Tag Archives: K through 12

100 Positive Comments to Utilize when Referencing Student Behavior

100 Positive Student Comments to Utilize with Parents

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev148.shtml  (Jan. 23, 2012)

Recommended by Jen J., a third grade teacher in Michigan.

Attitude

The student:

  • is an enthusiastic learner who seems to enjoy school
  • exhibits a positive outlook and attitude in the classroom
  • appears well rested and ready for each day’s activities
  • shows enthusiasm for classroom activities
  • shows initiative and looks for new ways to get involved
  • uses instincts to deal with matters independently and in a positive way
  • strives to reach his (or her) full potential
  • is committed to doing his (or her) best
  • seeks new challenges
  • takes responsibility for his (or her) learning

Behavior

The student:

  • cooperates consistently with the teacher and other students
  • transitions easily between classroom activities without distraction
  • is courteous and shows good manners in the classroom
  • follows classroom rules
  • conducts himself (or herself) with maturity
  • responds appropriately when corrected
  • remains focused on the activity at hand
  • resists the urge to be distracted by other students
  • is kind and helpful to everyone in the classroom
  • sets an example of excellence in behavior and cooperation

Character

The student:

  • shows respect for teachers and peers
  • treats school property and the belongings of others with care and respect
  • is honest and trustworthy in dealings with others
  • displays good citizenship by assisting other students
  • joins in school community projects
  • is concerned about the feelings of peers
  • faithfully performs classroom tasks
  • can be depended on to do what he (or she) is asked to do
  • seeks responsibilities and follows through
  • is thoughtful in interactions with others

Communication Skills

The student:

  • has a well-developed vocabulary
  • chooses words with care
  • expresses ideas clearly, both verbally and through writing
  • has a vibrant imagination and excels in creative writing
  • has found his (or her) voice through poetry writing
  • uses vivid language in writing
  • writes clearly and with purpose
  • writes with depth and insight
  • can make a logical and persuasive argument
  • listens to the comments and ideas of others without interrupting

Group Work

The student:

  • offers constructive suggestions to peers to enhance their work
  • accepts the recommendations of peers and acts on them when appropriate
  • is sensitive to the thoughts and opinions of others in the group
  • takes on various roles in the work group as needed or assigned
  • welcomes leadership roles in groups
  • shows fairness in distributing group tasks
  • plans and carries out group activities carefully
  • works democratically with peers
  • encourages other members of the group
  • helps to keep the work group focused and on task

Interests and Talents

The student:

  • has a well-developed sense of humor
  • holds many varied interests
  • has a keen interest that has been shared with the class
  • displays and talks about personal items from home when they relate to topics of study
  • provides background knowledge about topics of particular interest to him (or her)
  • has an impressive understanding and depth of  knowledge about his (or her) interests
  • seeks additional information independently about classroom topics that pique interest
  • reads extensively for enjoyment
  • frequently discusses concepts about which he (or she) has read
  • is a gifted performer
  • is a talented artist
  • has a flair for dramatic reading and acting
  • enjoys sharing his (or her) musical talent with the class

Participation

The student:

  • listens attentively to the responses of others
  • follows directions
  • takes an active role in discussions
  • enhances group discussion through insightful comments
  • shares personal experiences and opinions with peers
  • responds to what has been read or discussed in class and as homework
  • asks for clarification when needed
  • regularly volunteers to assist in classroom activities
  • remains an active learner throughout the school day

Social Skills

The student:

  • makes friends quickly in the classroom
  • is well-liked by classmates
  • handles disagreements with peers appropriately
  • treats other students with fairness and  understanding
  • is a valued member of the class
  • has compassion for peers and others
  • seems comfortable in new situations
  • enjoys conversation with friends during free periods
  • chooses to spend free time with friends

Time Management

The student:

  • tackles classroom assignments, tasks, and group work in an organized manner
  • uses class time wisely
  • arrives on time for school (and/or class) every day
  • is well-prepared for class each day
  • works at an appropriate pace, neither too quickly or slowly
  • completes assignments in the time allotted
  • paces work on long-term assignments
  • sets achievable goals with respect to time
  • completes make-up work in a timely fashion

Work Habits

The student:

  • is a conscientious, hard-working student
  • works independently
  • is a self-motivated student
  • consistently completes homework assignments
  • puts his (or her) best effort into homework assignments
  • exceeds expectations with the quality of his (or her) work
  • readily grasps new concepts and ideas
  • generates neat and careful work
  • checks work thoroughly before submitting it
  • stays on task with little supervision
  • displays self-discipline
  • avoids careless errors through attention to detail
  • uses free minutes of class time constructively
  • creates impressive home projects

Positive words go a long way in educating a child and building relationships. When we create positive school and classroom environments, the learning experience is enhanced.

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,

Denise

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Suggested Summer Reading for Teachers and those who Play a Role in the Life of a Child

Having written my thesis on phonics, I found this book a good and reflective read. I am still a believer in the importance of phonics in the classroom and at home but I am and feel we as educators must be, open to others views and opinions. I learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it for your summer “must read” list.

“The Great Reading Disaster: Reclaiming Our Educational Birthright” by Mona McNee and Alice Coleman

Amazon’s Book Description:

 

“By the late 1980s half the nation’s children were receiving eleven years of progressivism schooling that failed to give them even the elementary basis of education that was completed by the age of seven in earlier days. This great reading disaster was caused by the ?look?say? method of teaching, which presented whole words not individual letters. This book explains the causes and provides the solution to this problem. In 2006, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has ordered schools to use the phonic method but there seems little evidence that its implications are properly understood or that any serious re-training program for teachers is being put in place. The authors believe their explanations and recommendations in this book are thus needed just as much as ever.”

 

 

The next book is an excellent read and has sat in my office on my book shelve for a couple of years now. I have lent it out many times now in hopes that it might inspire those who read it to refuse to give into the easy path and CHOOSE to be the difference in the life of our children…our future! Our Unlock the Teacher team has talked on this before on how we feel ALL children are capable of learning. I know many have heard me tell the story of when I taught in the city and I was told that my students could not or would never understand Shakespeare, so I should not waste my time. Well, not only did my 8th grade English/Literature students learn all about Shakespeare, The Tempest became one of their favorite reads that year. Much of how our students respond in our classrooms or buildings depends most on how we choose to approach our environment and communicate learning expectations. I highly recommend this book for all educational staff and parents too!

 

 

“Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves but Can’t Read, Write, or Add”

 

Amazon’s Book Description:

 

Dumbing Down Our Kids is a searing indictment of America’s secondary schools one that every parent and teacher should read.
Dumbing Down Our Kids offers a full-scale investigation of the new educational fad, sometimes called “Outcome Based Education” the latest in a long series of “reforms” that has eroded our schools.
-Why our kids rank to, or at the bottom of international tests in math and science

-Why “self-esteem” has supplanted grades and genuine achievements

-How the educational establishment lowers standards and quality in our schools-while continuing to raise their budgets and our school taxes

-The dumbing down of the curriculum so everyone can pass-but no one excel

-How parents, students, and teachers can evaluate schools and restore quality learning.

 

If you have a good book to recommend or your staff has chosen a book to read as a team, please share and together we can learn from each other. It is in the collaborative process that we will make a difference for our children of today and the future of tomorrow.

 

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,

 

Denise

 

 

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A Glance Back at A Successful School Year

As many of schools are winding down for the school year, student energy is high, teacher energy low, it is important to look back, reflect and make notes on what worked and what did not, while your mind is still in “school” mode.

As an administrator, I find this is a helpful tool not only in regards to the building standard operating procedures, but in what worked in motivating my team or not. It is just important for an administrator to reflect as it is for a teacher, because it is in the exercise of being a reflective practitioner, do we  continue to grow and challenge ourselves to higher standards.

When I was in the classroom, I would spend the last week of school with my students and the last week after they were gone, to spend a few minutes each day writing in a journal.  I would reflect upon lessons taught, the differentiated tools utilized and next to each reflection, I would put IDEAS on how I could change it up for the following year to ensure more students’ needs were met.

I would spend time thinking about how I felt I impacted my building as a whole…did I contribute to the greater good, was I encouraging to those around me, did I spend most my time picking up versus putting down…This excercise helped me grow as a teacher and an individual.

Although it is easy to get caught up in trying to close down a building and get home to rejuvenate before it all begins again…in a matter of weeks…I encourage you all to pause, reflect and take a good look at how you made a difference this year in the life of a child.

To all the parents, children, teacher and administrators out there, our Unlock the Teacher team would like to say to you…”Job well done!”

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~

Denise

Recommended summer reading:

“Reeasing the Imagination” by Maxine Greene

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Educational Websites to Utilize in the Classroom for Grades 4-12

At a recent principal’s meeting, the Web 2.0 presenter showcased some fabulous online resources that any 21st century educator could utilize to enhance classroom instruction.

www.qwiki.com

This site includes multimedia components and visual displays for presentations.  *Very user-friendly.

www.lessonstream.org

Present information to students integrating a multimedia format.

www.vocabahead.com

Identify real-life connections between words and their use.  *This is a great tool…words with videos!

www.khanacademy.org

This is a site where students can retell stories to demonstrate an understanding of concepts.

www.bitstrips.com

This is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G site for teachers to utilize really grades 2 on up.  Students can create animated cartoon strips by utilizing a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events. This site also has a homework component…great vocabulary builder and speaks to the visual learner.

www.60secondrecap.com

Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings or events in a story or drama. *neat site

www.visuwords.com

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

www.owl.emglish.purdue.edu

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

www.froguts.com

Great virtual dissects to utilize in class with students.

www.jeapardylabs.com

Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

www.storybird.com

Add drawings to displays and stories.

This is just a few of the many resources available online. 

 

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,

Denise

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Themed Lessons Online for F-R-E-E…When we Share the Good in Education, we ALL Benefit

Given all the many online resources available to both educators and parents alike, one can spend a whole week educating our youth on days like today…President’s Day and answering the who, what, where and why questions that arise.

The Teacher’s Guide is a fabulous resource site, that provides lesson plans, tips on integrating technology, White Board lessons and so much more.

Hot Chalk is another amazing online resource.  This site is broken down by Classroom, Community and Lesson Plans. One can even sign up for a free eNewsletter too.

A to Z Teacher Stuff is a neat site that has theme-based puzzles, lesson plans and great educational resources to utilize at home or in the classroom.

Education World is one of our favorite online resources.  This site offers lessons broken down by discipline and has a wealth of lessons to choose from.

When we share the good in education, we all benefit!

 

May we continue to see knowledge in all things,

Denise

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Wonderful 8th Grade Literature Scrapbooks through the Eyes of the Characters

Utilizing Character Journals/Scrapbooks in the Classroom
Sue Martin, a middle school language arts/literature teacher has allowed us to utilize these great pieces of student’s work.  Students were given a rubric to create a scrapbook/journal in the eyes of one of the characters in the book they were reading.  As the pictures demonstrate, this is a unique and fun assignment for student and teacher and can be modified for various age groups.

"The Lying Game""The Lying Game" scrapbook on the inside"Wait till Helen Comes""Wait til Helen Comes" scrapbook on the inside

"Wait til Helen Comes" Character Scrapbook"Harry Potter" Character Journal

 

"Wicked" Character Journal

 

"Wicked" Character Scrapbook on the inside

 
I find these pictures creative and I have no doubt that the students had a great time identifying with the characters in the books they read as they created these wonderful assignments.
 
If you would like to share your Best Practices, we would love to read them and share them with our readers.  Please email documents to denise@unlocktheteacherllc.com
 
May we seek knowledge in all things,
Denise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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6th Grade Teacher Makes Science Fun with Cell Process Cartoons

Who said science wasn’t fun?
While in a school today (St. Mary School Royal Oak, Michigan), I stopped to look at these fabulous displays of creativity.  Not only was this hallway display colorful and creative, it was educational and funny!
 

 
We would love to share your classroom Best Practices with our readers. It is in this collaborative process, that we all grow as educators…as parents…as a society!  Good ideas are meant to be shared.  We try to share them as often as we can!
 

 

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,
Denise
 
 

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Odyssey of the Mind and Team Building Lessons for the Classroom and Home

As the school year has just begun and we are busy in schools, I thought I would share a couple of great sites that offer “team buildinglessons for students.   We are excited to hear from and meet new teachers this year.  I think that these sites provide  great problem-solving scenarios for students to work through and can enhance any lesson in any discipline and be modified for any age to meet the needs of all students.  Enjoy and have a super school year full of many new discoveries!

Odyssey of the Mind

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

Computer Science Unplugged

http://csunplugged.org/

Computer Science Unplugged  is a great site to utilize in the classroom because it offers creative scenarios to solve or work through without utilizing a computer.  This site has various activities for both teachers and parents to utilize with students to enhance team building and higher-order thinking.

I love to know your thoughts, ideas or lessons found successful in enhancing these skills. Please keep sharing. Together we can make a difference!

May we seek knowledge in all things,

Denise

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F-R-E-E Educational Webinars for Teachers and Parents

Given our economy, professional development has been slim for many educators. There is a plethora of free webinars online. Have fun learning!

Life is busy and for those of us who do not have time to attend a class for learning or pleasure, webinars can be just the tool needed to achieve our goal. Given technology, webinars can be the next best thing for teachers too.

PBS Teachers Live Should be in Every Teacher’s Toolbox

PBS Teachers Live offers a wealth of webinars in many areas across the disciplines. For example, if a teacher were interested in educating students about Earth Day in April (hopefully), then PBS Teachers Live would be
a valuable tool. Teachers sign up for free and log on to various webinars, full of ideas, lesson plans and across the curriculum connections, to name a few.

Webinars, an Awesome Resource for Educators

After doing some research, here are a few webinar sites across the Internet that is recommended by those within the world of education:

Education Week (one of my personal favorites) offers many enlightening webinars. Check out “E-educators’ Evolving Skills”…talk about relevant!

American Statistical Association offers various webinars…currently hosting a K-12 “Meeting within a Meeting” for Science and Math Teachers

Exploring Middle School MiddleWeb is a blog powered by Typepad. They are a promoter of 21st Century Learning and offer live and archived webinars. Check out the latest webinar: The National Middle School Association is teaming up with the NSF-funded Middle School Portal to offer “Free math and Science Webinars”…the goal was to not only make the training affordable but user friendly; teachers could watch from home.

Webinars and Educational Professional Development

The life of a teacher is very demanding and organization is necessary. This is also true for those entrusted to lead and provide professional development for their educational staff. Given this amazing age of technology, regardless of budget, there is no reason that professional development is not occurring within schools.

All of the webinars posted here in this article, can be utilized to strengthen and enrich any school faculty. Educators can watch at their own pace or gather and watch as a team. This type of professional development is only going to increase not decrease as we progress further into the world of technology. There are many curriculum developers/professional development trainers, who utilize programs like these mentioned to create meaningful professional development for educators around the world.

OneNote and Education:
This MSDN blog was created to have a dialog about OneNote and education, including sharing ideas, resources, and building community with teachers, students and faculty.

Parents are the first teachers. All of these webinars mentioned are open to anyone interested in learning and changing the life of a child. This will be one of many articles written on the topic of professional development within the world of education. There is a plethora of free programs out there for all of us to learn and use, to meet the needs of our children,
our future.

May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,

Denise

 

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A Fabulous Middle School Teacher Utilizing “Out of the Box” Techniques to Teach Peace

I always enjoy going into St. Mary’s School in Royal Oak.  The atmosphere is inviting and the teachers are friendly.  I want to share with readers, a fabulous teacher utilizing “out of the box” techniques to teach peace. Linda Irwin teaches middle school literature and even if that knowledge wasn’t known, one could tell just by walking into her classroom.

 
While visiting this past week, I coud not help noticing this awesome bulletin board as I walked down the hall in front of this classroom.  I walked in and asked Mrs. Irwin all about it.  The students are reading, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
 
Students are working together by individually designing a quilt square that will be added to a “Quilt of Peace” created by the entire class.  I was fortunate to have witnessed one child designing one of these squares, that was beautifully done.  When asked, the students were so excited to share insights from the book and excerpts from the great discussions they were having in class generated around their reading.
 
As a certified ELA teacher, whenever I hear students excited about reading, my heart soars!  Great job Mrs. Irwin for passing on you passion and utilizing relevant and current books to engage your students. 
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things,
Denise
 
 
 
 
 

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