The President Speaks to School Children

Many parents and even some educators are outraged about the President’s pro-education address which will be delivered tomorrow.  Even the chairman of the Florida Republican Party Jim Greer said,  ”President Obama has turned to American’s children to spread his liberal lies, indoctrinating American’s youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves.”

When the President speaks to school children, it will target kids Pre-K through 6th grade.  The White House  released President Obama’s Prepared School Speech today  so parents and schools can read it prior to showing it to students.  Obama will deliver the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.

Do people really think that President Obama is going to turn our children into a cult?  Is the speech going to make our children into zombie-like obedient Obama lovers who will do anything he asks?  OR Is it just another speech intended to inspire students to stay in school and get a good education because of the high drop out rate?  Other Presidents gave similar speeches and the nation watched without questioning the speech.  Watching any public leader give a speech about the importance of education should be inspiring and necessary to for children to hear.  If for some reason the President does say anything a parent disagrees with, the parents should use this as a “teachable” moment to discuss their views with their child. Education is all about hearing information, discussing information with others, exploring different views, taking the information that works for the individual and throwing out information that doesn’t work.

Many people are embarrassed that it has even become an issue.  ”Students have the right to listen or not to a speech, to stand or not stand for the pledge, to pray silently or not at all in public schools.  Public schools can’t stop people from thinking freely.” a volusia county teacher said.

What do you think about President Obama’s Speech?

Sponsor: Cash for Creations, Inc – Educational Visual Aids

What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonological awareness includes the auditory and oral manipulation of sounds.  It is awareness of words, syllables, or phonemes (individual speech sounds).  Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness.  It is awareness of individual sounds in words such as /c/ /a/ /t/ in cat.    An understanding of how to detect, break apart, blend and manipulate sounds in the spoken language is important for students to understand letter-sound associations.  Students should understand that words are made up of sounds or phonemes.  Research shows that blending and segmenting is critical to learning how to read.

Onsets (the first sound of a word) and Rime Blending (end part of a word), should be practiced, modeled and repeated on a routine basis.  An example is for the teacher to say /s/ and then /at/ and then ask the student, “What is that word?”

Onsets and Rime Segmentation should be practiced and modeled also.  An example is for the teacher to say the word /pat/.  Then ask the student “What is the first sound?” and then ask “What is the end part?” ( /p/ and /at/)  This should be repeated using several words.

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Incorporating Acts of Kindness in the Classroom

Bobby was a kindergarten student I had in my classroom who had many behavior problems.  He could not get a diagnosis from doctors to identify a reason for his behaviors.  He wanted to do well, but couldn’t sit still, contain his emotions, comprehend or reason with logic and struggled academically.  He always felt like he didn’t fit in and sometimes he didn’t.  The other students tried to make friends with him, but he tended to eventually ruin friendships by his inappropriate language and behaviors.  I kept an Acts of Kindness dry erase board in my classroom.  When a student saw another student act in a kind way, they would tell the “kindness keeper” to write the person’s name on the board.  Bobby’s name was never on the Kindness Board, until one day toward the end of the school year.

We planted a spring garden by the classroom and went outside to water our plants daily.  This day, a beautiful little girl held her cup of water very carefully, trying hard not to spill the water on the way to the garden.  As soon as we got close, she lost her balance and stumbled.  The cup of water flew out of her tiny little hands.  Tears streamed down her red face instantly.  This made all the other students cling tighter to their cups of water, but none of the students moved to console her, except one.  Bobby did not hesitate to grab her cup, pour his water into it  and pat her on the back.  I was shocked and so were the other students.  One student shouted out, “He was nice! We need to put his name on The Acts of Kindness Board.” I agreed and this lead us to a class discussion about his wonderful actions and how the rest of the class could have acted differently.

Adding Bobby’s name to The Acts of Kindness Board made him happy for a short period, but he still had the same problems as he did in the past. However; this made him more aware of his actions in the future.  He started to point out when other students were kind and tried harder to be nice to others.  His parents told me that he came home and told them about getting his name on the board.  Previously, he did not talk about school at all with them.

Teachers cringe when having to add anything extra to the curriculum because of having too much now and not enough time in the day to do it in, but wouldn’t it be worth the 5 seconds to point out the kind actions people do for others.  There was no reward other than having their name on the board for a week.  Students who knew their parents were coming in for a conference were busy all day trying to be nice to others to get their name on the board with check marks tallying how many kind things they did to show their parents.

Take the time to encourage kindness in your classroom.  Especially for all of you who have “Bobby’s” in your classroom.

by Cindy Martin

Cash for Creations, Inc. – Educational Visual Aids

How to be an Effective Leader

When thinking about the word leader, you can substitute the word for teacher, parent, boss or anyone who actually leads anyone.  Think about the way you lead.  Do you tell others what to do?  Do you voice your views?  Have you used fear tactics? How do you get others to do what you expect of them?

To be a good leader, an enlightened leader, you must stay in the background and become an astute observer of others actions.  After making observations you need to ask yourself how you can create a learning environment that helps everyone act responsible without noticeably interfering.  Your job is to be as invisible as possible if you want to be effective.  As a parent or teacher, one strategy can be for you to leave the room to allow everyone to react without feeling they need to live up to your standards.  Then if there is conflict or an undesired behavior, perhaps you could suggest a way to resolve it or tell a story of how others have resolved a similar problem.  Trust that they will be able to make their own right path and walk away.  Your goal is to make others say, “I fixed this myself.” to empower others to take personal responsibility.  If the outcome is desired, try a non verbal gesture of body language.

Fear tactics have proved over time to be ineffective.  When others feel threatened, they might act a desirable way for the disciplinarian in their presence, however; after the disciplinarian leaves, studies have shown chaos in groups.  Although being able to control others behaviors with fear can work, it is short lived and only feeds the disciplinarian’s ego.  Studies show that children usually detach themselves from a strict dictatorial parent or adult.

Instead of thinking that you know what is best for other people, trust that others know what is best for them.  Let your feelings or desires be known, but trust them to make their own choice.  When there is a desired outcome, give praise for them making their own choice, even if it was not the way you would have chosen.

Don’t take personal credit for the outcome or achievements of others.  Let others take ownership of their actions.  If you are an effective leader, the ones you lead will follow and become effective leaders.

“Even after all this time

The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe Me.”

Look what happens

With a love like that,

It lights the Whole Sky.”

-Hafiz

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Making Personalized Photo Books for Students

I am an elementary teacher and I enjoy making individual photo albums for my students.  I’ve been making them for over fifteen years, capturing my students memorable experiences to share with their families and reminisce over as years go by.  

photo album

I started out making hand assembled booklets with pretty (and expensive) paper, gluing in the pictures, and hand writing the captions.  Then Creative Memories and Bare Books came along and I was really hooked.  For the next few years, I naively spent about $5000.00 and countless hours during the year making my books.  When I handed over my creations to the parents, I hounded them to be careful, making sure that they understood the expense and effort that had been put into each album.

Then, my own beautiful children came into the world.  I discovered that working on my class scrapbooks at home was no longer an option.  That is, unless I didn’t mind my children “helping”.  That meant more hours spent after school, enlisting help from others and scrambling to use every spare minute during the day.  Even so, I wasn’t willing to give it up.

This year I thought I would try something new.  I discovered that a major retail store offers an option to make photo books on-line at a very reasonable price.  I was able to upload my photos to their website, choose a layout, crop, edit, add professional looking captions, and choose from a variety of backgrounds.  My books took a fraction of the time to create and I spent only $250.00.  They look terrific, too, and if a book is damaged or lost, I can reorder a new one because it is saved to my account.  Shipping was fast, free and I was able to pick them up at my local store.  After seeing the finished product, other teachers have decided to utilize an on-line photo book program.  I’ve even influenced a few converts through my blog!

Now, I am planning for the next school year.  I recently discovered that Kodak has an interesting photo book creator on their website.  It is slightly higher in price, but the quality should be better considering it is Kodak.  What I really need now, however, is a photo book program that caters to education that is affordable to teachers.  Teachers need attractive school themed backgrounds and clip art that match subject areas as well as holidays.  There is a lot of business out there for the company that caters to education, and lots of busy teachers who would be grateful to find that company!

Article edited by Nancy Jo Flynn

Contributed by Cash for Creations – Educational Visual Aids 

Why have Classroom Rules?

 

Every classroom needs a set of classroom rules displayed for students to review.  The first day of school is when you should introduce the rules to the class.  Begin the lesson building on previous knowledge by having students share the rules they have at home. Discuss with the students that safety and citizenship is the reason for rules.  When making classroom rules, you should keep them positive, generic and simple.  For example, having “no running or no hitting” is negative and usually makes children actually think about doing the action you are trying to avoid.  Having a rule such as “Respect Others” covers a wide range of “bad” behaviors and makes the student think of respect.  Have them give you examples of respecting others.  You should not have more than 10 rules and really 5 are sufficient.  It can be helpful to let students help you come up with the classroom rules to help them develop a sense of ownership.  If you don’t want to make your rule poster, Cash for Creations offers a durable, pre-made sign with generic rules.

 

Not only is it important to have the rules up for all (including administrators) to see, but you need to have a clear set of consequences for when rules are broken.  When giving consequences try to say something like, “You made a bad choice.   I hope you will learn from your consequence and make better choices in the future.”  This too, will give them a sense of ownership, instead of blaming you.  Have children tell you after a consequence, what they did wrong to help them remember not to repeat the action. Having student remember also helps them inform their parents of what really happened.

 

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In Honor of Dr. Seuss and Budget Cuts

The author of this is unknown.  A fellow teacher sent it to me, and I found it too funny and TRUE, so I had to share. Enjoy!

 

I am Sam,

Sam-I-Am, 

Do you like budget cuts with a slam?

 

I do not like budget cuts with a slam,

I do not like them Sam-I-Am,

 

Would you, forego a raise?

Would you, could you work for praise?

I would not, could not forego a raise,

My creditors want money, they don’t accept praise,

 

I do not like budget cuts with a slam,

I do not like them Sam-I-Am,

 

Would you, could you suggest a position cut?

Would you, could you – we want YOUR in-put!

I would not, could not cut a soul,

That is not the way to plug this hole,

 

I do not like budget cuts with a slam,

I do not like them Sam-I-Am,

 

Would you, could you take a cut in pay?

Would you, could you work a little longer each day?

I would not, could not take a cut in pay, I already work 25 hours a day!

 

I do not like budget cuts with a slam,

I do not like them Sam-I-Am,

Would you, could you work for free?

We’re short 102 million dollars you see, I would not, I could not work for free, I’m broke and tired, please let me be,

I do not like budge cuts with a slam,

I do not like them Sam-I-Am!

Shop for Educational Visual Aids at http://www.cashforcreations.com

How does Cash for Creations, Inc. Help Teachers?

 

Cash for Creations is a company where a teacher can submit, free of charge, their original ideas for visual aids for teachers or parents to use to help teach various skills.  If your idea is accepted by the board, they will have expert graphic artists design the aid, manufacture the product and sell it on their web site.  When the products sell, the teacher gets 10% of the sale price which is paid out bi-annually.  Teachers spend a lot of time working on visual aids for their classrooms knowing that most students learn visually.  Now they can have their products made professionally, saving them time and they get paid from their ingenuity.

The company has over 50 products now and is growing.  They have recently added a line for parents.  Products and categories include dry erase word walls and banners, behavior tools, math games, science , storytelling, art and more.  Teachers can find new products that have been tested in the classroom to work in helping children learn and develop skills.              

Can You Lose Your Job Over Facebook?

I’ve heard teachers tell me how they hide in super markets when buying beer, never smoke or use bad language in public for fear of student’s seeing or hearing them.  It is true that teachers teach morals and values to students, but shouldn’t teachers be able to have a private life outside of the classroom? 

Here are some crazy stories from Michael D. Simpson-NEA Office of General Counsel:

In Virginia, high school art teacher Stephen Murmer was fired after posting photos of his “butt art” on the Web, which were viewed by scores of students. The budding artist applied paint to his posterior and genitalia, which he then pressed onto canvases. With the help of the ACLU, he sued the school district last fall claiming a violation of his First Amendment rights.

Band director Scott Davis from Broward County, Florida, was dismissed after school officials viewed his MySpace profile that included his musings about sex, drugs, and depression.

A Colorado English teacher lost her job after composing and posting sexually explicit poetry on her MySpace site. Police were even called in to investigate.

Nashville teacher Margaret Thompson was removed from teaching after posting “racy pictures” of herself, along with candid photos of her students, on her MySpace profile.

Florida middle school teacher John Bush was terminated because of “offensive” and “unacceptable ” photos and information on his MySpace page.

Massachusetts teaching assistant and Massachusetts Teachers Association member Keath Driscoll was first suspended and then fired for his MySpace postings including “sexually suggestive” photographs, videos of drinking alcohol, and references to women as “whores.” MTA took his case to arbitration and won almost a complete victory. In a decision dated March 24, 2008, the arbitrator ruled that Driscoll should not have been fired and ordered him reinstated with back pay, seniority, and benefits. The arbitrator did conclude, however, that Driscoll had engaged in misconduct that warranted some form of discipline, which he determined to be a three-day suspension.]

But the clueless award goes to Atlanta-area high school football coach Donald Shockley, who was forced to resign in early 2008 for storing on his school computer photos of his assistant principal dressed in lingerie and posing in sexually suggestive ways. The photos were discovered by a student whom Shockley had asked to work on his computer and who then posted the photos on the Internet and sent them to other students at the school.

In October 2007, reporters for The Columbus Dispatch conducted an investigation of MySpace profiles posted by Ohio teachers. The newspaper quoted one 25-year-old teacher bragging that she’s “an aggressive freak in bed,” “sexy,” and “an outstanding kisser.” Another teacher wrote on her page that she had recently “gotten drunk,” “taken drugs,” and “gone skinny-dipping.”

In the wake of these reports, the Ohio Education Association urged all OEA members to remove any personal profiles they may have posted on MySpace or Facebook. The Association also warned members that such profiles “can be used as evidence in disciplinary proceedings,” which could “affect not only a teacher’s current job but his/her teaching license” as well.

You can read the entire article at http://www.nea.org/home/12784.htm

Don’t we have free speech? Let’s face it, being a teacher means you must show some discretion when it comes to your personal life.  If your outside actions can interrupt learning in the classroom, you could be out of a job. Never put anything in writing that you wouldn’t want the world, your students or family to know about.

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