using time of day categories Before