The Young Teacher's Guide to Parent

Your first parent/teacher meeting will be one where you will want to make the best impression. You will want the parents to see you as an experienced professional and someone who really knows their child and wants only the best for the child.

It is important to go to the meeting expecting to enjoy meeting the parents and finding ways to help them help their child. That way the meeting will 'get off on the right foot' and can achieve a positive outcome.

My first parent teacher evening was at a new high school where I taught every student Mathematics. I was still interviewing at 11 p.m. when the principal turned out the lights to get people to go home and, I suppose, to rescue me. However, I had a great experience. There have been many such meetings in my career. This article will detail the way I conduct these meetings.

1. Collect all test instruments the student has done.

2. Have copies with answers of all assessment instruments, assessment programs and a work program summary.

3. I have a summary of what I see as the strengths and weaknesses of the child. I refer to the test instruments to support these issues. I explain how the results could have been improved and what to do for the future, e.g. learning basic rules, having a better checking procedure.

4. Have, if possible, examples of the child's class work and work pads.

5. Consult the student's records from previous years for comparison purposes for all aspects of what you do, e.g. achievement in class work, behaviour, health and attendance problems.

6. Check attendance at class and for exams and other assessment tasks.

7. Check your diary for homework and behaviour problems.

8. Review the student's bookwork in advance and interview the student as you do it to get to know him/her better and seek to find out if there are any problems.

9. I have copies of how to study and do homework to give parents to help them help their child.

10. Exam technique is another issue for students so I give parents a handout on this also.

For Students At Risk

1. Suggest ways in which you can help outside the classroom: 

• Your availability 

• Tutors 

• Student mentors 

• Special needs teacher 

• Tutorials in lunch periods

2. Mention, where necessary, the following issues that may impact on student progress: 

• Lack of equipment, texts, pencils, and so on 

• Frequent lateness to class 

• Lack of attention in class 

• Slow to get on task 

• Easily distracted 

• Sits with the wrong crowd 

• Homework poorly done or not attempted 

• Will not seek help or ask questions 

• Is reluctant to answer any questions, even easy ones

3. I may suggest that the student be put on a contract or a behaviour card. I show copies to the parents.

4. I also suggest that they could sign the child's homework each night until we are happy it has become a habit again.

5. We decide which of 3 and 4 above we will do and I arrange to report to the parents on progress in the future weeks.

6. Don't forget to mention all the positives you can about the child especially if he or she is present.

7. Stress to the parents that you are only interested in helping the child reach their best potential.

8. Some parents will want tutors. I don't try to deter them but I tell them they need to get an undertaking from their child that they will work hard in class and at home and do everything the tutor tells them to do. I explain that the tutor should be able to increase their self-confidence and should be able to find problems that need to be addressed. I will give the parent a work program summary for the tutor. I usually have a list of tutors who live locally which I give the parents but I do not recommend anybody. I just tell them the list contains people who have offered to tutor. I suggest that they 'try before they buy' making sure their child is comfortable with the tutor first.

Youth Sunday School Curriculum

A big part of teaching youth Sunday school curriculum is helping your students take the next step in their faith. It is about taking the lessons they are learning and giving them opportunities to live them out in their daily lives. While some of these opportunities come naturally and you mainly just need to help your students recognize these opportunities when they come around, it can also be helpful to create some of these opportunities for service. A great way to do this is through mission trips or mission projects. In this article we will discuss exactly how you can go about this and increase the impact that your teaching has on your students.

While it could be difficult to organize a national mission trip or international one, depending on your role and/or your budget, putting together a local mission trip can be quite easy and very benerficial. All you have to do is look around at the needs in your community. Think through your students' interests and what sort of activities they might like to participate in. Think through what lessons you are covering in your youth Sunday school curriculum. Then find an opportunity to serve. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer at various places. A couple of places to look at when considering where your students can volunteer would be a homeless shelter or soup kitchen of some kind. This can give your students an opportunity to meet real need face to face and can give them a consistent place to serve. Another place to consider is a nursing home. The Bible is very clear about our call to minister to widows and quite often those in nursing homes have been neglected and would love for someone to just sit down and talk to them. This can be a simple yet powerful way for your students to get involved in the community around them.

If you for some reason cannot find a place that is already up and running for your students to serve, you also could go about creating your own opportunity. This option is great because it allows your students to use their creativity and to follow what God is laying on their hearts. I have seen this happen in several situations and some great opportunities have been created. You might find an apartment complex with a large number of people in need and go their to minister to kids or run errands for those who cannot. I also have seen groups start bible studies on their school campus and do on campus service projects a long with those studies. What you do depends on your students' needs and interests, along with the community you live in. So just take some time to pray and evaluate and then talk with your students about what they think you should do.

Financial Assistance Could Help Make Private Education More Affordable

What do you think of when you hear "private schools"? A higher quality of education? A wider range of qualifications? More extra curricular activities? Or is it the private school fees that spring to mind first?

Reports have shown that parents in Britain spend more on educating their children privately than in any other country. One of the reasons for this is said to be that many parents are unhappy with the quality of education offered in state schools. Not only this but many parents are unhappy with the discipline procedures as well as the variety of subjects in the national curriculum. The culture embedded in private schools is another reason for their popularity; the importance attached to discipline, manners, respect.

A vast number of British people have a very stereotypical image of private schools, and have rather negative preconceptions with regard to the fees required. For the average British family, the option of sending your son or daughter to a private school seems completely out of the question for this exact reason. With average fees of just over £4,000 per term, private education is impossible to fund for many parents.

However, many families are also unaware of the support available to help finance their son or daughter's private education. Many independent schools now offer financial assistance in the form of bursaries and scholarships. The latter are only awarded at certain stages throughout the pupil's schooling and are based on merit i.e. on a pupil's performance or abilities. Bursaries on the other hand, are generally awarded more frequently because they are based on financial need. They take into account the financial circumstances of the applicant's parents and the amount of financial assistance varies accordingly.

It's important to remember that you can approach the school and ask for help. Many schools hold regular visitors' days where you are given a tour of the school to see the pupils and teachers at work and are then given the opportunity to speak to the staff about the financial support available. Contrary to popular opinion, the aim of most private schools has always been to provide the highest quality education possible to pupils for all different backgrounds.

How Importance of Colour and Size for Educational Furniture?

Now-a-days, education is the backbone of our society. So everyone is giving most precedence to education and coming forward to develop the children's education. A good learning idea and concept is dependent on the comfortableness of a pupil. If you want to make your schoolchild more comfortable to study, you should choose a good set of educational furniture. The school furniture plays an important role to alleviate the learning process of the students. The school management should provide the best school furniture and it should be designed in such a dignified way that this will make the students more comfortable and pleasurable.

The school furniture set usually consists of school tables, chairs and desks, computer tables and office supplies furniture, laboratory tools and many others. School tables are very important and most necessary furniture among all other items. The size of the school tables should be made according to the student's age for best comfort. For the nursery schools the furniture should be made in small sizes and with different shapes and colours to engage with the children and spark creativity. The furniture should be safe, durable and well made by quality material. The textured and colourful furniture makes the kids interactional in the classroom and brings their attention to study.

Generally a school consists of some classrooms with an arrangement of school desks in well organized rows. School desk is one of the most indispensable furniture in a class room. Without a desk student's face many problems with a place to keep their books and slates. To avoid this problem Anna Breadin designed the first school desk in year 1889. After this innovation desk become the vital part of a class room as well as for individuals. At the time of purchasing a desk for teens it should be keep in mind that the desk should be well designed and made with more colours, which motives the teens to study.

Quality furniture for schools makes the students more comfortable and gives them pleasure and enables them to concentrate in greater capacity. School furniture typically ranges from tables, desks, chairs and shelves. Shelving units are ideal for a school library, because it holds the reader for a long period and gives a best atmosphere to learning. A best set of office supplies furniture makes a library more functional and beautiful.

Young Secondary Teacher's Guide To Preparing For An Absent Day

All teachers will have days away from their class. These days should not interrupt the learning process. Therefore, if you believe you are likely to be away sick tomorrow, then plan today, the work that you will leave for the relief teacher. Make sure you leave clear, detailed instructions on your desk where it is easy to find. Worksheets need to be based on the current work units which will help consolidate the students' learning.

If it turns out you are not sick and you return to your classes tomorrow, use this work to ease your day and aid your full recovery.

Planned school meetings or personal appointments are often known well in advance. Therefore, it is possible to work your teaching program around it so that the absent period can be used for revision tests and/or consolidation work. Leave more work than can be completed by the students for the period you are absent.

Included below are a series of strategies designed to help young teachers keep the learning process going forward during their absence.

• If you know you will be absent well in advance, plan your program so that you can prepare a practice test or activity.

• Ensure there is more work than can be done in the period to keep the class busy.

• If you leave a revision test, it should contain a variety of questions/activities that vary in difficulty from easy to hard. They must be directly related to your latest teaching unit and, if necessary, to other units to be tested in the next exam. You might like to include answers so that the relief teacher can give some guidance to students as to their success in the practice test. It will also help fill in the period time. It might also be important to suggest a time limit on the practice test so the less able don't get restless and misbehave. (This is a good ploy for less able secondary classes).

• Set some critical thinking exercises to extend your best students.

• Include an activity related to your work unit that can be an extra exercise for those who can do no more of the set work or have finished.

• If you expect the class to work on their assignments, you must give the relief teacher detailed instructions on the assignment plus copies of the assignment to provide for those who don't turn up with what is required.

• Leave practical work only if you know you have a relief teacher who has expertise in your area. If you don't know what relief teacher is coming, add an alternative set of activities. Remember to include advice as to where the equipment is and how to obtain a key.

• Include a class roll for each class and any advice the teacher needs to know about students.

• If there are room changes, specify them. Indicate where the relief teacher might find the students if they don't arrive.

• Above all, give activities that are on the topics being studied for the next exam. Ensure there is much to do and that every student has work that will occupy him/her for more than the whole period.

• Attach homework that the relief teacher would give to the class and follow up by checking and correcting during the next period. This homework could be to complete the revision test. Set a time limit on the homework.

• Indicate where the relief teacher can get help, both subject and discipline wise.

• Leave the relief teacher a fun consolidation/easy problem solving exercise that all can try to finish the lesson after the answers are given to the practice test or other set activities.

When you return to school, you must check what has been done, answering any questions and reteaching any problem areas so that students see you are serious about work to be done during your absences. If you don't do this, then your students will not treat work that you leave when you are absent seriously. This will make the relief teacher's day more difficult than it should be.