We’ve heard a lot about some renegade microbes in the news lately. The Swine Flu hysteria closed down many schools across the country and continues to be an issue worldwide. With all the press that H1N1 has gotten, you might think that all microbes are harmful. In fact, the vast majority of microbes are not at all harmful, and many are downright helpful. At Microbeworld, you can discover the abundant positives of microbes.
BY BILL FERRIS
This week’s MBTN features foods that will keep you healthy, a new job-search site for teachers, and tips for stopping conflicts. Read more after the jump.
BY BILL FERRIS
This week’s MBTN features the art of persuasion, common literary references, and $125,000-a-year teachers. More after the jump.
BY BILL FERRIS
For many teachers, summer vacation is the Super Bowl of job perks. You’ve worked hard at a demanding job, and now get some well-earned time to relax.
This year, though, the economy has become the fingernail in teachers’ bowls of soup. A lot of educators have lost their jobs, and many worry that more cuts are on the way. While you can’t control who gets laid off, you can use your summer months to make yourself as valuable an employee as possible.
This week’s MBTN features alternative teaching methods, how to use colons & semicolons, a web backpack for students and the best search engines for student research. Details after the jump.
I have sincerely enjoyed my time here at Instructify, writing up my very smug and minimalist posts. I’m tired of my vast talents with wordery going unrecognized and I’m leaving. I quit! I’ll see you jerks never!
[Picks up newspaper. Spit take.]
Okay, um, hey, so it looks like the job market out there isn’t quite ready for me. I really need to pay closer attention to current events. About what I said before… I was just caught up in the moment, okay? You’ll need to excuse me; the urge to quit a job with some pizazz is pretty intoxicating.
The Tough Summer Job Market is a great posting by the Free Technology for Teachers blog. With graduation right around the corner, a lot of your soon-to-be-former students will find this information helpful. (more…)
Whenever you think about possible futures for kids, what do you think about? If you immediately think about animal-themed flu epidemics, food riots and melted polar ice caps, well then you, sir or madam, are an alarmist. What are your social interactions like?
For a more positive and proactive take on things, head on over to Futures for Kids. F4K, as I like to call it, is a nonprofit that helps students explore careers that incorporate their interests and skill set, then hooks them up with a pre-screened career coach for mentoring and advice. The success of the F4K program hinges on students being able to connect to real people and companies. The best part is that thanks to the sponsorship of their business partners, F4K can provide these tools to students at no charge.
As an educator, you can use Futures for Kids to look at your students’ interests and track their progress through education plans — you know, all that fun teacher stuff. But let’s say that a student out there wants to become a teacher one day. It just so happens that you also know a thing or two about being a teacher, so you can also sign up as a career coach.
Know a local business that’s looking for well-trained employees? They can sign up as partners in the program, create their own page on the F4K website and highlight careers that students might be interested in. It not only helps a company gain a nice level of exposure in the community by supporting youth development (positive PR, anyone?) but the company also helps itself by developing its own future workforce. -NICK YINGLING
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? Find out at Kids Work!
10 High Fliers on Twitter
Still struggling to figure out how to use microblogging app/distraction engine Twitter for educational purposes? The Chronicle of Higher Education lists 10 exemplary Twitterers from the edusphere. Follow these folks for insight and ideas on how you can use Twitter to interact with your students, stay up-to-date with education news, network with fellow teachers, or come up with ideas for your classroom. Number four on the list: former Instructify writer Amanda French.
18 cool sites and apps that teach you about space
Learn more about the final frontier with this list of sites. You’ll find stuff from NASA, simulations of solar systems, space weather, solar flares and lots more. You’ll probably recognize a few of these sites from previous Instructify articles, but try to act surprised anyway. Don’t worry, there are plenty of new ones, too.
Ten Commandments of eLearning
Integrating technology into teaching isn’t easy, especially if you’re used to doing things the old-fashioned way. If you’re trying to figure out where to begin, or you’ve unsuccessfully tried classroom blogging or discussion forums, read this article from Cath Ellis, an English English teacher (she lives in the UK) who blogs about technology in education. She takes an approach other successful ed-tech users have extolled — focus on what you want to do, then pick the technology that will help you do it.
8 Unconventional Student Research Projects
Are your students bored by the same old research projects and science fair ideas? Tell them to have a look at this list of unique projects compiled by the fine folks at StudentHacks. While these particular projects were for college courses, it wouldn’t kill your kids to be ambitious with their projects. Also, after reading about projects like crickets playing Pac-Man or using Star Wars to teach recursion in computer science classes, they might get inspired to do something really creative. -BILL FERRIS
Photo credit: delgrosso on Flickr.
Ever thought of moving to a different state, but were unsure of what was required to be a teacher in that state? Well, wonder no more. The Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and MAT@USC have created the Certification Map, a dead simple way to find the teacher certification requirements for all 50 states in the Union.
Certification Map is a simple-yet-effective way to determine the requirements needed to become a teacher in your state. Click on any state on the map to see that state’s prerequisite coursework, teacher preparation, and testing requirements to be certified as a teacher. The information sections for each state also include links to each of the state’s testing information. For example, on the page for the sunny state of Florida, you can find links directly to the FLDOE’s certification test registration page — a handy feature indeed. The site also provides information as to whether that state offers an alternative certification for teachers that don’t have a degree in education.
Be sure to check out each state’s snapshot section, too. The snapshots contain information such as average salaries for elementary and secondary teachers, as well as give an idea of how far above or below that salary is compared to the average salary in the state. Snapshots also include how many weeks of vacation are allotted in each state (15 is apparently the magic number).
Whether you’re already a teacher but looking to move to another state, or you’re not a teacher but want to become one sometime, somewhere, the Certification Map from MAT@USC is a perfect place to start. -JERRY SWIATEK
It seems that the news lately has been full of teachers running afoul of technology. There’s the case (ably covered by Instructify editor Bill Ferris) of the Austin teacher who incurred the Wrath of the Internet by writing, very mistakenly indeed, that “No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.” There’s the case of the “Drunken Pirate” student teacher who posted a rollicking picture to her MySpace page, was denied her degree in Education just before her graduation from Millersville University, and then sued — and lost.
And then there’s the case of Julie Amero. In 2004, Amero was substituting in a seventh-grade classroom when inappropriate, possibly pornographic pop-ups began appearing on the computer. Amero was arrested and then convicted in January 2007 of four counts of child endangerment, and she was facing up to 40 years in prison until her conviction was vacated a few months later and a new trial ordered.
When I first heard the case described on the radio, it was immediately obvious to me that the computer had been hijacked by malware. I’ve only had a computer hijacked once, but once was more than enough, believe me. No one who has been startled by the appearance of multiple pop-up windows that spawn yet more pop-up windows when you try to close them would be likely to doubt Amero’s protestations that she hadn’t been deliberately visiting porn sites in class. Since my own hijacking, I’ve been very careful about installing and automating programs like the free Ad-Aware on my own computers. Ad-Aware updates itself and scans my system automatically, but every once in awhile I look at it, and it’s catching some nasty stuff every time, let me tell you. All the major web browsers now also allow pop-up blocking, and I make darn sure that it’s turned on, especially since I can grant pop-up exceptions when I need to. Your school’s IT staff almost certainly puts such protections in place for your classroom’s computer(s), but it might be worth a delicate inquiry — especially since evidence shows that the IT staff at Julie Amero’s school weren’t taking basic precautions.
It’s widely agreed in the tech community that the Julie Amero case was a tragedy and a travesty and a farce and just, well, extremely frustrating. At least it’s now over: on November 21st, 2008, Julie Amero chose to end a four-year court battle by pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, paying a fine of $100, and having her Connecticut teaching credentials revoked. What does she think about computers, after all this trouble? She doesn’t “touch them except for e-mail.” — AMANDA FRENCH
State of Connecticut vs. Julie Amero (Wikipedia)
Missing the point: Teacher confiscates free software
Happy Holidays, teachers and students. Here’s a little gift from us to you to of some lists upon which everything is nice, ne’er naughty. Hope you enjoy these numbers and have a wonderful holiday season.
10 Things They Need to Teach in High School - Most of my high school classes were there for the masses, and while I got a great dose of Spanish and traveled to a magnet school for a television production course, there are skills I had to wait until college to take. InstigatorBlog presents a list of 10 things they SHOULD teach in High School to help better prepare our students for the real world. For example, Personal Branding, Entrepreneurship, and my favorite Technology & Social Media.
7 Rules for Making a Good First Impression - With the new year upon us, we’re bound to make new relationships, have more conferences and makes more contacts. It is important that students as well as teachers know some of the basics to make sure they won’t be left in the dust when it comes to meeting new people and making a good first impression. Here’s a list from BusinessWeek that is mostly applicable for the office types, but can easily be altered to suit the needs of those in the field of education.
100 Words for Obama’s 100 First Days - With the inauguration right around the corner, Obama is going to have quite a lot on his hands in this troubled economy. What would you do if you were in his shoes? Wait, before you start talking, you should jot your ideas down for this essay contest and get a chance to be published on AlterNet. The rules are fairly simple, basically answer the question: What would you like Obama’s first 100 days in office to look like? in 100 words, and you could see your suggestions be published, and who knows, maybe even come to fruition.
6 Lessons You Learn by Playing Santa - My own dad was once a mall Santa, and despite the fake beard and lack of “bowl-full-of-jelly” belly, he really looked the part. More importantly, he earned a lot of respect from me (I was too old for Santa at the time, and while I was horribly embarrassed at the time, now I realized he did it because he volunteered to, not because someone made him do it). I’m sure having your lap pulverized by kids day after day is lesson enough to buy some thigh pads, there are other lessons to be learned. Dumb Little Man presents 6 of them here, including Appreciate the little things, and When in doubt, ho, ho, ho. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN
Photo credit: Wyscan on Flickr
When I was not sure which path my career would go, I very seriously considered teaching English in Japan. The salary seemed fine, but I was more interested in getting some exposure to a completely new world. Because of extenuating circumstances that aren’t worth getting into here, I opted to remain a patriot for the time being. Nonetheless, I scoured the Web and found plenty of resources available to answer my questions about where to begin planning my travels abroad to share my English skills.
First, here is a great series of posts by blogger NomadicMatt. He’s broken his knowledge and expertise of teaching abroad into five parts, which covers everything from job types to specific places to teach and what to expect in various countries. There is also plenty of information on what is required of teachers planning to go overseas to teach:
All countries require that you be a native speaker. This means from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. While some countries will hire Filipinos, they typically prefer Western employees.You will also need a bachelor’s degree from a 4 year accredited university. It doesn’t matter what your degree is in. Whether you have a degree in biochemistry to English to yoga doesn’t matter so long as you have a university degree. A four year degree is a MUST in the higher end countries like Korea and Japan.
These posts have lots of great information if you’ve already talked yourself into going, but it might be helpful to hear another side of the story, too. Read this post, about “The Ugly” side of teaching in Japan. It sheds a little bit of light on some of the aspects of over-the-pond tutelage that they won’t tell you about in the brochure. Also, Mottekaero jDonuts begs the question Is English Teaching Worth It? - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN
Teaching English Abroad pt 1
Teaching English Abroad pt 2
Teaching English Abroad pt 3
Teaching English Abroad pt 4
Teaching English Abroad pt 5
Teaching English in Japan: The Ugly
Is English Teaching Worth It?
Photo credit: jmurawski on Flickr)
Looking for a job for the upcoming year? Getting a job is a difficult, time-consuming, sometimes scary process. You need to fill out applications, proofread your resume, track down references, and remember to dry clean your suit. Don’t let all that effort go to waste by botching the interview, or turning in an unispiring cover letter. Anthony Balderrama of CNN.com dishes out some tough love for job seekers in his piece, You’re not getting the job - 25 reasons why.
The list of reasons includes no-brainers like submitting a resume loaded with typos and showing up to your interview in shorts. It also has a few etiquette tips like complaining about old jobs or not sending a thank-you note. If you’ve made any of these mistakes in the past, you can learn from them and move on. If you haven’t…well, you’re pretty special, I guess.
You can get some extra mileage out of this list by passing it along to your students, too. Some young job hunters are clueless as to how to properly impress a potential employer. Years ago, I myself once sported a ratty T-shirt as I went to pick up a job application. I was surprised when the store owner wanted to interview me there on the spot. Shockingly, I didn’t end up working there. Maybe if I’d had this list, things would’ve turned out differently. -BILL FERRIS
You’re not getting the job - 25 reasons why via CNN.com
Bizcovering had an interesting post I came across, 10 Universal Truths About Teaching. The article covers some things that educators will inevitably encounter during their careers. Among my favorite was on ‘Meetings’:
They didn’t tell you about the meetings when you were training, did they? You know, the meetings that take place before, during and after the working day? The meetings where others teachers you don’t know talk about students you have never heard about - interminably, without pausing for breath or comment.
This article is well written and quite funny. They’ve also put together a fun graphic for each truth, accompanied by an appropriate quote. For example, the truth ‘Explaining Stuff’ is paired with this:
“To describe what you’ve read is like trying to explain music in writing.” - Peter Hoeg
It’s nice to hear some of these truths coming from a more business oriented voice, as writer R J Evans has also written a series on ICT Training. Blog Bizcovering does a nice job presenting this article amongst some of their less accessible for teachers material. The #1 Truth on the list is open ended, and we’d love to hear in our own comments section of some of the truths you’ve found in your teaching experience. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN
Welcome to the Carnival of Education Career Fair! We’ve retracted the bleachers and set up the booths on the gymnasium floor so these brave teachers can see what they might be doing if they weren’t teaching (perish the thought).
Motivational Speaker
Mr. D at I Want to Teach Forever agreed to sport a freaking mohawk as long as his students worked hard, which was about three weeks. Sadly, his motivational experiment has concluded. Long live the mohawk.
Camp Counselor
As a kid, my wife got to go to Space Camp and Marine Science Camp. Had Tisha Kulak and American Consumer News been around back then to point out how to save money on tuition to summer research camps, I might’ve been able to go, too.
Productivity Consultant
Instructify-favorite studenthacks.org has some great tips for students who want to learn how to write a research paper.
Pro Athletes
The Jose Vilson uses Derek Jeter as an example of how nurturing students’ talent and leadership ability early on can reap great results.
And over at Jay P. Greene’s Blog, the author talks about the importance of identifying students’ talents, whether they’re a left tackle or potential honor student.
Economist
ESL teacher Larry Ferlazzo knows that money is the international language.
Translator
Melissa B. at The Scholastic Scribe provides a handy-dandy English-to-Eduspeak dictionary.
Director
Mathew Needleman at Creating Lifelong Learners takes a proactive approach to managing disruptive students during a class movie project.
Advice Columnist
Let’s Play Math! has some advice on teaching math to a struggling student.
Detective
OverwhelmedMom gets to the bottom of problems that gifted students face.
Investigative Reporters
The proprietor of a voice from the middle knows the means to discovery is asking the right questions.
In addition, eduwonkette responds to a Wall Street Journal article about the criteria used to evaluate teachers.
Game Developer
Alvaro at SharpBrains shares a few games to stimulate your temporal lobe.
Diplomat
Coach Brown tries to reach an understanding with hostile parents.
Nutritionists
At Homework. Dinner. Life. Angela points out that good nutrition habits ought to be maintained year-round, not just a few days before the test.
Meanwhile, Chanman at Buckhorn Road says all that caffeine students drink can’t be good for them.
Cartographer
Dan Callahan, a.k.a. geek.teacher, harnesses Google Maps for a lesson in community mapping.
Librarian
@EDU takes the work out of student research by pointing them toward Google Alerts.
Politician
Jane Artabasy at Golden Apple Teaching Excellence Network unloads the loaded word of the day, “elitism,” showing it’s nothing to be frightened of - especially in schools.
The folks at Golden Apple also mull over the differences in races and learning styles.
Astronaut
HowDoWhy asks, what is a solar system, anyway? Furthermore, just how big is ours?
Human Resources Specialist
Over at Right on the Left Coast, Darren discusses the sticky situation of a teacher dating an 18-year-old student at a different school.
Mentors
Allison Jones at Entry Level Living wants to revamp the way young people think about leadership.
The folks at the Efficient Leadership Files have some ideas on that as well.
Statistician
Lead from the Start crunches the numbers about the disconnect between teachers and EdSector.
Strategist
Seth Pearce at NYC Students Blog has an intriguing idea on how to overcome schools’ non-stop test preparation.
Lobbyist
PZ Meyers at Pharyngula has some news about a disturbing bill in the Oklahoma legislature regarding religion in schools.
Road Grader
As the great homework debate rages on, Shabam School makes a good case for grading homework.
Kindergarten Teacher (sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything else)
Kiri at Elbows, Knees, Dreams shares her thoughts (and asks for others’ opinions) about early entrance to Kindergarten.
Photo credit: ou_ags on flickr
moxie design studios
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