College Ready

Sharing strategies for student success, college readiness and academic coaching

Category Archives: Teaching


by Leave a comment

Maya Angelou, the World’s Teacher, Dies at 86

Saying goodbye to one of your teachers is not an easy thing to do. You don’t always meet a teacher in a classroom. Sometimes, you meet a teacher in a book. That was Dr. Angelou. A teacher to anyone who opened one of her books and read even a page of her beautiful words. The world’s teacher. 

Rest in peace Maya Angelou. Thank you for your amazing legacy of words & action, for leading the way, & for sharing w/ us your powerful philosophy that, “when you know better, you do better.” 

Image

Dr Angelou on Doing What You Love: “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” 

On Stories: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” 

On Success: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” 

On Survival: ““My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” 

 


by Leave a comment

8 Types of Learners: Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

What’s Your Learning Style?

AKA, what kind of smart are you?

Here’s an innovative and highly visual look at the types of learners we work with in our classrooms. Recognizing these multiple intelligences as valid and effective allows for diverse contributions to the academic conversation. Ask your students at the start of the school year to self-identify where they are on this wheel.  Let them “see” that there are “all kinds of smart.”

multiple intelligence wheel

You can also encourage students to take any number of free online surveys that will help them to determine which type of learner they are. Here is one I often use with my students, from the folks at LiteracyNet. There are 56 questions,(don’t worry, it goes fast, just a bubble to select), and after answering all of them, the student will get their top three strengths, as well as how the other 5 intelligences rank. This information is extremely helpful to students, as they can devise study strategies around their individual learning styles.

Fun facts: Did you know that 65 % of all students are visual learners? (Mind Tools, 1988). However, as much as 80% of instruction is typically done orally. (University of Illinois, 2009)


by Leave a comment

10 Writing Tips

Here’s a great Writing Tips chart to share with your students. I like that it emphasizes adding your own style (Step 5) and enjoying your writing (Step 10). If you don’t say it with style, and you don’t enjoy writing it, chances are, folks won’t enjoy reading it.

Image


by Leave a comment

27 Ways to Be an Effective Classroom Teacher in one Education Infographic

Try something new during these last few weeks of the school year. It can be like a dress rehearsal to see if you want to blend it into your “teacherly bag ‘o tricks” for next year. I like this education infographic from the amazing Mia Mac Meeken.

Image

 

 


by 1 Comment

How to Help First-Generation College Students Succeed

This article from the Greater Good Science Center discusses the impact of academic mentoring, engagement and community building on first-generation college students. Research now shows that it’s the social emotional aspects of college life that can be challenging for these students, who don’t have a model of academic success to draw on once they are away at school.

How to Help First-Generation College Students Succeed.

 

image from greatergood.berkeley.edu/


by Leave a comment

Why Happy Teachers Matter

This week, I’m posting some favorite quotes and images in honor of all the amazing educators out there who teach, inspire, mentor and encourage our nation’s youth to keep moving forward. Happy teachers are a positive force for change. One kind word can impact the entire direction of a student’s life, and one lesson can light the spark that produces a lifelong learner.

Remember to #ThankATeacher this week!

Image

Image via CommonSense Media.

A Love Letter to Teachers…or…What a Teacher Does

by Leave a comment

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all of you amazing educators. Thank you for guiding, mentoring and inspiring students every single day. For the smiles you share. The hugs you give. The belief you have that every single child needs just one caring adult who believes in them. Thank you for being the change. You make all the difference.
With love and admiration~~Lisa
#ThankATeacher

lisa's avatarCollege Ready

What a Teacher Does

Encourage, Influence, Guide, Inspire…and so much more.

View original post

Exploring the Idea of Happiness as Part of School Work

Luca Nisalli

I’ve been exploring the science of Happy and happiness research for the past two years in my college composition classrooms. We look at the work of various psychologists and psychiatrists, (like Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar and Professor Dan Gilbert, both of Harvard) who are writing and teaching on the science of happiness.

This article from PBS Mind/Shift, “Exploring the Idea of Happiness as Part of School Work,” discusses what that looks like in the classroom, and why “happy matters.” I agree wholeheartedly. After all, the brain on positive is 31% more productive than at negative, neutral, or stressed.


by 3 Comments

How to be a Scholar. 6 Steps to Encourage Critical Thinking

As we get to the end of the semester and school year, we are expecting our students to demonstrate higher order thinking skills, or Critical Thinking. I like this infographic from Learning Commons at the University of British Columbia.

Critical Thinking Toolkit

Thanks to its simple flow chart style, students can use it to clearly reflect on their own thinking. Students need to constantly question their own process, and those of others. They need to ask questions about the text they read, test possibilities, and allow for new discoveries.

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) push our students beyond simple responses and elevate them to scholars and critics in their own right. Part of what’s vital in education is for students to learn to trust their own voice, while still questioning their thinking. What strategies do you use in your classroom to encourage critical thinking?

 


by Leave a comment

No Net Around the Future. Simple Ways to Help Students Soar to Their Potential

Students Need the Power of Belief to Soar to Their Potential

Teachers. It’s hard. We ask a lot of you. We ask you to keep getting up in the morning and showing up in that classroom and bringing your A Game.

Image

We ask you to notice the students who need the extra help and notice the students who need the extra challenge. And to do it with a smile and a magical “Mary Poppins” like presence in a classroom. Do all that but do it with fairly little community support and for not that much financial compensation, either. But do it all the same

because

Every

Student

Needs a Hero.

Keep helping our students realize that their potential is unlimited. They can soar and achieve any dream as long as they have someone in their lives that supports them. Our goal at College Ready is simply to let all students know, regardless of socio-economic background, there’s no net around their future.

They can soar to unlimited heights.