ITaylor's Blog

Jump-Starting Boys: Brains and Hormones

"Everyone knows boys are falling behind girls in education. And that has lots of people, especially educators and politicians, busy pointing fingers and engaging in loud discussions. But what about the average guilt-ridden, frustrated mother or father of an underachieving boy? Someone who wants to know in plain language what’s behind this trend and what they can do about it?

What about readers who crave positive support, not political shrillness? Most existing books on “the boy problem” make p...

Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Reader Find Success in School and Life

While parents may "feel" that their sons are falling behind in school, and teachers may have evidence of the shift in boys' academic performance, the reasons why this is occurring and what to do about it are not as clear. This issue, and ways parents and teachers can help boys to achieve and do well in school, is the topic of the newly released book, Jump-Starting Boys by Pam Withers and Cynthia Gill.

This easy-to-read handbook sets the stage for readers by discussing the reasons why somewhere...

Common Core Standards: Do Kids Need to Learn Math Facts?

Image courtesy of Melinda Kolk
Math facts! Some kids love 'em, most hate 'em! But one thing is for sure. Success with these facts will help to insure success in future mathematics studies.

Back in the "olden days" teachers and parents used to drill kids in their number facts. This idea fell out of favor in the late 1980s and 1990s in favor of a more concept-oriented approach. Some of us still expected mastery of those facts, but with the advent of calculators and computers, proficiency in math...

Strategies for Learning Math Facts - Addition and Subtraction Facts

Image courtesy of Dave.
Math facts are a fact of school life - given new emphasis in the Common Core Standards adopted by 45 states. How can you help your children learn these facts so that they can move on to more advanced mathematical concepts?

General Strategies for Learning Math Facts

Learning facts in families is a good way to increase mastery. Always have your child learn facts in related groups. 2+3, 3+2, 5-3, and 5-2 are all related facts. So are 4x6, 6x4, 24 divided by 4, and 24 divided...

Organizing the Classroom: Keeping Track of Journals

Heart Notebook by Midnight A
Do your students use journals in class? Many schools use journals for kids, and keeping track of them can be a difficult task, both for the new teacher and the veteran. Here’s a tip for dealing with this organization problem.

If you are like most new teachers, you have great plans to read every child’s journal and make your own comments on a daily basis. That sounds wonderful in theory, but have you often found yourself facing a pile of 25 or more student journals –...

Planning an Author Visit to Your Classroom

 
What could be more exciting for you, the new teacher, than having a "real live author" visit your classroom. Here's how to plan and prepare for an author visit. Author Lisa Ard visits a class in Beaverton, OR - Lisa Ard
All teachers want their students to be good readers and good writers. But, as a new  teacher, have you given any thought to where all of those words in all those the books your students are reading came from? Have they? When you teach a new book to your class, do you...

Carschooling - Tips for Parents and Homeschoolers

I've just finished reviewing a wonderful book, Carschooling , by Diane Flynn Keith. Carschooling takes counting license plates or reading signs and other everyday car-related activities to a new level. Make the most of those hours spent in the car with these great activities to use with your kids while you are driving them around!

Copyright2013 Irene Taylor. Permission to republish  in print or online must be granted by the author of this blog in writing.

Teach Your Students to Find their Inner Editors

 
With the rapid increase in minimally edited ebooks, teachers have a golden opportunity to teach real-time editing skills to their students. The world is rapidly filling up with ebooks - some great, some less than that, and many that are in sore need of an editor.

The next time you are previewing an ebook (or any book for that matter) for use with your class - instead of being put off by grammatical, usage or formatting errors - which can be rampant in today's glut of ebooks - turn this...

Topics for Persuasive Speeches: Help for New Teachers

Speeches can be challenging. These lesson ideas teach students elements of a good speech, and how to brainstorm good persuasive speech topics, build confidence and practice critical thinking skills.
Teaching students how to give an effective speech is a part of many middle and upper grade curriculums, but this skill may be difficult for new teachers, especially if they haven't had much training in how to give an effective speech. New teachers can use the persuasive speech to teach students to...

All the Ways I Screwed Up My First Year of Teaching...

All the Ways I Screwed Up My First Year of Teaching - Katrina Ayres

...and How You Can Avoid Doing It, Too, by Katrina Ayres.

OK - those of us who have been teaching for a while can remember plenty of mistakes we made when we were starting out - all in the name of our inexperience, our excitement and our commitment to our new careers. Even brand new teachers have had enough time in the classroom by the time they have their own students - student teaching, practicums, subbing - to remember a fe...