Teachers

Matthew Lynch published in Math Education, Teachers

Why Kids Face Difficulty In Math

For some kids, math can be challenging, and it can take a lot from them to solve a basic math problem. Meanwhile, other kids of the same grade don’t face a struggle to do math problems. Many parents who have kids lagging in their math class feel concerned and want to figure out why their kid is not doing well in math.

This does not mean that the child who is struggling in math is not smart. They are just as academically apt as the rest of their peers but may need more practice, time, and better instruction to develop their math skills.

Understanding the Basic Concepts

Many children who struggle with math problems do so because their math foundation is not strong to begin with. They do not understand many basic concepts that children of a certain age are expected to understand. 

They may not be able to tell the difference between “more” vs. “less,” “greater” vs. “lesser,” etc. They might lack number sense, which is the ability to understand the basic concepts of math.

When children don’t understand math’s basic concepts, they are bound to face difficulty when trying to solve problems that demand a basic understanding of the concepts. A lot of online courses can help children understand basic math problems.

Anxiety While Studying

It is not unusual for many parents to see their kids throwing a tantrum in the name of math. Many kids may not find math to be difficult but still might want to run away from it. Crying and not wanting to go to school or even crying before an exam is all a sign of math anxiety that parents need to be cautious of.

This stress will often get in the way of them studying math. This will eventually get them to face difficulty learning new concepts that will hinder them from studying effectively.

Dyscalculia

After taking all the measures to ensure that your child is learning math effectively, yet they are still showing minimal progress at developing basic math skills, chances are the child has dyscalculia. 

Dyscalculia is the same as dyslexia, except the child faces immense difficulty in math. Experts say dyscalculia is very common, and there are certain signs to look out for to determine if your kid has dyscalculia. 

Having dyscalculia does not mean that your child will never be able to solve math problems. With help, your child can up their math game in no time.

Concluding Thoughts

Many children who face difficulty performing math problems can assist their teachers and parents and grow into successful high school students who get excellent grades.

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Matthew Lynch published in Teachers, Writing

How Regular Are Spelling Challenges

Spelling is challenging for several people. There is not much research on spelling as there is on reading to let us know the number of people who don’t spell well. 

There is little known about spelling competence in the general populace than is known about reading achievement. The reason for this is that many states do not test the spelling ability of kids.

What Leads to Spelling Problems?

One major misconception about spelling problems is that it results from poor visual memory of the sequences of letters contained in a word. Research has shown visual memory plays a small role in one’s ability to spell. 

Spelling problems such as reading problems are a result of weakness in learning. Some people have excellent visual memory for color schemes, pictures, and mechanical drawings but find it challenging to spell. 

Poor spellers often have difficulty recollecting the letters contained in a word. This is because they find it difficult to remember, notice and recall certain features which the letters stand for. Poor spellers often have some underlying language issues, such as recognizing and analyzing individual sounds.

Diagnosis of Spelling Problems

If dyslexia is a possibility, and the student is in first grade, a simple letter and phoneme awareness test can help identify the reading problem. 

When a student finds it hard to remember words, a standardization test aimed at quantifying the seriousness of the problem should be given. A spelling diagnostic test should also be given to identify which syllable patterns, sounds, and parts a student does not remember.

With a spelling diagnostic test, the teacher will tell you the vowel, consonant, and word spellings the student must be taught. Also, the student must be tested on his knowledge of the most frequently used English words for writing.

Ways Children Learn to Spell

Children are quick to develop insights into how words are represented using letters while in preschool and first grade. This process moves forward if the instructions in letters and sound are explicit, systematic, and structured. 

Whole word spelling gets boosted when the child comprehends that the words are composed of different speech sounds and that letters represent the sounds. 

With an increase in that principal’s knowledge, children will begin to observe patterns in how letters are used. They also begin to observe recurring sequences of letters that form word endings, syllables, and suffixes. Memories of such words get formed quickly and recalled with ease when the children have a proper sense of language structure.

Concluding Thoughts

Many children encounter spelling challenges, and foundational issues fuel this problem. Understanding those issues and addressing them the right way is the best out.

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Matthew Lynch published in Teachers, Writing

Tips for Teaching Writing in Kindergarten

When it comes to teaching writing in Kindergarten, several questions arise in this regard. Are there established methods that should be implemented? Keep reading to find out what should be done.

What Should be Expected?

In truth, kindergartens should be more about writing, and teachers ought to be teaching and facilitating writing. The challenge here is that there aren’t too many scientific research resources based on beginning writing instruction. 

There exist several observational studies which give us an idea of what could be possible. Also, several correlational studies show what could be termed as valuable.

Opportunity and Time for Writing

Regardless of how you facilitate early writing, you need to have a particular time set aside each day to do this. Teachers should set aside 20% of the time devoted for language arts to teaching writing, which is true for kindergarten classes. This should represent about 45 minutes of the time allotted for teaching language arts.

The remaining part of the class should be devoted to teaching decoding, oral fluency, reading comprehension, and oral language. The writing time will compose of the student-writing period and the time used in sharing the compositions. It will also be made up of instructions targeted at improving printing or manuscript skills.

Oral Composition

The best way to start children’s writing is through oral composition. Oral writing appears easier with young children than writing using the hands. It also helps them quickly understand the concept behind writing which bears quick fruits in their writing using their hands.

Writing Environment

Children need the perfect writing environment if they are to make the most of their experience. Also, you need to provide several writing resources for children. For instance, several kindergartens have a writing center with different types of writing and paper tools. 

Also, if you have a classroom restaurant, you should provide order pads and pencils. If you have a classroom post office, you should have envelopes, paper, and other materials. The whole idea is to provide several opportunities for the children to write.

Pretend Writing

When you begin allowing children to write independently, you could start them out with small groups and individuals. You could sit down with three children at a table and give each of them a pencil and paper for writing.

Accept It All

One thing that could help speed up the children’s learning development is to allow them to express themselves. You may find it hard to recognize what the children have written initially, but consistency brings out the best in them.

Concluding Thoughts

The journey towards helping your children to write well in Kindergarten requires patience and dedication. Following the tips outlined in this piece will help speed up that process.

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Matthew Lynch published in Adaptive Learning, Teachers

Easy Changes That Teachers Can Make To Facilitate Inclusion

Every single student is different. While some students might retain information better when taught via images or other visual representations, other students learn better through class discussions. For this reason, it is essential that teachers try their best to facilitate the needs and wants of all students in the class. 

In this article, we will be discussing the importance of inclusion and a few ways in which the teacher can obtain it. 

Resources And Materials

One of the best ways teachers can facilitate inclusion is by using various resources and materials during lessons. As we have already mentioned, many students learn best when being taught with images, graphs, videos, PowerPoints, etc. 

However, others may prefer simple worksheets and handouts that display the work to them in one convenient place. For this reason, the teacher must change up their lessons by using different resources. 

Method

Being taught the same way every single day can become tedious and lead to a lack of motivation amongst students. Thus, the educator must change up how they describe the work to the students.

Various methods can be used to get the idea across during lessons. For instance, some teachers enjoy dividing the class up into groups to learn amongst themselves. 

On the other hand, holding class discussions relating to the work is also a prevalent technique. You could also introduce the section in various ways before getting started with the actual work.  

Assessments

One great way teachers can meet all students’ needs is by changing up the type of assessment used to test the knowledge of students. Instead of merely setting tests or exams for the students, they should consider the various learning styles and adjust the assessments accordingly. 

For example, the students who learn best through visual representations would do well in a match-the-image assignment. Those students who enjoy class debates would do well when given an essay question or research project. In this way, the educator can change up their testing methods to suit every student’s different capabilities. 

Concluding Thoughts

Teachers must find various ways in which to make their lessons as inclusive as possible. This can be done using different types of resources and materials, including images, videos, and PowerPoints. 

They should also change up their method used to get the message across. Lastly, using different assessments can meet the needs of the various learning styles.

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Matthew Lynch published in Language Education, Teachers

How Will Learners Of the English Language React To Intervention?

Let’s take a look at the effectiveness of early intervention in learning English as a second language. It seems that students who read English early on see a much better outcome.

Next, we will look at this approach, even though there is not yet a lot of proof that this process is beneficial. 

Those With Reading Difficulties

When it comes to implementing the response to the intervention method, you should consider the level at which the learner finds themself. This means the level of their first language and their second language, which is English in this case.

If the student has low literacy in both their first and second languages, they need adequate instruction. They will be able to progress to a higher level after their instructors properly educate them.

Those with a high literacy level in their first language but a low literacy level in their second language will show better progress.

Skills Needed By the Educator For Effective Implementation

Educators of the ELL program must be prepared and provided with the right tools for effective instruction.

Teachers and other school personnel should be provided with on-going research material to keep developing learners. Personnel should also know as much as possible about early literacy in the student’s home language.

It is also better for students if they know more about the development of oral language. Instructors should also have the full credentials of bilingual education and must stay up to date with current methods.

For ELLs’ academic success, teachers should also participate in development sessions to further improve their knowledge. Everything that can improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the ELL program should be considered.

How Can Progress Monitoring Be Implemented?

For the program to be effective, continuous monitoring of the student’s progress should be a priority with the educator. At least three times a year, the student’s progress should be monitored.

Students at risk of reading problems should be monitored up to six times per year to keep track of their program. Researched-based instructions should be provided to ELLs who show a low reading ability.

Provide the student with proper interpretations for mispronounced words and do not penalize them for dialect features. More reading sessions might also improve overall progress with the learner.

Concluding Thoughts

As you can see, the educator needs to be appropriately informed and develop themselves for the program’s effective application. Also, the earlier the intervention, the more favorable the outcome might be for most students.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Teachers

How To Implement Differentiated Instruction

If you teach a large group of students, you probably know that every child is different when learning new concepts. For example, some children may respond better to one teaching method, while other children may perform better with another teaching style. To ensure all children can achieve their academic goals, the teacher will need to use differentiated instruction.

What Is Differentiation?

Differentiated instruction is the process of continually adjusting teaching methods, pace, and style to accommodate a diverse group of learners. Teachers will group students based on their learning abilities and skill sets and then assign tasks accordingly. The whole class will be taught the same topic, but they may get slightly different tasks based on their understanding level.

For example, the task might be to read a passage and answer some questions based on it. However, if one group of students struggles with these sorts of comprehension exercises, then the teacher can modify it for the struggling students.

The teacher will not give this group the whole passage to read at once, but they might give them a smaller, more manageable part and ask them to answer one or two questions before assigning the rest of the passage. 

Why Is Differentiation Necessary?

Differentiation is crucial if a teacher wants to make sure that all children can progress despite their different learning abilities and preferences. Differentiated instruction ensures that children are not assigned tasks that are too easy or too difficult for them. 

With differentiated instruction, children get tasks that challenge them to improve and learn a new concept without making them feel frustrated by giving them tasks that they cannot handle.

Implementation

There are multiple strategies that teachers can use to implement differentiated instruction, such as using online tools like Google Classroom. These methods can help teachers design exams that test on the same subject, but the format of the questions is modified according to each student’s level.

Keep in mind that this does not mean designing tests with different questions for each student. Instead, the aim is to create exams according to two or three distinct patterns for different groups of students, such as advanced, middle, and lower. The advanced group will get one pattern, while the lower group will get a different pattern of questions.

Parental Involvement

Parents can also play a key role in getting differentiated instruction for their children. They can help by asking their children to let a teacher know when they are having trouble with an assignment.

Concluding Thoughts

Differentiated instruction is necessary because it helps the whole class progress and not just the naturally gifted kids. It allows for children to grow and learn based on their capacities. In this way, children feel less frustrated and more open to learning new things, as everything is aligned with their pace.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Teachers

How Can Parents Help Teachers?

Teaching children can be a challenging task. Often, students do not feel motivated to work, meaning that they will disrupt the class or not pay attention during lessons. For this reason, educators must get as much help as possible.

Parents can play a significant role in the education of their children. In this article, we will be discussing three ways in which parents can prepare their kids for school while simultaneously helping teachers when it comes to learning. 

Ensure That Your Child Is Properly Prepared For The Day

If your child enters school unprepared, they are likely to have an unproductive day. For example, leaving stationary behind, forgetting worksheets or books, and simply being in a poor mood can negatively affect their education. 

To prevent this, parents need to ensure that their children are adequately prepared for the day ahead. This can be done by providing them with a healthy breakfast, surrounding them with positive energy, and ensuring that they have all their necessary learning materials. 

Help Your Child With Homework Tasks

Almost every child will battle with homework from time to time. If you want to help the teacher out, take the time to sit down with your kid and assist them with any learning problems that they may have. 

With that being said, you do not have to wait until they have an issue to help them. Supporting them during their at-home learning can make them feel more motivated when it comes to their work. For this reason, it is recommended that you assist your children as much as possible. 

Provide Your Child With a Healthy Home Environment

At-home learning can feel impossible when in a disruptive environment. For this reason, you must find your child a quiet place in which they will be able to work peacefully without any distractions. This could be done by dedicating a particular time for studying. In this timeframe, the house should be kept as quiet as possible. 

Also, you should always ensure that your child is getting a sufficient amount of rest. Often, students become so wrapped up in homework, studying, and extracurricular activities that they do not prioritize their well-being. 

Concluding Thoughts

Educating children can be seen as one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Many students simply do not want to learn, making the task seem impossible at times. For this reason, teachers should get as much help as possible from parents. 

Parents can assist by ensuring that their children are adequately prepared for school. They should also provide their children with a healthy home environment and help them with any homework issues.

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Matthew Lynch published in Memory, Teachers

Strategies To Enhance the Memory Of Students

Teaching students who have a poor memory or who are unable to concentrate for long periods is challenging. It can almost seem impossible when discussing specific topics that require memorization. 

For this reason, educators should use various techniques to enhance the memory of their students. In this article, we will discuss three ways in which teachers could make it slightly easier for students to memorize the work they learn during lessons. 

Teach the Same Material Over and Over Again

One of the best ways in which work can be drilled into the memory of students is by teaching it over and over again. However, this does not mean that the teacher should spend multiple lessons simply using the same plan and discussing the same things. 

Instead, they should dedicate time to various activities and practice exercises that talk about the work differently. For example, one exercise could be a match-the-column activity, while another could be a research project. 

Use Visual Images and Other Memory Strategies

Every student learns differently. For this reason, the teacher needs to incorporate different teaching methods when discussing the topic. Images are often extremely useful for making work easier to memorize because students visualize the images when thinking about the work. 

With that being said, various memory strategies can make work easier to learn and remember. For example, many teachers enjoy using PowerPoint or YouTube videos to capture the full attention of students. 

You could also have a class discussion to make the students feel more engaged.

Use Handouts To Give Students a Basic Idea Of the Work Beforehand

It can be challenging to memorize work that is completely foreign to you. Thus, teachers should try handing out worksheets related to the lesson before going over the material. 

In this way, the students will be able to go over the work in their free time and gain a general idea of what they will be learning in the future. 

Concluding Thoughts

To do well in school and understand the work, many students rely on their memory. With that being said, certain sections of work are tough to memorize. For this reason, teachers should incorporate various methods to make their lessons easier to remember. 

They can do this by teaching the same work over and over again. Also, using visual images, videos, and PowerPoints is a great way to capture students’ attention.

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Matthew Lynch published in Homeschooling, Teachers

A Home Learning Schedule For Young Children

Even though young children spend most of their time at home, there are still plenty of ways to learn. In fact, establishing a routine can provide them with structure, teaching them to anticipate certain things. 

In this article, we will be detailing an at-home learning schedule that can be used to improve your child’s knowledge of daily objects and tasks. 

Morning

The first thing that you should do when your child wakes up is make them a healthy breakfast. Serve them various types of foods, ensuring that you discuss each item and where it comes from. For example, if they are eating eggs, make it clear that they come from chickens. 

After breakfast, take a few minutes to discuss what day, month, and year it is and what the weather will be like. In this time, you could also mention a specific topic to your child, such as mountains, and ask them to find ten songs that discuss that topic. 

Afternoon

After their song game, give them some free time to release energy. This could be an hour of outdoor time in the garden, or you could drive them to a nearby park. When they are finished, ensure that they wash their hands before having lunch. Once again, make sure that you discuss the food types being served. 

After lunch, it is time to fit in some reading practice. Ask your child to select three children’s books from the library/bookshelf and go through them. If you have the time, assist your child during this process. However, if you have work to do yourself, ensure that you are nearby your child to correct any mistakes that you hear.

Evening

After completing their three books, give them another hour or so of free time. During this, they could play outside, watch television, play with their toys, etc. 

Afterward, make sure that they wash their hands before beginning to prepare dinner together. In this time, you should talk about the various recipes, measurements, and ingredients that are being used. More so, you should also ask them to name the color of every food that you use. 

Concluding Thoughts

Even though many children spend most of their day at home, there are still plenty of ways to learn. In the learning schedule, parents must discuss the various foods and colors that they see with their children. 

More so, every child needs a decent amount of free time to burn energy. You should also dedicate a specific amount of time to reading every day.

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Matthew Lynch published in Assessment, Teachers

Teacher Efficacy: Everything You Need to Know

This is the extent to which teachers sense their ability to be a major factor that determines how successful their students become. In other words, it’s the confidence teachers have in their ability to guide their students to success. Teacher efficacy includes helping students learn, creating effective programs for students, and successfully changing student learning.

Teachers with strong efficacy typically display an enhanced level of enthusiasm for teaching. They also possess a strong commitment to their profession, positively impact student achievement, and show an augmented level of persistence. For these teachers, new situations aren’t roadblocks. Rather, they are taken as challenges and handled head-on without giving up.

Different factors influence teacher efficacy positively. For one, teachers who hold multiple roles in the school have an enhanced sense of self-efficacy, which is attributed to their commitment to the school and improved job satisfaction. Second, teachers who hold factors within their control (such as collaborating with colleagues, considering alternative teaching strategies, helping students visualize themselves as competent learners, etc.) responsible for their students’ success typically have much higher efficacy levels than those who hold factors beyond their control (like class size, family situation, and student effort, among others) responsible. 

Third, learning and implementing new teaching practices boost teacher efficacy and benefit students. In other words, when teachers get better, their students too become more proficient. When teachers come to know, think, understand, and practice in a different way in a verifiable area of student learning requirements, they end up impacting student achievement positively.

It’s possible to boost teacher efficacy. Most efforts aiming to achieve this goal are based on Albert Bandura’s social learning theory that proposed four chief sources of efficacy perceptions, namely vicarious experiences, mastery experiences, physiological and emotional states, and social and verbal persuasion. 

The most dominant among these for teacher efficacy was found to be mastery experiences. To put it differently, teachers’ personal experiences of success or lack of it strongly form their efficacy beliefs. In contrast, efficacy beliefs are merely modestly altered by logical persuasion, watching others, or emotional situations. Actual change happens through what teachers experience in their classrooms with their students.

When a group of teachers has faith in their ability to affect students positively, it’s called collective teacher efficacy. In schools that have collective teacher efficacy, teachers are more focused on academic pursuits, display more optimistic attitudes toward professional development, and experience enhanced levels of relationship satisfaction, motivation, and intent to stick to their profession.

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