When young teachers leave the field, they frequently cite classroom management issues as a critical factor in their decision. Research indicates that it takes an average of 10,000 hours to become proficient in a profession, about five years. One teacher remarked that he’d like to “apologize to the students” he […]
Continue Reading5 Key Differences Between Working at A Private, Public, or Charter School
One of the only things harder than becoming a teacher is, deciding which direction you want to take your career. Becoming a successful teaching is mostly based upon your ability, but another large percent of what determines a successful career is at what type of school you want to teach. Do […]
Continue ReadingMaking the Most of Your Open House/Curriculum Night
On lists published by polling companies identifying our greatest fears, public speaking is often at or near the top. Teachers aren’t immune to that fear. Even though they spend every day in front of students, when parents come in for Open House/Curriculum Night, it can make for an unnerving evening. […]
Continue ReadingKeep Things Safe By Storing Them Behind a Room Divider!
Here, an elementary school in Ballwin, Missouri, uses a Screenflex Wallmount room divider to protect 400 chairs and 50 tables when they are not in use. Room Dividers Can Keep Things Safe And Out of Sight Schools love having Screenflex Room Dividers at their facilities because they can be used in so […]
Continue ReadingHow Will Common Core Standards Impact The Future Of Our Students?
Common Core State Standards Initiative seeks to bring diverse curriculum into one common set of standards for schools nationwide. The goal is to “raise standards, graduation requirements, improve assessments and strengthen accountability in all 50 states”. Incorporating Common Core Standards into our curriculum as well as our nation’s standardized testing could […]
Continue ReadingRedesigning Your Library Space To Add Informal Collaborative Learning Areas
One of the key elements of collaborative learning is having adequate space. And as with all learning activities, how that space is configured can help or hinder collaborative activities among students. What Is Collaborative Learning? The simplest definition is, the grouping and pairing of students for achieving an academic goal. Students can gather […]
Continue ReadingChoosing Classroom Paint Colors – Our Top 5 Picks
Our relationship with the senses is a complex one. Professionals from every discipline have spent decades and dollars attempting to understand how and why the brain interprets and reacts to what it tastes, smells, sees, hears and touches. For educators, one of the most interesting of those complexities is the impact of color on […]
Continue ReadingThe Case Of the Missing Room Dividers
School librarian Michael Brown had a problem. At his school, when a teacher would bring their class to the school’s library, it meant the library was effectively closed to everyone else for that period. Michael was trying to think of a way to break the large room into two smaller spaces and make […]
Continue ReadingMaximizing Classroom Space Efficiently With 6 Easy Tips
Classrooms around the country continue to undergo a fundamental change. Hence, today, technology is a mainstream in most US classrooms. As personal devises and computer labs take over the classrooms, the design of the classroom must change. In response, educators need to explore ways to maximize the use of their classroom […]
Continue Reading8 Ways to Keep Students Focused Before the Holidays
Finding ways to keep students focused before the holidays is a difficult undertaking for teachers and parents, and for students as well. For many teachers, the difficult days start just before Thanksgiving and don’t let up until the last bell sounds on the final school day before Christmas vacation. The Power […]
Continue ReadingWhy Buy American Made Products?
Tradition and pride have always played a key role in American manufacturing and even more so during tough economic times. For American manufacturers these values are nowhere more evident than in the design and innovation that go into the engineering and manufacturing of their products. And here in the heart […]
Continue ReadingWill There Be Anyone Left Who Can Read the Constitution?
For some time now, I’ve read that elementary schools have or will soon stop teaching cursive writing to their elementary students and they will only learn manuscript print-style writing. Many reasons are given, such as the use of electronic correspondence, changes in educational standards due to the Common Core State […]
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