But what do you put in a school newsletter? For newbies, finding, curating, and publishing effective content can be a conundrum.
So today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox, herself a seasoned educator on the East Coast, looks at some items to include in your next class/school newsletter, including:
Fun Facts
Inspirational Quotes
Parent Pointers
And More!
Janelle sums up her article thusly: “Keeping parents in the know will help prepare parents to support their children. The goal is to provide parents (and students) with monthly information to keep them informed, as well offer them some essential tips and advice.”
What do you add to your monthly school newsletter?
The Passion that Drives: An Israeli School Snapshot
TeachHUB.com’s recent visit to Israel was eye-opening on a lot of levels, and today, we look at the passion we discovered in schools there, in particular at one school that focused on the arts, including drama and music.
Why does the Studio Ankori focus on arts and music? It’s simple: “Arts can teach kids to be innovative and creative,” noted Yehezkel Lazarov, co-founder of Studio Ankori, “to be a means to do something else.”
Have you figured out how to inject a healthy dose of passion into your curriculum? How do you do it effectively?
Businesses with higher levels of employee engagement are 21 percent more profitable than those with disengaged employees, according to a 2016 Gallup report. Yet, a jaw-dropping 87 percent of employees report not feeling engaged at work.
The stats—and there are plenty to choose from (you’ll find a comprehensive list here )—may vary in the percentages, but the message remains the same: Engaged employees are more productive, and companies are missing out on a large chunk of their workforce’s productivity when people are unsatisfied.
Given that engagement is a perennial concern, it’s surprising how little progress we seem to have made at re-engaging the workforce since the term “engagement” was first coined more than 25 years ago. Despite the considerable time, effort and money thrown at solving the employee engagement enigma, it has eluded employers. In 2013, Gallup found that 89 percent of workers were either actively disengaged or not engaged — and there’s only been a 2 percent improvement since then.
So, what is wrong in the house of engagement, and more importantly, what can be done to put it right?
What We’ve Learned About Employee Engagement
Well, we’ve learned a few things about what doesn’t work: We know, for example, that doing annual engagement surveys does not mean a company takes engagement seriously, and that “happy” employees are not the same as engaged and productive employees. We know that money does not unlock the door to engaged employees.
We also know a few things about what does work: Successful companies set clear expectations for people, give people tasks that suit their skill sets, develop those and other skills and ensure those people’s opinions are heard and valued. Highly engaged employees believe in what they are doing and what their company is doing.
These are “basics,” but of course they take time to put into place and may require a huge level of cultural change for a company. And change programs have a somewhat checkered history of their own. Throw the word “culture” into the mix, and changing engagement requires a transformation rather than change—and the complexities are magnified even further.
Engagement Requires a Transformation Not a Change
While the HR industry may be getting better at change management for distinct projects, such as introducing a new performance management system, we are far less adept at the wider idea of transformation. In fact, McKinsey experts estimate, 70 percent of transformation programs fail. And employee engagement definitely falls under the transformation category in many companies.
It’s accepted wisdom that people hate change, and a major element of that loathing is to do with the loss of control people feel when something is “done” to them rather than “with” them. So, while it’s essential for employee engagement to have backing from the highest level to set the agenda and strategy, it also needs buy-in from the lowest level.
Use Social Media to Listen to Your Employees Needs
If you want to be successful at employee engagement, don’t spend too long sitting round the boardroom table discussing engagement strategy. Social media technologies provide an easy platform for people from all corners of the business to express their ideas, their gripes and their fears. Just ask your staff directly via social media what’s important to them.
Better still, don’t just ask them, but listen to what they are saying among themselves unprompted and act on it. They are the people with the first-hand knowledge of what’s going on at ground-level: the glitches in processes that don’t work, the opportunities missed and the ideas to make their workplace better. They are best placed to set the engagement agenda.
Of course, a company’s ability to take advantage of the power of enterprise social platforms depends on their starting point and their company culture. For some, it will be a natural progression, for others it is a step into the unknown. Even though using social media channels is old hat for many, it has yet to penetrate some businesses.
The advantage for companies is that it doesn’t require a huge ERP-level investment of time and money. It’s relatively easy and cheap to try out different social media technology in pockets of the business to see what floats or flounders.
Technology alone, of course, is never the complete answer. But in the case of employee engagement, technology has huge potential as an enabler, simply because it can put employees in the driving seat.
Today, we look at the importance of PLNs within the education world. Just what is a PLN? It’s “A self-created set of experts, colleagues, and resources … that meet one’s daily learning needs.” More simply, it’s, “An extended group of knowledgeable people you reach out to for answers, and trust to guide your learning.”
Why is it important to build a PLN? Today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Jacqui Murray looks at the reasons why educators need a PLN:
It helps you grow professionally
If forces you out of your comfort zone
And more!
Jacqui also instructs us on how to build a PLN. Her ideas include:
Reach out to others in your field
Use #hashtags
Always answer questions and acknowledge comments
And more!
All in all, the imp[ortance of having a PLN can’t be emphasized enough.
What are some of the ways you build and cultivate your PLN?
It’s never too early to begin teaching kids about STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), according to frequent TeachHUB.com contributor Janelle Cox, who notes that our national economic prosperity depends on it.
Janelle also notes that one way to give kids the opportunity to explore a real-world scientific problem is to give them a hands-on experience.
Begin this process by:
Identifying a real-world problem.
Asking questions to explore the problem (and potentially solve the problem).
Summertime is a great time for educators to get back into shape and improve their health! And it’s easy! Sometimes even the smallest health adjustment can have a big impact on your well-being!
With that in mind, today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox, herself a seasoned elementary school educator based in Upstate New York, takes a look at some simple ways that teachers can whip themselves back into shape in order to be ready for the impending new year.
Janelle’s ideas include:
Create Achievable Goals
Learn How to Manage Stress
Establish a Regular Sleep Schedule
And More!
Janelle sums up her article thusly, in a paragraph entitled Do Something That You Love: “As you begin this summer journey of a better you, you may notice that you enjoy the extra energy that you have. With this newfound vitality, you should start doing something that you love and enjoy. When was the last time that you played tennis or jumped on a trampoline? Go out and find something that is active that you love to do. You will be happy and healthier because of it.”
How do you plan to improve your health this summer while you are away from the classroom? Do you have any ideas that you would like to share? Please feel free to comment, we would love to hear your ideas.
Procedures are a part of life that helps promote stability. For instance, a procedure is always followed for any kind of doctor appointment – that procedure almost always entails the monitoring of blood pressure, the measuring of patient’s body temperature, and quick overall glance at the patient’s physical stature. Procedures are also followed for driving, cooking, and just about every other facet of daily life.
Today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox looks at classroom management procedures designed to foster a sense of community and culture, and why it’s important to teach and implement them.
Janelle’s procedural tips include those aimed at addressing even the most basic classroom topics:
•Entering the classroom
•Leaving the classroom
•Asking a question
•And more!
In closing, Janelle notes that effective teachers spend lots of time emphasizing their procedures, and that efficient classrooms are usually due in part to the strict following of procedures.
Do you have any tips on implementing procedures in your classroom?
Having completed a Masters in school leadership, I’ve officially taken the first step towards crossing over to the other side: administration. While I intentionally do not refer to it as “the dark side” as many teachers would, I can’t help but still call it the “other.”
However, having taken on some administrative duties over the years, I see more similarities than differences when it comes to instructional administrators.
This article originally appeared in TeachHUB Magazine, which you can download for FREE!
A faculty book club can be a wonderful way for teachers to get access to professional development as well as bond with other educators within the confines of their school.
But book clubs are one of those great ideas that no one wants to take the time to launch.
With that in mind, today’s centerpiece article on TeachHUB.com, penned by seasoned educator Jordan Catapano (who is an English teacher in the Chicago suburbs), takes a look at some concrete ways for you to launch a book club at your school.
Jordan’s ideas (and how to carry them out) include:
Find other members
Communicate with administrators
Schedule the discussions
And more!
Jordan sums up his article thusly: “Honestly, it’s a difficult task to rally enthusiasm and form a voluntary faculty book club. But it will never happen unless someone like you dives in and figures out how to make it work. Take the steps above as a general guideline, and discover how you might turn yourself from being a book-lover into a genuine leader.”
Did you have success starting a faculty book club? How did you go about starting it? Do you have any helpful tips to share? Let us know!
A great way for interested teachers and educators to stay connected with the great ideas, lesson plans, and inspirational articles we post every week is by subscribing to the TeachHUB.com e-newsletter. Every Friday, you’ll get a concise snapshot of what we’ve posted each week, as well as a look at trending articles and evergreen-type stories. Best of all, it’s absolutely FREE!
When it comes to the school day, how long is too long?
Educational technology leader, Will Richardson, recently said “If you’re not uncomfortable right now in education, you’re not paying attention”. It is clear that our American education needs to change in fundamental ways.
One of these seems to be the amount of time that our students spend in school. Read more
What better place to find a spokesperson for reading than in your own classroom?
Once a month I invite students to choose a book they read and present a short, 2 to 3 minute book talk. From the start of the school year, it’s helpful for you to model the book talking process by giving short talks on new additions to your classroom library or on favorite books, magazines, or graphic novels you want to spotlight.
When a students says that a book was the “best” or “I couldn’t put it down” or “I thought about it all day,” they become topnotch salespersons for a favorite book. Students’ recommendations inspire their peers to check out an author, a topic, or a specific title. That’s why book talks are great advertisements for reading; they can also serve as assessments.
Working from home — some people love it, other people hate it. Regardless of which camp you fall into, you’re likely spending an increased amount of time in the confines of your own home these days.
Even before the coronavirus was impacting our physical work environment, the number of telecommuters had been steadily ticking up. According to Global Workplace Analytics, telecommuting has grown 173% since 2005, with 4.7 million people now working at least part time from home.
Below are 10 tips for establishing an efficient, productive, and sustainable home office setup. Whether you’re in this situation temporarily or for the long haul, we hope this working from home advice will help you adjust and stay productive.
When you go into an office every day, you typically adhere to a routine with fairly consistent start and end times. Those lines are blurred when you work from home. No one is paying attention to your arrival or departure times, so there’s less accountability. For some, this may make it hard to stay on track. For others who already maintain long hours to accommodate heavy workloads, the lack of a schedule can make it even harder to maintain work-life balance.
Get dressed.
Even if you won’t see anyone else for the entire day besides your cat, it’s hard to feel productive psychologically in your pajamas. In the early days of telecommuting, staying in sweats might feel like a perk. But for many remote workers, this habit can cause a sense of sluggishness by the end of the workday. Even if you’ve accomplished a lot, it can feel like your work day never really started if you skip getting dressed.
Stay connected.
Depending on your line of work, you may still feel connected through conference calls and virtual team meetings. But even if you’re independent and don’t join as many of those, try to find excuses to have regular, virtual check-ins with key colleagues. Consider starting your calls chatting with them about what’s going on in their lives or big projects they’re working on. This helps to make up for some of the water cooler conversations you miss out on when working remotely.
Take a walk.
Chances are, working from home means a much more sedentary lifestyle than you’d otherwise lead. Especially if you’ve suddenly made the switch to working from home, the shift can be jarring. Taking a walk — whether it’s around your neighborhood, up and down your apartment building’s stairs, or even just around your backyard — can provide a much-needed break to clear your head, get your blood flowing, and to look at something other than a screen.
Designate an official home office.
Just as you don’t want to roll out of bed and start working in your pajamas, it’s also not a great idea to roll over in bed and grab your laptop from your bedside table. Having an established workspace will help you maintain boundaries between home and work life.
Limit distractions.
By far, one of the biggest challenges when it comes to telecommuting is finding ways to limit all of the distractions around you. That book you’ve almost finished is calling you name. That TV show you recorded is waiting for you to watch. The kids’ laundry might be piling up in the laundry room.
Listen to music.
For some people, it’s too quiet at home. There’s no office buzz going on around them, and they miss it. For others, playing music — especially with headphones in — can help cut out the noise from family members or roommates who might also be working or schooling from home. Figure out what works for you, whether it’s quiet background noise from a playlist, your favorite band’s music channel, or even the sound of a noise machine or a TV in the next room.
Create house rules.
It’s easy to put this pressure on yourself, too. Maybe one of the benefits of working from home is that you can take small breaks to tackle things like laundry, but that shouldn’t be an expectation. You need to give yourself permission to focus solely on work when you’re working, otherwise you’ll never get anything done. Don’t feel guilty about putting off other things on your to-do list. This is where that schedule comes in handy.
Set team norms.
When teams are working remotely, check-in meetings are more important than ever. So is setting clear expectations with team norms. But before you send out a meeting invite, consider your colleagues’ schedules and preferences. Are they also working remotely, and if so, from what time zone? What is their ideal teleconference platform? Will you use video or not? Nobody likes logging on and find everyone on camera when you’re still in your pajamas (again, get dressed each day!) or haven’t run a comb through your hair.
Be patient.
In this time of uncertainty, it’s particularly easy to feel stressed out or overwhelmed. As much as possible, try to practice patience — with yourself, with your colleagues, and with anyone you live with. Cultivating and expressing gratitude can make you a better leader, and it can also help you thrive in the face of change. Even if your organization, routine, or other aspects of your life are upended or changing dramatically, taking the time to de-stress and build your resilience and react patiently is worth the time and effort. It will also help you deal with uncertainty and anxiety.
Businesses with higher levels of employee engagement are 21 percent more profitable than those with disengaged employees, according to a 2016 Gallup report. Yet, a jaw-dropping 87 percent of employees report not feeling engaged at work.
The stats—and there are plenty to choose from (you\’ll find a comprehensive list here )—may vary in the percentages, but the message remains the same: Engaged employees are more productive, and companies are missing out on a large chunk of their workforce\’s productivity when people are unsatisfied.
Given that engagement is a perennial concern, it\’s surprising how little progress we seem to have made at re-engaging the workforce since the term \”engagement\” was first coined more than 25 years ago. Despite the considerable time, effort and money thrown at solving the employee engagement enigma, it has eluded employers. In 2013, Gallup found that 89 percent of workers were either actively disengaged or not engaged — and there\’s only been a 2 percent improvement since then.
So, what is wrong in the house of engagement, and more importantly, what can be done to put it right?
What We\’ve Learned About Employee Engagement
Well, we\’ve learned a few things about what doesn\’t work: We know, for example, that doing annual engagement surveys does not mean a company takes engagement seriously, and that \”happy\” employees are not the same as engaged and productive employees. We know that money does not unlock the door to engaged employees.
We also know a few things about what does work: Successful companies set clear expectations for people, give people tasks that suit their skill sets, develop those and other skills and ensure those people\’s opinions are heard and valued. Highly engaged employees believe in what they are doing and what their company is doing.
These are \”basics,\” but of course they take time to put into place and may require a huge level of cultural change for a company. And change programs have a somewhat checkered history of their own. Throw the word \”culture\” into the mix, and changing engagement requires a transformation rather than change—and the complexities are magnified even further.
Engagement Requires a Transformation Not a Change
While the HR industry may be getting better at change management for distinct projects, such as introducing a new performance management system, we are far less adept at the wider idea of transformation. In fact, McKinsey experts estimate, 70 percent of transformation programs fail. And employee engagement definitely falls under the transformation category in many companies.
It\’s accepted wisdom that people hate change, and a major element of that loathing is to do with the loss of control people feel when something is \”done\” to them rather than \”with\” them. So, while it\’s essential for employee engagement to have backing from the highest level to set the agenda and strategy, it also needs buy-in from the lowest level.
Use Social Media to Listen to Your Employees Needs
If you want to be successful at employee engagement, don\’t spend too long sitting round the boardroom table discussing engagement strategy. Social media technologies provide an easy platform for people from all corners of the business to express their ideas, their gripes and their fears. Just ask your staff directly via social media what\’s important to them.
Better still, don\’t just ask them, but listen to what they are saying among themselves unprompted and act on it. They are the people with the first-hand knowledge of what\’s going on at ground-level: the glitches in processes that don\’t work, the opportunities missed and the ideas to make their workplace better. They are best placed to set the engagement agenda.
Of course, a company\’s ability to take advantage of the power of enterprise social platforms depends on their starting point and their company culture. For some, it will be a natural progression, for others it is a step into the unknown. Even though using social media channels is old hat for many, it has yet to penetrate some businesses.
The advantage for companies is that it doesn\’t require a huge ERP-level investment of time and money. It\’s relatively easy and cheap to try out different social media technology in pockets of the business to see what floats or flounders.
Technology alone, of course, is never the complete answer. But in the case of employee engagement, technology has huge potential as an enabler, simply because it can put employees in the driving seat.
October is Connected Educator’s Month! That means that the academic world is practicing the art of networking now – and it also means it’s the perfect time to connect with the people and professional development resources that can make you a better teacher.
We’re all busy, for sure, but you should never neglect your networking capabilities. Today, TeachHUB.com contributor Jordan Catapano offers up an overview of what you should be doing AFTER October ends to keep the proverbial networking beacon shining, including:
Reflect on What You’ve Gained.
Learn and Explore More.
Stick with Other Connected Teachers.
How have you gotten connected this month? How do you plan to continue being connected the rest of the year?
Teachers around the world scratch their heads this time of the year, wondering how in the world they can tie an educational activity into Halloween.
But we’re you’re favorite spooky resource for figuring out how to creatively recognize the day normally associate with trick-or-treating and petty vandalism.
The article outline above outlines activities like”
Spooky Story Writing
\”War of the Worlds\” Activities
How-to Halloween Writing
Elsewhere, TeachHUB.com is a tremendously effective website for Halloween costume ideas and more. Here’s a roundup of what we’ve posted:
We have become a tremendous resource for job seekers looking for a teaching job. One of our consistently popular articles, 6 Common Interview Questions for Teachers and How to Answer Them, offers up the most popular teacher interview questions according to our educational experts, and gives suggestions on well-thought-out answers.
As we all know, the morning routine sets the tone for the entire day. Starting the day on a positive note is an imperative.
However, a good and often overlooked method of beginning the day is with classroom activities like yoga.
Today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributing writer Janelle Cox, who also is a seasoned elementary school teacher based in Upstate New York, looks at some classroom activitiesyou can use to implement a yoga morning meeting sequence into your school day.
Janelle’s ideas include easy steps to implementing yoga, including:
After a few breaths, have students reach their arms up and over their heads then dive down to touch their feet as they exhale. Encourage students to hang here for a few breaths and shake their heads “Yes” and “No” while either holding their elbows or hanging their arms loosely.
Next, have students do a sitting mountain pose by sitting at their seats with their feet planted firmly on the ground and their hands on their laps. Instruct them to sit up tall and slowly breathe in and out through their nose.
After this sequence, have students do a seated back bend. To do this pose, students should start in seated mountain pose, place their hands on the back of their chair, and push back so that they are looking up at the ceiling. Another option is to do this pose standing.
She also includes a paragraph on Encouraging Breathing : “One of the hardest things students have when first learning yoga is how to breathe properly. If you find that students are forgetting to breathe, then encourage them to count as they inhale and exhale. You can also teach them how to properly breathe when just sitting in a chair before you even teach them a new pose.”
Janelle sums up her article thusly: “Before trying it in the classroom, make sure that you take a class or try a free one on YouTube. This will help you feel confident when instructing students. Namaste.”
Do you incorporate yoga classroom activities into your morning meeting? Which poses do you like to do? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Spelling tests are almost universally despised by students, and there are doubts about the educational longevity of what students retain after the test is administered — many teachers contend that students forget how to spell the words soon after the test is over.
But with a little creativity – in the form of classroom games – educators can overcome the mundane nature of the time-honored spelling test.
Today, TeachHUB.com frequent contributor Janelle Cox introduces some classroom games involving spelling that are designed to engage as well as educate your students, including:
Spelling Word Relay
Sink and Spell
Spelling Boom!
And more!
Remember, classroom games are fun, beneficial for students and give them something to look forward to. Employ them as often as you can!
What spelling games do you play in your classroom? Do you have fun ideas that you would like to share?
Did you know that the K12 Teachers Alliance, the parent company of TeachHUB.com and TeachHUB magazine, can be the solution for your next in-service session?
We sure can! And our team of experts can address a variety of topics, from gifted education to Singapore math to bully prevention!
Our solutions are tailor-made, designed to fit any budget, and are 100 percent guaranteed!
My students’ supply list have been handed out, mailed out, and posted on our school website for the last six weeks. The list includes pencils, papers, markers, colored pencils, and all of the normal necessities needed throughout the year. Now that they are all set, it is time for me to start putting together my yearly list of things I just can’t do without, what I like to call “my survival list!”
We all have the basic supply list of pens, paper, paper clips, staplers, etc… but those items are not the “supplies” I need to start gathering. I am referring to the special teacher supply list need to survive the school year.
Over the years, I have come to realize that my second home is my classroom. As much as I hate to admit it, if I had a bed there, I would probably sleep there most nights! I have discovered many times the need for items on my list and couldn’t have survived those after school meetings, parent/student conferences, open houses, or all other after school functions without these supplies. They are really that vital!
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