Students listen best when they are paying attention.

When it appears that you may be “losing the attention” of some of your students, or even when there is a crisis brewing, you can use the tool of distraction. Simply start doing something else that is totally different. It can be an action, an activity, or music.

Have a great day and a wonderful week-end.

Maryln

How to ask students to do something.

When you need a student to do something, say the student’s name first, and then say, “I need you to…” Say it firmly. Use a calm deep voice. Have your voice get deeper and deeper and lower and lower as you speak. Students respond better to this than to demands, loud voices, or power struggles. Be persistent, but calm.

Have a great day.

Maryln

You are part of a larger team than you can see.

School is restarting all over for the new 2009-2010 school year. When you step into your classroom, know that you are part of a world team of educators who help build a better world for children. You build it through your words, your encouragement, your information and knowledge, your consistency, your caring, and by you simply being present for some who have no one consistently present. Thank you for what you do. You are a difference maker.

Have a great day and a wonderful school year.

Maryln

Give children the wish to learn.

It’s important to teach, but it’s even more important that as you teach, you give the child the wish to learn. That’s one of the greatest gifts you can give to your students. Do this by making lessons understandable and engaging.

Have a wonderful day.

Maryln

The secret to reaching and teaching each student is to realize that each student learns differently.

Take time to discover how each of your students learn, and your students will be more successful at learning. Most students are visual learners, and cannot learn through lecture, yet lecture is often the most common teaching style in schools. Some children are kinesthetic learners. They have to touch and feel what they are learning, and then they “have it.” Discover the learning style of your students, and teach to that style, and you will “hook” them.

Have a great day and a wonderful week.

Maryln