Teaching Tips # 3 Ideas to Improve Your Lesson

From Good to Outstanding

Simple ideas to improve the lesson

• Create thought provoking starter activities – have it ready as soon as they arrive on the desk/whiteboard – get them to start as latecomers arrive.                                                           

• If you were a ….what would you be and why?
• What do these three things have in common and why?

• Use learning objectives: colour coded to help students realise progression from green to orange to red means difficulty increases.
• Use learning objectives not task based objectives.

o   define/recall/describe/summarise           (green L/O)

o   explain/compare/discuss/compose           (orange L/O)

o   analyse/evaluate/investigate                (red L/O)

• Refer to learning objectives consistently throughout the lesson – not just the beginning and the end.
• Use hinge point questions (questions to test understanding before allowing students to move on to the next learning objective)
• Have clipboard with assessment checklist sheet on the desk to record your observation consistently.
• Make sure your resources are creative and have learning objectives on the board so students know where they are in the lesson.
• Step back from being the expert in the class from time to time and let students show their ability to learn independently. Try to work as a facilitator especially with grades 5-8
• Use different types of activities from lesson to lesson – aim to keep students on their toes each lesson so they do not know what to expect.
• Re-model tasks verbally to help differentiate – you can verbally scaffold tasks for individual students without having to have 8 zillion different worksheets.
• Ensure that you speak to every student in the room at least once during a lesson( ask them a question, praise them, comment on their work).
• If students simply aren't getting the content of your lesson try to re-model and re-shape your learning objectives and lesson.
• Ask probing, open-ended questions – ask them to the students without their hands up- even better- apply a no hands up policy from time to time.
• Be consistent with behaviour rules/discipline with every student in the class.
• Ensure you know where the learners are with their progression (use post it notes).
• Always have an extension task or two ready – students should never run out of work to complete.
• ALWAYS prepare independent class work and HOMEWORK for the covered learning objective(s). From : TES.co.uk

Parent-Teacher Interview-Tips for Teachers

The parent–teacher conference is an opportunity for parents to learn about their children’s progress in school and for teachers to gain insights into their students’ home and community lives. Parent perspectives on student strengths and needs, learning styles, and nonschool learning opportunities can help teachers shape their instructional methods.

• Renew our intentions at the beginning/end of each parent interview: Start with dua and end with dua.
• Take a BALANCED approach: The tone of parent–teacher conferences should be balanced so that all involved understand what the student is doing well and what he or she can improve upon. Use, what I call, the SANDWICH APPROACH: Start with positives (strengths, acknowledging student/parent efforts, etc.) then move towards areas of improvement (weaknesses in the student, challenges the student is facing at school that are impeding his/her learning, etc.) and then end with positives again (mutually agreed future interventions, thanking the parent for their efforts and time, etc.). We all need praise and constructive criticism to grow. All parents are proud of their children and need to hear about their strengths as well as their challenges from you. This helps show parents that you value the unique strengths of their children and have high expectations for their ability to succeed in school and in life.
• The focus and emphasis of all your discussion should be on LEARNING: Teachers should be prepared to discuss the academic progress of their students by using examples of student work and assessments during conferences.
• A two-way conversation. The parent-teacher conference is not only an opportunity for parents to learn from you, but for you to learn from them. Nobody knows your students better than their families. Their insights into their child’s strengths and needs, learning styles, and nonschool learning opportunities can help you improve your instructional methods. Your efforts to better understand their aspirations and perspectives make parents feel respected and build trust with them.
• Prepare thoughts and materials. Create an agenda or list of key issues you want to discuss about each student’s progress and growth. Also consider creating a portfolio of student work to walk through with families during the conferences.
• Seek solutions collaboratively. Avoid judgments about what “they” should do and instead emphasize how “we” can work together to resolve any problems.
• Make an action plan. Spend the last few minutes discussing how you and the family will support the student. Be specific about the kinds of things you will do, for how long you will do them, and how you will check in with one another about progress.
• Establish lines of communication. Describe how you will communicate with families (i.e., through notes home, phone calls, email etc.) and how they can contact you. Schedule a way to follow up on your conference in the next few months.

Reference:

Harvard Family Research Project. (2009). Parent Teacher Conference Tip Sheets for Principals, 
        Teachers, and Parents. President and Fellows of Harvard College: Cambridge, MA.

reading games for kids

Salamoualaykoum dear teachers ,
If you are interested in reading games for kids ,this is a useful  link .The subscription is free. www.kids-reading-games.com/newsletter/wordhunt.htm
For creative interactive activities ,you could try canadianteacher.com and ILoveThatTeachingIdea.com
JAK

links -reading and writing strategies

I would like to share these links about  literacy  strategies . I hope you will find them useful .

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/reading/resource/48646.html

http://iteach4results.wikispaces.com/file/view/Signal+Word+Chart-Rev.pdf

http://iteach4results.wikispaces.com/file/view/Signal+Word+Chart-Rev.pdf

jazakoum allah khayran 

Islam & Bullying

Salamoualaykoum Teachers ,
 I would like to share with you the following link about bullying and Islam . I firmly believe  Islam contains  treasures we could use to beat this community issue.
zamustang@msn.com. 

Islamic Studies Project

 

 

                             

                                      ALLAH THE CREATOR

AlSalamo Alikom dear parents,

Students have to write a poem of minimum 15 lines to show:

• How they love ALLAH (SWT)
• How is ALLAH is the true Creator.
• How we can find ALLAH in everything around us.
• How we are thankful to ALLAH for everything he gave us.
• How ALLAH can be seen in all creatures and the relations between them.
• How to think, learn and remember the great attributes of ALLAH.

They can refer to page A35 in their Textbook.
They have to read the rubric carefully before starting to write the poem
The due date is Monday Nov. 26th.
The expectations of this project according to Bloom Taxonomy are:
Students will be able to: list, describe, explain, interpret, write, show, classify, choose verify, create.

Jazakom Allah Khairan for your cooperation.

Integrating Islam: 5 Steps to Effective Curriculum Integration

Integration is one of those perennial issues that Islamic schools have been grappling with for the last 30 years. In this series, Dr. Nadeem will cover the essential steps that teachers must take to integrate Islam holistically. Please click on the link below to read more and to watch his video:

http://islamicteachereducation.com/integrating-islam/

Teaching Tip # 2/ Formative Assessment

Three Sources of Data (Formative Assessment)

Evidence of Learning is comprised of Observation, Conversation, and Artifacts

OBSERVATION – while observing students engaged in meaningful tasks, look for:

• Are they staying on topic?
• Is re-teaching required?
• Do you often re-direct?
• Can they extend further? Or in a different way?
• Should you provide resources?
• Are they using previous  learned skills? Or personal connections?
• Do they demonstrate understanding?

CONVERSATION – as you talk to students about their learning, listen for:

• Do they use specific content vocabulary?
• Are the students asking relevant questions?
• Can they explain why?
• Expressions/language demonstrates understanding.
• Can they express connections to previous or personal knowledge?
• Are they expressing additional interests or viewpoints about the topic?

ARTIFACTS – as you collect documents or student work, look for:

• Compare to rubrics.
• Did they know and meet criteria?
•  Demonstrate understanding
•  Is re-teaching required? for who? for what?
•  Did they edit/fix up based on feedback?

From Lori Cullen: http://www.cea-ace.ca/users/lori-cullen