FYI #12- Teacher Appreciation Week! The Best PD I ever had --- A Writing Video ---- Resource Round-Up

 from Hallmark: 

• People in the United States started celebrating National Teacher Day in 1953 when Eleanor Roosevelt persuaded Congress to set aside a day to recognize educators
• In the United States, 3.7 million people work as elementary and secondary teachers in public schools. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2012)
• About 45% of teachers leave the profession in their first five years. (Source: National Education Association)
• About 40% of people entering the profession in the United States are coming from other careers. (Source: National Education Association)
• UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared October 5 as World Teachers’ Day in 1994.

The Best Professional Development I Have Ever Had 

Around the Holiday I covered three classes for teaching staff with the idea that staff could either allow me to bring in a lesson of my own or leave one for me to implement. Luckily for me I was given both options and worked in some very different classrooms. Here is a short summary of the Best Professional Development I have ever had as an Administrator:

I have taken over 30 classes the past five years, attended countless workshops, and read hundreds of articles. However, nothing has given me as much insight and appreciation to the teaching profession as going back to actually "teaching".

This will certainly be something I  plan on doing for years to come and will suggest to my colleagues that it is beneficial for all Administrators. There is no substitute to understanding the importance of teaching children until you are in front of them for 58 minutes straight.

Some quick observations:

• Kids love to talk to you. Its a great part of the job but many of them would just like to do it all class. Its tough to reel them back in once you get going. 
• I almost forgot how many times you need to explain to them what to do.  How much constant prodding and redirection some students need.
• ELL students are just like any other kids. They want to show us how smart they really are. I  enjoyed learning some new words in both Spanish and  Portuguese. 
• 58 minutes is a long time to keep kids on task and attentive every minute. Not everyone can do it. 
• We have some amazing and extremely likable kids in this school. Kids that are willing to help you and  others and genuinely enjoy doing it. Why can't they all be like that?
• Many of our kids have a tough time writing. Writing a good solid paragraph takes a long time for many students. 
• We have some funny kids. Great personalities. 
• Teaching is a really, really hard profession. I needed to be in those classrooms to remember just how important and how difficult a job it can be at times. 

The Teaching Resource Round-Up 

The link below is a one stop shopping area for a  variety of topics: classroom management, lesson planning, dealing with parents, building relationships with students. If you enjoy reading articles on how to better your teaching this is a great collection of short and to the point articles:

Teaching Resources Round-Up


Small Group Writing Video 

This is a great 4 minute video from the Teaching Channel on how to exactly go about a small group writing for 9th through 12th graders. Easy to implement and a great way to get the students to think and write.

Teaching Channel