Teach Problem Solving to Help Your Students Achieve Lifetime Success

More recently, phrases like "problem-based learning" have gotten a lot of publicity in education. This methodology allows students to learn more through hands-on experience and the teacher is asked to step back and enter the role of facilitator rather than lecturer. However, state tests are center stage, and the pressure for your students to make top scores looms in the near distance. Many teachers feel that testing gets in the way of effective methods of teaching like problem-based learning, and they don't measure student creativity or critical thinking--skills that are essential for them to have in grown-up jobs. Read about how some teachers are trying to change that!

Short on Technology Options in Your Classroom?

Teacher are agreeably some of the most resourceful professionals. When they don't have a homework tray, they might make one out of a file folder box decorated with wrapping paper. However, what happens when a classroom has only one laptop or iPad for the entire class to share? Read about how Kristin Weller, educator in Gainesville, Florida, uses one iPad, a fantastic iPad app, and her white board to project lessons for which all of her students can benefit. She mastered the "Show Me" app initially, using it to create podcasts for her students to view at home when working on homework or when they were absent from school. Then, she brainstormed ideas of how to use the one iPad she had for the classroom and the "Show Me" app in even more creative ways. Check out her innovative ideas at: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-working-one-ipad.

Student Discipline Achieved Through Cooperation

Deciding how to discipline students is decidedly one of the hardest parts of being an educator. Even little distractions by a student can break the concentration of your entire class. So, what is the best way to curb students' poor behavior?

Getting students to change their behavior is not as simple as issuing a consequence anymore. In fact, Ben Johnson, administrator, author, and educator says, "The real truth is that good discipline is not a one-sided endeavor, but it requires cooperation from both the student and the teacher -- as if they were dancing." Johnson shares some excellent insight for educators to ponder in his article, "The Dances of Student Discipline".