Teacher Education

Matthew Lynch published in Teacher Education

12 Days of Teacher Self-Care to Get You Through December

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it can be easy for educators to feel overwhelmed. The hustle and bustle of the season combined with the many challenges that teachers face daily can lead to burnout. To help teachers maintain their mental, emotional, and physical health this December, we present our special 12 Days of Teacher Self-Care guide.

1. Establish a Routine: Start by establishing a regular routine in both your professional and personal life. Consistency helps create a sense of calm and control.

2. Eat Nutritiously: Prioritize eating nutritious meals to maintain your energy levels during this busy time. Try meal prepping on weekends or opt for healthy snacks in between tasks.

3. Get Sufficient Sleep: Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night. You’ll feel more rested, focused, and better equipped to handle the challenges of the day.

4. Exercise Regularly: Physical activity is essential for releasing stress and maintaining positive mental health. Aim for at least 30 minutes per day—whether that’s walking, swimming, or dancing.

5. Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated and energized.

6. Practice Mindfulness: Set aside time each day to practice mindfulness through meditation or deep breathing exercises. This will help you recenter yourself and maintain mental clarity amid the chaos.

7. Set Boundaries: Learn when to say no to extra tasks and responsibilities, both at school and in your personal life. Establishing boundaries will help prevent burnout.

8. Reach Out for Support: Connect with friends, family, or colleagues who understand your challenges as a teacher. A strong support network can provide valuable encouragement and advice.

9. Take Regular Breaks: Schedule short breaks during work hours to recharge mentally and physically. A quick walk around campus or five-minute stretching session in your classroom can make a world of difference.

10. Practice Gratitude Journaling: Each day, take a moment to reflect on something you’re grateful for, either in your personal or professional life. This habit helps shift focus toward the positive aspects of your day.

11. Find Time for Hobbies: Make time for activities that bring you joy and relaxation outside of work. Whether it’s painting, playing a musical instrument, or simply reading, dedicating time to hobbies can uplift your spirits.

12. Celebrate Your Accomplishments: Acknowledge your successes, no matter how small they may seem. Celebrate the hard work you’ve put into your career and the positive impact you’ve had on your students.

By incorporating these self-care strategies into your daily routine, you’ll be better equipped to handle the challenges that come with teaching during the busy holiday season. Taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of your students—so make sure to prioritize your well-being this December!

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Matthew Lynch published in Teacher Education

Teacher Education Courses: Everything You Need to Know

These are the courses that are used to train teachers. Many colleges and universities offer these courses that provide teachers with the requisite know-how and experience to excel in the classroom.

Teachers who had completed their teacher certifications or licenses long ago may not be aware of new techniques and technology available today that can make their lessons more interesting and engaging. As a result, the way they teach students and the material they use for their classes may become mundane. This is where teacher education courses can help by offering teachers newer and more tech-savvy ways to keep their curriculum fresh and classrooms exciting, engaging, and highly educational. These courses also provide access to new teaching tools and styles and offer opportunities to get additional teacher education certification.

Today, a growing number of states are mandating teacher education courses. The teacher unions too are supportive of these supplemental educational tools. These courses can bring a lot of benefits for the teachers. Completing these courses can help them get teacher education certification, improve their overall organization and general skills, learn new or contemporary ways to motivate students better, manage time efficiently, and enhance their educational technology knowledge. All these aspects have been found to trigger a higher level of classroom interest that results in better student grades.

It’s evident that when students are taught more efficiently, they can understand the subject material better. This helps them thrive both in and out of the classroom and even lets them acquire better rankings for their school. Armed with the knowledge they get through teacher education courses, teachers can create a comfortable setting that ignites the students’ interests and encourages them to participate in classroom activities. This paves the way for a more effective lesson and better overall learning.

By enrolling in teacher education courses, teachers can continue their own education, acquire crucial skills not learned when they took college courses, and stay updated with new tools and techniques for effective teaching. It’s not enough for teachers today to know their material. They should also be able to help their students and guide them the right way for their true success. Teacher education courses can do it by educating teachers about the most effective ways to instruct and inspire students for the best possible outcomes.   

From onsite classroom courses to online (fixed-date or self-paced) courses and independent study courses that are self-paced, there’s a lot of variety in educator programs to accommodate the diverse needs of working teachers.

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Matthew Lynch published in Teacher Certification, Teacher Education

What is Teacher Certification or Teacher Licensure?

This is a document that teachers are required to have in order to practice. They can get it to teach within a specific area after completing required degrees, coursework, tests, and other particular criteria. Teachers can become certified by the state in which they plan to teach and then earn national certification recognized in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Each state has their own curriculum and policies. For instance, some embrace critical race theory and some do not. When I was a teacher, we were told that we teach the math strategy of PEMDAS and choose debate topics differently than other southern states. Some observe all winter holidays and some do not.

Individuals who already know they would like to teach in a specific state and have committed to earning their degree and taking the traditional route to the classroom can follow these fundamental steps to reach their goal:

1.         Get a 4-year bachelor’s degree, followed by the completion of a teacher’s preparation program to ensure their readiness for their first day in the classroom. In college most teacher education programs, you will learn how to write an argumentative essay.

2.         Fulfill the student teaching requirement while remembering that every state has diverse requirements. You will need to use your grade calculator or high school GPA calculator to determine if you meet the minimum GPA requirement. You may even need a college gpa calculator.

3.         Earn a master’s degree if their educational administration paths and specialized teaching areas need one.

4.         Get ready to pass the Praxis, which is a standardized examination for people who plan to become teachers.

5.         Know about the different types of teacher certifications in their state and apply for the suitable one.

It’s important to note that every state establishes its own criteria for teacher certification, and there’s no guarantee that a particular state’s certification will be accepted in another state. For instance, a teacher holding a Texas teacher certification won’t essentially be qualified to teach in Georgia.

Today, all states need certified teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree. A growing number of states now also require candidates to have a master’s degree or get one within the first 5 years of teaching.

Teachers may get a credential that lets them teach either a specific grade level or a particular subject matter. The type of teaching credential they pursue will be based on their interests and the choices and requirements put in place by their state Department of Education.

Teachers moving to another state can benefit from the reciprocity agreements that make it simpler for teachers licensed in a certain state to become certified in another. At present, over 40 states have reciprocity agreements with one other state, at the least. However, most states don’t accept teacher licensing from foreign countries. Yet, some individuals may qualify for a provisional teaching certificate that allows them to teach while completing the education courses and examinations they lack. Once they complete all regular teacher certification requirements, they’ll become fully licensed. If a full-time study mode is chosen, this could take just one or two semesters.

Conclusion

If you want to become a teacher, how do you fulfill your dream? It’s not like you can walk into a school tomorrow with your resume in hand and announce that you would like to teach. That would be crazy. Like all other professions, teaching requires a college degree and what we call certification. As the name implies, the certification certifies that you have met all of the training and skill requirements to be a teacher. That way, principals and parents know that they can trust you with the nation’s most precious resource, its kids.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, First Year Teachers, Teacher Education, Teachers

Getting Ready for the Age of Experiential Education

As education continues to evolve, experiential education has been on the rise across K-12 schools and higher education. According to the Association for Experiential Education, this type of education is defined as “a teaching philosophy” that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people’s capacity to contribute to their communities.” In other words, experiential education can be thought of as learning by doing, or incorporating more hands-on work and concrete experiences into the curriculum.

Study Abroad

One of the most well-known and best examples of experiential education is global education, or studying abroad. Though studying abroad was not extremely common in the United States a mere fifty years ago, the amount of students who are choosing to incorporate an international experience into their education is increasing. In addition, study abroad offices, departments, and provider companies have been steadily increasing over time as well, in order to accommodate for the demand of this educational experience.

Even though students from different walks of life will experience their time abroad differently than one another, studying abroad still accomplishes the goals of experiential learning, as defined by the Association of Experiential Education. Those who go abroad have valuable opportunities to develop intercultural skills more deeply than their counterparts who do not study abroad, hone language skills, build a sense of contributing back to communities, and learn about different values around the world. These skills are extremely valuable since companies and recruiters are now looking for intercultural skill sets in their candidates. As we move towards the age of experiential education, students should begin to plan ahead on how they can incorporate a study abroad into their educational plans.

Student-Centered Learning

Another excellent example of experiential education is the move towards student-centered learning. Many of us know the traditional methods of teaching: students are lined up, alert and ready to follow a teacher-centered lecture or lesson. Students are expected to take notes, ask questions, and listen. But the issue with this method of traditional teaching means we assume all students are coming into the lesson with the same level of learning – it does not address the varying levels of education that these students come in with.

There are many ways to accommodate for student-centered learning, but one way is to differentiate instruction. Moving towards experiential education could mean more professional development for our educators to learn how to accommodate for the diverse learners in the classroom. It would require teachers to assess students before, during, and after the lesson to make sure they are differentiating the learning goals for each student. By focusing on the student, we are creating a student-centered learning environment where their needs are met.

Overall, the shift towards experiential education is a positive change that has excellent potential to really improve and enhance our traditional educational system. There are many more ways to incorporate experiential education practices within the classroom in both K-12 and higher education, and the first step is to shift our mindset to this non-traditional way of learning and support both our educators and students. Making their success a priority in this ever-changing world – where success looks different for every generation – will help us continue to evolve with the new ideas of experiential education.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Assistive Technology, Career Readiness, Child Development Tech, Classroom Management,

The Edvocate Podcast, Episode 7: How Digital Age Teachers Can Win Over Parents

Education is a collaborative process, as it takes many stakeholders working in unison to help students succeed academically. One of the most integral parts of this collaborative team is parents, as teachers know all so well. So, if you are a teacher struggling to increase parental engagement, how do you fix this issue? In this episode, we will discuss 7 ways that digital age teachers win over parents.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Assessment, Assistive Technology, Black Boys in Crisis, Child Development Tech,

The Edvocate Podcast, Episode 6: 8 Ways That Digital Age Teachers Avoid Burning Out

Being a teacher is a tough job. So much so, many new teachers end up leaving the field within their first three years. To ensure that the next generation of students have qualified teachers, we must nip this phenomenon in the bud. In this episode, we will discuss 8 ways that digital age teachers avoid burning out.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Assistive Technology, Black Boys in Crisis, Bullying, Child Development,

The Edvocate Podcast, Episode 4: How to Create a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Building a culturally responsive classroom is hard. To help you along your journey, here is your guide to exploring and respecting the cultural backgrounds of your students while also using diversity as an asset. If you you listen to this episode of the podcast, and take my advice, you will have a culturally responsive classroom in no time.

References

Culturally responsive teaching is a theory of instruction that was developed by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings and has been written about by many other scholars since then. To read more of her work on culturally responsive teaching and other topics, click here to visit her Amazon.com page.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Assessment, Assistive Technology, Black Boys in Crisis, Bullying,

The Edvocate Podcast, Episode 2: How Edtech Companies Should Start the New School Year

As summer reaches its peak, and fall gears up to make its arrival, students, parents, teachers, and administrators are all preparing for the beginning of a new academic year. So many gains were made last year, and they are eager to build upon that success. When we talk about education stakeholders who are concerned with starting the school year off right, we rarely, if ever, talk about edtech companies. They too are an integral part of the school community, as they provide a valuable service.

So how do edtech companies stay on their “A” games to begin the new school year? Not to worry, we have you covered.

Hello, my name is Dr. Matthew Lynch and welcome to the second episode of The Edvocate Podcast. Today, we will discuss back to school tips that will help your edtech company get off to a running start and sustain that momentum until summer break comes around again.

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