Leadership Skills

Most Common Issues Children Are Facing In School

There is no question about it, children of today are having hard times, and although every generation has its sets of problems that they have to cope with; it seems that children today are faced with more problems on the educational front than have ever been seen before.

Bullying

Bullies have been around since the beginning of time, and although previous generations have had to deal with them, things today are totally different. A bully cannot be defended, be it past or present, but a bully of the past may have teased a child or even threatened to beat them up, while today, bullies have taken things to another level. They not only can make their peers feel uncomfortable in person, but they now may resort to the internet where they may post vile insults that the world can see. Since most children and young adults live for the cyber world, an internet attack can be one of the worse that they can face, which can lead to depression, and in the worst circumstances, suicide.

Large Class Sizes

As school districts are forced to make budget cuts to make ends meet, they have been forced to fire some of their best teachers. With fewer teachers, but a growing number of students, it can be difficult to give students the individual attention that they deserve.

Lack of resources

Another issue that children have to deal with due to budget cuts is a lack of resources in general. Some schools do not have enough books for their students due to lack of money, nor do they offer extracurricular activities like football because they cannot afford it.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Bullying, Child, Violence and Abuse

Nurturing a Positive Relationship With Your Students

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A healthy teacher-student relationship is essential for student progress. Teaching is more than just the delivery of information and testing student knowledge. When you focus on nurturing a relationship with your students, they sense that you truly care for them and want them to succeed. This in itself provides the encouragement that each person needs to progress and develop.

Understanding the Needs of Each Student

One of the challenges of the teaching environment is the sometimes chaotic dynamic created by the multitude of varied needs and interests among students. In a single moment, you may be faced with students who are dealing with a wide range of emotional, physical and intellectual needs. One child may not be feeling well, while another is bored with the material. Yet another child may be in a bad mood due to unpleasant events in his home. As a teacher, you must tune into the present state of each student.

Respecting Each and Every Student

You may also be tasked with students who are far different from yourself. An outgoing teacher may feel frustrated by a shy child who refuses to speak. This difference can be an obstacle in a teaching environment and requires extra sensitivity and tolerance for personality differences.

Communicating a Sense of Caring

One of the most important elements in connecting with students is the communication of caring and concern. The teachers that people remember most when looking back on life are those who cared enough to create a creative, dynamic and nurturing learning environment for all students.

Through careful compassion and respect, you can nurture a long lasting relationship with your students.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Education, Student, Teacher

Using Online Learning to Bridge Knowledge Gaps

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When teaching a classroom of students with varied skills and knowledge levels, the Internet can be a useful and effective tool for meeting diverse student needs. Whether using web-based software, online school resources or educational web articles, the online world is a storehouse of learning opportunities.

Using Web-Based Software

For many instructional goals, high quality web-based software is instrumental in introducing new concepts and testing student progress. For example, a math student who is struggling with a particular concept can be given instruction in the classroom and then directed to use math software to drill the particular concept. Many web-based tools also offer assessment reports so that teachers can gauge skill weaknesses and progress.

Posting School Resources Online

Another way that the Web can be can be utilized to bridge knowledge gaps is by uploading reinforcement content on a school or designated website. A student who is struggling with reading comprehension can be instructed to download additional reading materials for extra practice.

Posting well-aligned materials on the Web allows students to gain more independence in addressing their academic deficiencies. Adults often engage in self-directed learning and children will generally need detailed instructions about which content to seek out.

Searching the Web for Materials

The Internet is filled with expert opinions and knowledge posted for all to read. When students are displaying a gap in knowledge, a simple Internet search can guide them to strengthen their knowledge. Teaching students how to search the Web and which websites to use is an important part of setting students up for a lifetime of using the Web for ongoing learning.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Education, Student, Web application

Keep Your Kids Safe At School

It’s not enough that we tell our children to look both ways when crossing the street, or don’t talk to strangers. We now have to prepare our children on how to stay safe when they are in school. With technology being as advanced as it is today gossip, rumors, and cyber bullying run rampant. Parents can’t be with their children at school. And some parents have no choice about where they send their children to school. Let’s face it; some of these schools are violent. That is a cold hard fact. If safety becomes a major issue, you may have no choice but to remove your child from that school. With a few basic parenting skills your children should be safe in any school environment.

Always talk to your children about their day at school. Talk with your children about every day-to-day activity. When you communicate with your child daily about anything, your child is more likely to let you know that there is a problem at school. Note any changes to your children’s behavior or attitude. Changes can be indicative of a bullying problem, bad influences or staff problems. This is where it becomes important for you to know your children’s friends. Have them over after school and you can assess if these are people who are good for you child to be involved with.

You should prepare yourself and your child for anything that could potentially happen. Let them know who to call or who to go to should something bad happen at school. Trust your child to handle some things. Every child needs some adversity to help them become a more rounded adult. Potential physical harm is where you draw the line.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: bully, Child, Cyber-bullying

Help Your Child Deal With School Stress

Our children’s lives are filled with stress just like adults lives are. If you really stop and think about it some are not so dissimilar from adult stresses. Kids want to fit in at school and do good work. Adults want to fit in at work and do a good job. Adults worry about paying bills and kids worry about getting homework done on time. If you don’t do this you will get in trouble with bill collectors and your child will get into trouble with his teacher. We want our children’s lives to be enriched but to what extent are parents pushing?

Some stress in your child’s life is a really good thing. It is how he learns new things and accomplishes goals. Too much stress can be a bad thing that will interfere with his daily life and hinder his learning abilities. Your child’s life revolves around school, family, homework, and extra-curricular activities. When that load becomes overwhelming it puts added stresses and anxiety on a child. If your child is complaining about everything they have to do in a day’s time, consider cutting some of those activities out if you can.

Parents should keep their troubles and worries away from their children. Those conversations about bills, sick loved ones, and finances should be discussed in private and not in front of the children. Always be aware of what is on the television. Bad news on the television will add to his stresses. If he does see something troubling, talk with him about what he saw. Probably the most important tip would be this; if you don’t freak out he won’t freak out. If you stay calm your child will stay calm.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Adult, Child, Stress

How to Get a Good Education in Finance

When you want to get involved in the world of finance, there are plenty of job choices. You can’t just jump right in, though. You need to get a degree so that you can show employers that you have the qualifications needed. Getting a degree from an accredited college is the first step. After that, you can start applying to companies based on the career that you’d like to have. There are opportunities all over the place when it comes to people who can crunch numbers, and a finance degree is a good one to have. You can even go on to law school after you get your finance degree, and become a bankruptcy lawyer. Most people don’t take things that far, though.

Instead, a lot of them choose to work with a company in the finance department. Almost all big companies have them, so there are plenty of opportunities depending on what kind of industry you’re interested in. You can also work as a banker or work with a debt consolidation service and assist people who have mismanaged their money and need you to help them so that they don’t end up in a bankruptcy situation. In order to do those things, though, that degree is essential.

Overall, you’ll have more options if you get a bachelor’s degree than you will if you get only an associate’s degree, but it’s still better to have a degree of some kind than not to have one at all. Consider where your degree is coming from, too. Sure, it’s possible to ‘buy’ a degree – but you won’t have the skills to back it up and you’ll soon be found out. Take the time to find a good school that offers a finance degree, and check it out thoroughly. Make sure it’s accredited, so that your degree will be recognized when you get it.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Education, Finance, finance education

Paraprofessional Requirements

Teacher quality requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act apply even to paraprofessionals. Any paraprofessional employed in a Title I school that provides instructional support (such as a classroom assistant) is held to a higher standard than those not providing instructional support (such as clerical assistance or office support). Regardless of whether or not the paraprofessional is paid with Title I funds or federal education funds, an instructional position is held to the same standard in either case.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, paraprofessionals must have completed at least two years of study at a higher education institution or university or have obtained an associate degree. An associate degree is not required as long as the paraprofessional has more than 48 credit hours at the university or college level. The type of degree or course of study at the time of enrollment in college is also not a factor, as long as the required credit hours have been earned. They must also demonstrate the ability to assist in reading, writing, and math instruction. This may be demonstrated through a formal academic assessment. Naturally, they must hold a high school diploma. For the most part, this is simply a reiteration of the earlier law requiring higher education, so not much has changed there.

Those not covered under No Child Left Behind include cafeteria workers, playground monitors, non-instructional computer assistance, and transportation. These titles are not considered paraprofessional.

Title I funds may be used by state and local districts to provide ongoing training and professional development for paraprofessional employees. This helps paraprofessionals meet the guidelines outlined by the No Child Left Behind Act and keeps them up to date on methods of instruction. States have tremendous flexibility on how to use Title I funds in order to meet their needs, but staff development and regular training workshops for instructional assistants are suggested.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Paraprofessional

Are Boarding Schools Doing It Right?

Admit it, when you thin of boarding schools, you automatically picture the English countryside â€“ right? While the traditional British school is the model we use in America for forming our own boarding schools, they really have grown and changed to allow for a wide variety of educational needs. At boarding schools, students live, learn and play while being supervised. Traditionally the educational institution of choice for the wealthy, taking a closer look at how they operate and what makes them different, other than the obvious, may give us some ideas on how to reform our more traditional public institutions.

Aside from the actual boarding aspect of boarding schools, there are several big differences that make these schools work unlike any other educational institution in America. The first is the rigid schedule the boarding schools follow. Every aspect of the studentâ€™s day, even their free time, is carefully regulated. The theory is that by carefully regulating time, students are more apt to be focused on the task at hand. While public schools are regulated to a degree, our day students have a lot of free time on their hands.

Many boarding schools also require their students to participate in extra curricular activities, giving them access to another form of learning and team building schools. In public schools, there is regularly a requirement for students to participate in sports, drama or the arts, and perhaps this is a mistake. Access to these types of activates may be the difference between successful students and those that fail.

Boarding schools may be a bit extreme for most students, but the underlying concepts behind it may be very valid for school reform on the whole. More rigid schedules, encouraging community involvement and other aspects of boarding school may very well be the change our schools need.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Board of education, Education, Education reform, English language, School Boards, State school, Student, United States

It All Depends On How You Look At It: Teaching To The Test

In 2002, the federal government passed its first big piece of education legislation in decades, the No Child Left Behind Act. Designed to improve student performance by increasing standards and mandating accountability, one of the biggest results of the act was a new focus on standardized testing and results. Federal funding is now based, at least in part, on how well students perform, pushing teachers and administrators to change the way they teach. ‘Teaching to the test has become the tagline of most NCLB debates, but the question must be asked, is it bad?

First, let’s understand what it means. The law states that schools must test their students (grades 2 12) in math and reading. Each state selects its own standards and tests. In states where students are not showing adequate yearly progress the government may sanction them by withholding funds or even restructuring.

The problem with this idea is that the high focus on math and reading means that other subjects are not given as much attention. This means that students are not exposed to the arts, history, cultural studies and other important subjects. Some schools have changed the structure of the school day, cutting back on free time, to allow them to focus more energy on preparing students for standardized testing. On the other hand, statistically, our elementary school children are doing better than ever before. Tests reflect a better understanding of math and English skills for almost all students in the elementary levels.

In some ways this argument is a classic six of one, half a dozen of another. Maybe we need to recognize that the goal of better educating our children is admirable, but the method we are using may need to be changed a bit. Perhaps we can meet in the middle – it all depends on your viewpoint.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Education, Elementary school, Math, Mathematics, No Child Left Behind Act, Standardized test, Student, United States

Testing and the Educational Process

Testing has always been a part of the educational process. The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has brought testing to a new level. In order to comply with the requirements of NCLB testing is required to be performed once per year for grades third through eighth and once during the high school years. Test results must break out the scores of blacks, Hispanics and English language learners. In addition, the results of the testing must be revealed or the potential to lose federal funding for education can occur. The end result sought through this process is to observe improvement trends yearly and by 2014 to have reached the goal of grade appropriate proficiency in reading and math.

Interesting aspects of the required testing include the fact that each state can establish different tests and standards that define if their state schools are making the desired progress toward proficiency goals. There are no standards set at the national level or testing established for all schools within the United States. Testing under NCLB is limited to reading and math at this time with no emphasis on history, science or or other important subjects that students should be proficient in. Another issue is related to the fact that standardized tests are used almost exclusively. The limitations of the testing process could lead to curriculums based on the testing process versus those that promote a well rounded education.

Although the testing required by NCLB is not perfect, there are benefits that are a result of the requirement. Schools are now held accountable based on the standards set by their state. There is difficulty comparing the schools of one state from another due to the differences in how each state sets their requirements. A positive result is the ability to review the progress of a school. The testing process will evolve into a more efficient standard but for now accountability will hold the attention of our educational system.

Filed Under: Leadership Skills Tagged With: Educational, Testing