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Welcome back to our
StarTeaching newsletter,
Features for Teachers, packed full of tips, techniques,
and ideas for educators of all students in all levels.
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Would you be interested in
becoming a Featured Writer for the StarTeaching website?
Our Newsletter
is now posting a opening for a creative educator interested in
designing a set of weekly science activities for
students and teachers to use.
Email your resume and letter of
interest to: editor@starteaching.com |
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DUTIES OF A RESPONSIBLE
TEACHER
By: Munir Moosa Sewani
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Teachers are the leaders of every nation. They are
the role model of their students. Their responsibilities towards
their profession are increasing day by day, as students are highly
concerned about what is taught to them by their teachers. Teachers
are the only one, who molds the future of their students by
imparting quality education.
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Education is considered as “The Green Passport” of our
future.
A person who gets a professional qualification and acquires
a high degree gets ready acceptance worldwide with an open arm.
The profession which was on, is on, and would be continued forever is
the profession of teaching, which is one of the most noble and leading
of careers in today’s world.
The growing demand of teachers is hovering in every field
of life internationally, whether it's school, college, university,
organization, Multinational company or else where. Teaching is the
only profession which gives the greatest and the multi-dimensional
opportunities of career to an individual.
The developing countries now recognize that teaching
requires the dedicated leadership of professional specialists to mold
the future of the next generation.
Teaching is the specialized field of education, and it
requires proper education, training and inborn adoration for children.
It’s not an easy profession. Time has gone when those who did not get
good job opportunities shifted themselves in the field of teaching in
order to earn livelihood. Today, teaching is the professional liberal
art field. Teaching requires skills that can be brought out by taking
professional certifications or degree courses.
Teaching involves being with children or with colleagues to
design syllabi or problem solving too.
In the field of Education/Teaching, you can become a
Principal , Vice Principal, Deputy Head Teacher, Section Head, Co-ordinator,
Supervisor, Teacher Educator, Educational Psychologist, Student
Counselor, Curriculum Developer or Researcher, Special Educator,
Language Co-ordinator, Recruitment Manager, Writer, Programme Officer,
Montessori Directress, Lecturer, Subject Specialist, Journalist and so
on.
Its not a profession of last resort; it’s a profession of
dedication.
Pay scale
A person who adopts a career in education gets the starting
salary from 3000 rupees to 300 thousand rupees nationally and anywhere
from 1000-50,000 dollars internationally.
Qualification requirement:
The best qualification which suits a teacher is at least
Graduate or Post Graduate with specialization in the subject over which
they command (like education, psychology etc.)
Certificate courses are additional advantages for the post
of Teacher and Asst Teacher.
For Montessori directress, at least Certificate/Diploma in
Montessori is the pre-requisite along with some internship experience in
high profile school.
For the primary and elementary level, command over early
childhood, education, art, music, and physical activities are necessary
along with graduation.
In the same manner, Diploma courses in Special Education or
Teacher Education is the pre-requisite for the position of Deputy Head
or Special or Teacher Educator.
Likewise, professional degrees like B.Ed and M.Ed is the
required degree to become professional lecturer, professor, writer,
program officer, etc. There is Master’s Degree in Teacher
Education as well, which is nowadays in demand to qualify for many high
salaries.
For Researchers, Head Principal, or Educational
Psychologist, in many cases a PhD in their subject is the required
qualification.
Where they can join?
They can join any Private/Governmental institution, school,
college, university, educational publishing house, Montessori,
Government Research Departments, and Media.
Remember that continued training is necessary to meet
the future challenges.
Confidence, teaching methodology, pre-planning, and
communication skills, reading and writing skills, and clear language are
the features of the great educationalist.
A few of the careers in the field of education is described
below
:
Education Consultant/ Counselor:
They assesses the needs of the professionals and advise an
individual/ professional to choose the right career. Education
consultants also develop policies and program initiatives within an area
of professional specialty.
Special Education Teacher/ Educator
They are the ones who design curriculum, and teach
according to the special needs of students. They are the ones who work
with students who have a variety of disabilities such as deaf and dumb,
mild, moderate, severe, profound, borderline, cerebral palsy, mental
retardation etc.
Special education teachers instruct their students in basic
life skills and basic education.
Career Counselor:
They are the ones, who give the true and efficient guidance
to the students in order to evaluate their talents and to choose the
desired career according to their talents and creativity. Student
counselors evaluate the students' abilities and interests and guide them
to take proper decisions.
Principal/Vice Principal:
They serve as an Administrator of a school or college. They
are the ones who develop rules and regulations, designing and promoting
programs and activities. They also promote educational and professional
development of the students and staff. They also evaluate teacher’s
skills and polish these time to time by arranging Certificate Courses
for them.
Researcher:
They design and formulate the curriculum according to the
age level of students.
They also manage research projects.
They are the ones who use a variety of methods such as
interviews, questionnaires, etc on specific issues and prepare report
and theses.
They also analyze and present data in a meaningful manner.
Writer:
They are the ones who not only write curriculum books, but
they are the ones who write articles and also help in formulating
teaching curriculum.
Head/Assistant Teacher:
They teach their students with an inborn adoration and also
groom their skills time to time by attending workshops or teacher
training courses.
They are the ones who evaluate students' strengths,
instruct them and teach them effectively.
Master Trainer/ Teacher Educator:
They are the ones who train teachers. They develop
instructional materials and educational content. They are the one who
also assess a teacher’s capabilities.
They also provide guidelines to the schools/ colleges and
also design suitable activities for students.
Operational Managers:
They work on a wide range of issues, such as strategic
planning, competitive positioning, performance management, student and
teaching hiring and firing, alumni relation, etc.
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Munir Moosa Sewani is one of the most famous, prominent
and creative names in the field of Education in the past 8
years. He is a Master Trainer In Special Education, Post
Graduate, Teacher Educator and a Teacher. He is a Freelance
Writer and Photographer, in addition to his role as a featured
writer for StarTeaching's newsletter. He is an author of the famous
self-published storybook for children named as "The MORAL
STORIES FOR CHILDREN" and has also written Biology course
book for Secondary Classes. He has written almost more than 20
articles on social, health, educational and cultural issues,
which are internationally recognized and published in most of
the famous world wide websites, magazines and newspapers.
He is also a Social worker, private tutor, career
counselor, musician, lyrics writer and have multi- dimensional
talents.
His future plan is to write dozens of informative books
and articles and to work for education and media also, in order
to develop the sense of understanding many dimensions of life
through his creativity.
You can contact Munir Moosa Sewani at: munirmoosa@yahoo.com |
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Join our Online Community!
Receive weekly articles right
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discuss educational issues with other teachers from around the
world.
Check it all out and sign up
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NowAvailable! |
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Mastering Basic
Skills software:
$29.99 |
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are six modules designed to test the basic ability of an
individual in terms of Memory & Concentration. Needless to
say this is the most important basic skill for not just to
survive but also to thrive in this competitive environment.
Each of the six modules tests the six variants of Memory &
Concentration in an individual, namely: |
1. |
Picture
recognition |
| 2. |
Paired Associate
Learning |
| 3. |
Immediate Recall |
| 4. |
Serial processing |
| 5. |
Parallel
processing |
| 6. |
Recognition and
Recall |
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of these modules runs at three different levels, from easy to
difficult.
At each level, the individual's performance is depicted as
Scores Obtained.
A feedback has been built into the software for all these 18
levels depending on the marks one scores during the
test.
Each individual can assess his/her performance any time by
clicking on "history", which gives complete details
of date and time of taking the tests, marks scored each time
and even time taken to do the test. This builds the confidence
level and encourages more participation to eventually
culminate in improvement and enhancement of memory and
concentration.
Essentially, this software is a SELF AWARENESS tool that
surely motivates the individual to realize one's capability
and seek or be receptive for improvement. Also, if repeatedly
done over a period of time works as Training tool to enhance
their capability. |
This
software package is specifically designed to help young
children to learn basic skills that will help them in
school. Continued follow-up will give these young
learners success as they mature.
Three versions of the software exist:
Individual Software on either CD or Online, Family
Version Software, and an Institutional Software package.
StarTeaching wholeheartedly supports
and endorses this software. It will make a difference
with your child or student. |
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Click
HERE to order your own copy today:
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TECH
CORNER
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Are the Students Truly
Understanding It?
Are We?
By Mark Benn
Middle School Teacher
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Mark's latest
articles are about changing our classrooms and teaching styles
to reflect the latest changes in technology.
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This is part one of a
three part look at what teaching is all about.
Everyday, as teachers, we work hard to have students learn material and
acquire skills they will need in the future. Along the way, we attempt
to see if they understand the material by asking questions of individual
students, or giving them a quiz. This is called formative assessment.
From this type of assessment we make decisions how to proceed with the
material. In the end we may give a final test to measure their final
understanding of the material. This final form of measurement is called
summative assessment.
What is this formative and summative assessment about, you may ask?
Giving final tests have been around forever (summative assessment).
Asking questions of the students isn’t new either (formative
assessment). But what have you done with the answers the students gave?
Did they help in guiding where you were going with the material? Did it
help you assess the success of your teaching strategies? Let’s look a
little deeper at this.
What is your motivation in teaching the curriculum, or skills, that you,
as a teacher, are expected to present within your subject matter or
grade level? Is your motivation to get through the material and
hopefully the students will get it, or is it to teach for mastery? If
I’m feeling overwhelmed by the amount of material I have to teach in a
year, I’m going to teach in a way that gets me through the material.
Is this what we are called to do? Do you know, at any point in time,
where each individual student is in their comprehension of the subject
matter or skills? What is
your motivation for giving worksheets or answering questions on paper?
Is it to just get a grade or practice the skill? Or should there be
more? I know these are heavy
questions, but we, as professionals, should be asking them each time we
teach. Today’s 21st century teacher is being called upon to
raise the bar, but do we know how?
If you notice, I haven’t mentioned No Child Left Behind, until now. As
frustrated as we get with the way this concept is being carried out, the
idea isn’t bad. How many students have been dropped through the cracks
over the years because of how we approached teaching? How many times
have we been frustrated because students act like they have never seen
the material, even though we know the previous teacher had taught it? It
is time we start looking at out teaching strategies and ask ourselves if
this is working. We need to be willing to talk with other teachers about
what we are doing in the classroom and sharing among ourselves what has
worked and what hasn’t. From this dialogue we can make adjustments to
our strategies so that all students can be successful in some way.
Now, I know I haven’t addressed formative and summative assessment. I
haven’t dealt with the many questions I brought up and the motivation
behind our teaching. This first part was to get you thinking. In the
next part I will address these questions. So think about it.
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Mark Benn earned his B.S. from Western
Michigan University and his Elementary Certification from
Northern Michigan University. He is a 20 year teaching
veteran of 5th and 6th grade students at Inland Lakes Middle
School in Indian River, MI. He is currently working on
Masters of Integration of Technology from Walden University.
Prior to teaching, Mark spent 11 years as Department Manager for
Sears, Roebuck and Co. dealing with emerging technologies.
He has been married to his wife Bonnietta for 32 years with one
daughter and two sons. In the summers, Mark works for
Mackinac State Historic Parks in the as a historical
interpreter.
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StarTeaching Featured Writer
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Mark Benn is a leading expert in using technology
in the classroom.
You can feel free to contact him on email
at mbenn@inlandlakes.org
or at his blogsite: http://www.furtrader.blogspot.com/
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Year of the
Dogman
A new novel by Frank Holes, Jr. |
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Part mystery, part science fiction, Year
of the Dogman is an imaginative, compelling, and adrenaline-pumping
adventure. Author Frank Holes, Jr. takes no prisoners in creating a
diabolical creature that leaves the forest to prey on the hapless hamlet
of
Twin
Lakes
in
Northern Michigan
. When night falls, the nocturnal beast, Dogman, scares the living
daylights out of anyone he happens upon as he searches for a timeless
treasure stolen from a Native American tribe. In the midst of the chaos, a
young teacher is forced to put two and two together no matter how high the
cost to rid the village of the treacherous man-beast who thrives on
destruction and terror.
The Dogman, a creature of
MythMichigan, is an excellent example of modern-day folklore to
study in your classes.
http://www.dogman07.com
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Order your copy by clicking the link below.
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Teachers:
We now have special offers on Classroom Sets of our Novel.
Click here for more information:
ORDER
A CLASS SET
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New
Teachers' Niche:
A Place for New Teachers, Student Teachers, and Interns |
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Creating
A Class Rules Pamphlet
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We've found that teaching your classroom
rules and procedures right away at the beginning of the school
year will tremendously improve your chances of a successful
relationship with your students. This should include giving your
students a hard copy to keep, look over, and even discuss with
their parents.
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Our seventh grade team accomplishes this by creating a course
introduction pamphlet. This tri-fold pamphlet is given out on the first
day of class and presented by each member of the teaching team.
That way we teachers are all on the same page, and students have
consistency between their classes.
Creating a pamphlet is relatively easy on a word processing program.
You will need to change your page setup from 'portrait' (normal 8.5 x 11
tall) to a 'landscape', the 8.5 x 11 long. You will also need to create
two or three columns to type in (two if you are simply folding in half,
or three if the pamphlet is a tri-fold). Your word processing program
will automatically adjust your document's margins, though you might want
to print it out and double check the margin space when you're finished
(sometimes copy machines will 'slide' your original up to 1/2 inch, so
try a sample). Once the paper is folded, this setup will make your
pamphlet look professional. A bi-fold pamphlet is easy to create and
fold, but a tri-fold looks so much nicer both to your students and
parents.
You'll want a catchy cover with basic class or grade information.
Include a school graphic or clip art with the teachers' names, the
classes, periods, room numbers, and other key info. We've added a place
for both students and parents to sign, indicating that they have read
through and understood these rules and procedures. This returned
signature becomes the students' first assignment for your class. In
fact, I like to allow three days to get them turned in, giving 10 extra
credit points if it's two days early, and 5 extra credit points for one
day early.
The next few pages display what we will cover in class this year. Its
not in great detail, but simply an overview. In English, for example, a
brief section is devoted to our main areas, writing, reading,
literature, speech, technology, and presentations. In science, a brief
section is devoted to the areas of ecosystems, matter, waves, rocks
& minerals, and weather. The same is done for math and social
studies and any other core classes.
The last few pages cover class rules and procedures. We always try to
have just a few important rules that are general enough to cover most
events that can happen in class. We like to include a rule about
respecting all people and materials, since this is general enough to
cover most poor behavior choices not specifically mentioned.
You'll want to include a section on your discipline procedures so
students know exactly what punishments or consequences are due to them
if they make poor behavior choices. Again, leave yourself room by adding
a statement such as "Serious or continual problems may result in
skipping one or more discipline steps." As always, follow your
school or district's codes or policies in making up your class rules.
Procedures are different from rules in that these are desired behaviors
you want your students to display at particular moments in class. Some
procedures will include your class warm up or wrap up, passing in
papers, raising hands, lining up, sharpening pencils, and even answering
the telephone, among others. You'll want to spend some quality time
thinking of what your students are going to DO in class, and the most
effective way to accomplish these tasks. Be clear and simple when
writing these down so the kids understand them.
The rules packer looks nice and professional. Students and parents alike
will enjoy (and respect) the fact that you've taken the time to spell
out exactly your expectations and to begin communicating with them. By
having a section to sign and return, no one can claim they weren't aware
of your rules or procedures.
Interested in FREE writing activities you can print out and use
immediately in your classroom? Simply click the following link to our
writing page: http://www.starteaching.com/writing.htm
Be sure to check out our website for the FREE teacher Who-I-Want-To- Be
plan and other great Freebies for new teachers. Simply click the
following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
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Be sure to check out our website for more great
information, tips, and techniques for new teachers,
student-teachers, and interns in teacher prep programs. Also be
sure to check out our Who-I-Want-To-Be teacher plan for
preparing yourself to enter the educational profession. Simply
click the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
Want to check
out the articles in our Student-Teaching series? Check out our
special Student-Teaching page through the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/studentteachers.htm
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Be sure to check out our website for more great
information, tips, and techniques for new teachers,
student-teachers, and interns in teacher prep programs. Also be
sure to check out our Who-I-Want-To-Be teacher plan for
preparing yourself to enter the educational profession. Simply
click the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
Want to check
out the articles in our Student-Teaching series? Check out our
special Student-Teaching page through the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/studentteachers.htm
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Are There Other Teachers in Your
School or District Who Would Love to Receive Our Newsletter?
Be sure to
pass along our website and newsletter!
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"If
A Dog Were Your Teacher..."
Author Unknown Themes
on Life
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We can learn so many things
from the most unusual of teachers...
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If a dog were your teacher
These are some of the lessons you might learn...
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face
to be pure ecstasy
When it's in your best interest
practice obedience
Let others know when they've invaded your territory
Take naps and stretch before rising
Run romp and play daily
Thrive on attention and let people touch you
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do
On warm days stop to lie on your back on the grass
On hot days drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree
When you're happy dance around and wag your entire body
No matter how often you're scolded
don't buy into the guilt thing and pout
run right back and make friends
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm
Stop when you have had enough
Be loyal
Never pretend to be something you're not
If what you want lies buried
dig until you find it
When someone is having a bad day
be silent .....
...sit close by.
...and nuzzle them gently.
See more of our Freebies as well as Special
Reports on our website by clicking the quick link below:
http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
Make sure to BOOKMARK our website so you can
keep up with more changes and additions through the year. And feel
free to share our site by EMAILING it to a friend.
http://www.starteaching.com
Email us at editor@starteaching.com
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