Teacher professional development leaves us feeling overwhelmed. Here are the 10 best types of PD teachers would love to see.

This infographic offers 10 tips for designing learner-centered training.

Pin It Now! I remember one of my first experiences with a parent who disagreed—strongly—with something I was doing in my class. I was caught off-guard and was unprepared to have the discussion. After stumbling through an essentially one-sided conversation that reduced me emotionally to the size of a stubby pencil, I was left sorting through shattered feelings. I was offended, angry and embarrassed. My pride was crushed. “Don’t they know that I am doing my best for their child?” I also had to face the devastating reality that I had some very naive assumptions about the way parents interact (or should interact) with teachers. Worst of all, I was overcome with doubt. In the many hours I spent dissecting and analyzing that short conversation, I spent most of my time wondering, “Was that parent right? Am I wrong? I am, after all, only a first -year teacher.” Thanks to the empathy and insights of my colleagues, I came to understand that these kinds of situations are not uncommon. Even with their support, however, the most resounding advice they gave seemed almost unachievable: Get thicker skin. I could accept that there would more confrontations of this nature in my future, but training myself to let it “roll off my back” seemed like trite encouragement masking a huge impossibility. As I have had more of these encounters, I have realized that I need to be careful not to let thicker skin be a substitute for avoiding the need to resolve real issues with students. It’s easy to say, “Oh, that parent has always been like that. Don’t sweat it. Just ignore her.” However, the reality is that behind every difficult parent is a student whom I am responsible for teaching and inspiring every day. I need to make sure that I am doing everything I can to create the best learning environment for him or her—even if Mom or Dad says mean things to me. I never learned about this in my teacher education classes, and I wouldn’t have known to comment on the need for it at the time I completed course evaluations. Instead, dealing with difficult parents has been more on-the-job training than anything else. Here is the most valuable knowledge I’ve gained (sometimes painfully) in pursuit of better relationships with parents: Set an appointment. Whenever possible, do not allow yourself to be ambushed by a parent. This is important for a couple of reasons: It gives you time to gather documentation, review notes, and carefully consider the comments and thoughts you’d like to share with a parent. Also, if you and the parent have time to thoughtfully prepare for a discussion, chances are that a lot of the negative emotions will be taken out of the meeting. More can get accomplished. This also includes a common happenstance when parents pull you aside either at the beginning or end of the day to ask to speak to you about something for “just a minute.” While you want to make yourself available to parents, chances are, the conversation will last more than a minute, and your lack of preparation and focus will result in an ineffective discussion. It’s important to provide the parent with your best information and attention. I’m a people-pleaser so it is difficult for me to deny these seemingly simple requests. Knowing this, I created a policy that goes home with students on the first day that spells out the procedure for meeting with me with an explanation of why I require appointments. Most parents appreciate and follow it. Get prepared. When setting up an appointment with a parent at his or her request, try to get an idea of the topic he or she wishes to discuss with you so you can do some preparation, such as pulling up grades, making copies of work, reviewing notes, etc. You can help to avoid a blindside by asking about the concerns and questions ahead of a scheduled conference. Document everything. Make sure you have a system in place to document your students’ behaviors, actions, and work as well as parent communication. If you think that something could even remotely come back as a question or issue, document it. Make a note. Make a copy. Print e-mails. Keep a telephone log. As an idea, I keep a file folder for each student, and on the inside cover, I document the date, time, and parties involved in all meetings, calls, letters, and e-mail correspondence for quick reference. I then take detailed notes of each meeting and place those in the file as well. Depending on the preference of your principal, share communication with him or her, especially when a parent shares that he or she is taking the matter to the administration. Meet with a third party. Don’t ever meet alone with a difficult parent. If you are dealing with a difficult parent, consider bringing a third party to the meeting. I invited my principal because she has relationships with the parents and can often act as a mediator between parties. I have also asked other teachers who either have the student in class or have witnessed the student’s behavior to attend. I don’t consider that ganging up because it is sometimes apparent that another set of objective ears and eyes is needed to facilitate a productive discussion. Be calm. If a parent begins to show anger or frustration, stay calm. Show compassion by repeating phrases like, “I understand” or “I appreciate your concern.” Parents sometimes want to vent. You are like the customer service representative who must sometimes take the brunt of a frustrated customer—whether you like it or not. Your calm demeanor could help diffuse the emotion on the other side. Be confident. This is where documentation and being prepared pays off. When you have your ducks in a row, you will exude confidence. Remember that your relationship with a parent is a partnership, not of the employee-employer variety. You should be accommodating when necessary, but you are a trained teacher. Your principal, superintendent, and school board entrusted you with a classroom where you are making the most informed choices for your students. Be honest about what you see in the classroom, but do it in a respectful way that shows you care about that student. Be realistic. The truth is that not every parent is going to like you, regardless of how kind, rational, and helpful you are. This is a hard one for the people pleasers of the teaching world. This may be a controversial statement, but I think it’s good if hurtful words and actions of others affect you. It shows that you have a tender heart, which can help you reach students. While it hurts your feelings, you cannot change people. You can influence them, though, so continue to be kind, rational, and helpful. Furthermore, continue to model these traits to your students as well so that they see a good example of handling a difficult interaction. Students need to learn how to be respectful communicators and how to resolve conflict. Be willing to listen (and, if necessary, adjust). A difficult parent may not say it in the most diplomatic way, but he or she may provide you with some food for thought about some of the methods and procedures you have in your class. One of the main things I’ve learned from situations with difficult parents is that I do need to evaluate and adjust certain aspects of my teaching and management so that expectations are clear to everyone. Through these experiences, I have eliminated a lot of gray area in my teaching, classroom management, and evaluation of students. I have learned that it is important to spell out expectations clearly and to be consistent in applying them. Recruit help. Many of my encounters with difficult parents occurred at the end of the day as they were picking up their children. Knowing this, my colleagues would alert me if they knew a parent was headed my way so that I could be prepared to meet him or her at the door. I did this so that students would not witness a confrontation in the classroom. In extreme cases, another teacher or school employee covered my room so that a confrontation was avoided altogether. Knowing how to handle difficult interactions with parents is a skill that every teacher should have, though it most likely won’t be learned from a Teacher Ed textbook. (Hello, experiential learning!) Take heart in knowing that all teachers experience difficult parents to one degree or another so it will happen to you. With the right attitude and perspective, though, you will become a better teacher because of them, and better teachers beget better students. **This blog post is taken from my TpT freebie "Dealing with Difficult Parents: Unexpected On-the-Job Training That I Never Learned in Teacher Ed." Download it here! What has worked for you when dealing with difficult parents? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

20 learning theorists you must know

It's time for some truth telling.

Teaching English as a foreign language is a challenging yet rewarding career. To avoid some challenges, here are 10 common problems teachers face in the classroom and possible solutions.

After spending a week at my alma mater at Penn State Altoona, my heart is full after getting to spend an entire week sharing my story as a teacher turned entrepreneur with student teachers l…

What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.

Today we are sharing 7 bad habits that may be making you an ineffective teacher. Reflect on this list to see if you have fallen into any of these habits and consider what changes you can make to improve your teaching and classroom culture.

Do you know the 20 things every teacher should do? See the list here to learn what actions all teachers need to take to improve themselves and their class.

You finished your O-G training, now what? Well you'll need help organizing teacher materials. Check out this post for tips to get organized!

If we want language to come OUT of our students’ mouths, we must get language IN to their heads. They need INput so that they can produce OUTput. » Input is reading and listening » Output is speaking and writing This is common sense. A learner cannot utter an expression in a new language if…

I had the opportunity this week to observe a truly gifted teacher. She was teaching a lesson to kindergarten students, many of whom she had never met. And they were mesmerized. They were engaged and eager to follow her every direction. But what made ... Read more

Why a former public school teacher decided to trade traditional education methods for an unconventional style of homeschooling when teaching her own kids: unschooling.

Every teacher has felt the frustration of a student who shouts out in the middle of class, disrupting your lesson, getting students off task, and driving you bananas. Here are 15 effective strategies to help you control those students, and a free reflective worksheet that will help that student stop blurting out.

Dread planning meetings that are crucial to your success? We outline the qualities of a good facilitator for a great strategy planning meeting group facilitator

Corporate trainer free resources, tips & advice. Also, training for trainer courses and off-the-shelf teaching materials for sale.

After suffering teacher burnout, many start looking for a career change for teachers. Learn about other jobs for teachers and how you can transition!

This cooperative learning strategy takes the idea of "working in pairs" up a notch.

Work Smarter, Not Harder {10 Tips for Teachers} 10 comments Just for Teachers, Popular Posts, teacher motivation, Teacher Productivity, teacher self-care, teaching, Tips and Tricks Sometimes people ask me how I get it all done. When they ask this, they are referring to the work that has to be done outside of the actual act of teaching. The planning, the grading, the prep, and so forth. The truth is, I make it look easy because I've learned to work smarter, not harder. Once upon I time, I had a different career. I had many different tasks to accomplish each day. I had daily deadlines to adhere to and people counted on me to be knowledgeable, punctual, thorough, and prepared. The demands of this job required that I work smarter, not harder. Many of the work habits I adopted back then followed me into my teaching career, and along the way, I've added some strategies to my repertoire that are specific to teaching. While I'm no expert in efficiency and work productivity, I hope that the tips that follow help you to make better use of your time as a teacher. Make a list. Every day. Identify what needs to be done and write it down. Then, prioritize it. It doesn't matter what you use to write your list on. Like sticky notes? Great! Prefer a pretty note pad? Super! Don't give two hoots and prefer to use scratch paper or whatever is lying around? Fabulous. Just write it all down! I like to write my tasks down at the end of each day. This way, I know exactly what I need to do when I get to school in the morning. I try to write my tasks in the order they need to be accomplished, but I have also been known to write them down and then number them to the side. This is just my way of making sure I tackle the most important tasks first. And, I'm flexible about my tasks. Anything I don't get to one day (because it was low priority) gets bumped to the next day and prioritized with the next day's tasks. Get it done. Once you've identified the tasks you need to accomplish, and you've prioritized them, do them. Get to work. Quit dilly dallying. Put your phone down, stop chit chatting with your neighbor and get to work. Confession: this can be hard, but you'll have time to stalk your phone and chit chat if you get your work done first. Think of it this way, if you don't get your work done you run the risk of being unprepared, stressed out, and ineffective as a teacher. And our job is too important to chance that! Force yourself to focus and get things done as quickly as possible. If this is super hard for you and you need some external motivation then reward yourself each day/week that you get stuff done. Before you know it, it will become a natural work habit. Establish a daily work routine. Yes, there will be interruptions and disruptions, but you can still create a framework for what your work time will look like each day. Decide which tasks you will attend to each morning before school starts and each afternoon when the students are gone. Write down your thought bombs. You're a teacher, you probably have 25 random thought bombs a day....when you aren't at school. Sometimes I get random ideas or remember small things that need to be done when I'm not at school. To help me remember these things, I carry a small notepad in my purse. And I keep one on my nightstand as well. Sometimes, I email myself from my phone! This way, I can easily record those little reminders and ideas as they come to me and I won't have to waste time trying to remember my thoughts and ideas when I'm back at school the following day. Establish an email schedule. What I mean by that is, pick a time of day that you will read your emails. I tend to read mine first thing in the morning. We don't have a "desk job" so checking email periodically throughout the day is not always practical (or smart). Maybe you opt to check it first thing and immediately after school. Great! The point is, create a routine that works for you and your situation. I also have a policy of responding to emails within 24 hours. Keep in mind that you don't need to respond to every email you get. So many of the emails we get as teachers are FYI type emails. Don't bother with responding to those. Finally, I also have a policy of never checking my email from home. You never know what's lurking in that inbox, so I err on the side of caution and refuse to even log into my email from home. Work emails get read when I'm at work. End of story. Collaborate. Whether it's with a like minded individual or your grade level, collaboration can make your job so much easier. Keep in mind that collaboration isn't dolling out or splitting up responsibilities. It's discussing and evaluating the material you plan to/are expected to teach your students. The point of collaboration is to help you perfect your craft and effectiveness as a teacher. So, make sure you confer with people who will help you achieve this. Set limits. Leave your work at school. Teaching is demanding. It demands your energy, focus, and your time. Time is the biggie. And let's be honest, there isn't that much time in the day. How do some teachers cope with this? They take their work home. Even I have fallen victim to this, but in the past several years, I have set limits on what/when I take work home. See, I'm not just a teacher. I'm also a mom, and a wife, and human being with interests outside of my job. When I'm at work, that is my priority and when I'm at home that is my priority. It has to be. Now, as I said, there are times when I bring work home, such as when I am *seriously* behind on grading (it happens, friends) or need to work on report cards. This is something I need to do free of distractions (and on a computer that works more efficiently than my ancient desktop at school). I can bust out more report cards at home, once my little one has gone to bed, than I ever could at work. Other than that, my work pretty much stays at school. It all boils down to prioritizing your workload at school and sticking to a routine. When you find what works for you, you won't feel the need to regularly bring work home and when you do bring it home on occasion, you won't feel as guilty. Grade like a boss. Say what? What I mean by that is, know what you're going to grade. Mark it in your lesson plans, or put a sticky note on those materials to remind you so that when you give that assignment you know you're planning to use it for a grade. Then, set aside a day or two each week to enter grades. This way, you are able to enter them without spending huge chunks of time doing so (and parents knocking on your door pestering you as to why you haven't entered grades in the past month). Remember, you don't have to grade everything. If you've completed an assignment together in class, don't even collect it from students. Send it home! If you want to look over class work (and you probably should), you could spot check certain assignments, depending upon what it is. Or, you could go over it in class so your students are able to see how they did right there on the spot, saving you time in the long run. Take a break. Or two. During the school day. No, I'm not suggesting you run out into the hall and hide from your students, but just like your students, you need a brain break here and there too! Last year, our second graders endured an extremely long afternoon in the classroom. Most of that three hour chunk of time was core curriculum. It was a challenge for all of us, but thank goodness for brain breaks! On most days it was obvious that the kids needed a break, and some days, so did I. Go Noodle to the rescue! After our brain breaks, we were ready to refocus. The brain clutter was gone and the students were able to move onto the next set of learning tasks with a fresh mind. More importantly, I was able to tackle the next lesson with a fresh, decluttered state of mind. NOTE: While Go Noodle is a super easy way to facilitate brain breaks, I know that some people have extremely hard core firewalls and can't access this site. No worries. Play a game of Simon Says, or lead your students in some stretching exercises. You could even line up your class and walk a few laps around the school. If anyone asks, tell them you're practicing your hallway procedures. ;) The point is, it's OK to take a break, it's natural! Doctors, police officers, and everyone in between take them. And, it's a well known fact that breaks refuel and recharge the the body and mind, and teachers shouldn't think that breaks are off limits. You're the professional, use your judgement to facilitate breaks as needed in your classroom because you will all benefit in the long run. Make time for you. Find time in your day to focus on YOU! Focus on something other than teaching. Yes, we love what we do, and yes, we are passionate about it, but it isn't healthy to focus on teaching all.of.the.time. Read a book, find a hobby, get your nails done, binge watch Netflix. Whatever! Just make sure you carve some time out for you to focus on other things. Otherwise, you fail to take care of yourself and run the risk of burnout and/or unnecessary stress. Plus, you're worth it. ;) Read more about Teacher Self-Care HERE. Do you have any favorite "work smarter, not harder" tips to share? Comment below! DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:

What reading strategies do students need to know? Find out here and keep track with a free chart!

Recently, I had a chance to visit a classroom management training for new teachers. The trainer was an expert in a program that has gained popularity in recent years. I won’t mention the program by name, but at its core, it’s a token economy, ... Read more

My daughter has dyslexia. It took years for us to figure out why she struggled so much in reading and writing. It was so painful to watch her self-esteem deteriorate. This was especially disheartening to me since I was her teacher. In the last couple of years I have learned so much about students with

Thanks to Twitter (#pypchat) and my COETAIL course (#coetail) I came across this graphic from fellow Coetailer, Reid Wilson. I love it. I think it embodies everything I believe in when it comes to …

Are you a tutor looking to make the most of your time with students? Struggling to keep their attention and make sure they are retaining the information you are teaching them? Look no further! In this blog post, we will go over how to structure a 30 minute tutoring session in a way that is engaging,

Enjoying activites outside of work is great for self care. If you need a little inspo, read on for 23 calming hobbies to restore your energy!

I have 50 ChatGPT prompts for teachers you can use to save time this school year and make the most of this free tool.

Teachers, if you ever feel like a failure in your personal and school life, read this for practical strategies and tips to overcoming those feelings.

These are 8 simple tips for beginning substitute teachers and even those who are seasoned guest teachers. Make your day easier with these tips!

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Firstly, there is no single, commonly agreed definition of the term ‘critical thinking’.

This page shares information I wish every National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) candidate knew about the entry 4 (documented accomplishments) portfolio instructions, based on the information I learned as a candidate, mentor, and especially as an assessor for entry 4 one summer. I was trained by NBPTS to analyze this entry and have … Continued

Every English language arts teacher needs a variety of successful, student led discussion strategies that will provide opportunities for student learning.

Sono passati 150 anni dalla nascita di Maria Montessori, la neuropsichiatra infantile ideatrice di uno dei sistemi educativi più efficaci.

| The 21st Century

There is a secret to great teaching very few teachers are aware of. Yet, it's so powerful that it can result in massive student growth and improvement.

Resources - Do you or your child need tutoring services you can trust? Contact Tutor Doctor today. We believe better learning can lead to a better life.

Most of these Bloom's taxonomy poster examples are concept maps with a design that signifies extended function, detail, or features.

In a new book, an American teacher in Finland collects the best teaching practices of the world's most lauded school system.

You aren't making these teacher mistakes in your special education class, are you? Here's 6 mistakes teachers and paras in SpEd make PLUS 5 easy fixes too!

So, what are the differences between SDI and differentiation, and what do they mean for special education students?