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izz aty

Hype that's not my type | EFL Classroom 2.0 - Teacher Talk - 0 views

  • I read a lot about the “new paradigm” that is occuring in education. There is a lot for us teachers and particularly those in leadership positions to think about. I really do hear some things repeated over and over again – that I just won’t buy into. I don’t believe the hype. These ideas seem so obvious and so clear that to me, they must be a lie. Reality is crooked and operates on her own principles – not the nice, clean kitchen cupboards we like to stack away our beliefs in. So in brief and to maybe get others thinking a little “outside the box” – here are 3 things that are being hyped in the educational world that I disagree with completely. (and a joke for each that I hope will support my argument or if not, at least give you a chuckle)
izz aty

Teach Children Well: Teaching Well is About Balance - 0 views

  • Good teachers need to be healthy
  • All work and no play makes teachers (and the classroom) dull
  • if a teacher isn't taking part in developing his or her own learning, then he/she has little to bring to the classroom
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  • Creating optimal routines and patterns prior to the school year supports balance
  • making time for relationships can be difficult.  Making a plan as to when and how you'll meet up with friends and relatives throughout the year helps
  • Research shows that when we work collaboratively, we do a better job.  Also, getting involved in new initiatives and endeavors with colleagues is energizing and in the end, makes you more targeted and efficient in the classroom
  • "If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem."
  • make it a rule not to deal with issues on the fly and without all the facts
  • A positive, pleasing, professional demeanor is integral to doing the job well
  • It's important to make the time at the start of the year to teach the students about your classroom organization and routines, so that they can help you to keep the room organized to best serve learning endeavors.
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    Teaching well is about balance.  Easier said than done, but a good teacher, like a good parent, has a sense of balance when it comes to what matters. As I begin to think about the school year ahead, I'm beginning to focus on what matters and what the balance needs to be to best teach my students.
izz aty

Reach Every Child | Welcome! - 0 views

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    Resources/organisations (with their website addresses) to help new teachers.
izz aty

Education Ideas for New Teachers and Education Students - 0 views

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    From "how to" information on lesson planning and writing behavioral objectives to ideas about classroom management, and descriptions of the advantages and disadvantages of different instructional methods, this section of the ADPRIMA site can be helpful to new teachers, beginning teachers, and teacher education students. Every attempt has been made to write these descriptions in an easy-to-understand style. Most visitors appreciate this. You will find useful information here that will give you a different perspective, get you thinking, and maybe help you to be a more effective teacher, or better student
izz aty

Top 10 Ways to Manage Teacher Burnout - Combating Teacher Burnout - 0 views

  • Every time you think a negative thought reword it in your own mind. Even though this might seem silly, it is the core of internal happiness.
  • create an overall task list that you need to accomplish and store this someplace where you can check it over each week. Then make yourself a daily to-do list that is reasonable and doable. Try to limit yourself to 3-5 tasks that you can accomplish in one day. Then when you mark them off the list you can feel a sense of accomplishment, and you will have something to celebrate.
  • Each time something happens beyond your control, you can just ask for the courage to change the things you can, the strength to accept the things you cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.
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  • While teachers cannot change much of what is thrown at them, they can change their own attitudes towards these challenges.
  • When your workday is done, you need to leave the stresses of it and the rest of your life behind, even if only for fifteen minutes. Relaxation and meditation can rejuvenate the body and the spirit.
  • laughter often is the best medicine. The natural endorphins that are released while laughing help bring us relief from the stresses of the world.
  • Burnout can often be caused by getting caught in a rut. While on the Internet, search for new lessons or materials to help you teach an upcoming topic. Outside of school, find something that you've always wanted to try but haven't done yet.
  • try not to bring home work every night. You might want to consider going into school early so that you can complete your paperwork.
  • everyone needs a good night's sleep to function properly the next day. I know that I personally need at least seven hours to be productive the next day. Figure this number out for yourself and make a date with your bed each night. Your body will thank you!
  • stay away from those who are disgruntled. Instead, find someone who has a positive outlook on life and talk about teaching with them.
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    Teaching can be a very stressful job which can sometimes lead to teacher burnout. This article focuses on the top 10 things you can do to combat teacher burnout. 1. Foster Positivity 2. Create Realistic To Do Lists 3. Accept That There Are Things You Cannot Change 4. Learn to Relax 5. Watch a Funny Movie 6. Try Something New 7. Leave Your Teaching at School 8. Get Plenty of Sleep 9. Talk to Someone Positive 10. Celebrate What It Means to Be a Teacher
izz aty

Teaching materials: using literature in the EFL/ ESL classroom | Onestopenglish - 0 views

  • Why use literature?
  • Different models of teaching literature in class
  • Using literature over a longer period of time – the set novel or reader
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  • Stage four: understanding the language
  • Stage one: warmer
  • Stage two: before reading
  • Stage three: understanding the text, general comprehension
  • DIY literature lesson plan
  • Stage five: follow up activities
  • Using poems
  • Using extracts from stories or short stories
  • Using extracts from plays
  • Potential problems
  • Problem 2: How do I choose material?
  • Problem 3: Is the text too difficult?
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    Literature has been a subject of study in many countries at a secondary or tertiary level, but until recently has not been given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom. It has only been since the 1980s that this area has attracted more interest among EFL teachers. The purpose of this article is to look at some of the issues and ways in which literature can be exploited in the classroom. There are also links to classroom activities and lessons with literature that you can download and use straight away.
izz aty

DAP Malaysia | The proposal to import Mandarin teachers from China - 0 views

  • At present, Mandarin is being offered as a subject in 600 national schools
  • the idea of importing teachers and experts in Mandarin from China is not practical as most of these teachers from China are not fluent in Malay. So how can these teachers from China communicate with the students and teach Mandarin as a 3rd language effectively?
  • Besides, since 2007, our government has spent RM12,302,720 to send 409 non-Chinese students to China to learn Mandarin. How much would it cost us to import teachers from China?
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  • instead of importing teachers in Mandarin from China, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should first tap into the local talent pool. 21% of the primary school students study at SJKC. Among them, 88% are Chinese and 9% are Bumiputra. At the same time, there are around 80,000 students studying at Chinese Independent Schools. All these are the potential candidates for becoming Mandarin teachers in the future.
  • reply from Deputy Minister of Education, Datuk Mary Yap in Parliament on October 29, 289 teacher trainees have completed “Kursus Diploma Perguruan Malaysia – Kursus Dalam Cuti” (KDPM-KDC) in June while 495 teacher trainees will complete “Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan” (PISMP) in December. All these graduates are specifically trained to teach Mandarin as 2nd language in our national schools.
  • Our Ministry of Education should first increase the intake for teaching Mandarin as 3rd language in PISMP and KDPM-KDC, and engage with Dong Jiao Zong to attract more students from Chinese Independent Schools to enroll. This will be a more expedient and costs effective method to produce 30,000 Mandarin teachers for 10,000 national schools.
  • While we support the idea of teaching Mandarin as a 3rd language in all national schools, this should not be done in a hasty manner. A policy that has nationwide impact and huge costs implication should be discussed thoroughly and plan carefully. It should not be announced in UMNO General Assembly and then immediately be implemented a month later. We do not want to see a repeat of mistakes made by Government in PPSMI as the future of our students is at stake.
izz aty

Adult ADHD: 50 Tips of Management « Dr Hallowell ADHD and mental and cognitiv... - 0 views

  • the single most powerful treatment for ADHD is understanding ADHD in the first place. Read books. Talk with professionals. Talk with other adults who have ADHD. You’ll be able to design your own treatment to fit your own version of ADHD.
  • It is useful for you to have a coach, for some person near you to keep after you, but always with humor. Your coach can help you get organized, stay on task, give you encouragement or remind you to get back to work. Friend, colleague, or therapist (it is possible, but risky for your coach to be your spouse), a coach is someone to stay on you to get things done, exhort you as coaches do, keep tabs on you, and in general be in your corner. A coach can be tremendously helpful in treating ADHD.
  • ADHD adults need lots of encouragement. This is in part due to their having many self-doubts that have accumulated over the years. But it goes beyond that. More than the average person, the ADHD adult withers without encouragement and positively lights up like a Christmas tree when given it. They will often work for another person in a way they won’t work for themselves. This is not “bad”, it just is. It should be recognized and taken advantage of.
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  • it equally if not more important for those around you to understand it–family, job, school, friends. Once they get the concept they will be able to understand you much better and to help you as well.
  • Try to get rid of the negativity that may have infested your system if you have lived for years without knowing what you had was ADHD
  • Listen to feedback from trusted others. Adults (and children, too) with ADHD are notoriously poor self-observers. They use a lot of what can appear to be denial.
  • Consider joining or starting a support group
  • Give up guilt over high-stimulus-seeking behavior. Understand that you are drawn to high stimuli. Try to choose them wisely, rather than brooding over the “bad” ones.
  • Don’t feel chained to conventional careers or conventional ways of coping. Give yourself permission to be yourself. Give up trying to be the person you always thought you should be–the model student or the organized executive, for example–and let yourself be who you are.
  • what you have is a neuropsychiatric condition. It is genetically transmitted. It is caused by biology, by how your brain is wired. It is NOT a disease of the will, nor a moral failing. It is NOT caused by a weakness in character, nor by a failure to mature. It’s cure is not to be found in the power of the will, nor in punishment, nor in sacrifice, nor in pain. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS. Try as they might, many people with ADHD have great trouble accepting the syndrome as being rooted in biology rather than weakness of character.
  • External structure. Structure is the hallmark of the non-pharmacological treatment of the ADHD child. It can be equally useful with adults. Tedious to set up, once in place structure works like the walls of the bobsled slide, keeping the speedball sled from careening off the track.
  • Make frequent use of: ◦    lists ◦    color-coding ◦    reminders ◦    notes to self ◦    rituals ◦    files
  • Color coding. Mentioned above, color-coding deserves emphasis. Many people with ADHD are visually oriented. Take advantage of this by making things memorable with color: files, memoranda, texts, schedules, etc. Virtually anything in the black and white of type can be made more memorable, arresting, and therefore attention-getting with color.
  • try to make your environment as peppy as you want it to be without letting it boil over.
  • Now that you have the freedom of adulthood, try to set things up so that you will not constantly be reminded of your limitations.
  •  Make deadlines.
  •  Break down large tasks into small ones. Attach deadlines to the small parts. Then, like magic, the large task will get done. This is one of the simplest and most powerful of all structuring devices. Often a large task will feel overwhelming to the person with ADHD. The mere thought of trying to perform the task makes one turn away. On the other hand, if the large task is broken down into small parts, each component may feel quite manageable.
  • Prioritize. Avoid procrastination. When things get busy, the adult ADHD person loses perspective: paying an unpaid parking ticket can feel as pressing as putting out the fire that just got started in the wastebasket. Prioritize. Take a deep breath. Put first things first. Procrastination is one of the hallmarks of adult ADHD. You have to really discipline yourself to watch out for it and avoid it.
  • Accept fear of things going well. Accept edginess when things are too easy, when there’s no conflict. Don’t gum things up just to make them more stimulating.
  •  Notice how and where you work best: in a noisy room, on the train, wrapped in three blankets, listening to music, whatever. Children and adults with ADHD can do their best under rather odd conditions. Let yourself work under whatever conditions are best for you.
  • it is O.K. to do two things at once: carry on a conversation and knit, or take a shower and do your best thinking, or jog and plan a business meeting. Often people with ADHD need to be doing several things at once in order to get anything done at all.
  • Do what you’re good at. Again, if it seems easy, that is O.K. There is no rule that says you can only do what you’re bad at.
  •  Use “time-outs” as with children. When you are upset or overstimulated, take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.
  • Keep a notepad in your car, by your bed, and in your pocketbook or jacket. You never know when a good idea will hit you, or you’ll want to remember something else.
  • Read with a pen in hand, not only for marginal notes or underlining, but for the inevitable cascade of “other” thoughts that will occur to you.
  • Set aside some time in every week for just letting go
  • Recharge your batteries. Related to #30, most adults with ADHD need, on a daily basis, some time to waste without feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch T.V., meditate. Something calm, restful, at ease.
  • Many adults with ADHD have an addictive or compulsive personality such that they are always hooked on something. Try to make this something positive.
  • Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what’s going on in the external world. Don’t waste your time ferreting out the reason why or looking for someone to blame. Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Changing sets, i.e., getting involved with some new activity (preferably interactive) such as a conversation with a friend or a tennis game or reading a book will often help.
  • recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with ADHD: Something “startles” your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial. This “startle” is followed by a mini-panic with a sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.
  • Plan scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs. Have a list of friends to call. Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there’s extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like, “You’ve been here before. These are the ADHD blues. They will soon pass. You are O.K.”
  • Expect depression after success. People with ADHD commonly complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This is because the high stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the preparation is over. The deed is done. Win or lose, the adult with ADHD misses the conflict, the high stimulus, and feels depressed.
  • Leave time between engagements to gather your thoughts. Transitions are difficult for ADHD’ers, and mini-breaks can help ease the transition.
  • Learn how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADHD are so used to being criticized, they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting their own case forward. Learn to get off the defensive.
  • Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation. Don’t “cut to the chase” too soon, even though you’re itching to.
  • Try to let the successful moment last and be remembered, become sustaining over time. You’ll have to consciously and deliberately train yourself to do this because you’ll just as soon forget.
  •  Remember that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times. This hyperfocusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem without being able to let it go.
  •  Exercise vigorously and regularly. You should schedule this into your life and stick with it. Exercise is positively one of the best treatments for ADHD. It helps work off excess energy and aggression in a positive way, it allows for noise-reduction within the mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical system in a most therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you add all that to the well-known health benefits of exercise, you can see how important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it over the long haul, i.e., the rest of your life.
  • Make a good choice in a significant other. Obviously this is good advice for anyone. But it is striking how the adult with ADHD can thrive or flounder depending on the choice of mate.
  • Learn to joke with yourself and others about your various symptoms, from forgetfulness, to getting lost all the time, to being tactless or impulsive, whatever. If you can be relaxed about it all to have a sense of humor, others will forgive you much more.
  • Schedule activities with friends. Adhere to these schedules faithfully. It is crucial for you to keep connected to other people.
  • Find and join groups where you are liked, appreciated, understood, enjoyed. Conversely, don’t stay too long where you aren’t understood or appreciated.
  • Pay compliments. Notice other people. In general, get social training, as from your coach.
  • Set social deadlines.
izz aty

The Nordic countries: The next supermodel | The Economist - 0 views

  • The Nordics cluster at the top of league tables of everything from economic competitiveness to social health to happiness.
  • lucky timing: the Nordics cleverly managed to have their debt crisis in the 1990s
  • Development theorists have taken to calling successful modernisation “getting to Denmark”
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  • In the 1970s and 1980s the Nordics were indeed tax-and-spend countries.
  • To politicians around the world—especially in the debt-ridden West—they offer a blueprint of how to reform the public sector, making the state far more efficient and responsive.
  • They have avoided both southern Europe’s economic sclerosis and America’s extreme inequality.
  • But tax-and-spend did not work: Sweden fell from being the fourth-richest country in the world in 1970 to the 14th in 1993.
  • Government’s share of GDP in Sweden, which has dropped by around 18 percentage points, is lower than France’s and could soon be lower than Britain’s. Taxes have been cut: the corporate rate is 22%, far lower than America’s. The Nordics have focused on balancing the books. While Mr Obama and Congress dither over entitlement reform, Sweden has reformed its pension system (see Free exchange). Its budget deficit is 0.3% of GDP; America’s is 7%.
  • Nordics have been similarly pragmatic. So long as public services work, they do not mind who provides them
  • The performance of all schools and hospitals is measured. Governments are forced to operate in the harsh light of day: Sweden gives everyone access to official records. Politicians are vilified if they get off their bicycles and into official limousines. The home of Skype and Spotify is also a leader in e-government: you can pay your taxes with an SMS message
  • Denmark and Norway allow private firms to run public hospitals. Sweden has a universal system of school vouchers, with private for-profit schools competing with public schools. Denmark also has vouchers—but ones that you can top up.
  • the Nordics also offer something for the progressive left by proving that it is possible to combine competitive capitalism with a large state: they employ 30% of their workforce in the public sector, compared with an OECD average of 15%
  • All Western politicians claim to promote transparency and technology. The Nordics can do so with more justification than most.
  • Denmark, for instance, has a system of “flexicurity” that makes it easier for employers to sack people but provides support and training for the unemployed, and Finland organises venture-capital networks.
  • Public spending as a proportion of GDP in these countries is still higher than this newspaper would like, or indeed than will be sustainable.
  • They are stout free-traders who resist the temptation to intervene even to protect iconic companies: Sweden let Saab go bankrupt and Volvo is now owned by China’s Geely. But they also focus on the long term—most obviously through Norway’s $600 billion sovereign-wealth fund—and they look for ways to temper capitalism’s harsher effects.
  • Their levels of taxation still encourage entrepreneurs to move abroad
  • Too many people—especially immigrants—live off benefits
  • pressures that have forced their governments to cut spending, such as growing global competition, will force more change. The Nordics are bloated compared with Singapore, and they have not focused enough on means-testing benefits
  • Nordics are part of the answer. They also show that EU countries can be genuine economic successes. And as the Asians introduce welfare states they too will look to the Nordics: Norway is a particular focus of the Chinese
  • The main lesson to learn from the Nordics is not ideological but practica
  • A Swede pays tax more willingly than a Californian because he gets decent schools and free health care
  • You can inject market mechanisms into the welfare state to sharpen its performance. You can put entitlement programmes on sound foundations to avoid beggaring future generations. But you need to be willing to root out corruption and vested interests.
  • you must be ready to abandon tired orthodoxies of the left and right and forage for good ideas across the political spectrum
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    SMALLISH countries are often in the vanguard when it comes to reforming government. In the 1980s Britain was out in the lead, thanks to Thatcherism and privatisation. Tiny Singapore has long been a role model for many reformers. Now the Nordic countries are likely to assume a similar role.
izz aty

Pennington et al 2014 Defining Autism: Variability in State Education Agency Definition... - 0 views

  • Federal Register, vol. 71, no. 156, 2006, Rules and Regulations, p. 46756 a, 2006.
  • examined the definition of autism published by state education agencies (SEAs), as well as SEA-indicated evaluation procedures for determining student qualification for autism
  • compared components of each SEA definition to aspects of autism from two authoritative sources: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA-2004)
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  • also compared SEA-indicated evaluation procedures across SEAs to evaluation procedures noted in IDEA-2004
  • many more SEA definitions incorporate IDEA-2004 features than DSM-IV-TR features. However, despite similar foundations, SEA definitions of autism displayed considerable variability
  • The federal definition of autism preceded the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) [8], and it is essentially unchanged since 1990.
  • The federal definition is generally compatible with both the category of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as described in DSM-IV and Autism Spectrum Disorder as described in DSM-5 [9], but it does not match any specific variety of PDD (see below). Within public school systems, students who have been clinically diagnosed with either a DSM-IV PDD or with DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder are likely to be identified under the federal category of autism for the purpose of receiving special education services
  • In contrast to the IDEA-2004 definition, criteria for autism are more specific in the DSM-IV clinical diagnostic criteria
  • DSM-IV was superseded by DSM-5 [9]. The disorders comprising PDD in DSM-IV are largely addressed in DSM-5 by the Autism Spectrum Disorders category, which—unlike DSM-IV’s PDD—has no subcategories.
  • identification criteria still include substantial social problems (social initiations and responses, nonverbal social communication, and social relationships) and restricted, repetitive behaviors or interests (deviant speech or movements, rituals and resistance to change, preoccupations, and sensory reactivity). State education agencies (SEAs) have not yet incorporated DSM-5 information into their policies, procedures, and practices related to students with autism, and the DSM-5 definition was not involved in the present study.
  • State education agency (SEA) definitions of a disability do not have to match the federal definition but must substantially address its elements or lose federal financial support for special education.
  • No doubt the prevalence of ASD naturally varies somewhat with geography [4] but probably not by such a large factor, greater than tenfold in adjacent states. Conceivably, some state-by-state variation might be attributable to the content of SEA definitions of autism and perhaps the evaluation procedures required to accurately measure the concepts presented in definitions.
  • In a study of SEA definitions of autism, MacFarlane and Kanaya [10] found substantial variation in the eligibility criteria used by different states. By their analysis, 35% of SEAs based autism eligibility solely on the federal definition of autism, while 65% used diverse other criteria including symptoms of autism from the DSM-IV-TR
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    "Autism Research and Treatment Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 327271, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/327271 Research Article Defining Autism: Variability in State Education Agency Definitions of and Evaluations for Autism Spectrum Disorders Malinda L. Pennington,1 Douglas Cullinan,2 and Louise B. Southern2"
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