Obama and Ed Tech

Today, we inaugurate the first president to ever own a BlackBerry, to ever have a Twitter account, and to ever use the Internet to build and win a grassroots campaign. Obviously, hopes are high among those of us in Ed Tech for a very different sort of presidency when it comes to education funding.

Top 10 Tips for Classroom Discipline and Management

. It's Easier to Get Easier

Many teachers make the mistake of starting the school year with a poor discipline plan. Students quickly assess the situation in each class and realize what they will be allowed to get away with. Once you set a precedent of allowing a lot of disruptions, it can be very hard to start better classroom management and discipline techniques. However, it is never tough to get easier as the year goes on. While you don't have to follow the adage, "Never smile until Christmas," it does have its merits.

2. Fairness is Key

Students have a distinct sense of what is and what is not fair. You must act fairly for all students if you expect to be respected. If you do not treat all students equitably, you will be labelled as unfair students will not be keen to follow your rules. Make sure that if your best student does something wrong, they too get punished for it.

3. Deal with Disruptions with as Little Interruption as Possible

When you have classroom disruptions, it is imperative that you deal with them immediately and with as little interruption of your class momentum as possible. If students are talking amongst themselves and you are having a classroom discussion, ask one of them a question to try to get them back on track. If you have to stop the flow of your lesson to deal with disruptions, then you are robbing students who want to learn of their precious in-class time.

4. Avoid Confrontations in Front of Students

Whenever there is a confrontation in class there is a winner and a loser. Obviously as the teacher, you need to keep order and discipline in your class. However, it is much better to deal with discipline issues privately than cause a student to 'lose face' in front of their friends. It is not a good idea to make an example out of a disciplinary issue. Even though other students might get the point, you might have lost any chance of actually teaching that student anything in your class.

5. Stop Disruptions with a Little Humor

Sometimes all it takes is for everyone to have a good laugh to get things back on track in a classroom. Many times, however, teachers confuse good humor with sarcasm. While humor can quickly diffuse a situation, sarcasm may harm your relationship with the students involved. Use your best judgment but realize that what some people think as funny others find to be offensive.

6. Keep High Expectations in Your Class

Expect that your students will behave, not that they will disrupt. Reinforce this with the way you speak to your students. When you begin the day, tell your students your expectations. For example, you might say, "During this whole group session, I expect you to raise your hands and be recognized before you start speaking. I also expect you to respect each other's opinions and listen to what each person has to say."

7. Overplan

Free time is something teachers should avoid. By allowing students time just to talk each day, you are setting a precedent about how you view academics and your subject. To avoid this, overplan. When you have too much to cover, you'll never run out of lessons and you will avoid free time. You can also fill up any left over time with mini-lessons as described elsewhere on this site.

8. Be Consistent

One of the worst things you can do as a teacher is to not enforce your rules consistently. If one day you ignore misbehaviors and the next day you jump on someone for the smallest infraction, your students will quickly lose respect for you. Your students have the right to expect you to basically be the same everyday. Moodiness is not allowed. Once your lose your student's respect, you also lose their attention and their desire to please you.

9. Make Rules Understandable

You need to be selective in your rules (no one can follow 180 rules consistently). You also need to make them clear. Students should understand what is and what is not acceptable. Further, you should make sure that the consequences for breaking your rules are also clear and known beforehand.

10. Start Fresh Everyday

This tip does not mean that you discount all previous infractions, i.e. if they have three tardies then today means four. However, it does mean that you should start teaching your class each day with the expectation that students will behave. Don't assume that because Julie has disrupted your class everyday for a week, she will disrupt it today. By doing this, you will not be treating Julie any differently and thereby setting her up to disrupt again (like a self-fulfilling prophecy).

A Guarantee of Success?

Management Excel does not and can not guarantee management success. As excited as we may be about the progress being made by some Management Excel graduates, the reality is, "Sometimes the Dragon Wins!" (Note figure.) Both factors external to the firm uncontrollable by managers and internal factors not perfectly controllable frustrate a manager's use of her or his management skills. Nevertheless, Management Excel remains firmly grounded on the teaching of five functions of management with the conviction that these functions define well what it is a manager must do to maximize the chances of success

Management Excel

• A manager who happens to manage a farm or horticultural business.
• A manager challenged to make efficient use of resources.
• A manager challenged with getting things done through people.
• A manager who has opportunity to use of all the tools of management that any other manager uses.
• A manager who has a way of life like any other manager.

Management Excel is about changing people not about changing businesses. We change people by helping them improve their management skills. Our expectation is that with these tools, they are then likely to change their businesses.

The 7 best stress management techniques

1. Acknowledge stress is good

Make stress your friend! Based on the body’s natural “fight or flight” response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I’ve yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Avoid stress sneezers

Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected too!

Protect yourself by recognising stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you’ve got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage themselves.

3. Learn from the best

When people around are losing their head, who keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?

Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.

4. Practice socially acceptable heavy breathing

You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

5. Give stressy thoughts the red light

It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. “If this happens, then that might happen and then we’re all up the creek!” Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?

Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go wrong – how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?

6. Know your trigger points and hot spots

Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines……. My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!

Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?

Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to de-caf?

7. Burn the candle at one end

Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it’s often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don’t burn the candle at both ends!

And those are the best stress management techniques I know! Learn them, use them and teach them, and be a great stress manager.

Managing IT

Like individual, work groups need information to9 do their work. with work groups often being not just steps away, but continents away from each other, it's important to have a way for group members to communicate and collaborate. that's where IT comes in. Technology has enabled greater online communication and collaboration within groups of all types.
The idea of technologically aided collaboration actually oriented in the development of online search engines. the internet itself was initially intended as a way for groups of scientists and research to share information. then as more and more information was put "on the web" users realized on a variety of search engines to help them find that information. now, we see many examples of collaborative technologies such as wiki pages, blogs and even online multi player virtual reality games.
Today, online collaborative tools have enabled work groups more efficient and effective ways to get work done. for instance, engineers at Toyota use collaborative communication tools to share process improvements and innovations. they have developed a "widely disseminated, collectively owned pool of common knowledge " which drives innovation at a speed few other corporate system can match. " And there's no disputing the success Toyota has achieved. Managers everywhere should look to the power of IT to help work groups improve the way work gets done.

Habit 2 : Being with the end in mind

seond habit deals with the personal leadership.

• To begin with the end in mind is to begin with the image of the end of your life as the frame of reference by which everything else is measured.
• We may be busy, we may be efficient, but we will only be effective if we begin with the end in mind

The reason for this ultimate dissatisfaction is that they did not begin with the end in mind. For many people, it is not just that they did not begin with the end in mind; it goes a bit deeper - they did not ever get around to defining the end itself and so they simply could not begin with the end in mind.

All Things are Created Twice:-

Idea is very simple: all great things (well, technically, all things good or bad) are created twice: frst in the mind and then in reality. FIRST, we must get clear on what we want. Then we create it in reality.Think of building a house.  What’s the frst step? You discuss with your architect what you want to see and make some blueprints, right? You don’t just bring in the construction team and get at it, do you? So why in the world don’t we do that in our lives?!?!It’s stunning to me how little time we spend getting really clear on what we want—wheth-er it’s with a specifc project at work or in our life in general. Ironically, we’re typically MUCH better at planning a project at a job we hate than planning a life to create a job we love. And, the greatest irony? Most of us spend the greatest amount of time “blue-printing” our vacations to escape the dread of our day-to-day grind. Imagine if, instead, we spent that time planning our ideal lives so we didn’t need to escape on vacation so desperately.

Leadership and Management

• Habit 2 is based on principles of personal leadership, which means that leadership is the first creation. Management is the second creation.
• Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.
• Often people get into managing with efficiency, setting and achieving goals before they have even clarified values.

Rescripting: Becoming Your Own First Creator

Proactivity is based on the endowment of self-awareness. Two additional endowments enable us to expand our proactivity and to exercise personal leadership in our lives:

• imagination allows to visualize our potential
• conscience allows us to develop our talents within the context of principles and personal guidelines.

A Personal Mission Statement

• The most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal mission statement.
• The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about, and what you value.
• Once you have a sense of mission, you have the essence of your own proactivity; the vision and values which direct your life, the basic direction from which you set your goals.

At the Center

• Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power.
• What is at the center of your life?

Alternative Centers

• Spouse centeredness
• Family centeredness
• Money centeredness
• Work centeredness
• Possession centeredness
• Pleasure centeredness
• Friend/enemy centeredness
• Church centeredness
• Self centeredness

A Principle Center

• Our lives need to be centered on correct principles -- deep, fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators.
• As a principle centered person, you try stand apart from the emotions of situations and from other factors to evaluate options.