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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers

Survival Tip: Integrating Standardized Test Preparation into the Curriculum

In this age of accountability, teachers are responsible for ensuring that their students learn. In order to measure what students know and don’t know, states all over the country administer standardized tests. Most new teachers are usually clueless in terms of how to best prepare their students for these high stakes tests, and this in turn causes a lot of anxiety. Most are left with one simple question, “What can I do?” Experienced teachers will tell you that standardized test preparation should be part of the day-to-day curriculum, but you should not teach to the test. Below are some tips that will help you incorporate standardized test preparation as part of the regular day at school:

• Before you can help your students prepare for the standardized test, understand the components of the test yourself. Check the specific areas that the test emphasizes. If you have not received the test guidelines from the school administration, you can get the guidelines as well as older versions of the test from your state department of education’s website.
• When you know the areas that are covered on the standardized tests and the amount of emphasis that each section receives, you can ensure that you cover those areas well in advance.
• Do not spend time on a specific section just because it is a favorite of yours.
• Use the older versions of the standardized tests and incorporate typical questions into unit tests and weekly quizzes. This ensures that the students get used to the format and do not dread the unfamiliar format when it appears on the standardized test.
• A very typical aspect of the standardized test is the assessment of higher order thinking skills. If you teach your students to think critically, you can be sure that they will be able to handle any question that appears on a standardized test. Raise the bar by creating class discussions that allow them to evaluate, analyze, synthesize and apply what they have learned.
• Cross curriculum connections help the students learn information more authentically. You can use your language class to teach about historical personalities and more.

If you are able to integrate standardized test preparation into the daily curriculum, you can be sure that none of your students will be apprehensive or nervous about these once a year tests that are so feared otherwise. Good Luck!

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

Ask An Expert: Working with Homeless Students

Question: On yesterday, I received a new student in my classroom. His mother brought him to school on the first day and informed me that they were homeless. She said she doesn’t want her son’s education to suffer because of her family’s predicament. To my knowledge, I have never had a student in my room that was homeless. How can I support this child’s unique educational, behavioral and emotional needs, etc.? Kathy G.

Answer: Thank you for your question and for taking a proactive approach to this situation. Homelessness is another step down on the ladder of poverty and it is a very real problem faced by 1.5 million children in the United States. Many homeless families live in shelters in rural or urban areas. With one income, high rent and living expenses, many families are just one emergency away from disaster. As a result, even children who still have a home to go to could lose it in a heartbeat.

For instance, a single mother trying to make ends meet cannot go to work because her child gets sick. She must be with her child, as she has no one to help. On top of this, she has medical bills piling up. Even if she has a job to return to, she may not be able to afford her rent.

Homeless children still need to receive an education. Yet, when they get to school each morning, they are often hungry and tired. Like many children living in poverty, homeless children move frequently, and are exposed to drugs, violence, crime and more. Also, transportation might be an issue for some homeless children and they miss a great deal of school.

When they are able to attend school, they may be teased for the clothes they wear and the fact they fall asleep in class. They may have difficulty making friends or a fear of participating in an activity in front of the class. Although many homeless children are with their families, older homeless children may be runaways or may have been kicked out of their homes. Many have been abused sexually and/or physically.

Teachers who have homeless children in their classroom need to know how to help and support children without a permanent home. Homeless children may be needy emotionally and due to lack of access to bathtubs or showers and little food, they may be unclean and unfed. Teachers can be an anchor for homeless children by showing them compassion and understanding.

It may also be a challenge to communicate with parents who don’t have regular access to a phone. Of course, the most important thing for homeless children is that their families find a home. Teachers might be able to help by working with local agencies, children, and their families to find a solution to their problem.

Homeless children deserve a quality education just like all students. Teachers are the first line of defense but we all have to pitch in and do what we can to ensure that all of our country’s children have the chance to lead happy, healthy lives. If you implement the strategies that I have outlined in this column, you will have no problem working with homeless students and their families.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, EdTech & Innovation

Top Four Ways to Engage Millennials in Learning Environments

Note: Today’s guest post comes to us courtesy of Dr. Tina Rooks, who serves as Vice President and Chief Instructional Officer at Turning Technologies. With over 16 years of experience in education, she was instrumental in developing the educational consulting team and building the Turning Technologies school improvement initiative specifically for the K-12 market.

Whether you’re teaching a high school class or delivering a corporate training session, you’ll face a unique challenge when it comes to engaging millennials – the generation born between 1980 and 2000. It’s the largest generation in US history at almost 80 million strong, and, like the baby boomers and Gen Xers who preceded them, millennials have distinct generational characteristics. Since they grew up with the Internet and tend to be in constant communication with peers via social media, millennials as a rule are highly interactive. To engage this generation, instructors should keep millennials’ interactive nature and technology orientation in mind when designing lessons and defining the learning environment. Here are some tips that can help:

  1. Integrate response technology into the learning setting. PowerPoint is the go-to solution for many instructors, and it can be a great way to present concepts and messages. But with millennials, who are used to interactive learning, sitting through a PowerPoint presentation can be a challenge. Response technology can be the answer: With an integrated response technology solution, you can embed questions directly into your slides and allow students to answer with a keypad or smartphone. Then you can display their answers – in aggregate – right on the slide. This is a terrific way to keep an audience focused and involved in the learning process.
  2. Define objectives up front. Clearly outlining your goals for the session is a great tactic no matter who is in your audience, but millennials in particular tend to expect open, transparent communication. State your goals for the session, and periodically measure knowledge levels to see how students are progressing during the training to make sure they are meeting learning objectives. This will not only give students a greater sense of accountability, it will let you know when to spend more time on topics and when you can fast-forward through familiar issues for a personalized learning experience.
  3. Keep slides simple. Like a well-designed website, slides should be clean and simple. When you have a lot to say, it’s tough to resist the temptation to include as much information as you can on a slide, but remember that the bulk of the knowledge transfer will occur during the discussion about the topic, not from the slide itself. Keep that in mind as you’re designing your presentation, and make sure the messages are short and the slides are uncluttered. Millennial students tend to be video and image-focused, so if you have relevant material that fits into your presentation, by all means use it. But make sure it’s on point and doesn’t crowd the key messages.
  4. Keep your presentation interactive throughout. As digital natives who grew up with the Internet and in constant contact with friends, millennials expect a greater level of interactivity. Old school presenters tend to hold the floor throughout the presentation and only allow the audience to interact at the end during a question and answer session. You’ll have better luck with millennials if you keep the presentation interactive throughout, either by actively engaging students person-to-person or using response technology to allow them to give their input for discussion. You can design questions to measure students’ topic knowledge, or you can ask open-ended questions to spark discussion – both tactics can be highly engaging.

Like the generations that came before them, millennials have their own unique style and media consumption preferences. They are used to two-way conversations rather than top-down lectures, and unless they feel included in a personalized learning process, it’s a challenge to hold their attention. Fortunately, there are technology solutions and presentation techniques available that can help you engage millennials or students of any age. Use response technology to make your students a part of the action rather than passive audience members. Make sure your objectives for the course are clear and that you understand students’ progress. Keep slides clean and simple to promote clarity. And keep your presentation interactive from start to finish. By following these tips, you can ensure millennial students stay focused and engaged.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

The Two Most Important Components of Your Teaching Job Application

When applying for a teaching position, in addition to your resume, you will need to include a cover letter (also called a “letter of introduction”) and at least one letter of reference. Many employers will require two or even three letters. Be sure you check with each employer on what their specific requirements are.

Cover Letter

While your résumé stays the same regardless of where you are submitting it, the cover letter should be personalized. Each of your cover letters can follow the same basic format in how it presents information, but the phrasing needs to be customized for the specific job or district. Remember to request an interview when writing your cover letter.

Letters of Reference

References are recommendations of employment that can be either written or spoken. References increase the potential employer’s confidence in your ability. Selecting appropriate references is a vital part of obtaining employment.

Each district differs in the method by which they obtain
references. Some require that you have the reference writers be teachers in your region of the country? Compose a letter and mail it directly to them; others prefer to
 e-mail a form and have writers submit it to them electronically. 
Some districts, however, simply call and speak directly with the person listed.

No matter how the reference is submitted, the same references can and should be used for each district to which you are applying. Select references that have direct knowledge of your academic performance, career objectives, and positive statements of support. Avoid using relatives and personal references who may be biased. College instructors or academic advisors, student teaching advisors, or mentoring teachers would all be excellent selections as resources. Be sure to ask their permission before using them.

While your recommendation writers may prefer to write the whole reference on their own, it is okay to provide a few introductory sentences or a sample letter for them to base their own reference on. Many recommenders appreciate the help getting started.

Remember to thank whoever helps you with your cover letter and letters of reference. Just as you want your recommenders to be professional, thoughtful, and timely in their assistance, you’ll want to follow suite in how you deliver your notes of thanks.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers

Lessons from Educators on the Big Screen: Part I

The factor that ultimately determines how successful students will become academically is the teacher(s) that they are assigned to. The qualities of good teachers are varied; some are effective using kindness, while others set a high bar for their students and never waver. Each teacher will have to find his or her way through the everyday practice of being in a classroom, and no two teachers will educate in the same way. Like all aspects of our lives, including love and relationships, Americans grow up watching teachers on the big screen. Movies that celebrate strong teachers inspire the next generation, particularly when it comes to underpriviledged schools.

As I began to research this series, I pondered an interesting idea: what if all teachers in America were “required” to watch and thoroughly discuss the movies on my list? With one exception, all these movies deal with rebellious and underprivileged youth in urban schools and economically depressed family backgrounds.
What these movies have in common are teachers who rise to the occasion and whose methods are unorthodox. They are all unconventional in their methods, but they are all – or become – dedicated and compassionate and completely concerned with the welfare their students – as opposed to principals, fellow teachers or even school boards.

In To Sir, with Love (1967): Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier), an engineer by trade, comes to teach a class in the East End of London, full of obnoxious and unruly and underprivileged white students. He wins them over once he abandons the posture of the “typical” teacher and begins to level with them. He teaches them that to have respect for others, they first have to learn to respect themselves. In the end, what was to be a temporary job becomes his vocation. Everything we see in this movie is worthy of emulation by all teachers everywhere.

Up the Down Staircase (1967): In this classic, a young idealistic woman, Sylvia Barrett (Sandy Dennis) starts teaching in a “problem” school in an urban setting — a really rough neighborhood. At first she is naïve and her students laugh at her. But slowly she begins to think about what kind of “kids” her students are, and begins to see them not as enemies, but as young people who need her help to get out of the cycle they are in. Eventually she breaks through to them, not so much by breaking the rules, but through compassion and understanding. Once again, it’s the quality of the teacher that makes the difference and her dedication to her profession (which, once more, becomes permanent).

Teachers (1984): This is another one where we have yet another underprivileged school in a tough neighborhood. Here, the hero is Alex Jurel (played by Nick Nolte), but the most interesting and memorable feature of this movie involves another character (Herbert Gower) played by Richard Mulligan. When a mental institution tours the school, Herbert detaches himself from the inmates and takes over a history class. His first act as authority figure in the classroom is to pick up the textbook, look at it, frown, and walk to the window and toss it out, to the surprise and delight of the entire class. By the time he is found out and taken back to the mental institution, he has managed to transform the whole idea of teaching history. As he is led by attendants from the mental institution through the crowded corridor of the school, the teacher played by Nick Nolte salutes him in an obvious sign of respect. Perhaps all good teachers should be a little crazy? Not a bad idea.

Dead Poets Society (1989): This is the exception to the underpriviledged rule. Here we are not in an inner-city school, but in a privileged private school for boys. John Keating (Robin Williams), an alumnus of Welton Academy in Vermont, comes back to his alma mater as an English teacher. His first act of business is to invoke the carpe diem theme and thereby to encourage his students to live in the present and to love poetry. His asking them to tear out the introductory pages from the textbook is another brilliant move. He calls that kind of “literary” claptrap “excrement.”

This is another brilliant teacher who breaks the rules, and that’s really the secret of his success. In the end, he is betrayed – both by the administration and one of his own students. He is made the scapegoat for the suicide of a student whose egomaniacal and rigid father drove him to it, but Keating’s teaching ends up being blamed for it. The real tragedy of this story is that a clearly brilliant and unconventional teacher is booted out for all the wrong reasons. When after his departure things get back to “normal,” things also return to being hollow and insipid.

In all of these movies, the teachers begin as outsiders to their students, and end up becoming peers (and in some cases, an outsider to other teachers and administrators). The teachers take their eyes off the curriculum to look at what their students really need to learn, even if that means tearing pages out of textbooks, or throwing them out the window.

In the next post, I will take a look at a few more movies that feature teachers and their inspiring tales in the classroom. What would you add to my list?

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

Teachers: 3 Quick, Simple Tips to Stay Insanely Productive Without Losing Steam

Teachers have strong commitments to their work. Most of them feel passionately about teaching, and see it as a “calling.” The emotions that teachers undergo include love for (most) students, hate for the paperwork, and the feeling of excitement when they see a student finally understand a concept. Then there’s the dread of filling out report cards, the feeling of burn-out in December, and the nervous feeling associated with the first day of school every year.

The intensity of the teaching profession and the chronic stress levels involved can lead to burnout. It usually means the inability to function fully in one’s job due to the prolonged stress related to these jobs. Stress and burnout are linked closely to an individual’s state of mind. Burnout is three-dimensional and includes feelings of emotional exhaustion or tiredness; teacher “depersonalization,” in which they develop a negative and distrustful attitude towards their students, parents, and their colleagues; and a reduced sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

It also brings about other negative effects, such as increased absenteeism, decline in classroom performance, and poor interpersonal relationships with colleagues and students. Burned-out teachers are usually less sympathetic toward the problems of students, and are less committed to their jobs. They develop lower tolerance for classroom disruptions, are less prepared for class, and are generally less productive. As a result, burned-out teachers can have a negative influence on the morale of new teachers.

Here are some tips for teachers who want to be productive, be impactful—yet keep their health, alertness, and sanity.

  1. Make a list of all the tasks that you have been postponing for some time. Try and identify whether these tasks have something in common. Doing this will help you determine the specific kind of jobs that you tend to postpone. Is it that you postpone tasks that have no deadline or those that involve doing something that you are uncomfortable with?
  2. Keep a list of all the tasks that you need to do and prioritize them. Tell yourself that jumping the priority list is not allowed.
  3. Finally, reward yourself with something that you like when you complete each task. Take a break and sip a hot refreshing cappuccino before you start the next thing, take a walk, or simply pause to look out the window; rewards, both big and small, can help you stay motivated and focused.
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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch

Ask An Expert: Taking the Stress Out of Teacher Evaluations

Question: I am a recent college graduate and I am gearing up for my first year of teaching. I was well trained by my professors, but the thing that scares me the most is being evaluated, mainly because so much depends on the personality of the evaluator. Can you shed some light on the teacher evaluation process? Veronica R.

Answer: First of all, thank you for your question and congratulations on landing your first teaching job. For many new teachers, the fear of being evaluated is a clear and present danger; not because they lack confidence, but because of the fear of the unknown. Hopefully, by explaining the process in depth, I can help alleviate some of your anxiety. Each school system has a process for measuring and evaluating their teachers. In most districts, all teachers are evaluated by an administrator and are given feedback at least once annually.  New teachers, however, typically have more than one evaluation. This section will give you an overview of what to expect before, during, and after an evaluation, as well as how to prepare for each.

Prior to an evaluation

Before an evaluation, most administrators will schedule a time with you, and some of those administrators will even let you choose the class that you know will be the most likely to shine the best light on your skills as a teacher. Here is a quick checklist of ways to prepare for the evaluation.

  • Ask for the rubric they will be using. The rubric allows the administrators to score each teacher equally and accurately by looking for specific skills and dispositions during the lesson.  Knowing what they will be looking for will allow you to cover all of your bases.
  • Consider the audience before choosing a topic. Know the educational interests of the administrator.  Were they a math teacher? Or a special needs teacher? Are they a proponent of technology? Think about what you know about them personally and professionally and consider their interests when selecting a subject, a topic, and a time of day.
  • Choose an easy topic.  You do not want to choose a topic that you know is difficult for some students to grasp.  For example, introduction to long division may not be the best topic, because you know that it is a multi-step process that is difficult to grasp for some students.
  • Prepare a detailed lesson plan. The lesson plan for an evaluation is not your typical everyday lesson plan. It is the extended version that includes details, commentary, and all of the bells and whistles that go along with it.  Be sure to include the objectives, materials needed, an introduction, developmental activities, a closing, accommodations, an assessment, etc.
  • Prepare your class. Talk to your students about what to expect.  Let them know who is coming and explain why.  Let them know that they will be rewarded for their good behavior. It might not be a bad idea to do a practice run and pretend that you are being evaluated prior to the scheduled evaluation. This may all seem like window dressing, but it will help to put your mind at ease.
  • Prepare your classroom.  De-clutter, decorate, and clean everything.  Be sure to have your desk cleared in case she wants to sit there to evaluate.
  • Be flexible.  Administrators are always busy. In addition, unexpected meetings come up, students misbehave and must be attended to at inopportune times, and some type of paperwork is always being thrown at them. If she must reschedule, just simply put aside your prepared lesson until another day.

During an evaluation

  • If you are thoroughly prepared for your evaluation as described above, the evaluation itself should be a breeze.
  • Remember that they have probably already figured out that you are an effective teacher.  They want you to do well.  They want the students to do well.  They are not out to get you or hurt your career.
  • Relax! Again, they are not looking for an excuse to fire you. Just relax and do the best you can do.
  • Write your objectives on the board.  Self explanatory.
  • Have fun!  Having fun yourself will engage the administrator and the students alike.
  • Discipline as you always would.  If a student misbehaves, be careful not to overreact.  You will not get a lower score because your students are children and occasionally misbehave.

After an evaluation

Be prepared for feedback and constructive criticism.  Administrators do not intend to tear you down and are not out to get you.

  • Thank them for their feedback and honesty.
  • Never argue!  It will only lessen their opinion of you.
  • Sincerely apply their suggestions to your teaching styles.

If you follow my advice, the teacher evaluation process will be a breeze. Remember, evaluations are meant to gauge your teaching effectiveness, not as a pretense to get rid of you. Even if you score poorly during your first year, your evaluations will be used by your administrator to help you create an improvement plan. Well, good luck to you and remember, relax!

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, list, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

5 Reasons Why Teachers Can’t Do It All

You are probably familiar with the concept of the “superstar teacher,” particularly since it is perpetuated in popular culture through movies like the classic Edward James Olmos film “Stand and Deliver” and 2012’s “Won’t Back Down.” The idea is that with the right teacher – a committed, bright, in-tune, talented teacher – P-12 problems like the achievement gap and high dropout rates will cease to exist. If only every student had a standout teacher like the ones portrayed in these shows, the very P-12 system as we know it would be transformed for the better.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch

New Teacher Tip: Be a Superstar Teacher from Day One

Facing new students is challenging for the experienced teacher, let alone the new one who is just beginning their teaching career. So feel confident about your newly embellished classroom, review the “first day at school” checklist, take a deep breath, and tell yourself that all will be well. Get ready to make a great impression on your new students. Here are some tips that can help you be a star teacher from the very first day and win all your students over.

1. Establish the ground rules—Once you have introduced yourself, communicate the basic rules for behavior, policies, interactions and permissions that will be used throughout the year. By being clear about your expectations, you provide students with boundaries for class behavior. You might want to discuss polices for attendance, homework, passes to leave the classroom and the use of electronic devices. Detail the consequences for not following rules and policies, but make sure that you do so in a positive manner. You can even plan a quiz or classroom activity on the dos and don’ts in the classroom, just to make sure everyone understands your expectations. You may still have to reiterate these rules for the first couple of weeks for them to sink in completely.

2. Practice what you preach—Irrespective of how clearly you have stated the rules, some students are likely to test the limits. Be sure to be consistent in what you say and the manner in which you act. Handling students who wish to challenge you may get extremely difficult, because if other students see that you do not practice what you preach and that the consequences are not as stringent as you made them out to be, they will do the test the limits also.

3. Get to know your students—While this is a process that you can start on the first day, it will take you much longer to build a personal relationship with your students. This is something that you can achieve over a period of time. At the same time, making an initial effort to get to know your students can define how comfortable students will be in your class. In today’s online world it might be a good idea to make an initial contact with students by sending an email welcoming them to the new school year and to your class. Create ice breaking activities on the first day with the goal of learning something about each student, as well as to have them learn something about each other. Information such as favorite online activity, favorite books, places that they have visited and extracurricular interests can be generated from ice breaking activities. Avoid being a spectator in this process. Make sure that you share information about yourself too, but refrain from getting too personal.

4. Dress and act appropriately—You should dress in a manner that inspires confidence. Being in class on time sets an example for students. Also, never play favorites and always speak positively about other students and your colleagues. It is also important that you are always professional, and never talk badly about another class, student or teacher to students.

Follow the guidelines above and you are sure to become a role model for your class in no time!

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Diversity, Equity, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

Ask An Expert: A Change in K-12 Teaching Education

Question: For 22 years I have been a elementary school principal in Minnesota. With each passing year I notice that our students are changing, as they gain more and more access to information prior to starting school. However, the teachers that we employ seem to be evolving at a slower pace. What can be done to better train our teachers? Lilith P.

Answer: Modern classrooms are full of sophisticated youngsters that show up with a detailed view of the world formed from more than home life experiences. Instant access to knowledge from the age a child can press a touchscreen on a Smartphone and widespread socialization from as young as six weeks old in the form of childcare atmospheres mean that kids arrive at Kindergarten with less naivety than previous generations. Teachers are not handed a clean slate but rather one that is already cluttered with random knowledge that must be fostered or remediated.

It stands to reason that if students are changing, teachers need to change too. More specifically, the education that teachers receive needs to be modified to meet the modern needs of K – 12 classrooms. There are policy and practice changes taking place all over the world – many driven by teachers – that address the cultural shifts in the classroom. Some that show a lot of promise include:

• Subject-specific recruiting by colleges and universities. The book Teaching 2030, written by 13 experts in K-12 classroom pedagogy, calls for education schools to stop letting in any and every education major in the broad sense of the subject area. Instead, the experts suggest that colleges become more selective to meet the demand of actual student need. Young people that are interested in teaching high-demand subject areas like mathematics, bilingual education, physical science and special education should be viewed as more valuable to institutions of higher learning. This needs-based philosophy addresses actual voids in the industry and better equips schools to meet students’ needs.

• Virtual learning options. Though colleges often get all of the attention when it comes to online learning programs, K-12 education is also shifting more toward distance learning options. During the 2010-2011 school year, 1.8 million students in grades K-12 were enrolled in some type of distance learning program. That is up from just 50,000 in the 2000-2001 school year, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. This is a trend that teachers-to-be simply cannot ignore. Virtual learning is not reserved for only those that can afford it; 40 U.S. states have state-run online programs and 30 of those states provide statewide, full-time K-12 schools. The University of Central Florida is one of the only schools to offer a virtual-school emphasis for education majors that lets students apprentice with Florida Virtual School instructors.

• Continued classroom learning for administrators. Since the people at the top are generally the decision-makers, they should be required to return to the field every now and then. On the other hand, the teachers that are actually in the student trenches should be empowered to help change educational policy based on the reality of the modern classroom. The Center for Quality Teaching supports a “teacherpreneur” program that would “blur the lines… between those who teach… and those who lead.” Actionable strides toward closing the public education gap between teachers and administrators are necessary for real, effective change to take place in K-12 classrooms.

Public education in America needs teachers that are better trained to meet the needs of specific student populations, those that understand the necessary role of distance learning, and those that are willing to speak up to facilitate classroom change. Without these teachers, effective reform to meet global demand is not possible.

 

 

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