Learn how to get organized and set up a weekly lesson planning routine. Find out how Miss DeCarbo streamlined her schedule and maximized her time at school.
Teaching mixed level ESL classes can be quite the challenge, especially speaking classes but it's not impossible. Check out these tips!
Learn how to get organized and set up a weekly lesson planning routine. Find out how Miss DeCarbo streamlined her schedule and maximized her time at school.
My list of top tips and resources for the new TEFL teacher; videos, songs games and advice on how to survive your first TEFL job.
Truth: I used to spend hours and hours lesson planning at home every night. Finally, I told myself, "No more!" I knew in the near future I wanted to start a
Learn from other teacher what to do when students misbehave for a substitute and how to set substitute teacher expectations for students.
Check out the following ESL lesson plans and lesson plan templates to get your teaching on in style! It's English teaching made easy!
Here is a quick and easy play-along for the start of the 2014-2015 school year. The song is "Love Runs Out" performed by the group One Republic. There is much good news with this popular song, not the least of which it is in G dorian mode. Our Orff instruments are all set for this - all you'll need is B-flats and you're good to go! The other good news is the lyrics have no "bad words" so you're safe to use it completely in tact in your classroom. Please be sure to PURCHASE THE SONG before using this play-along. A $1.23 investment isn't much. Once you have it, you can use it as-is, there is no need to alter the key or tempo using a program such as Audacity. This song follows a very simple I, IV, V chord progression, but in case you're not quite clear on the chord changes, I've posted the beginning play-along below. Once you try it out, I'm sure you'll notice where the changes occur throughout the song. Feel free to add or subtract instruments at will. This is a fantastic review for students to see and hear the difference between BEAT and RHYTHM. The hand drum part (or any type of drums will do) clearly plays the steady beat. The other parts are playing a rhythm pattern (some more intricate than others). I did this with my students by having three groups that used the Boomwhacker colors - Green (the G minor chord) Red (the C major chord) Orange (the D minor chord). This was easier for them than having each student play all the chord changes. I placed the three colors on the board and pointed and called out the changes as the recording played. There is a part in the actual recording where the bass line moves from C to B-flat and then to G, but I have only written "the basics" here for you. Have fun!
Discover some tips for using Edulastic for digital assessment! We're sharing some videos by teacher about using redirect, adding multimedia, and more!
Integrate the power of technology into your music class by learning about Chrome Music Lab! This document is a great primer for any teacher looking to use Chrome Music Lab in their classroom - 9 pages of overview, tips and tricks, and lesson ideas for all 14 experiments in Chrome Music Lab. Related Products ⭐ Chrome Music Lab Famous Melody Remix Lesson (Online, Hybrid, or In Person) ⭐ Introduction to Kandinsky - Chrome Music Lab Lesson (Virtual or In Person!) ⭐ Peer Gynt Suite 1 Guided Listening Unit - ELA/SS/Music Cross Curricular! If you like my products, follow my store to see when I post new resources! Remember to review your TpT purchases - you get TpT credits which will get you money off your next order, and creators get valuable feedback so they can make their resources even better!
If you’re noticing signs of teacher burnout in your faculty, head to our blog for some top tips on how to address this issue and provide support for your staff.
Kahoot! uses game-style learning to engage students for more immersive learning
Inside: Strategies for classroom management for substitute teachers
Truth: I used to spend hours and hours lesson planning at home every night. Finally, I told myself, "No more!" I knew in the near future I wanted to start a
Guess what? You may be asked to develop and present a demo lesson plan for your next teaching job interview. As if it isn't nerve-racking enough to prepare answers to job interview questions. The demo lesson plan has become used more and more frequently in teaching interviews across the country. It's best not to ignore or dread the possibility of presenting a demo lesson plan; rather, embrace it as an opportunity to sell your value to the school community. Purpose of a Demonstration Lesson Plan in a Job Interview This additional step in the interviewing selection process helps hire committees
Most of you know what a crazy busy year I have had. I had a baby, bought a fixer-upper to renovate, and my husband got a promotion that requires him to work longer hours. I am always looking for something to help me organize or track information in some way. Well, friends, enter Plickers. I'm a technology addict, so I admittedly love a good bit of ed-tech in my classroom. Sometimes other teachers in my school aren't as interested in things I'm using because the technology is hard to manage. I've got to say, though, this ed-tech is SIMPLE and 100% free. It's a student response system that uses an app on your smartphone and some free printable response cards. Optionally, you can display the question via a projector to a screen or smartboard. To use plickers, you have to enter questions into your library on their website. You can select a "correct" answer or just enter the responses to poll the students. The screenshot above is from my account's "library" where I can assign the questions to my class. Once it is assigned, I can easily access it from the app. Select the class name, and click on the question you would like to ask. The question can be displayed on the projector as the class responds, as well. Whatever question you select from the mobile app will show in the "live view" section of the website when you log in. More on that in a minute. The standard student response cards are the size of half a sheet of paper, but larger ones are available. Each card displays the student number (this card is number 1) and has 4 choices for responses: A, B, C, D. The kiddos select their answer and hold the card with that letter facing up. In the card above, the answer being selected is "B." The letters are itty bitty and in a light font to ensure that kiddos can't copy each others answers, and that kids are not afraid to answer honestly. No one will know if they don't get it correct. To record the responses, you open the app from your phone. Have the kiddos hold up their cards and scan the room with your phone. No need to walk around the room and scan them all up close- if you can see if, it will pick it up within a reasonable distance. In my classroom, which is fairly large, I am fine to stand at my spot and scan the room with the app. Once I start scanning, the student names highlight showing they have responded. If you are showing the liveview on the projector from the website, it shows what students have responded with a checkmark (without confirming their answer or if it was correct). I LOVE this because the kids can be sure that their answer was recorded! You can also optionally have their answers shown on the liveview, but that wasn't something I thought I'd use. The app (screenshot above) also shows me which students have responded by highlighting them. It also shows the student response graph as we are working in real time. If a student responds correctly their name is highlighted in green, but if they respond incorrectly it is highlighted in red. This allows me to wander around the room and ask students to check their answers. It also begins building the student response graph in real time! You can see the breakdown of student responses as they come in. After the students are finished responding, you can view the completed graph in the "reports" section of your online account. This is the graph of the student responses after I asked my kiddos if they liked plickers. I told them to be honest because we could stop using them if they weren't fans. This is just after one use, but so far the plickers are a win! I printed the plickers on cardstock and have the kiddos keep them on their desks while they work. I have had a couple of my more organizationally challenged friends misplace them, and I think I am going to have the kids glue them inside their notebooks. You can't lose them, that way! I've found a few different benefits to using these in my classroom. I often give quick checks to my students to check their progress. I like the immediate feedback that a 2 - 3 question assessment gives at the end of a lesson, or the beginning of the next day. I don't like to use these for grades, necessarily, but I do like to record progress. The plickers help me to see how the kiddos are doing and record their answers quickly without having to grade and record all those papers. LOVE this. I also love the fact that they get the students excited to complete their work. They are itching for the opportunity to use their plickers! They are definitely excited to give their answers. I did find that this was a double edged sword, though. They were rushing and not checking their work to make sure they could answer the questions at the same time as everyone else. To solve this, I started giving worksheets with the "quick check" questions for the kiddos to answer. Once we are all done our work, we pull out the plickers and answer all the questions. I also like to do "polls" among my kiddos to see their thoughts on a topic, assess their feelings about their understandings, and quickly see how they performed on classwork or homework. We used to do "heads down, eyes closed votes" where I have each kiddo raise his or her hand at the appropriate time for how they feel or what their score was. It was kind of hectic copying down all their responses! Now, I can use the plickers and have it recorded for me. Talk about a time saver! Seriously- I don't think I've found a 100% free with no option to pay more for something extra app that has been loved by both me and my kiddos before EVER. You can tell I mean it because I used italics, capital letters, and underlining in that sentence. It's that serious. You can learn more and sign up for a free account on their website.
Here are some organization tips and tricks for your work time and space as teachers. The focus here is on your professional life.
Teaching is a wonderful job. My first ever blog post outlined the 5 top reasons why I love being a teacher. However, there are many things that make amazing teachers hate their job and leave the pr…
Learn why using authentic materials in language teaching is so important and the different types of real-world examples.
If it takes you half an hour to find materials and plan a 1-hour ESL lesson, your hourly wage is actually about 2/3 of what you think it is. If you spend 5 hours a week lesson planning, you're throwing away 5 hours you could have been earning money. I’m going to help yo
Pass them on to your first grade teacher friends!
Here are a few more tips and tricks to help you motivate reluctant learners.
How to plan ESL lessons 300% faster with this easy trick! Download these 3 free teacher to teacher lesson plans.
Practice questions to prepare on for an interview.
Overwhelmed by National Boards? You are not alone! We know it's hard, but you got this! As two National Boards certificated teachers who have also completed the MOC (Maintenance of Certification), we develop resources to help teachers like you. We have also coached many NBC Candidates across all content areas through this process! This double sided one-pager includes the best tips and tricks for Component 2 that we have collected across years of working with this process. It includes common pitfalls that we see many candidates falling into. It also includes suggestions on specific elements to include as you plan lessons and assignments that will help you on the back-end of the component when writing the commentary. Finally there's advice around how to best revise your component, cut it down inside the page limit, and submission reminders. If you are interested in extra support or coaching through your National Boards Journey - we provide an extra service that includes coaching! Whether you want coaching, feedback, or both - we are here for you! Check us out here: National Boards Coaching
Tips and tricks to write a killer BIP! How to define the behavior, analyze FBA, and design interventions. Free printables too! Supports Autism Teachers!
Celebrating Think-Pair-Share, the Little Strategy That Could, and sharing some best practices for making it work for you.
As part of our twilight INSET programme this year I am delivering a CPD session on marking. It’s a great opportunity to bring together lots of ideas from lots of superb bloggers, teachers and…
How to plan ESL lessons 300% faster with this easy trick! Download these 3 free teacher to teacher lesson plans.
Good-bye stress. Hello sanity!
5 questions teachers too often forget to ask themselves while planning that can increase engagement and improve classroom management.
Do you struggle with classroom management? Here are four strategies that you can add to your toolkit that will make it just a little bit more effective.
Click here for tips and advice on how to teach spelling.
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Check out tips, tricks, and resources about technology for teaching English. Learn all you need to know about ESL technology lesson plan.
3rd grade teacher blog- New teacher tips, lesson ideas for K-4, & freebies for elementary teachers, like a customizable lesson plan template!
'Walking into a kindergarten classroom in any language may have most teachers running right back out the door. A kindergarten classroom can be like a circus. The teacher is the ringmaster. The students range from man-eating lions to trapeze artists to clowns. Itâs important to remember that kindergarten students do not understand they are meant to be learning great truths and skills that will set them up for the rest of their life. They want to play, love, be loved, and enjoy every aspect of life to the fullest, even when they are sitting in the classroom. Even the physical excitement that ki'
Uses easy-to-understand diagrams and examples to remind students of the rules for operations involving integers. Print off as a notes page or blow up to A3 size for a poster in the classroom.
Untangle Great Expectations by Charles Dickens with engaging student activities that address plot, characters, themes & more at ❰StoryboardThat❱ ✩!
Check out the best body parts ESL games and activities, along with worksheets, lesson plans, human body vocabulary and more.
Make worksheets using programs you probably already have! These 6 steps will get you started creating your own resources today!
Are you looking for a concrete way you can map out your reading/writing/language mini-lessons so that your students can be successful during their independent time? WATCH MY LIVE VIDEO AND DISCOVER HOW I SCAFFOLD LEARNING DURING A 10-15 MINUTE MINI-LESSON. How to Scaffold Learning in a Mini Lesson Check out all my reading and writing
