| I have some quick and easy professional development | | | | Wong, is the perfect resource for every teacher |
| ideas to improve your lesson building skills. You can | | | | library. Every time I pick it up I select one or two new |
| peruse 'em from the comfort of your lawn chair to | | | | ideas to use with students. |
| ease the climb back into your classroom. Why? I think | | | | 2. Tweak your multimedia skills and resources |
| they'll satisfy that thirst for improving your teaching | | | | One picture is worth a thousand words. Images quickly |
| skills without taking dollars from your pocket, and they | | | | validate obtuse concepts and put the brain in gear. For |
| won't reduce your leisure time. Heck, you can even | | | | example, students may not get the verbal aspects of |
| use 'em to fulfill your Professional Development Plan | | | | biotic and abiotic, but show 'em pictures of people, |
| (PDP) for 2010! | | | | plants, and fire; now they have a window to apply |
| Nope, what I'm suggesting is not languishing away in a | | | | what is being discussed. There are plenty of ways to |
| classroom or even attending a vendor sponsored | | | | use multimedia besides just using PowerPoint or slide |
| seminar. What I'm talking about is an hour or two a | | | | presentations. Thinking is an essential ingredient learning |
| week - or less - in the comfort of your own schedule | | | | at any age, using the Big 6 you gain a critical thinking |
| to consider improving the architecture of your | | | | resource and a web site that offers a ton of |
| instruction techniques. That's correct, my intention is to | | | | worksheets and presentations. Start using media kits |
| have you grow these three core teaching abilities: | | | | to supplement your lesson resources. You can find |
| 1. Classroom management skills: this influences every | | | | one for any subject across the K12 curriculum by |
| aspect of teaching for both new and experienced | | | | visiting the Orange County DOE site. Some other |
| teachers. | | | | favorites of mine: listen to famous speeches, find any |
| 2. Multimedia resources: time to start putting technology | | | | sound and download it, and then the perfect music to |
| to work for you, in whatever capacity you have | | | | spice up classroom atmosphere or to add on your |
| available in your classroom or school. | | | | web page. If you, or your students, are going to be |
| 3. Pedagogy ideas: taking stock of what you're doing | | | | using online much at all you probably want an avatar. |
| and listening to the experts provides new window(s) | | | | You can easily build one at YourManga and it's |
| for improving student performance. | | | | available in multiple languages. The next step is |
| Let's be real, acquiring additional skills in these abilities | | | | exploding your video library resources. Use one of |
| makes you better equipped to capture student | | | | these qualified sites to fulfill your video cabinet with |
| attention. When you're doing that, you have engaged | | | | thousands of professional clips to enforce class |
| students, which means they're more adept at building | | | | concepts: National Geographic, Learner.org, and |
| lifelong learner skills. | | | | Teachers Domain. When you want to bring context of |
| Capturing student interest is no mystery. I know this | | | | the past, present, and/or future to your class, check |
| first hand from my high school teaching experiences. | | | | out the tons of streaming video (no downloads here) |
| When students are interested in class material; student | | | | at TED and Fora TV, or scour How Stuff Works for |
| disruptions almost disappear and class time flies finer | | | | material galore on any subject in an encyclopedia set. |
| than the stealth bomber. Lesson material that works | | | | 3. Dust off your pedagogy schemes |
| with digital students makes concepts relevant to life | | | | Each educator has their own teaching style, refining |
| outside of class. Research shows this is best | | | | that art of instruction never ends. Just like professional |
| accomplished using hands on activities, integrating | | | | athletes always train to be on top of their game; |
| technology, creating and managing student | | | | superior educators look for ways to refine teaching |
| collaboration, and accenting important ideas with video | | | | methods. There are a couple of ways to accomplish |
| clips (15 minute maximum). As you raise the bar on | | | | this. One way is reading current research on education. |
| your lesson making ability you demonstrate your | | | | The Internet Public Library (IPL) has an array of reading |
| commitment to excellence. | | | | material on education reform and measurements and |
| Like I said, all the resources I'm about to mention are | | | | assessments. Another way is fine tuning the methods |
| absolutely free. Need software to be more | | | | used to do actual instruction. One of the most |
| productive? This package works on any computer | | | | comprehensive sites I've seen is provided by Intel. |
| and is in multiple languages; use it to make and | | | | They've assembled substantial material to support |
| distribute documents, slides, or spreadsheets: Open | | | | building student collaboration in classes and improve |
| Office. | | | | student critical thinking skills. Project learning is a proven |
| 1. Tune up classroom management strategies | | | | technique for getting students actively learning in |
| Without a solid set of classroom management skills, | | | | classes. Eutopia provides a RSS feed with studies |
| learning happens by luck. Effective teaching isn't | | | | validating this methodology. They also have an |
| completed by winning personality contests or being the | | | | extensive video catalog for educators covering a |
| student's buddy. Instead, learning occurs in a safe | | | | range of topics on effective K12 learning. The Global |
| environment where students are curious and there is | | | | SchoolNet is a project exchange site. It's a myriad of |
| an atmosphere of respect. Just like a business has a | | | | projects teachers and students have contributed from |
| set of rules and procedures to produce quality | | | | around the world. The content at Center for Innovation |
| products for its' customers, a teacher must have a | | | | in Engineering and Science Education is aligned with |
| clearly defined set rules and procedures to conduct | | | | math and science standards and it offers clearly |
| class. An extensive set of ideas and procedures can | | | | defined projects. Their goal is to have classes use their |
| be found at this scale of social competence site. | | | | projects to do cross-curriculum work. Students |
| Another source for some tips and techniques is this | | | | contribute from their local area, giving students in other |
| RSS feed, beware it also wants to sell you a book at | | | | areas an opportunity to learn about new areas while |
| the end. The Empower A Child blog has 10 excellent | | | | also exploring unique data contributions. At Merlot, |
| tips for teachers. On the left hand side of the | | | | teachers post their lessons and then get reviewed by |
| Cooperative Learning Network page there are several | | | | peers. Covering all content areas, you can dig into high |
| useful articles worth your review. My favorite there is | | | | caliber lesson material for your new lesson or to revise |
| Teaching Social Skills. I had to adjust it somewhat for | | | | an existing one. Another option is participating in a |
| my high school class but those ideas definitely worked | | | | variety of quality academic communities. |
| for me. Of course, The First Days of School, by Harry | | | | |