Education tips and articles

Does the word “teacher overload” sound familiar? Are you one of those new teachers who has opted for marking everything? Many teachers decide to suddenly become organized a few days before the New Year, but with these few tips, your organizational efforts will already pay off. You will be destressed you as you begin your school year.

1. One of the oldest rules and a great tip is to avoid unnecessary checking. Now that the school year already started, you’ll want to make sure that you aren’t taking home too many assignments and paperwork that you cannot handle.

2. Make it another rule to set out blocks of time after school to find out “where you are.” You’ll also need your own space to organize your own papers and materials the way you are used to. This is a necessity, not a luxury!

3. Keep a planner, consult it frequently and use it to record ongoing issues and reminders. Get into the habit of making lists. Cross each task off as you complete it. Use your planner to record also interesting activities or ideas which you can quickly transfer to a card box or a word document on your home PC.

4. If you haven’t done so already, teach yourself how to touch type. It’s worth it! Use programs like Excel for calculating grades and percentages.

5. Keep a master copy of each worksheet that you prepare. Avoid bulk copies which can quickly add to unnecessary clutter. File as you go. You may want to file once a month or every few weeks so that you are on track of what needs to be filed. Recycle any unnecessary paper.

Another bonus tip.

By Sunday night, make sure all of your materials are in order for the upcoming week. Stock up on necessary materials which can take precious minutes away from lesson planning.

So what are you waiting for? Starting organizing your clutter today. You’ll be happy you did.

By: Dorit Sasson

You have most probably just walked out of a lecture and you’ve been given a task – write an essay on the economics of china’s hotel economy, or Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in Organizational learning. Chance are, you have just started your course or got through the last academic year producing Mediocre essays at best. Below are 7 tips to help you submit great essays.

1. Plan it well and start NOW

Ok. I know you will have heard it a lot recently – you need to plan your time, but its true. You need to put aside time from your lectures and socializing with your friends (not to mention a few hours earning money in your job) to actually understand what you will be researching and writing in your essay. Starting straight after you get set the task will put you in a better position than starting a day before submission.

2. Establish clear direction and understanding

If you are wanting for people reading your essay to know that you are confident in writing essays and understanding your topic, then you yourself should be clear about what direction the essay is headed in. Oh, and it could be good if you establish a direction for your research, structure and argument – they’re winning aspects of a great essay.

3. Your thoughts and research materials need to be organized

Just to make a clear point, you have to actually read and understand research materials – some students fail to notice that. If you organize these materials, by highlighting, alphabetical-Ising and ensuring you know which quote is where then you should be able to find information to address quickly and find opinionated arguments to support your flow of argument.

4. Learn from other writers

Are you confused about what or how to write? Then go take a look at other people’s essays – how have they leaped you glued to their paper and managed to keep consistent in their writing style? Is it interesting to read or does the paper jump around from one position to the next? Have a word with your lecturers/professors and librarians to see other essays from the previous year – are you up to par with them?

5. Plagiarism is a NO, NO

If you are managing your research material right, then you should be keeping track of the references and quotations, don’t pass your work off as someone else’s as it just won’t work – you will get caught. Your professor marking your essay is a professional and expert in the subject you are writing about – they will have read all the sources of the works you have written and know the style of certain authors. If you copy something from an author, and don’t reference it, then they will spot it a mile off, just don’t do it.

6. Draft a copy

Writing a first draft to check over your work is imperative, not only because you will probably re-write some bits because they don’t make sense, but also because you will want to ensure you have got everything in. Miss out the introduction and conclusion at this point though, as you will want to make sure your essay body is done.

7. Presentation is everything

Being a genius and submitting something that is perfect is only seen in the movies. Being human means we can’t notice mistakes in grammar, spelling and flow of argument all of the time – our brains simply don’t let us. You may spell check your document, but do you have it proofread by another person? If not, then you are making a huge mistake – not only will your essay look poorly written, but the illogical flow of argument and bad sentence structure could me the difference of a few percentage in your mark. The result – it could be the difference between a 1st and a 2:1 to your final grade, or you missing out on a distinction on your masters, even because of a few mistakes in a couple of essays – they all add up.

By: Nick Sanders

Are you the parent of a child with autism? Are you the parent of a
child receiving special education services? Would you like to learn
parenting tips that will help you become an equal participant in your
child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting? This article will
discuss 3 ways that tape recording can help you in advocating for an
appropriate education for your child with a disability

3 ways to use tape recording:

1. Tape recording can allow you to focus on what is happening during
the meeting, rather than focusing on taking notes. Listen to
everything that is going on, and do write down important things. Speak
up and give your opinion as often as you need to, for the benefit of
your child.

2. If an IEP meeting is tape recorded, you will be able to go over it
at a later time, and fill in your notes. It will also allow you to
remember things that may have happened that you missed. IEP meetings
can be adversarial. A tape recording allows you to listen to the
interactions in the privacy of your own home.

3. Tape recordings of IEP meetings can be used as evidence at a due
process hearing. In order to use a tape recording, as evidence, it
will have to be transcribed. Tape recorders should be digital, and
powerful enough to pick up several different people’s voices.

A lot of special education personnel become very resistant when
parents want to tape record IEP meetings. Below is an interpretation
of tape recording under IDEA, by the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP).

OSEP published its question #12 opinion in the Federal Register Volume
57, No. 183, Sept. 29, 1992 interpreting tape recording IEP meetings
and stated “that it is permissible to tape IEP meetings at the option
of either the parents or the agency.”

There have also been several law suits that have given parents the
right to tape record IEP meetings. One of these court cases in
Connecticut V.W. v. Favolise had the court reason that parents have a
statutory right, to attend and participate in IEP meetings, and the
district could not legally engage in an act to limit the parents
rights.

If special education personnel refuse to allow you to tape record,
because they say that they have a district policy, ask for a written
copy of the policy. OSEP in a memorandum 91-24 July 18, 1991 stated
“Thus any policy limiting or prohibiting a parent’s right to tape
record the proceedings at an IEP meeting must provide for exceptions
if they are necessary to ensure that the parent is able to understand
the proceedings at the IEP meeting. . .” Ask your school district for
an exception, so that you can understand the IEP meeting.

With the written policy in hand, cancel the IEP meeting, and send a
state complaint to your state department of education. Tell them that
you asked school personnel for an exception and they refused. The
state will have 60 days to resolve your complaint.

Tape recording can help you be an active participant in your child’s
IEP meeting. Your child is depending on your help, do not let them
down.

By: JoAnn Collins