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Mentor Teachers Chatboard

The Lasting Impact of Instructional Coaching

by Teachers.Net Gazette

Dec 4, 2012

Coaching is not the same as mentoring.

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Are Teachers Listening? Hearing?

by Teachers.Net Gazette

Dec 5, 2012

“Can you hear me now,” is a commercial for mobile telephone service that became popular in daily discussions. I think every student should wear a message button posing that question for teachers. [click below to read more.]

[link removed]]

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New Teacher Wannabe: English lesson planning

by km

Dec 8, 2012

Mentor Teachers,

I feel like I can't teach, because I've never had success, and sometimes my lesson plans are unrealistic, cover too much material, assume students know what they don't, don't go into enough detail, make connections that are not apparent, or are just plain uninteresting due to lack of interactive activities. Unfortunately,...See More

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Sara On 12/08/12, km wrote: > Mentor Teachers, Taking a subject and teaching a subject are different. Who was the best Lit/LanguageArts/English teacher you had? Why not try to model your teaching on that teacher's teaching?

There's no short answer to the long question you ask but my other suggestion would be- observe in other teachers' rooms...See MoreOn 12/08/12, km wrote: > Mentor Teachers, Taking a subject and teaching a subject are different. Who was the best Lit/LanguageArts/English teacher you had? Why not try to model your teaching on that teacher's teaching?

There's no short answer to the long question you ask but my other suggestion would be- observe in other teachers' rooms. How are you with people? How are you with the kids? Are your kid skills basically good and you just have bad material?

To your great credit is that you're trying to puzzle this through - I've seen some teachers whose lessons and classes were Boring or Bad and never in their many years of teaching did they to improve or even care that their lessons and classes were Bad or Boring.

You seem to want to get it right. Worksheets abound on the Internet - many are free and some cost a minimal amount. Punch in 'worksheets' on google and watch what comes up but it's first for me to hear that what a teacher thinks they need are more worksheets... Worksheets have lost favor with modern teaching but I still use them to a certain extent. Doesn't your school have any established curriculum for you? No teacher's guide??

My school provides me with a textbook - I don't use it because I don't like it but it would make a convenient curriculum guide if I did use it. You cannot read from the book but you found that out already. In a pinch you can have them read from the book and center your class on a discussion of what was read but you can only do that sometimes - it Won't Work everytime.

English is hard to teach - it's a hodge-podge of reading and writing. Do a grammar day once a week, not more. Do a poetry week where they read some poetry and write their own. But I can't in a single post plan out a year's worth of curriculum for you. Or - go to Amazon and buy a 'teacher's guide to teaching English/Language Art and follow it? It won't be great but it would be something to help you along.

But why not try for a teachers' assistant job or a teacher's aide? That would help you build your teaching skills. > > > This is really frustrating to me. I was great in English / > Language Arts in college, but I've found total confusion > when trying to teach it.

Dec 9, 2012

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New Teacher Wannabe: Classroom Management

by km

Dec 8, 2012

Mentor Teachers,

Sorry, but another aspect of teaching with which I struggle is classroom management. During student teaching, my cooperating teacher didn't even require me to learn the students' names, and they acted up every time he was out of the room, even if it was just for a short time. Now, as a substitute teacher, I have even more...See More

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Sara On 12/08/12, km wrote: > Mentor Teachers,

Candy does not work and it worries me that you would think for a moment it would - children and teenagers are not lab rats to go through a maze for a piece of cheese.

Good lessons go a long way toward helping with classroom management as your other post seemed to know - if you bore kid...See MoreOn 12/08/12, km wrote: > Mentor Teachers,

Candy does not work and it worries me that you would think for a moment it would - children and teenagers are not lab rats to go through a maze for a piece of cheese.

Good lessons go a long way toward helping with classroom management as your other post seemed to know - if you bore kids, you invite problems from kids. And subbing - wow - that's very difficult classroom management.

There's no chain - every teacher has to find what works for them. As a sub, you don't need to worry about what lesson to teach - you've been given one. Follow it with a manner of being briskly pleasant, ignore minor disruptions and don't take anything personally. Kids will test a sub and it just goes with the territory.

Don't go in with a chip on your shoulder, don't expect them to bow deeply to you or kowtow. See yourself as there to keep everyone safe and don't see yourself as a sacred authority figure - to the kids, you're a stranger and we teach children these days to distrust strangers.

Stick to the lesson plan you were given and always have that lesson plan in your hand. Refer often to their teacher "Now mrs.Smith wants you to get this done today. "

Nothing 'really works' - subbing and teaching both are working with people and people aren't robots to be turned off and on when convenient. Good luck.

> > Sorry, but another aspect of teaching with which I struggle > is classroom management. During student teaching, my > cooperating teacher didn't even require me to learn the > students' names, and they acted up every time he was out of > the room, even if it was just for a short time. Now, as a > substitute teacher, I have even more difficult classroom > management situations. I sometimes try a token economy > where candy or small prizes are given out to students who > follow the proper procedures, but, sometimes, it's still a > disaster despite my best efforts. I know there is chain > regular teachers need to follow, but, in your experience, > what really works? Please give me specific details. What > kinds of strategies and procedures do you use? I currently > deal mostly with high school and middle school as a short- > term substitute teacher.

Dec 9, 2012

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km Could you explain to me step-by-step what you do each day to manage your class? What kinds of activities do you use and what kind of technology? How do you deal with rowdy students or deal with classroom disruptions? How do you handle discipline problems after already warning a student about his / her behavior once or twice? I think I need some per...See MoreCould you explain to me step-by-step what you do each day to manage your class? What kinds of activities do you use and what kind of technology? How do you deal with rowdy students or deal with classroom disruptions? How do you handle discipline problems after already warning a student about his / her behavior once or twice? I think I need some perspective. I've observed other successful teachers, but, like you, they can't tell me why they are successful; some attribute it to age and experience; others attribute it to good organization and use of technology. I'm willing to try whatever might work, and I think anything would help.

On 12/09/12, Sara wrote: > On 12/08/12, km wrote: >> Mentor Teachers, > > Candy does not work and it worries me that you would think for > a moment it would - children and teenagers are not lab rats to > go through a maze for a piece of cheese. > > Good lessons go a long way toward helping with classroom > management as your other post seemed to know - if you bore > kids, you invite problems from kids. And subbing - wow - > that's very difficult classroom management. > > There's no chain - every teacher has to find what works for > them. As a sub, you don't need to worry about what lesson to > teach - you've been given one. Follow it with a manner of > being briskly pleasant, ignore minor disruptions and don't > take anything personally. Kids will test a sub and it just > goes with the territory. > > Don't go in with a chip on your shoulder, don't expect them to > bow deeply to you or kowtow. See yourself as there to keep > everyone safe and don't see yourself as a sacred authority > figure - to the kids, you're a stranger and we teach children > these days to distrust strangers. > > Stick to the lesson plan you were given and always have that > lesson plan in your hand. Refer often to their teacher "Now > mrs.Smith wants you to get this done today. " > > Nothing 'really works' - subbing and teaching both are working > with people and people aren't robots to be turned off and on > when convenient. > Good luck. > > >> >> Sorry, but another aspect of teaching with which I struggle >> is classroom management. During student teaching, my >> cooperating teacher didn't even require me to learn the >> students' names, and they acted up every time he was out of >> the room, even if it was just for a short time. Now, as a >> substitute teacher, I have even more difficult classroom >> management situations. I sometimes try a token economy >> where candy or small prizes are given out to students who >> follow the proper procedures, but, sometimes, it's still a >> disaster despite my best efforts. I know there is chain >> regular teachers need to follow, but, in your experience, >> what really works? Please give me specific details. What >> kinds of strategies and procedures do you use? I currently >> deal mostly with high school and middle school as a short- >> term substitute teacher.

Dec 11, 2012

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