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Advantages and Disadvantages of Charter Schools

Charter schools are increasing in popularity. New schools are springing up everywhere. Parents are choosing these types of schools over the traditional public schools. Some parents believe that because of the school’s smaller size their children will receive a better education.

Parents who are considering enrolling their child in a Charter school have to look at both the advantages and disadvantages. Below you will find some of the pros and cons associated with this type of school.

Advantages

Charter schools have higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools. They must adhere to rules that are outlined in thier charter contract. If the school fails to meet the guidelines it will be penalized.

Charter schools don’t have to go through all of the bureaucracy that traditional schools do. They have fewer restrictions, which gives them more freedom when it comes to teaching methods and practices.

The academic achievements and performance of students enrolled in Charter schools tend to be higher. Reports and research show that these schools have positive trends when it comes to academic achievements.

Disadvantages

Charter Schools seem to have a higher turn over rate of teachers than traditional public schools. Teachers who work in a charter school usually have more responsibilities, which usually results in longer hours. Over time this takes a toll on some teachers and they quit to return to teaching in traditional public schools.

It is also difficult to find charter school principals or leaders that are equipped to handle the job requirements. Some are less prepared to handle the huge responsibilities of running this type of institution. A lot of them will become overwhelmed and return to positions in traditional public schools.

All learning institutions have their advantages and disadvantages. That is why it is important to look at both sides so an informative decision can be made regarding the education of a child.

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Which Teaching Method Does Your Child Like? A Very Important Question

Have you ever tried to identify the teaching method that your child responds to best? Are you of the opinion that analysis of various teaching methods is something that teachers should worry about? Well, every classroom, even the best, will never have just one student.

When a teacher is giving instructions to numerous students at once, there always is a possibility that the one size fits all approach may not work for some. If a majority of the students are comfortable with a professional lecture, then your child to will have to get used to the method irrespective of whether he or she likes it or not. If you do not know which teaching method your child prefers, you obviously will not be the position to help him or her study better.

Contact the teacher and seek his or her advice. Teachers may be required to handle multiple students at once but they certainly are in a position to grasp which student is doing well and which student is not. If the teacher is not pleased with your child’s performance during lectures, you may consider going in for an alternative method.

Some are very comfortable when an expert teaches them. Others prefer being given a firm base and freedom to explore the topic on their own. Others enjoy learning only when it seems cool and different.

Rather than criticizing your child for not being good at adapting to specific teaching methods, you should try to encourage him or her to find the right balance. By focusing on teaching methods, you would be shifting emphasis on the educational system.

The fact that there is at least one person who admits that the system may be flawed will help your child work harder. It will act as a positive encouragement and may make all the difference in the long run.

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Brainstorming – Make Sure Students Assimilate The Ideas Developed In The Session

It is important to assess teaching methods at regular intervals. You may have been very comfortable with brainstorming as a teaching method when you were student and may have continued with the same approach in your teaching life. The biggest a problem with brainstorming is that level of progress made is never certain even when each and every person in the class participates in the activity.

You can never be sure whether the student has participated in the session simply because it was a fun alternative to boring lectures or whether the student was really interested in learning. If the student is not focusing on the topic, chances of important points slipping out of mind are always present.

The session works far too rapidly for running notes to be taken. It is advisable to encourage students to prepare reports on the session to summarize the ideas. However, it will be difficult for a single student to sum up all the ideas. Hence, a group brainstorming session followed by a group report writing session makes sense. You can divide the students in different groups and encourage them to come up with a summary of ideas discussed during the brainstorming session.

It is important to make it clear that the groups are not supposed to have another brainstorming session. The original session must be summarized and students should not waste time on further pointless discussions.

You should also conduct tests at frequent intervals to make sure that students are in a position to replicate ideas discussed in the brainstorming session on paper. Lectures and notes are popular despite being boring because it helps students pass exams. Students who are happy with brainstorming sessions may turn against you if they are not getting good grades in exams. Ensure teaching method you choose covers functional as well as practical aspects of education.

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Teaching Methods Experiments– Some Useful Tips To Retain Student Confidence

It is one thing to experiment with teaching methods to keep your students interested. However, it is a completely different thing to include experimentation in your teaching schedule so often that your students end up feeling confused.

When you are experimenting with teaching methods, try to avoid changes within a specified topic or subject in the curriculum. If you have begun a set of instructions using one method, try to continue and finish it off in the same method. Some teachers tend to change the method not because the students are uncomfortable but because they underestimated the level of preparation required.

Brainstorming sessions may seem very cool but can take a lot of time with very little progress to show. Students may take a lot of time in the initial phase and make quickly grasp the finer points once they get firm control over the basic points. Hence, patience is important when you are using a slightly different teaching method.

If you are going in for experiments, you should be prepared to repeat the instructions using the old strategy or method to ensure your students do not get confused. Stability in instructions and a sense of control is very important for students to feel confident. Most youngsters tend to work on confidence. Once they feel that a particular topic is very difficult, they stop concentrating and this only leads to further complications.

If you want to simplify the process of experimentation, you can get in touch with other teachers on the internet and find out their experience regarding specific topics taught through specific teaching strategies.

If you get negative feedback from bulk of your online contacts, you may consider going in for a slightly safer but more effective option. The worst part is that you cannot fail in your experiments in front of students as they may lose confidence in your teaching abilities.

Filed Under: Education, Teachers Tagged With: , ,

Making Videos To Make Teaching Fun And Interesting – Here Are Some Tips

Learning from educational videos will not be a difficult task for a teenager who checks out more than a dozen You Tube videos on a daily basis. Social networking, video sharing and other such websites involve a lot of video exchanges. Hence, you can get your try experimenting with video teaching methods to get your message across to students. What factors should you consider when you are making videos to facilitate better teaching?

Never make the mistake of trying to replace your instructions with that of the video. At the end of the day, you are the teacher and the video is merely going to provide assistance. Try to use aids and tools in your video which you cannot use in the classroom in real life.

From online resources to your own homemade examples – you can rely on various teaching aids as long as it helps you send the message across. Keep your video interesting and witty. You need not tell jokes to make your student comfortable but you certainly should try to connect with them differently.

You may feel uncomfortable when talking to a machine instead of your students when you are preparing the video. Just try to visualize yourself standing in front of your classroom and that should help you get the flow. Do not try to get it right at first. Try to anticipate questions that your students would ask and provide answers as a part of your video. This will help you connect with your students better.

Tell your students that it is perfectly acceptable to be dissatisfied with the experiment. Do not be unnecessary defensive about your attempt to change the teaching method. The students should feel comfortable enough to tell you about the flaws in the video. The last thing you want is for your teaching methods to be criticized by parents simply because students were not brave enough to talk in front of you.

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Great Online Resources for Teachers

Those who teach are well aware that it requires not only subject expertise, effective disciplinary techniques, high energy, and a mastery of public speaking, but also creativity in planning lessons. Trying to figure out how to get kids engaged with material can be a daily challenge and it’s no wonder that teachers spend the majority of their time outside of teaching working on the next day’s lesson. The teacher manuals that accompany textbooks often present material in the same ways day in and day out. Also, several teachers work with textbooks and teacher manuals that have been assigned by the administration. How can teacher’s pump life into their lesson plans while teaching something that’s relevant and gives kids a fun hands-on activities that keep their heads from hitting the desks? There are a few websites that are essential for any general studies teacher with a lesson to plan. These sites are education arms of major, respected learning-focused companies and provide innovative and refreshing games and ideas that can transform a dull classroom into a laboratory of fun.

discoveryeducation.com/teachers

This site is a division of the Discovery Channel, which is forefront in groundbreaking documentaries and funding scientific expeditions and research. Lesson plans are available from kindergarten to 12th grade and include subjects: math, language arts, science, technology, and social studies.

education.nationalgeographic.com/education

National Geographic’s teacher resource center provides invaluable resources for teachers. Maps, photography, lesson plans, and online interactive projects and programs. National Geographic also publishes classroom magazines that provide science-related articles and lesson plans.

pbs.org/teachers

The education site from the Public Broadcasting System. Has lesson plans for subjects health and fitness, science and tech, language arts, social studies, math, and the arts. Also provides a section on professional development for teachers. Teachers can direct younger students to pbskids.org for educational games and video content.

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Tips for Applying for Teach for America

Teach for America allows recent college graduates to gain experience teaching in underserved areas of the country. It is often described as a life-changing experience and a wonderful addition to the education system.  As a result, the application process is competitive and will require careful planning.  Here are some tips for applying for Teach for America.

  1. Do your research
    Teach for America is definitely very interested in how you fit in with their mission and values.  Make sure to research the organization, along with the qualities they look for in applicants, which include leadership, perseverance, critical thinking, organization, respect, empathy, and belief in the mission.
  2. Apply early
    Applying early will not only increase your chances of getting into the program, as Teach for America conducts admissions on a rolling basis, but it will also make planning your life much easier in the following months.  You will almost definitely be asked to relocate to another area of the country, so it’s nice to have a little extra wiggle room when planning your move–applying early means you will find out where you’re going earlier in the year.
  3. Take advantage of career services advising
    Visit career services or your undergraduate advisor.  Both will be able to revise your essays, conduct mock interviews, and prepare you for the application process.  They have experience working with many other students who have applied and gotten into the program.
  4. Practice, practice, practice
    Especially for the final round interview, it is vital to practice!  You will need to prepare a teaching demonstration as well as refine your answers to common interview questions.  Career advisors will be able to give feedback and help you realize what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Teach for America is a wonderful opportunity to change the face of the US education system and gain great teaching experience in the process.  Hopefully this advice will help you if you decide to apply.

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Teaching Methods: Panel of Experts

Using a Panel of Experts as a teaching method helps keep the attention of the students, and offers different opinions and perspectives, this promotes good healthy discussion. This method of teaching can be applied to many different topics of study. In a political science class for example, a panel of experts could include an attorney, a judge, a congressman, a senator, and a citizen. When given the topic of Constitutional law, they could each provide different perspectives and input simply because of their personal experience in the community.

The best Expert Panels create discussion afterwards and allow for a question and answer session. This allows the students to question each panel member on their positions and why they have them.  It encourages critical thinking and the application of their logic.

Another application of the panel of experts teaching method is to have the expert panel positions filled by students that are role playing the positions.  This requires preparation ahead of time so that the students can study about the issue and the position that they want to take based upon the teachers assignments given out ahead of time. In this situation, the students become the teachers, because they have prepared to be the experts.  The rest of the classmates that are not on the panel can assume the position of news reporters and other media personnel and can fire questions at the panel members to make sure that there is a quality learning experience. This also is very helpful because it helps the students feel like they take ownership in the discussion and panel of experts, so they retain the information better, and are more intently involved.

Applying the teaching method of a panel of experts is a great way to involve students in the discussion as well as bring in experts within the field of the topic being discussed to enrich the educational experience of the students.

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Teaching Methods: Direct Teaching

Direct teaching is a great method for when there is one right answer, or is relatively simple. The teacher has control over the classroom, manages the topics, and the time allotted for each section of the curriculum being presented.  Generally, there is a lecture and then the teacher guides the students through a problem, breaking it down in smaller simple steps, working through them with the students until at the end, the students are given their own problems to work through.  Usually, this is a teaching method that mathematicians use, but it can be applied in many different ways.

Many teachers find that they can more effectively monitor their students physically.  They are generally sitting in their seats, and not wandering around the room.  It is easy to see if they are listening attentively or simply not listening at all.

It is important to keep some things in mind when using this teaching method:

•    Plan your lessons with specific amounts of time allotted for each section and make sure that your students are aware of your agenda so that they can plan for the direction that you are going to take, as well as the time that they are allowed to focus on it.

•    Make sure to use visuals and other forms of enhancement to your lessons.  There are many students that are visual learners rather then just auditory, so it is important to think about the different learning styles your students have.

•    Be sure to involve the students by asking them questions, and as they answer, use their response as part of the lesson so that the entire class becomes involved and feel like they are adding to the lesson.

•    Summarize what you have taught at the end of the lesson, highlighting the important aspects during a review at the end to help the important points to be retained by your students.

When there is a simple answer, or only one correct one, Direct Teaching is a great teaching method to help your students retain what you have taught them.

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Tips for First Time Math Teachers

One of the most feared subjects that is in school is math, and that is why a lot of kids don’t like math class and math teachers. But if you are a math teacher there are a couple of things that you can do to make math class more enjoyable for your students. Here are some tips to use for your math classes.

* Don’t frown when you are given a wrong answer, because it just discourages the students even more. If they honestly tried, that is something that is more important.
* Before you start the school, take a day or two to go over your expectations and the class rules. Otherwise you aren’t going to have much control in the classroom and no one will learn anything.
* Don’t talk over the students. If the classroom is too noisy, stop talking. They are going to get the idea and you can continue with the lesson.
* Give your students some variety from time to time. Learning doesn’t have to be something that is always boring. Why not do a day where you have some kind of game to help people learn their math? As long as they are still learning and practicing what they learn, it can be effective. It can be even more so because they are not being lectured to.
* Encourage participation. You can call your students to solve a problem at the board or break up into groups. Lecturing to them all the time just makes them turn you out.

These are a few of the things that you can use to make people be more interested in math. Math doesn’t have to be boring and using these techniques will help you encourage participation and make your classes a lot more fun for your students. Math doesn’t have to be a subject that students hate anymore.

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