Public Speaking Skills Are In The Mix To Increase Salaries For Your Students - Not Just STEM!

You are going to get tired of hearing the former language arts/English/humanities teacher point out the obvious to her, but not so obvious to the STEM heads that the rare student that presents the “complete” package has an increased change of getting a job, getting ahead and getting a bonus!

            To boost your chances of getting hired—or getting ahead—polish “soft” skills such

            as public speaking, writing and listening. And that applies even to rarefied experts. 

            It used to be that tech people could stay in the tech department. Now, says 

            McDonald, “people work in teams. You have to learn how to speak to non-experts

            across the organizational  chart.”
            Read more at http://www.kiplinger.com/article/saving/T012-C000-S002-look-for-

            a- modest-pay-raise-in-2014.html#ZYyw9jUAYtfuhyMR.99

As my rotator cuff heals – I've had a pretty major setback and typing causes me a lot of pain! I’ll start to get back to my longer posts.  I am so sorry that the healing process is not running smoothly, but it’s just one of those things.

The list below provides a few other tips for your students as they learn to become adept public speakers – I used to keep the videos of their reports/speeches so they could review them before their next speech and pick an area for improvement – I let them review their previous reports during lunch or after school:

1.    Loudness doesn't equal emphasis – often stopping and becoming silent and then quietly announcing an important point gets the message across.

2.    This leads to the next point – have a statistic that is a surprise or a piece of information that is contrary to the expected. An important supporting detail will get your audiences’ attention.

3.    Be prepared to wing it!! Your time may be cut, power may fail, and practice – practice – practice! Record your speech (if possible, use your web cam to watch for lazy eyes, too much blinking and other visual ticks) and play it back until when you watch it, you feel it’s on the mark.

4.    Don’t think about yourself during your speech – think about what you are trying to achieve! Don’t market yourself – network with people and make connections. If you are lacking in creativity for the moment, find an object and connect it to your life in a non-traditional way. (We’re back to how is love like a tree?)

5.    My debate team had lucky dimes in their shoes from their fellow students.  They were instructed to wiggle their toes to touch the dimes if they felt nervous and remember all the support their classmates had given them during mock debates and practice – my students were so composed and prepared – I have no real proof that the dimes helped, but in my heart, I like to think they did.

We need all disciplines to be integrated for children to make connections and develop their talents, knowledge and skills.  It is important to devise methods that tap creative solutions to needs in our own country which are also global needs.  Every person is a resource and we must never lose sight of that vision.  Providing all children with an education feeds their soul just as food, water and a healthy/safe environment feeds their body.  Best wishes to all who have courage and care for children around the world. 

Assessments How to Make Students Take Them Seriously . . .

In high school it is easier depending on the make up and subject area of your class to have students take the grade they earn seriously because many of them may be college bound and so their GPA counts.  AP classes, Cambridge courses or International Baccalaureate courses usually attract committed students.  Many school districts are making it easier to enroll in challenging courses with mixed results.  Many students without the expected entry-level-skills can slow the pace of the course, but ultimately rise to the higher requirements, but may need tutoring.

Middle school students can either be grade grubbers, hit peaks and valleys or be a defeatist - it's what we call the child who has absolutely no self confidence and has chosen to not try at all. This child will usually be a problem in class because if you can't get an "A" in a subject - you can certainly earn an "A" or even an "A+" in being disruptive. Elementary students can also be all over the place, but if you can hold their attention and have good curriculum strategies and lesson plans that allow for flexibility and mobility, students may become learning sponges especially third and forth graders - wow, what great ages.

So assessments - one quick one is exit visas - you put a few questions on your "Smart Board" for closure and students have to answer one of their choice as a pass out of the room - really great on the day you have a formal observation. Pass out 3x5 cards at the beginning of class to set this up as a pattern so students will know this is an exit visa day and they should already put their name and class period on the card. Your observer will be super impressed with this quick assessment. It's closure, too!!  You can hold onto these for study guides for quizzes and test guides.  Apps are available now that can generate multiple versions of your tests so that can cut down on student cheating, but essays are essays.

If you have a blackboard-like function that you can set up that runs the plagiarism software on submitted Word essays, you are in teacher heaven.  I just had to do that for the first time in my grad class and thought, wow (although this is the second class I've taken in the English Department - they are not standardized, go figure) - this is a perk!  The papers are all electronically uploaded so the format is standard. Then they are scanned for plagiarism and the yellow background the professor used is easy on the eyes when she reads them. Of course - as grad students paying for the course, we take the assessments seriously.

My tests/assessments had a predictable pattern and appearance.  That is the first rule. The second rule is that some material from past lessons always appeared on a new test/assessment - if it was important enough for me to teach, it is important enough for the student to remember.  The third rule - students self-score the test with a red pen immediately upon finishing the test.  Students turn in the test when time is called, all pencils are put away, desks are cleared and red pens are passed out and test papers are returned.  Students correct their own papers using the matching answer key. (This is great for special needs students because it meets many of their IEP's)  You put the answers to the spelling test in a word box on the "Smart Board", chart or blackboard - so they can use them correctly in the rest of the test.

Sorry to tell you that you, the teacher, will still have to spend lots of time reviewing each paper because students do not do a good job of finding their mistakes.  Since the test format is always the same - the point value is standard so the students learn to score themselves very quickly.  Students may request to retake the same test within three days. When parents or guardians find out that students do not have to live with a poor test grade, they get pretty insistent that you automatically give the test again. Word gets out that you have to work hard if you want to fail the class. Meanwhile, you are constantly reinforcing the main concepts that you want to stay put in the brains of all of your students.  Yes, it's a lot of work - but it works.  They take the assessments seriously - at least the ones I made and those were related to the ones the school district and state developed.

Tests and assessments should be a chance to show off and get that "A" - students should feel confident that between the preparation you have given them all year long. A "unit" on test-taking skills has taught them to look for key words in the set up and weed out the distractors. The more you give exit visas, pop quizzes and predictable tests - the more students will take them seriously.

It is true that culturally, some students are mocked for getting good grades.  This is where I think having a lunch bunch or some other alternative lunch-room area is a cool privilege.  Maybe it should be a lottery for those who are interested. This might relieve some pressure to fail on purpose.

Being predictable about your assessments, how they are graded and formatted will go along way to helping students take them seriously.  Double weight test and single weight quizzes and that also helps.  If the whole class bombs a test throw it out - it's your fault!

Essays on tests should be brief or should resemble test prompts - triple weight them if you can and develop individual topics before the test so students can prepare for two or three topics that you all figure out together. Finally, outcome-based projects give an authentic measure for students that just will never do well on any formal test instrument.  I construct the arc of nine week and semester grades so that projects will protect any student from a "D" or "F", but take a look at my rubrics and you will see that I spell out specific expectations.  So high expectations and student input raise the stakes and students take these assignments more willingly.  Good luck - it seems like the assessment grind is slowly winding down and maybe teachers can take the lead in making better judgment calls on what works best for educating American youth.

Be a Teacher Your Students Remember - An Idea From a Math Teacher and One From Me!

At a yard sale last weekend, an outstanding math teacher and tutor and I started swapping stories and ideas.  I mentioned to her that I frequently meet former students because twenty years of my career were spent teaching locally.  I'm usually interested to hear what's happening currently so it's rare that I ask about what they remember from the year they spent with me.  Sometimes they volunteer something beautiful, but mostly they remember it as their favorite class - a place where they felt welcome and most important of all: a place where they could be themselves.  Recently, I ran into a student who is using her graphic and journalism skills and she gave me a lot of credit for getting her interested in that arena - I don't think so - but it was nice of her to say.  However, my math master and I started talking about teachers and/or lessons we remembered.

I could only remember Mr. Collins, my sixth-grade teacher, who made it snow using boiling water and a special beaker with a long neck. We went outsize on a day when the temperature was 32 degrees and so flakes collected in the long neck of the beaker. I think I've mentioned him a few times.

Here is her math story and I think it is well worth passing along.  Her seventh grade math teacher stood out for her because she had different geometric shapes (fairly large and different colored ones), folded and made of paper hanging from every light fixture. She said that the shapes would move gently and when she finished her work, she would always transfer her gaze to the shapes- always finding something of interest in the class. Additionally, this teacher had the numeric value of Pi written on the wall circling the middle (nice size and eye level when seated) and when she had run out of room she had ended with three dots (or marks of ellipsis) indicating that this number was infinite. This was a Pre-Algebra/Algebra class for advanced students, but our master math teacher remembers learning the process of algebraic equations and that they were presented visually - not just as algorithms.

As a tutor, she now sometimes views the on-line presentations of math teachers who just put the equations on the "Smart Board".  All of the upcoming lessons are posted so that the student, parent and tutor, if necessary, can review what process to use.  However, she always turns the lesson into something visual and concrete. She explained to me that one item she uses is a soccer ball shape which students can fold and create.

The best teachers I know have always used sensory materials.  It is time consuming to plan these lessons not to mention costly - which is why working as a departmental, grade-level or interdisciplinary team, sharing and brainstorming ways to push to the application level of learning is so important. I told her I had always loved Algebra and loved teaching the beginning level of it to sixth graders.  For me, Algebra is like unwrapping a present.  What I do to one side of the box, I must do to the other and so on and so on until I get to the end and the present stands alone. Yippee!

Now, it's my turn - chose a theme for your room: pirates, boxes, puppets, hats, tall buildings, outer space, weird animals, shoes, rocks, circles, eyes, Muppets, Post-it notes, bridges, crazy inventions, silly socks, volcanoes, amazing careers, detectives, olden days, survivors and fishing ...
These are just a few items that I brainstormed - wanted them to be gender neutral, safe topics (no parent phone calls), easy for you to find inexpensive or free material to decorate your room and when you chose the theme it must be something that grabs you - like - I got this!

When I did pirates, I found a parrot for two or three dollars at the Party Store and I had a blast using that prop!  Parents used to always tell me they couldn't wait to hear the stories of what went on in my classroom - now chew on that for awhile. Most kids go home - what did you do in school today? Nothing!  I must admit that I am a ham - so I do like a lively room and it isn't for every teacher out there - but even if you're a quiet person - the theme will do wonders for embedding any lesson in every students' mind.

Wonders of wonder - who knew Kings Dominion was a fantastic source of inexpensive posters! I'll leave off with the words from one of my favorite posters from good, old KD:

People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered,

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The kindness you show today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Be kind anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down

by the smallest person with the smallest mind.

Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

Author Unknown (Some people have suggested that they have found the author for this piece - let me know if you have a name for me.)

Poster by Mantis Design copyright 1998 Mantis Design, 513 Main St. Stroudsburg, PA 18360 

www.mantis.com