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Create a Teacher Website that Works for YouIf your classroom webpage isn't making your job easier, or helping you do it better, maybe its time to evaluate and consider some changes. People today are busy, and teachers are no exception. Either are students and parents for that matter. We all want information quick, easy, and pertinent. And that is exactly what a teacher website must do. If it fails, then valuable time, and maybe resources, are being spent without accomplishing an important goal. One way to help you achieve this is to use a service that allows you to create your own site (such as www.DapperApple.com) Information Quick: Daily updates are a must. Remember, a student that is absent may want to check your site for the night's homework assignment. Well, he may not, but his parents will. The information must be posted promptly. Reserve time before class to update your site. If properly planned, just a few minutes should be all that is needed. If possible, get your class involved. If they can update some pages, it can become a rotating, class job. Information Easy: Don't bury the important information two, three, or more levels deep into your site. If it's important, link from the homepage or put it on the homepage. A consistent place that is easy to navigate to will ensure that users will always see your key messages. As users, we can get discouraged when we can't find what we are looking for. That shouldn't be the case with your students. Information Pertinent: We are bombarded with information online. Popups, advertisements, videos, and websites of every flavor are competing for our attention. Nothing is as welcome to a user as a crisp, clear message. Do away with space wasters such as visit counters and unnecessary graphics or games. The bottom line - any and all features of your web site must be there because they help you do your job in some way. As a busy educator, you probably have little time to devote to creating, and nurturing your classroom website. But it is becoming an essential tool. So, make sure that your content addresses problems, or areas you want to improve. Are too many of your students not doing their homework? Are they not getting the desired outcomes from lessons? Do you need more parent involvement? All of these, and other, questions should be considered when you are creating or modifying your website. If you take the time to make sure your website provides quick, easy, and pertinent information, your site will work for you - making your job easier and helping you do it better. Related
And here is another random article you might be interested in... So You Think You're Hopeless With Figures?"It's no good! I'm just *hopeless* with figures!" If you've ever said that to yourself then don't worry - you're not alone. Many people believe themselves to be math phobic or "numerically challenged". However the fact is they are probably not hopeless at all... Most likely they had an unfortunate incident in their past. Perhaps they missed some crucial lessons in school and never caught up. Or maybe they suffered a humiliating experience in the math class. Whatever the reasons, math 'difficulties' can be overcome with a little determination and by looking at the subject in a different way. Here are 5 ways to get over your numbers 'block' and start turning figures into friends: 1 - Give Them A Chance! Begin to look carefully at figures instead of just 'switching off' when they come into view. Next time you get a receipt at the restaurant or for goods you've bought, take a good look at it. There may be some numbers that don't mean anything but others will make sense. So as a first step: don't ignore numbers. They can give you a lot of useful information if you'll just give yourself a chance to absorb what they are saying. 2 - Don't Lose Them, Use Them! Begin to use numbers more in your daily life.
If you get confused, don't worry, it happens to everyone. (Some bills seem to be designed to confuse!) Just take in what you can and leave the rest. 3 - Take The Easy Route See if you can spot the easy way to do everyday math sums. For example, suppose you need to find: 7 + 8 + 3. Instead of starting at the left and adding as you go, you may notice that the 7 and 3 make a nice round 10. Simply tag on the 8 and you get 18 altogether. The above technique - called "looking for 10s" - is a useful trick when adding numbers. Try some for yourself:
4 - Notice Patterns Another thing to practice is seeing patterns in numbers. This makes them easier to remember and to work with. For example, 23434 contains a simple pattern. So does 9639. And 51015 is a 'palindrome" - it's the same backwards. 5 - Make Them 'Real' Numbers may contain memorable digits like dates. For example, 217761. If you look carefully, you'll notice it contains the year of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. A number could contain:
Or some other kind of digit combination that you can relate to. Once you can relate numbers to the 'real world', you're fast on the way to becoming familiar with them. And when you get to know them, you and numbers can become the best of friends for life! Other articles by this author »
About Kenneth Williams
'Fun With Figures' shows you the easy way to do numbers in your head! It's perfect for math phobics aged 8 to 80. Check it out here: http://FunWithFigures.com. Related
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