by Timothy G. Weih, Ph.D.
Mar 12, 2017
Teaching Methodology 3361 Views
I’m Adopted!
In the fall of 1961, I started Kindergarten, and I was horrified to discover that I was uniquely different from the rest of my 12 classmates-I found out that I was adopted! I was having a conversation-I loved to talk-with another boy about where babies came from, and we agreed that they came from our moms’ tummies; however, he was fast to point out that I, in fact, did NOT come from my mom’s tummy, but instead from some other mom, because I was adopted. I was not sure what that meant, but I remember not liking his tone when he said this, and as a reaction, became very angry, which means, I most likely started yelling, “No, I’m not!”
Later that afternoon when the bus dropped me off from school at our family farm, I recall telling my mom about this terrible lie that a boy from school said about me being adopted, to which she responded that I was, and told me the story behind my adoption. This news was very upsetting to me, and to complicate matters, I had an older sister ...
by Jonathan Zeen Yick Quek
Mar 4, 2014
Reading 3360 Views
To help you get started, we have put together a list of some of the more popular early reading methods out there to give you a grasp of their salient principles and differences. You may discover that a particular one matches your child's learning style and preferences perfectly, or even that a combination, rather than any single one, of these techniques are far more effective in teaching the written word to your baby.
Glenn Doman's Flashcard Method
Glenn Doman is a physical therapist who developed an approach to treating brain-damaged children in the 1950s in the United States. As his research progressed, he found out that the same type of accelerated learning method he used with brain-injured children can be applied on normal children. In fact, he believes that all babies have a genius potential that if properly developed, can well exceed that of Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein. To draw out this genius potential, children should be appropriately stimulated from infancy by their ...
Oct 6, 2013
Teacher Training 3359 Views
Formal assessment often creates fear within the student such that it prevents them from performing at their best. Therefore, it is important for the teacher to give students practice assessment items to allow them to gain experience in doing assessment under exam conditions to ease that fear. This informal assessment helps both the teacher and student gauge how they are progressing and what they need do to prepare for the real thing.
In classes with a wide range of ability, there are strategies you can use to help prepare all your students to do well in formal assessment by using your informal assessment as preparation.
Below are ideas to consider as part of your informal assessment:
It is important to find out what understanding of each new topic your class has as a starting point for your teaching.
Use frequent, quick, short tests to consolidate the basics.
Practice any new assessment task before you use it formally.
Make sure the format of your informal assessment reflects the ...
~~Teaching very young learners (i.e. under 5s) can be particularly daunting for many teachers. For most it is the first time they have had to cope with children this young, and many are concerned or worried about how best to approach the class. However, it is important to remember that while this age does present a set of unique challenges it is a lot of fun and very rewarding.
On the whole very young learners are focussed on having fun, playing games and being entertained; they are naturally curious and want to know about the world around them. Everything is new and interesting and worthy of exploration, using all five senses.
Most very young learners are, initially, very shy of their new teacher; especially as to them the new teacher is a strange scary looking foreigner. It is not uncommon for them to become fixed to their mothers, barely acknowledging your presence. The main thing that works in your favour is their innate curiosity, so with the aid of funny faces, silly noises etc ...
Apr 2, 2012
Pronunciation/Phonics 3356 Views
Instant or Sight words are the words a reader must recognize immediately. These words are the most commonly used words in the English language and interestingly, many of them are difficult to teach by phonics and are not easily represented by pictures. The most common sight word lists are Dolch Sight Words and Fry Instant Words. Teaching sight words is not the same as the Whole Language approach to teaching reading.
Dec 5, 2012
Grammar 3355 Views
By definition, a verb is a word that describes an occurrence of an action. It also explains the current situation of the person, thing or an object. This word "verb" is from Latin word verbum and it means "word". Without verbs, your sentence seems useless and cannot elaborate true meaning to the reader or listener.
“Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to the classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.”
Ricky Martin has expressed the true meaning of teaching; it is to endlessly polish one's skills to reach the peak of excellence. There was a period when a traditional teacher would hide at the back of lecture, grade, practice, test and moving on to next topic. Traditional teaching kills the fun of learning. It is now even hard to see a class built on only reading and writing, in which kids are just a inactive recipient with no any active involvement. Teaching is a first-class job and as a teacher the person need to be on the toes constantly to cope with the fast changing mode of education. It is very important for the teachers to learn effective teaching skills. Because a good educator never wants his/ her students to ...
Nov 2, 2014
Adults 3352 Views
If you are someone who has the honor of sharing your knowledge with large groups of professionals, then you want your audience to get the very most value from what you have to share. Can this be accomplished by just speaking clearly and wearing a red tie? Possibly not.
In order for adults to have an optimal learning experience, these four elements must be present:
Motivation
Reinforcement
Retention
Transference
You can motivate adult learners in:
Social relationships: the learner knows you and looks up to you and wants to learn from you.
External expectations: the learner believes you will be able to fulfill his/her expectations because someone with formal authority has given the recommendation.
Social welfare: they are getting information from you that will enable them to improve their ability to serve mankind.
Personal advancement: you can help them or give them information of how to achieve higher status in a job, securing professional advancement.
Escape/Stimulation: to relieve ...
Jul 8, 2012
Teacher Training 3350 Views
Many administrators are also master teachers. Still, instructing others to be effective educators requires a different set of skills from teaching classes yourself. And yet, as another session approaches, administrators face the task of training a new group of teachers. Below are six tips you can use to effectively train your staff.
Dec 22, 2009
Other 3349 Views
Our capacity to make the right decisions in an ever-increasingly complex world is limiting our future progress. I believe the root of the problem is the value systems we have developed over our lives. To address the problem, we need to re-examine how we educate future generations.