Cases of Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD, have been on the rise in recent years. Doctors are finally realizing that a true physical disability can be present in both children and adults in order to cause them to have a reduced attention span and increased hyperactivity. If you're raising a child with ADD, what are some things you can do to help him cope with this condition, to still get a proper education, to learn boundaries, and to keep you from pulling out your own hair? There are some

                                             A Master Teacher Proves Phonetic Rock is the way!      Those of you who’ve read my other two articles, and follow the education paradigm  are aware of problems with No Child Left Behind. It’s been noted recently that the NCLB

  Alternative Settings for Students     Alternative Night School and Credit Recovery are new programs that have been added to Elmira City School District’s already existing alternative day high school. Elmira City School District recognizes that students have varying learning styles. They also understand the difficulty that some students face when they become credit deficient. In response for the need to prevent increased drop out rates, and attempting to

Communications Plan Want to develop a plan for communicating with your staff using a variety of methods? Interested in looking for a way to maximize your limited resources of time and energy to create an optimal school climate where communication is NOT your number one stumbling block? I have composed a “why and how to design” a plan, what key elements need to be considered in the plan design, and the different audiences and classifications of information that needs to be communicated. The work here has two components; the first takes a look at the semantics and systematic development of a communication plan. The second component is the direct application and transfer of plan development to the communication needs of the school setting.

Get your kids reading with these fun and easy tips

Single gender education has been touted as having a wide variety of educational and social benefits for a variety of populations--girls, boys, disadvantaged, at risk students, special education students and others. However, administrators who use the "implementation without preparation" method are doomed to fail.

  Decipher that Code & Read Part Two Phonics: We'll review Two important Reading Programs But first, a review of what is Phonics is appropriate at this point. What exactly is phonics? Phonics s the method by which children learn the letters and the sounds associated with these letters at the same time“ Phonics is knowing that sounds and letters have a relationship — it's that simple, and that complex. It is the link between what we say and what we can read and write. &q

I once was asked to speak to a group of teenage boys about the importance of families. I am a high school religion teacher and often speak to teens. But this assignment made me nervous because I knew it was a topic the boys weren't excited to hear. Minutes before speaking I had an unusual experience. A visual image came to my mind as though someone had turned on a television set in my brain. I clearly saw a scene you might see on the Discovery Channel -- it was a lion scattering a herd of anima

Here’s a modest proposal: teachers should recall that their first loyalty is to children and parents, not the elite educators who manage the system. As I’ll show, these people are often indifferent to the misery they cause, and that's why we need a Teacher Liberation Front: In 1944 Life magazine reported that "Millions of children in the U.S. suffer from dyslexia." This was a phony epidemic created almost entirely by Whole Word. Did the educators pushing this hoax apologize or change

How I stumbled across the idea for Builder Boards, a playhouse kids build themslves.

by Ani SC Torres, this article, which actually looks like an open letter to any teacher, opens up what students cannot express on their own. I need to go back to my days as a student, to recall what I should have asked my teachers to help propel myself into studying the way I should have.

When parents take the child's side over a professional educator

Seattle, WA – The knowledge that our children are safe, happy and emotionally sound is one of our greatest concerns. If they were being traumatized by something at school or, even worse, the attentions of a predator, we would want to be the first to know. The only way we can truly be sure that they are all right, or if something is troubling them, is if they feel they can confide in us on a person-to-person basis. But are we actually listening to them as equals, or are we listening to them with

Recounts some solar experiments/demonstrations I've developed for kids.

I have been studying the Reading Wars (phonics vs. Whole Word) for several years. The crime mystery of the century, if you ask me. One thing that makes research difficult is that educators in the USA slip around in secrecy. Remember, they’re embracing philosophies, and promoting policies, that nobody ever voted on or even discussed in public. If you look back over the last 100 years, you’ll see a sludge of bad ideas that seem to bob in on the tide. John Dewey set the tone around 1900 with his

One of the most rewarding activities I’ve done with young children is taking things apart. Together we have disassemble flashlights, record players, vacuum cleaners, faucets, blenders, drills, VCRS, drills and lawn mower engines--almost everything except television sets, which are quite dangerous. Little did I realize that what began as an attempt to entertain my son would evolve into teaching a “shop class” at Montessori school and woodworking for the local parks department. It was my son who f

      Video review of The School- Age Child Who Stutters                   Teachers deal with a variety of learning issues on a daily basis. Stuttering is one of many problems a teacher may encounter when working with students. It is important for teachers to be able to recognize the different problems and address them in the most effecient way possible. The School – Age Child Who Stutters is a

This article stresses the importance of enriching the correctional educational program through achieving an inner motivation in resident students. This inner motivation can be achieved by the resident student’s participation in instructional lessons, unique units-of-fun, that are more than just the basics. These lessons focus on experiences that the resident student may have never undertaken in real life. Studies prove that teaching through the student’s life experiences is the best method. What my article argues is that not all students have abundant life experiences upon which to draw and some have only negative experiences. Therefore, it is up to the correctional teacher to integrate into the curriculum a supplement for missed or lacking life experiences. Enriching the resident students’ minds with these supplemental and needed lessons can only improve their success for reintegration into the community and as a parent. The article gives three examples of how the correctional educator can provide these meaningful lessons. Through describing my personal lessons demonstrated in class, I hope to assist teachers in all institutes with options.

Shop for Kids tell about how my first experiences working with kids led me to teaching preschool and summer shop classes.

By Ani SC Torres This short article is about thevalue of diligence that adult models pass on to children. It also speaks of the homeschool set up where the children have countless exposure to experiences that require and develop the value of diligence.

Woodworking with Kids: safety When my son Andrew was five years old, he loved hanging around the shop with me. He watched the curls come off the wood as I planed a board and wanted to try it himself. I showed him how the plane blade was adjusted, demonstrated how sharp the blade was by shaving hair off my arm, and explained how the plane straightened a crooked board edge. I was reluctant to let him handle the tool because of the sharp blade, but his enthusiasm and excitement convinced me to gi

A day in my summer shop class My summer class was set up in a double garage. The workbenches were inside but with the door open we were able to use the outside area in front of the garage, all in al a nice space. Although the class is woodworking, I always have a table of puzzles (mechanical, electrical, wood) my marble roll and builder boards. I bring these extra things so kids can have something to do before everyone arrives, if they finish their projects early, or if they just want or need a

Three Mechanical PuzzlesThe Faucet, the Lock and the Lawn Mower Engine The kids in my summer class loved to take apart VCR’s, record players and typewriters, but I didn’t want them to come away with the idea that you only took things apart. I began looking for simple mechanical devices kids could take apart, see how they worked, and then put back together. Then the obvious occurred to me: how alike puzzles and mechanical things are. Many people like puzzles but are intimidated by machinery.

by Ani SC Torres This article is about what a special but common activity can do in a classroom full of children. Valuable specially during the first few meetings of a classroom full of pre-school children, " show and tell" would help each child blend in, settle down comfortable and earn a significant amount of attention from both teacher and classmates.

Want to obtain an IT certification? Earn your GED? Enter college? You’ll need to take an exam first. In recent years, both the number of students taking exams and the emphasis placed on exam scores has skyrocketed. As such, scores that used to be considered high are now considered adequate or even mediocre. In turn, many students are looking to different exam preparation methods to improve their exam scores or increase their chances of passing a particular exam.