Teacher Appreciation Week - students can nominate educators to win $1,000 towards teaching tools and resources

Students to Recognize Teachers Going the Extra Mile for Home Learning with Brainly’s ‘Online Educator of the Year’ Awards

Students can award the best online educators now through May 8, and the winning teacher in each category will receive $1,000 towards classroom resources

The coronavirus pandemic has forced students and educators to adapt, essentially overnight, to the new reality of distance learning and instruction from afar. Teachers are facing the Herculean challenge of creating engaging, interactive online lesson plans, motivating kids to stay focused, and ensuring every student receives the help they need.

That’s why Brainly, the world’s largest online learning community of students and parents, has launched the Online Educator of the Year Award to recognize educators who have enacted inclusive solutions for students to finish out the school year at home. The scholarship is in partnership with DonorsChoose, Codecademy, and ClassTag.

“In this challenging time, we’ve seen many go above and beyond in their new virtual settings through meaningful, accessible learning. Even before the pandemic, the job of a teacher has never called for a typical 9-5 workday, and now we’re seeing teachers put in even more hours than ever before to ensure their students don’t fall behind while learning from home,” says Eric Oldfield, Chief Business Officer of Brainly.

Now through May 8, current U.S. middle-school and high-school students (ages 13 and up) can nominate and vote for their favorite educators three categories: Academic Teachers, Administrators, and Extracurricular Instructors.

The winning educators will each receive $1,000 towards classroom resources through their partners at DonorsChoose, as well as a featured post on Brainly.com and a one-year Brainly Plus subscription-- not to mention major bragging rights.

All students have to do to nominate a teacher is write a 4-5 sentence response to the question: “How has an educator been exceptional in your transition to remote learning?” As an added incentive, the students who nominate the winning educators will also receive a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, a Codecademy Pro student scholarship, and a one-year Brainly Plus subscription.

“We’re calling on everyone impacted by school closures and the transition to online education to help us celebrate the teachers, instructors, administrators, coaches, and mentors that have made a difference in the lives of the students who need them. These exceptional educators are finding new creative ways to connect with their students-- leaving sidewalk chalk math problems outside students’ homes for them to solve, teleconferencing poetry readings, dropping off packets to students without reliable internet access. It’s truly heartwarming, and these amazing educators deserve to be recognized,” says Oldfield.

For more information about Brainly’s ‘Online Educator of the Year Award’ and details on how to nominate and vote for your favorite educator, visit https://brainly.com/educator.

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About Brainly
Brainly is the world’s largest online learning community, where students and parents get homework and study help from peers and experts. Students from anywhere can ask questions and get step-by-step explanations from others to go from frustration to understanding. The unique opportunity for students to freely ask questions, as well as gain the confidence that comes from helping others, inspires students to learn in a collaborative community that now receives more than 200 million visitors each month. Based in Krakow, Poland, with its US headquarters in New York City, Brainly is currently available in 35 countries. More information about Brainly is available on www.brainly.com.

Welcome Back to School - Great Resources for Teachers

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer and was able to relax and recharge. Most schools around here start next week, with new teachers starting this week.

The beginning of the year is always a little crazy for all teachers. Getting your room setup, implementing new ideas into your lesson plans, getting to know your students, and just settling back in to the routine can be busy and stressful. Remember to not over do it and take time for yourself.

One thing I've done in the past that helped me is using a check list of everything I have to do when school starts, including setting up my room (computer, bulletin boards, etc), things I want to post in my room, lesson ideas and more in Evernote. I modify it each year, adding new things for the following year.

Here are some more tips, resources, and help to get your school year started on a positive note, and keep it that way.

Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession

Summary of new teacher tips, urban schools issues, technology resources


Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).

Microsoft Education Resources - resources for admin, IT and teachers

Evernote for Education Resources - the ultimate note taking, web clipping, lesson planning resource

Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.

Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient.




Related:

List of What Makes a Good Teacher - created by students

Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training

Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession

Making School Relevant for Students

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources


Good luck and I hope everyone has a great school year!!




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Traits & Skills of "Great" Teachers - my list - add yours

I work with new teachers and pre-service teachers quite often and I think about what traits are indicative of a "Great teacher" and try to help them develop these traits and skills. Here's my list. Add yours and your comments.

(in no particular order)

1. Positive Attitude - being negative will make you angry, pass negative attitudes onto colleagues and students and not make you effective.

2. Lifelong learner - teachers need to know that they don't know everything and that things change, so they must always be learning and keeping up with new ideas, trends, research, and pedagogy.

3. Curious and Explorer - teachers should be curious and want to explore and learn more. Pass this along to your students. Try new things, and see what works best.

4. Connect with students - make personal connections with students. Show them that you care about them as people. This helps with behavior issues, along with helping students want to come to class and do well. Be mindful of their home lives, experiences, and issues that may affect their learning.

5. Pedagogy and Content - it's hard to teach if you don't know your content or how to help students learn it.

6. Tools - need to know what tools and resources exist to help you teach and help your students learn. This includes technology, research, lesson resources, help, and more.

7. Ask for help. There are people who will help you.

8. Compassion - remember what it's like to be a student. Realize that your students may have major issues outside of school that will affect their learning.

9. Be self-reflective and seek to get better at your career. Always reflect on what you are doing and how you can do it better.

10. Flexible and think on your feet - plans go awry, schools change plans, stuff happens. Be flexible, be able to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sometimes students start a great discussion - roll with it, and be flexible and use it as a great learning experience.

11. Connect and communicate with parents. Parents are a huge influence on student learning. Home life, parental support, and more. Connect with parents and help them help their children.

12. Teach students, then teach your content. We are not just teaching science, math, or history. We are teaching our students life skills that will help them in the future. We are trying to make them informed, educated, productive members of society.

13. Prepared and Organized - be prepared to teach and support learning. Be organized. Both of these are important and will help you overcome obstacles and last minute issues.

Here's a great quote that was Tweeted out the other day that applies here:

#cue12 Products don't close the gap or make scores rise: meaningful learning, student centered, passionate teachers, supportive families do

What traits would you add?


Related:

List of What Makes a Good Teacher - created by students

Great resources for New Teachers - advice, support, and training

Advice to New College Graduates about to enter the Teaching profession

Making School Relevant for Students

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

List of What Makes a Good Teacher - created by students

This "what makes a good teacher" created by a group of high school students.

treat students with respect
be enthusiastic
know your stuff
be available for extra help
use multimedia resources and multiple resources for students
connect with students/ form relationships
interact with students- outside school activities, talk about their personal lives
real life connections to materials/class
just talk to students and get to know them in first few days
if using PowerPoint, use less words and have slides available for download
don't lecture for whole class, mix things up
use games for review
let students use a note card for test or some kind of reference
realistic homework - if you assign too much, students won't do it, or won't be able to
science classes - problems and projects and labs
give students multiple days to complete homework - allows for issues in schedule, sports, etc.
don't give all class rules at once - overwhelms students - just touch on main points
use web resources - class site or blog, and review materials students can access at home
let students do work on board and explain how to do it instead of teacher always doing it
projects - one big one per marking period with some class time for them
let students pick project groups - easier for meeting outside of school
be flexible - reschedule test if lots of tests on same day or other things going on

What do you think? What would you add to the list?

Related:

Do you want to know what works in education...ask your students

Students Weigh In On Characteristics of Effective Teachers