Teaching Tips
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Teachers Should Dress Professionally
We are Teachers is a Twitter account that “offer ideas, inspiration, and information for your best days—and double that for your hard ones. Supporting kids means supporting educators, always.” A few days ago, they posed a question to teachers about attire. They asked us how we felt about wearing jeans to school. I don’t think it […]
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There is More Than One Profound Truth
“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” ― Niels Bohr Neil Postman helps break down this thought. He writes, “It is better to have access to more than one profound truth. To be able to hold comfortably in one’s […]
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Get Your Students To Unbelieve
Psychologist Kevin Dutton has coined a term for something I am sure you have seen at some point in your career as educator. Have you ever had a student, or group of students, actively resist your attempts to teach them? Do they seem to completely reject the whole process? Dutton refers to this as ‘unbelief.” […]
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Annoying Your Students is Ideal
“I annoy my students on a number of levels. I don’t praise them enough: I’m always being critical, finding fault in their work. I make them commit to a writing project—choose the subject of their essays—almost immediately. I don’t tolerate procrastination. And I make them go out into the world and do immersions.” This passage […]
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The Value of Boredom
I was supply teaching in a classroom a few weeks back that had a brilliant display on the wall about the English language. It was chopped full of useful information for students. I found myself wondering how often this display gets used. I know that if I and been a student in this class, I […]
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We All Need Unplugged Alone Time
For some of us, it is difficult to truly be alone with our thoughts. We are constantly bombarded with all sorts of stimuli. If we have a spare moment, we often fill it by turning to our smart phones. It has gotten to the point that many of us simply do not know how to […]
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The Key to Getting Student Engagement
There are countless books on the market aimed at teachers. However, some of the best teaching advice comes from books aimed at business professionals, coaches, and even hostage negotiators. In his book, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if your life depended on it, Chris Voss lays out some tools that will perfectly fit in […]
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Great Classroom Displays
As a supply teacher, I get to see a lot of different classrooms. Here are some of the best displays I have come across is the past few weeks. I like the use of colour here. It guides students on how to do a literary analysis. This poster on creativity is great. It reminds us […]
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Getting Classroom Volunteers
“If I just ask for a volunteer, my students sit on their hands and look away. You’ve been there. You can almost feel your back muscles tense as you think, Oh please, don’t call on me. So I don’t ask. Instead, I say, ‘In case you’re worried about volunteering to role-play with me in front […]
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Technology Degrades Student Performance
I think it is a great idea to embrace technology in the classroom. It’s the way the modern world works. Nobody really uses cursive writing to communicate these days. Instead, we type messages, letters, essays, and emails. That’s why using computers is absolutely essential. It is also great to let students read online texts rather […]