Bright Ideas for Teaching – Practical strategies and creative inspiration.

  Get the child to start developing a routine at home. Doing the same things at the same time during the day help the child to adapt to the routines of kindergarten. These activities can be getting up in the morning, dressing, bathing, meals, nap time, etc. Start reading to your child. The earlier the better. Get them interested in words and pictures. This also preps them for instruction time in kindergarten. Give your child their own big picture and word books to look at whenever they want. Play thinking games. Ask questions about their day, their pets, or when shopping. Ask them thinking questions, like, should we wear sandals or shoes today, and why. Get them involved in preparing a meal. Coloring books and drawing time. Children should start using crayons and other appropriate things to color and draw. It's not about perfection or realism, it is about the skill of using a writing and color instruments. It also fosters creativity. Start them on the road to being independent. ...

  All feet are different, and you might go through several shoe brands before settling on one that suits you. We have compiled a list of the top five shoe brands that many teachers attest to. Allbirds Shoes: They say they are like walking on air! Visit:  Sustainable Shoes & Clothing | The Most Comfortable Shoes in The World | Allbirds Sanuk Shoes: Teachers claim they are easy on the feet! Visit:  Women's Sidewalk Surfers | Sanuk® Official HOKA Shoes : A durable and very comfy shoe. Visit:  Women's Recovery Sandals & Shoes | HOKA® UGG (Not just for boots!) Visit:  Women's Fashion Sneakers & Slip-Ons - Pay Later with Afterpay | UGG® Hot Chocolate- Chocolaticas: Support, comfy, and oh so cute! Perfect for a teacher of younger children.  Visit:  Women's Slip-Ons – Hot Chocolate Design

  Wallethub has compiled a state by state ranking for places best to teach. So, if you thinking of relocating, this might be a start. The rankings take into account things like salary, pensions, tenure, turnover rate, and enrollment. The top 5 states were: New York Utah Virgnia Texas Florida Washington The bottom 5 states/areas were: New Mexico Arizona Wash. DC New Hampshire Hawaii Remember, this is only a guide. Teachers are individuals and these states might not suit you. There are things like climate, commutes, and what you may or may not like as far as living conditions and attractions nearby. Many of these rankings are subjective. To see the whole list, and where your state ranks, visit: Wallet Hub's Teacher State Rankings:  2022's Best & Worst States for Teachers (wallethub.com)

  The students you encounter today probably will not know how to read cursive, let alone write with it. And they get by just fine. So, what happened, and are there any consequences of this? If you go back to the history of writing, humans hand wrote for centuries. Then inventions like the printing press changed writing. No longer was all printed material hand written. As time went on from there, other things came along. Like the typewriter. Soon type written correspondence and manuscripts became the norm. Teachers demanded students turn in perfect, typed essays and reports. The implementation of computers in every walk of life ushered in the word processor. Those computers led to communicating more and more electronically. Email first, then the explosion of texting. Cursive was now rapidly becoming an unneeded skill. The student of today has little need for cursive. No matter what your feeling on cursive is, that is the honest truth. Over 10 years ago, updated standards, like Commo...

  Teachers can use this activity as an ice breaker to get to know the class, anytime as a brain break or fun activity. You could do this once a month to see how many students remember where they were. This activity involves the whole class at the same time. It could get a little chaotic, so be prepared! All the kids get together on side of the room. They may need to spread out to complete it. They are going to line themselves up by birthday as to how it occurs during the year. (Not by years, obviously). That is, a student born on January 25 lines up before someone born on March 3. And so on. Lining up left to right is probably best. To add a little fun, get yourself in the activity too! You may choose one or two students to coordinate, one boy, one girl, for example. They must get in line too, where their birthdays fit. When they think they are finished, you can choose another student to go down the line and write all birthdays down, as a final check. If they are off, they need to ...

  Brain breaks are to be used to break up the tedious tasks of learning. Brains get worked in different areas, and sometimes these areas need a break to reset and refresh. Brain breaks are short, movement involved, and may require a different (fun?) way of thinking. The two brain breaks here not only involve movement, but stimulate in other ways as well. The second brain break below not only is a true brain break, but can also be incorporated to be a regular learning task as well. The best of both worlds! Brain Break #1: Move Around The goal here is to get the kids moving around, let off some energy. The class stands up and the teacher is the first to call out a movement. Let's say, "fish." When the teacher calls out fish, all students must start acting like a fish. After a few moments, the teacher calls the name of a student. That student then decides what to movement to call next. The class moves to that, and the teacher calls out another student's name. Repeat unti...

1 in 10 teachers say they’ve been attacked by students Physical assaults against educators are on the rise. Hal Bergman Photography via Getty Images Charles Bell , Illinois State University CC BY-ND Ten percent. That’s the portion of K-12 teachers in the United States who say they’ve been physically attacked by a student, a new survey has found . Various news outlets have reported what has been described as a “ wave of student misbehavior ” since students returned from remote learning to in-person instruction. The purported surge in student misconduct is part of an upward trend in student assaults on teachers. The percentage of teachers who have been attacked by students has increased from 6% to 10% over the past decade, federal data shows. As school districts across the country report critical shortages in teaching staff, some people worry that the a...