Student Mentors Encourage Wise Choices
A mentoring program brings middle schoolers into primary classrooms to teach lessons about manners, bullying, and more. The primary students are putting the lessons to good use. The older students confidence has grown and they take academics more seriously.
Summer Expo Connects Kids With Careers
In one Illinois community, an annual summer job fair puts high schoolers in touch with summer employment, volunteer, and enrichment opportunities. Companies, camps, and community groups present opportunities that can set students on the path to a career.
College Day: A Corridor from Elementary to Academia
College Days at three elementary schools aim to get all students thinking about their futures. Whether the day involves guest speakers, visits to campus, or college courses taught by familiar teachers, the goal is to inspire kids to see themselves as college-bound.
Elementary, Middle Schoolers Glimpse the Future With Career Events
"Career day" and "career fair" events arent just for high school. Exposing kids of all ages to the world of work can broaden their perspectives. Included: Tips to creating a successful career day at the elementary or middle school levels.
Getting the Most Out of School Counselors
While elementary-school guidance counselors still are not the norm, those that are assigned to schools can provide valuable support to students, teachers, parents, and principals. The key is to let them do their jobs.
Saving Kids from Stress
Facing fierce competition to get into top colleges, many students are compromising their health and values
to get ahead. Experts are even seeing stress levels increase at the elementary school level. Some educators
are working to reduce the pressures on students.
Ending Bullying by Teaching Kids Not To Be Victims
Bullying and teasing are part of life, says psychologist Izzy Kalman, so rather than trying to stamp out
bullying, educators and parents need to teach children how to deal with bullying; that is, how not to
be victims.
District Buys House for Homeless Kids
Concerned that students with unstable or no homes often wound up dropping out of school, the Maplewood
Richmond Heights (Missouri) School District decided to buy a house and convert it to a group home for
homeless teens.
Counseling: A School Improvement Tool
The role of counselors in schools is expanding from just attending to individual students to leading discussions
and activities for groups of students that can help improve school performance and behavior.
Ways to Teach Empathy Skills
Everyone has met people who are highly compassionate. But we would meet more of them if children were taught
at an early age to be empathetic, according to author/teacher David A. Levine, who has created lessons and activities
to teach empathy skills.
Help Students Rise Above the Clutter
Many children have trouble keeping track of assignments, but manage until the demands of multiple teachers in
middle school overwhelm them. A book explains how teachers and parents can help students better organize their
time and responsibilities.
College Prep
These sites offer tools for comparing colleges and for choosing the right college. Additional information includes
tips for applying for financial aid and scholarships, safety suggestions, college prep resources, entrance exam
study guides, and much more.
Film A Day in the Life Eases Sixth Graders' Fears
Even after school tours and orientation programs, many students still worry about the transition from elementary
to middle school. A student-made film acknowledges those fears and reassures new students that middle school
is not so scary.
Power Words: Using Positive Words to Energize Your Students
In the classroom, positive reinforcement is easier to talk about than it is to carry out. Brenda Dyck shares
a classroom tradition that celebrates the uniqueness and potential of each child. "What I See in You" time is
one of the most special times in her classroom.
Twenty-Five Activities for Building Student Character, School "Community"
In an already packed school day, finding time for character education can be a challenge. Most of these 25 activity
ideas can be worked seamlessly into the school day to build student character and to develop a sense
of community in your school.
Voice of Experience: Teamwork Counts (A Lot!)
Max Fischer draws parallels between his days as a high school football player and his role on a team responsible
for creating an IEP that will get to the bottom of a student's learning issues. In both cases, teamwork is key;
no room exists for prima donnas.
Voice of Experience: No-Grade Assignments Open Up Student-Teacher
Communication
Educator Kathleen Modenbach reflects on the enormous influence teachers have on the kids they teach -- if channels
of communication remain open. Providing opportunities for student expression -- with no strings (no grades!)
attached -- is a key to opening those communication lines.
Manners and Etiquette: Teaching Essential Ingredients for Success
Whether they use a formal curriculum or simply take advantage of serendipitous opportunities, two teachers are
taking good manners off the back burner. Those educators say that focusing on manners in the classroom is not
an option -- it's a must!
"Not Much, Just Chillin'," a Window on Middle School Life Washington Post education writer Linda Perlstein spent a year following five Maryland middle school students,
and then wrote "Not Much, Just Chillin'" a rare insight into the lives of young adolescents.
Teaching Self-Control: A Curriculum for Responsible Behavior
Martin Henley has created a curriculum for teaching 20 self-control skills all children need. The Teaching
Self-Control curriculum includes role-plays, simulations, learning center activities, and children's literature
that can be used to teach those skills.
Learning to Tap Away Stress, Anger
In Dr. Lynne Namka's book, Good Bye Ouchies and Grouchies, Hello Happy Feelings, Namka describes how
teachers and parents can use tapping and reflection to help children release unhappy feelings.
Cross-Age Tutoring: A Helping Hand Across the Grades
Guidance counselors Christi Bello and Susie Borgnini each created a program that brings the wisdom of older
students to the aid of younger ones -- with benefits for all students. Included: Examples of how cross-age tutoring/mentoring
affects students in all grades.
Voice of Experience: Teachers' "Antennae" Help Them Better Understand
At-Risk Students
Educator Kathie Marshall makes an extra effort to know the "whole student," including outside issues that affect
student performance. She shares strategies -- including informal inventories and letter-writing -- that help
to open up teacher-student communication.
Cheating: How to Prevent It (and How to Handle It When It Happens)
Have you ever considered that there are things you might do to head off cheating before it occurs? Classroom
management expert Howard Seeman offers tips for preventing cheating and for handling it if it does happen.
Helping the Healing: Tips for Teachers after the Columbia Tragedy
As NASA investigators struggle to find answers for the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts
on February 1, teachers also search for answers to students questions about the tragedy. Education World has
compiled a list of resources.
Voice of Experience: Chess, Anyone? -- Chess As an Essential Teaching
Tool
Educator Brenda Dyck contemplates whether smart kids play chess or chess makes kids smart as she considers the
integration of chess into the curriculum. Included: Links to resources and research about the impact of chess
on students skills, thinking and organizational abilities, and self-esteem.
Kids Discover the Value of Learning Through Hands-On 'Hammer' Time
When master carpenter Perry Wilson showed his friend's son how to build a tree house, he discovered that he
was really teaching the child the value of mathematics. The task brought to mind his own struggles with a learning
disability and the failure of his school to help him realize his potential. As a result, Wilson quit his job
and established If I Had a Hammer, a program that uses alternative methods, specifically the construction of
a small house, to show kids how to put the material they are learning in school to work.
Mission Statements With Vision: Where Is Your School Going?
What is your school's mission? If you have to search through your handbook or you can't recall the entire lengthy
statement, you probably aren't making the most of your school's mantra! How can you make your mission statement
more meaningful? Bring it into the classroom and give it vision!
Special Event!!
Online College Fairs
Set your students up to chat with admissions officers, professors, and other students to learn more about the
colleges and the programs they're interested in. |