Category Archives: Planning

Lesson Planning Gagné Style

image source: www.bigstockphoto.com
image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

As teachers we prepare lesson plans for many reasons. We do it because it helps us keep track of our lesson delivery and also because it is required of us. The latter one, however, can make us lose sight of its true purpose, which is to help our students achieve the learning outcomes of the lesson. Through my many years of teaching, I have learned that lesson planning is most useful when I put myself in my students’ shoes.

Effective Lesson Planning

Let’s face it. For a lesson plan to be effective, it needs to focus on what students need to demonstrate at the end on the lesson. Lesson planning is about meeting learning outcomes for our students; the objective of the lesson is not for us to deliver content or for administration to see that we spent hours on prep-time (Yes, we do!), but for us to think of ways for our students to demonstrate learning. Continue reading

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Resolutions 2016

Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com
Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Happy New Year to all of you! How did you celebrate the New Year? My husband and I had planned to host a party but that plan quickly fell apart and thankfully so. We weren’t in the mood to do anything big, and our kids fell asleep early. So, I ended up getting dressed in my finest cotton pyjamas and watched a movie right in the comfort of my own home. Nothing beats that feeling. Besides, isn’t that how you roll when you’re a parent of young ones? 

Speaking of the New Year, I can’t believe we’re halfway through January already. Our weather this year has felt more like springtime than winter, but today is a completely different story —  It’s actually starting to feel like the winters we’re used to in Canada. This awful dip in temperature had me thinking about all of the New Year’s resolutions that were made, and I wondered how long we typically follow through with them when the going gets tough. January is a great month to start fresh and focus on accomplishing goals over a new year, but to stick to our resolutions requires commitment and patience as you set out to achieve what you’re looking for, whether it’s losing a few pounds, taking on a new challenge, or simply spending more time with family.
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Relax, Reflect, and Renew!

Morning cup of coffee with mountain background at sunrise
image source: www.bigstock.com

Hello fellow readers!

It has come to that time of year again when we take some time to reflect on our past year or past school term and fill our thoughts with hopeful new adventures in the classroom – after all of the marking is done that is!

THANK YOU again to you all for visiting the site each week or clicking on an intriguing title from the monthly emails. Comments have been steadily picking up, and your thoughts, comments, and questions mean so much to our bloggers who take the time to create posts that will be meaningful to the TESL community.

We will be taking a break from blogging until the New Year and will return with our next posts appearing January 1st and 4th. We hope that weekly visits to our blog will be on your New Year’s list! Maybe there is a topic or idea you would to explore in the new year – why not send us an email and see if one of our bloggers can speak to his/her experiences.

As always, if you have any suggestions, an interest in blogging, or comments, please go to our Contact Us page and send us an email.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

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If you supply teach – Enjoy it!

Supply teaching has its benefits for sure. I know. I did my share. Although the job is unpredictable, the experience is valuable. What is a day like? The phone rings and you answer. It’s 6:00 a.m. so you know that other than a family emergency, the person on the other side of the line is…Yes! You got it. It’s the school secretary asking if you are available.

What you do after this point will depend on your supplying experience – but my advice is to stay cool as a cucumber. If you are available, say yes.

First Things First

Ask if there is a lesson plan. Don’t count on it every time. If there is no plan, don’t sweat it. You have several choices: Continue reading

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The Benefits of Bloom

image source: Google Images
image source: Google Images

We all know the expression, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but is it really true? Art theorists and philosophers would answer “No, of course not!” and here I quote Dennis Dutton, famous art theorist who stated in his 2010 Ted Talk, “…it’s deep in our minds. It’s a gift handed down from the intelligent skills and rich emotional lives of our most ancient ancestors.” In other words, the experience of beauty is not subjective, but quite objective. There are clear guidelines or criteria to what constitutes beauty for all of us, based on our genetic pre-disposition. Continue reading

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