Search Results for: blog what type of teachers do students like

A different type of ADAP – ask for it!

A few years ago I worked for the federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and until today I had no idea there was another ADAP out there. While I like to think of myself as one who keeps up with the times when it comes to great programs, this one somehow slipped by me. This ADAP is the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program. The program is sponsored by John Hopkins Medicine and is designed to “increase awareness about depression and the need for evaluation and treatment”. I felt a little better about my lack of knowledge of the program when … Continue reading →

Florida School Discusses Use of Face Down Restraints

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Members of the school board at Palm Beach County School in Florida have discussed the use of a controversial type of restraint. The face-down restraint would be used as a last resort on special needs students who are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. However, this means that there is potential that this hold will be used. Would you give permission for your child to be restrained in this way? Certain kinds of restraints have been used in special needs classrooms all across the country. When I worked as a teacher’s aide in a special needs classroom, … Continue reading →

Intelligent Students

Sometimes teachers expect the worst from their students. I’ve highlighted this tendency before. Sometimes these teachers have had bad experiences with some unenthralled students and sometimes these teachers are just bad teachers. Whatever the case, the beginning of the year often has teachers comparing horror stories in preparation (perhaps emotional or mental preparation) for the coming semester. The classes I most often hear horror stories from are the classes students are forced to take for a credit in an area they don’t intend to study further. For me these classes were science credits. I waited until my senior year to … Continue reading →

Impress Your Teachers

For better or for worse I’m around a lot of teachers this time of the year (and throughout the coming year). This is the time when most teachers are preparing their courses. They sit and create outlines. They type up their syllabi. They consult the required textbooks for the course they are about to teach. In all of this preparation (something that most take very seriously) there is an underlying anxiety that is manifested from horror stories and past experiences of teaching. This anxiety is expressed normally as a joke to lessen the sense of unease these teachers feel as … Continue reading →

Activities Fostering an Appreciation of Other Cultures in Elementary and Middle-school Students

My last blog discussed activity ideas for helping young children become comfortable with racial diversity. Here are some ideas for teachers of elementary and middle school students: –Make sure they know the science of skin color. A good book is All the Colors We Are: The story of How We Get Our Skin Color. This is a bilingual (English/Spanish) book with photographs and simple explanations. –I like to follow or precede a discussion of the science of skin color with an artistic or aesthetic look at the beauty of different skin colors. I like All the Colors of the Earth, … Continue reading →

Combatting Stereotypes in Children, Part One

Our kids are growing up in a global society where they will have to feel comfortable with people of other races and religions. I really recommend the book Hate Hurts: How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice and the resources I listed in my blog Resources for Talking about Skin Color. The Public Broadcasting Service website offers the following suggestions from experts who contributed to PBS shows: Be aware of how and when children’s attitudes are formed. Children develop attitudes and identity through their experiences with their bodies and their social environments. Very young children perceive differences in skin color but … Continue reading →

Allow Students to Have Opinions

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Among the reasons that students gave that they do not enjoy reading was that they feared that they would not have the right interpretation of the text. In some cases students get very intimidated during group book discusses with the teacher. A typical middle school or high school literature class is carried out by the students reading a select passage of a book and then openly discussing it in class with the teacher. The teacher often asks the students to give an interpretation and meaning of the text that was read. They are also often asked to analyze the characters … Continue reading →

What Impression Do You Want to Give Your Students?

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The first time that you and your students meet you will both begin to make judgments on one another. Just as you begin to pick out the trouble makers and class clowns, the students will begin determining what type of teacher you are. When teaching you create your classroom environment and your image among the students. You set your own image with the way that you dress, the way that you speak and the way that you move. With these things you can create most any image that you desire among the children. However if you are not being true … Continue reading →

Older Students and Teacher Preferences

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My last discussion about students and the types of teachers that they like best involved middle school students. These students are typically not as interested in their academic career as younger students seem to be. This article will continue to work up the education ladder and address high school and college students along with their preferences in teachers. High School Students By the end the junior and senior year students in high school are usually really beginning to gain a grasp on the reality of life. They are beginning to understand why their parents and teachers pushed them as hard … Continue reading →

What Type of Teachers Do Middle School Students Like?

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In a few of my previous articles I have discussed what parents like about teachers and why some teachers get more requests from parents than others. Recently, I began discussing what it is about teachers that students like. As stated in my article, I discussed how the age of the child typically determines what type of teacher the child enjoys the most. As the child ages and matures, his or her interests and needs change. Their likes and dislikes about teachers also change. My first article described the characteristics of teachers that pre kindergarten and kindergarten students like best along … Continue reading →