Category: Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits.

Top 12 Most Popular Education Articles in 2009

It’s that time of year where countdowns are everywhere, so we’re here to share the most popular education articles that ran on TeachHUB this year.
Here are the top 12 TeachHUB Articles of 2009 based on your visits:
Thanks to advances in technology, we can now actually view the brain as it learns through neuroimaging and brain-mapping studies. This is one of the most exciting areas is brain-based memory research available today.

Based on my background as a neurologist and my experience as a classroom teacher, I’ve created this list of tips for any teacher to integrate brain-based learning strategies. Hopefully, you’ll find these connections between the research and strategies NEURO-LOGICAL. read more

Thanks to the ARRA Stimulus, the state of education spending is about to transform from widespread budget freezes to flash flood of funding. And you’re going to have to account for every last drop.

TeachHUB is here to help you navigate the waters. read more

(Mind you, this guide was published before the funds were released and represents how the stimulus was planned and meant to be spent, not what actually happned.)
Call it “active learning,” or “classroom participation” — every teacher wants more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible.
Below are four common reasons students don’t participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons. read more
A third grade teacher once told me the mother of one of his students left twenty-minute messages on his voice mail every day and showed up in his classroom unannounced. A middle school teacher who gave an exam the day after Halloween said she received an e-mail from a parent containing a four-paragraph poem titled, “The Grinch That Stole Halloween.”

Adversarial parents can create frustration and impede your progress with their child. To foster positive relationships with your students’ parents and encourage their cooperation and support, try the following three-part approach: read more
Looking to liven up your centers? Let your students play games!

That’s right, games have educational value. They provide opportunities for students to develop both social and academic skills. Just like working on a project in cooperative groups, interactive games require that students communicate, stay on task, take turns, and rely on higher-level thinking skills.

Here are twelve classic games and reasons to incorporate them into your curriculum: read more
When you get a call from a school administrator inviting you to interview for a teaching job, how do you feel? Happy? Elated? Excited? Nervous? Scared stiff?

You don’t need to worry about the interview if you’re a well-prepared, qualified candidate. Preparing for a teaching interview is a lot like studying for a test. You can review commonly asked questions, think about what you’ll say beforehand, and go in to do your best.

Below is a list of six commonly asked teacher interview questions. How would you answer each question? read more
With inclusion on the rise, teachers are sharing classrooms more than ever and becoming an effective co-teaching partner is a teaching essential.
Several collaborative teaching approaches have proven to be successful to guide educators who work together in co-teaching partnerships to differentiate instruction. The approaches include: read more
If there is one thing we know about kids, it’s that they have short attention spans and prefer now to later.

Teachers, more than any district or schoolwide programs, have the most power to motivate students because they’re on the front lines. They can influence students in a way that kids can actually understand: here, now, today, in this room. read more
Does this sound familiar?

You labored all night creating a thoughtful, engaging lesson. You were confident that your students would enjoy it, only to have your excitement—and theirs—dashed by the antics of a handful of students. You spent all your time writing names on the board, calling out troublemakers’ names, and “ssshh-ing” them.

Instead of pulling your hair out in frustration, give these Classroom Management “Dos” and “Don’ts” a try: read more
After polling teachers, checking box office numbers, critical reviews and teacher forums, we’ve compiled a list of the Top 12 must see teacher movies.

They appear in no particular order. read more
Looking good does not come easily for those of us at the head of the class.

Teachers face some serious fashion challenges. Full days on your feet surrounded by dry erase markers, crowded hallways and dirty students’ hands don’t bode well for high-priced, high-concept style. Nor does a teacher salary or insanely busy schedules. It’s hard to find time to think much less plan the perfect outfit.

To help, we’ve collected the Top 12 Fall Fashion Tips just for teachers.
Break out of your wardrobe rut this fall and bring practical and affordable style back into the classroom! read more
It’s Google’s world, we’re just teaching in it.

Now, we can use it a little easier. With classes, homework, and projects–not to mention your social life–time is truly at a premium for all teachers, so why not take advantage of the wide world that Google has to offer?

From super-effective search tricks to Google tools specifically for education to tricks and tips for using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, these tricks will surely save you some precious time. read more
Thanks to everyone who visited TeachHUB in 2009! We hope to keep bringing you the best in education news in 2010. Please email me with suggestions for articles or if you are interested in contributing at acondron@teachhub.com.
Please share your favorite education-related articles (whether they’re from TeachHUB or not) in the comments section.
Happy New Year!

Dos & Don’ts for Teaching to the Test

As the State Regents Exams draw close, it’s time to start teaching to the test if you haven’t already.

Those who don’t fall into the trap of test prep turn their noses up arguing that students should have learned the skills to pass an exam without ever having seen the likes of it before. The rest of us realize that with students entering 9th grade on a 5th grade reading level, two years is not enough time to get them ready to pass an 11th grade Literacy exam cold.

Pump Up Your Resolution Resolve

As 2010 begins, I know that many of us are scrambling to keep (or come up with) our New Year’s Resolutions. I think the extra long lines for the treadmill at the gym and the empty shelves of bagged salad at the grocery store speak for themselves.

This year I realized that there are two obvious problems with my resolutions.
1. They are horribly general. They don’t really name any specific behavior or situations.
2. They lack a plan. (And you know I love a good color-coded plan!)

Virtual Field Trips with Google Maps

I’ve always used Google maps for last minute directions, but I just recently discovered how to tap into its virtual field trip potential.

Turns out, you can literally get IN the map. It’s a phenomenal way to explore with your students (or on your own!). Just pick a location you’re learning about, scout it out before hand and let loose.

The Curse of the Easy A

It’s time to say goodbye to an A for effort, no matter what your subject.

Many current music educators grew up in a time when being in an ensemble was solely about playing the music for the next concert. I personally cannot recall ever doing a worksheet or any real music theory work while in high school.

It seemed that all I had to do to get an “A” was come to my lessons, play at the concerts, and otherwise stay out of trouble. Outside practice was expected but not enforced. I did not realize until many years later that this method of teaching had set me up for years of mediocrity and frustration.

Blazing the Trail for Bilingual Ed

After nearly 40 years involved in education trying to improve and promote Spanish literacy instruction and biliteracy education, Dr. Jilly Kerpa Mora recently received the Two-way California Association for Bilingual Education 2009 Promoting Biliteracy Award.

Dr. Mora shares her experience fighting to get bilingual education accepted across the map, as someone who’s been with the struggle from the beginning.

New Student Blog Project

This semester, I’m trying out a new project for my writing class. I’m inviting my students to start a blog about anything they want (within reason) in an attempt to get them excited (or at least relaxed) about writing.

I’d love to get some feedback from anyone who’s tried out blogs in the classroom…

“Pants on the Ground” Video Writing Prompts

3-8: Pretend that you are an Idol judge. Choose the adjective that best describes Larry’s performance for:
– singing voice
– dancing ability
– original song
– entertainment value

Provide a one-two sentence explaining why that adjective best describes Larry’s performance.

Find “Pants on the Ground” prompts K-2 and 9-12, along with more YouTube writing prompts on the Teacher Tips page

Top 12 Classroom Management Dos & Don’ts

Does this sound familiar?

You labored all night creating a thoughtful, engaging lesson. You were confident that your students would enjoy it, only to have your excitement—and theirs—dashed by the antics of a handful of students. You spent all your time writing names on the board, calling out troublemakers’ names, and “ssshh-ing” them. You’re exhausted, irritated—both with them and yourself—and dispirited because you didn’t get through everything you needed to. Crushed, you don’t even want to think about planning for the next day, let alone doing it all again in your next class.

Learning simply cannot occur alongside misbehavior, so instruction hinges upon classroom management. Effective teachers are effective classroom managers. It’s essential that you handle disruptions in a non-confrontational manner, reinforcing rather than undermining your authority.

Mobius Response Model: A New Twist for Differentiated Learning & Gifted Education

Say goodbye to cookie-cutter curriculum and its predictable approach for all students.

Say hello to the Mobius Response Model that lets your students’ learning needs lead the way for differentiation and gifted education.

The Mobius Response Model (MRM) represents a creative structure for responding to individual students’ learning needs. It offers a user-friendly metaphor for effective gifted education by focusing on and connecting four critical foundational points for teaching and appropriately differentiated learning: (A) planning, (B) assessment, (C) programming, and (D) learning environment.

Dabbleboard: Teacher Website of the Week

Dabbleboard is a free basic Web 2.0 tool – part of the read-write web, meaning that you can read the website and also add to it, or write on the page. This site is a combination of a mindmapping tool, a collaborative tool, and an easy-to-learn online whiteboard.

Here are some ideas to get you started using Dabbleboard in the classroom – both for instruction and for student projects.

Put ’em to Work with Classroom Jobs

Hopefully, at this point, your year is chugging along nicely. You and your friends have settled into your routine and you’re off! It’s time to learn!

So what happens when you’ve been so engrossed in your teaching that it’s suddenly five minutes before the end of the day, you have a million odds and ends to take care of and nobody has their backpack yet? (Hint: the answer is not “freak out.”) This is the time that you truly need to rely on your little friends to help you get it all done.

Now, most of you probably already have a few classroom jobs posted and in full swing. Bravo! My challenge to you is to create even more jobs. Yes, more jobs! Our little friends love to help – sometimes to the point where them asking how they can help actually becomes less than helpful. At one point, I had a system where every single child in my class had some sort of responsibility each week.

Answering The Question of Common National Standards

While teachers and classrooms are doing everything they can to differentiate and personalize instruction for every student, policy-makers are focusing on creating uniform standards across the map. Are these seemingly divergent paths moving in the right direction?

As a trend or hot topic in education, common or “national” standards have always been one of those ideas that resurface every few years. This time, they seem to be gaining momentum.

TeachHUB 2.0

Since we launched the TeachHUB resource site for K-12 educators last April, we’ve made a lot of big changes to **hopefully** make TeachHUB as useful, fun and teacher-friendly as possible.
I wanted to let you know about theses changes and ask for your help and advice as we continue trying to make TeachHUB a valuable resource for you and your fellow teachers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The revamped Teacher Recommendations page should make it a lot easier to find and share you favorite things.
You can now click through tons of the best Teacher sites with a brief description, recommendation from a teacher and a grade.
We’ve also added an on-site Amazon Teacher Store –
That way, you get Amazon’s low prices, but all front-page items are recommended by teachers and the categories will give you much smaller haystacks to find your needles!
  • Grade-level specific
  • Subject-specific
  • Ed Tech
  • Grade-level books
  • Teacher Organization
  • Coaching
Please check it out and send me your recommendations!
INSIDER DEALS
  • Discounted Masters programs – we’ve arranged through universities around the country that meet one-night-a-week at local schools,
  • Reduced Price on Pop Culture Lesson Plans – now only $9.95 from $29.95
  • Members-Only Deals Coming Soon: we’re also working with other education companies, authors and websites to get members exclusive deals.

My question to you is: what are you looking for deals on? We’ll track down your favorites and get you a discount. Just ask!

ON-SITE PD
With school and district budgets tightening, teachers have told us they aren’t being allowed to pick their own professional development days, schools won’t pay for it and sometimes, they don’t even have the budget for a sub if you pay for your own workshop.
This means that most professional development is moving to in-school PD, which takes the choice out of your hands and into administrators.
To get your voice heard, recommend topics and speakers to us AND to your administration. We post the top teacher-recommended topics on the Professional Development page. We can also help your principal find the best teacher to tackle that topic.
OLD GOODIES
We’ve still got all the TeachHUB staples –
  • daily featured article
  • latest teacher blogs
  • featured Pop Lesson Plans
  • YouTube video writing prompts
But now you find the latest on the homepage.
Don’t forget to visit these fun, but sometimes forgotten features:
Contests & Giveaways
The new contests and giveaways should be rolled out next week. One hint: you may want to get out your pom-poms and spirit stick!

Please share any recommendations you have in the comments section! Thanks for visiting the site and for your help 🙂