Privilege & Imperfection

PRIVILEGES such as autonomy are very motivating to humans. Students are no exception to this.  It makes us willing to take risks, exert effort, & exercise initiative.
The privileges that motivate us as adults motivate students too.

"The significance of a man is not what he attains but rather in what he longs to attain."  Kahlil Gibran (1,001 Meditations/Mike George p54)

IMPERFECTIONS make us human. Let each person do their best. If others do better, admire them without envy while trying to do better. Motivating others helps keep our motivation too.

Finding common ground

After long thought,

I support individuals & communities who align by finding commonalities.

I don't like my time here debating ideas and/or taking sides. 

14% was a good start. 

I love being a teacher, mother, wife, & woman. I want the best so its not about policing society.

It's about living.

Dedicated to Nelson Mandela. I love everything about you and may U live to see the dawn! 

Techniques to Making Instructions Clear

"The Master Teacher knows specific actions enhance clarity. These actions make it more probable that more students in our classroom will understand   our instructions." -The MASTER Teacher, Inc. c2000


From the Master Teacher Series:

Seven Techniques to Make Your Instruction Clear

1. When you give instructions, avoid asking students to "get started quickly." Otherwise, many students begin before you even finish giving the instructions.

2. Practice your presentation before you give students instructions. Rehearsals reveal flaws that almost guarantee misunderstanding. Determine what you want said based on what you want done.

3. Always start with the simple to complex route. Start with the basics before moving to the complicated part of your instructions. Give students time to ask questions. If you don't provide time for their questions early on, it increases the likelihood of misinformation, and students may not understand.

4. Providing well-organized and relevant background information almost always aids understanding. Having students write down the steps they must follow to complete an assignment or project before they begin, lays the solid foundationn necessary for students to perform the task properly.

5. Try and provide students with both written and oral instructions. However, never hand out the written instructions before you deliver the oral instructions, Also, do not communicate anything in one communication that isn't the other.

6. When repeating instructions to the class, which is inevitable at some point, be careful abut changing the wording the second (or third) time around. To achieve clarity, you must not vary from the last set, unless, it is because there was an error. In this case, it is important to clarify the error as soon as it is recognized.

7. Lastly, when finished giving instructions, ask students one specific question: "What do you need to do?" This will confirm whether students have enough information to know exatly what to do... and exactly what you expect. Further, ask a number of students exactly the same question and go from there.


Education is not filling in a pail but the lighting of a fire.
-William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet

Science

Learning the scientific method is fundamental to future understanding of all things scien-rrific

The Scientific Method:
Pose a question
Form a hypothesis
Conduct experiment
Draw conclusions
Record/Share your results

Posing a question enables the student to think independently and create an authentic awareness of the subject.

Using the Internet to Connect

Parents, you may not think that you can relate to what is being taught in the classroom, but with a few simple exercises, you can really grow your child's understanding just by exploring the internet together. 

Keep in mind, you must be vigilant in using safe and secure websites!  However, there are so many resources on the internet that reinforce our class lessons, it is really a necessity to incorporate home learning time into your child's overall learning experience. 

Here are a few of my favorite websites that promote our contents standards: 
www.scholastic.com www.pbs.org www.brainpopjr.com www.merriam-webster.com  and even www.youtube.com are all useful in expanding our lessons. 

The best thing to do is log on to the website and type into their search engine a key vocabulary word from our lesson to see what activities are there.  From there, let your child explore!!!  Most of all, have fun and monitor your child's time on the internet often.  Ask questions about the lessons and/or activities and listen to your child's responses.  I do and I am amazed at what my students know.   

Please share any of the things you and your child have done using the internet as an education tool here. I'd love to hear from you!