Please check out my GIVEAWAY. It’s the Educating America Workbook and I’m giving away 5 copies. Who might benefit from the workbook? The workbook is intended for teachers who want to consider adding classroom volunteers in any public, private or charter school grades pre-school through high school. It makes a nice gift for that special… Read More »
Looking to invite volunteers into your classrooms? Look no further! Educating America Workbook, Getting Started: A Teacher’s Planning Guide for Including Adult Assistants is my a new resource and your answer! This a step-by-step approach that will save you hours of planning and organizing. It answers questions you may not have thought to ask yourself!… Read More »
As you make your new year’s resolutions, I hope you will include finding a way to share your talents with others. It is easy to make a resolve to change a personal habit so why not add one that will help others in schools? I’ve been a volunteer in classrooms since before my kids were… Read More »
It’s important to select activities you are comfortable handing over to an assistant. Check out my book , Actively Igniting Your Classroom with 101 Strategies for Adult Assistants, for extensive details on using adult assistants. Then decide: do you see any actitivities as a small group task? a mini-course? a procurement function? a classroom housekeeping… Read More »
It’s a giant step and a lot of work to invite adults into your classroom as assistants. Your day is already filled with curriculum planning, school meetings, and evaluating student work. How can you possibly do any more? Find a way; it pays off quickly. 1. Look to small changes, jobs adult helpers can handle without extended… Read More »
Finished! My Educating America Workbook (for teachers wanting to consider inviting adult assistants into their classrooms) is now ready. Next up: determining how to share the workbook ideas in a meaningful way. The workbook contents include: Things to consider before you invite adult into your classrooms Tasks to turn over to assistants Organizational meetings Planning and evaluation… Read More »
Critical thinking skills need to be provided for all children if we want to stir their curiosity and create life-long, curious learners in the process. What are the 4 main/best approaches to critical thinking with young children? How to they ‘look’ in classrooms? 1. Inquiry – allowing students to explore materials and ideas to build… Read More »
One of the newest educational acronym is STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The premise of STEM is that education needs to address these 4 topics with deeper understanding to gain employment and to compete in world markets. In an Education Week Teacher online article dated June 17, 2014, Anne Jolly, a former middle school science teacher and current… Read More »
As you know I’m an advocate for people helping in classrooms. To that end, I decided that maybe educators needed ways to help them get started. My soon-to-be-completed workbook suggests ways to think about taking the step to include outside help in classroom. Now is your chance to suggest ideas/concerns/issues that you’d like addressed. So far I’ve included… Read More »
All grade levels can use current events as part of their social studies and/or their morning opening. Here are a few types of news that fit into school curriculum and into family meal time discussions. 1. On this Day in History – a calendar related reference to mark an important or interesting event. 2. Weather-… Read More »