Month: December 2023

Kindergarten Is Not Just About ABCs and 123s

kindergarten

Kindergarten teaches children fundamental literacy and numeracy skills in fun and interactive ways. Children will also explore creativity through play, storytelling, music, and art.

Kids will learn their upper and lowercase letters, match them with their sounds, and start writing their names. They will also count objects, practice sorting, and recognize basic shapes.

Social and Emotional Development

While many people think kindergarten is all about learning the ABCs and 123s, it’s also a time when students learn how to be a part of a classroom. These are skills that will help them throughout their lives.

Social emotional development teaches kids how to feel and express themselves in positive ways and how to interact with others. It’s the foundation for a student’s ability to succeed in school, work and relationships.

For example, if a child doesn’t have healthy ways to express their feelings, they may show behaviors like crying outbursts or hitting other students. Luckily, teachers can teach children how to better express their emotions and work together with their peers in a safe environment.

Physical Development

Children at this age begin to develop the strength and stamina needed for daily physical activity. They also learn to balance and coordinate their movements with others.

Children become very good at running and climbing. They can ride a tricycle and walk up and down the stairs by placing one foot on each step. They can thread beads and cut well and are able to draw and paint with more control.

Kindergarten helps kids learn to follow a schedule, understand basic classroom rules and requirements, and pick up academic skills that are essential for success in school. It provides beneficial possibilities for social development and helps kids develop a positive self-image in an environment that promotes cooperation, teamwork, and wholesome interactions.

Cognitive Development

Children’s cognitive development involves their growing ability to think and explore their environment. They begin to develop a more mature, symbolic thought process, including language and symbol use in their play and the ability to connect ideas and objects. They also become more adept at memory, and show an ability to focus their attention and reasoning abilities on a specific task.

During this time, children can understand the concepts of more and less, as well as number relationships. They can count objects in a group and recognize the shapes and colors of various items. Sing along to songs and read books about letters, colors and numbers with your children.

Research by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky shows that young children’s cognitive abilities are enhanced when they interact with a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), such as an adult or older child, that is at a level of challenge just above their own. MKOs should provide support and guidance, called scaffolding, that is optimized in the child’s “Zone of Proximal Development” to improve their problem solving skills.

Language Development

Children’s language skills play an important role in everything from following classroom rules to learning to read. But children develop these skills at different rates. If a child has a speech or language delay or disorder, it can lead to frustration, difficulties making friends and poor behaviour.

Children in kindergarten learn to recognize upper- and lowercase letters, recognize their sounds and blend them together to make words. They also practice listening carefully to stories and conversations and start to write simple sentences.

Children in the US enter kindergarten at the age of 5, although some states have a transitional kindergarten (TK) program for 4-year-olds whose birthdays fall close to the cutoff date. TK is often viewed as the bridge between preschool and elementary school. Across the world, kindergarten is known by many different names. In the UK, for example, it’s called reception and in Australia, primary school. In Russia, it’s known as detskii sad. But the idea is the same: to provide young children with a hands-on preparation for the formal education system.

The Importance of Reading Intervention

Reading intervention

Reading intervention provides students with supplemental instruction in decoding, reading comprehension, writing and study skills at their instructional level. It also gives them opportunities to read self-selected books outside of class.

Becoming a competent reader is a long and arduous process that requires many steps. Children who struggle with reading often become frustrated when they do not experience immediate success.

Learning Styles

Reading intervention is one way of helping a struggling reader to become proficient. However, it is important to remember that the main skill students need to learn in order to read well is reading itself! The best way to get better at reading is simply to spend a lot of time doing it.

While it is true that most people exhibit traits of more than one learning style, most have a preferred style. Each learning style is a distinct pattern of cognitive, affective and physiological behavior.

There are a wide range of learning styles, each with its own characteristics and recommended study methods. The verbal learning style is the most common, which refers to a preference for learning through language in written and spoken form. Other learning styles include visual, aural and kinesthetic styles. The majority of publicly available test-preparation materials that mention learning styles advocate for modifying instruction to cater to different learners. This is also known as differentiation.

Learning Strategies

Learning strategies are an integral component of reading intervention, and there are many different types. Some involve students engaging in peer-tutoring activities, which can help improve their literacy and decoding skills. Others involve a more structured approach to teaching reading, including attribution retraining, strategy instruction and reading comprehension practice.

Other methods of improving reading comprehension include activating prior knowledge, introducing text structures such as compare and contrast, problem and solution and cause and effect, and encouraging students to retell and summarize texts they have read. Also important is ensuring that students read widely, as this helps to expand vocabulary and reading fluency.

Students are selected to participate in reading intervention based on teacher recommendation, classroom performance and assessment results including standardized tests, district local assessments and individual screenings. Small groups of students meet on a regular basis with a certified reading specialist to receive supplemental reading intervention that complements classroom curriculum and instruction. The pace of instruction is adapted to accommodate each student’s rate of learning.

Developing Reading Skills

Developing reading skills is one of the most important aspects to teaching children at all grade levels. Teachers can help students develop reading skills by incorporating activities that focus on building phonological awareness, decoding practice and exposure to varied reading materials and literature. Reading intervention, however, takes this further by providing specialized instruction that is more specific to individual students and their current reading level.

This can be done in a variety of ways such as outside class time instruction, private tutoring or adjusting a regular classroom curriculum to make sure the students who need it are getting the support they require. It’s also important to remember that just like with any skill, you get better at what you practice so reading intervention should include lots of it! Especially since research shows that the earlier an intervention is carried out, the more likely it will be to produce beneficial results. Hurry and Sylva (2007) found immediate post-test effects for children receiving reading intervention, but longer term impact has only rarely been studied.

Teaching Reading Strategies

Teaching reading strategies can be challenging for teachers, but there are many different techniques that can help students develop their comprehension skills. These include activating prior knowledge, visualizing, asking questions while reading, summarizing and retelling. It’s important to teach these strategies through explicit instruction and model them to kids of all ages so they can practice them and become familiar with them.

It’s also important to remember that students need lots of time to build their comprehension skills and that reading should be fun! So don’t be afraid to let them read for fun, have them read at recess or during transitions and provide them with a variety of books.

Lastly, remember that students get better at what they practice. So the most important thing to do is spend a lot of time on reading! The more they read, the more confident and proficient they will become. This is especially true for students with disabilities.

5 Essential Skills For Children Education

children education

Children learn through hands-on experiences. They make discoveries while playing outdoors, creating art or exploring a problem. These explorations can help them develop math concepts, like classifying objects or counting beats in a song.

Children need a safe environment that supports them in their learning and development. They also need opportunities to build self-esteem and confidence.

Self-discipline

Self-discipline helps kids to control their emotions and stop them from reacting impulsively to desires and feelings. It also allows them to make good choices, even when those choices are difficult or unpleasant. Children who lack self-control often struggle academically. They also have trouble listening to corrections and may act defensively when they are corrected. To help kids develop self-discipline, it’s important to have clear rules and consistent routines.

It’s also crucial to show children that self-discipline is a choice. This can be done by encouraging them to take on tasks independently, focusing on the results rather than the effort involved, and encouraging them to solve problems without asking for help. It’s also important to teach kids how to set priorities and explain the why behind rules and structure. “Because I said so” may seem like a reasonable response, but it will not teach kids how to discipline themselves. Instead, parents should explain how a particular action will benefit them in the long run.

Adaptability

Adaptability is a key skill for children to learn, as it can help them adjust to new situations. It can also help them develop a healthy mindset and learn how to embrace uncertainty. Adaptability skills can help children become more resilient, which can lead to greater success in their lives.

Children who are less adaptable may struggle with change, particularly in their daily routines and schedules. They may cry or have tantrums when faced with new activities, ideas and outings. Children who are more adaptable, on the other hand, are more likely to welcome these changes with joy.

Montessori programs help children cultivate adaptability through small class sizes and individualized learning opportunities. In addition, students are given 3-hour work cycles each day, which teach them to focus on tasks without interruption. This helps them build self-motivation and intrinsic motivation, which leads to greater productivity in the long term. This is important for developing adaptability as children move into adulthood and take on more responsibilities.

Social skills

Social skills are important for children because they help them develop friendships, learn more, and make good decisions in their lives. They can also influence their academic achievement and health. However, these skills can be difficult to acquire. This is why parents and teachers should be able to provide guidance on how to teach them.

Teaching social skills starts at home with parent-child interactions and continues in preschool, where teachers perform many of the same caregiving functions as parents [15]. Teachers can help children learn to regulate their emotions and practice empathy by modeling these behaviors.

Children with social skill problems often have trouble seeing others’ perspectives (e.g., playing too aggressively). They may also have difficulty with social thinking, meaning that they struggle to interpret others’ behavior and evaluate its possible outcomes. For example, they may misinterpret a peer’s playful intent as deliberate meanness. They may also struggle to come up with constructive strategies for interacting with peers in positive ways.

Communication skills

Children need to have good communication skills to be able to express themselves clearly, understand other people and make friends. These social tools are important for their development, and they can also be used to solve problems, manage stress and build confidence.

Children’s communication development begins at birth, and it is influenced by the environment around them and their interactions with significant people. It is a complex process that is inextricably linked to their learning and development.

It is important to encourage your kids to engage in conversation as much as possible and listen to their thoughts and ideas carefully. Try to take turns when talking to them and remove distractions so that they can feel comfortable. Encourage them to tell you about their day and share your experiences with them, and be sure to ask them questions too. This will help them develop their own communication skills and build a strong bond with you.

What Is Education Support?

education support

Education support is the UK charity that champions good mental health and wellbeing in schools. It provides phone counselling and support services for teachers and other staff.

School support professionals are vital members of the teaching team. Often working behind the scenes, they play a major role in the students’ educational experience.

Education Support Professionals

From the time students step onto campus until they leave at the end of the day, education support professionals keep schools running. They provide essential services like food, bus transportation and maintenance. They assist classroom teachers and help children with special needs. They live in the communities they serve and volunteer their time to the school districts.

ESPs often have touchpoints with every student in the school—from a quick exchange with a custodian to an IEP meeting with a paraprofessional. These interactions influence and fulfill the unique needs of each student.

ESPs are vital to the success of our children and their future. They deserve respect, fair pay and protection from layoffs and privatization.

Education Support Staff

Education support staff are often overlooked, but their work makes schools run. These are the people who drive the buses, clean the buildings and serve meals, as well as those who help students learn. They make up more than 40 percent of the total school workforce.

They also provide essential administrative support. They might conduct classroom observations and take notes to improve teaching techniques or provide general office duties such as filing, sorting mail and clerical work. They might even support students by providing youth development resources and facilitating group training for families, teachers and professionals.

They also help with special needs cases by assisting families with identifying additional needs and facilitating warm referrals to community, government and social service agencies for assistance. They also perform important clerical and administrative duties such as maintaining assigned case load, data tracking, reporting and quality assurance reviews. They may also assist with administrative responsibilities related to grant funding.

Education Support Services

Children and teenagers with chronic health conditions can become disengaged from school activities and learning when they are unwell, limiting their ability to reach their full potential. Education support services aim to prevent this by helping them to stay in school, or return to school during periods of wellness.

Education support professionals help students with classroom instruction, education counseling, and a variety of other duties. They also conduct classroom observations and make notes to improve teaching techniques. Many schools require their education supporters to have a bachelor’s degree in business, counseling, or a related field of study.

NJEA has a long and successful record of safeguarding and advancing the careers and interests of educational support professionals. ESPs are critical members of the K-12 and Higher-ed public education workforce and they deserve the respect, job security and benefits that their union has earned them. Click the links below to learn more about these and other important issues for ESPs nationwide.

Education Support Participants

Students participating in education support programs are given access to educational facilities to receive academic, vocational training, and/or home tuition. Generally, these participants have learning problems and/or social participation problems, which impact their daily life. The education support program is designed to help them overcome these obstacles by providing them with the necessary tools and education.

To improve student outcomes, schools should implement systems that allow teachers and education support staff to work collaboratively. They should also promote productive and inclusive partnerships between teaching staff, education support workers, parents/carers, Koorie Engagement Support Officers, student support services and allied health professionals. These partnerships can increase the impact of the education support program on the wellbeing, educational and community engagement outcomes of all students. For more information, refer to the Education Support Guidelines. These guidelines can help principals and school leadership teams evaluate their current practices. They can then identify and prioritise broad areas for improvement, within the context of their school strategic plan (SSP).

The Importance of Schools

schools

School is important for students to develop skills they will use throughout their lives. They will be able to build careers and have an impact on the world. Students who attend top schools will be able to find work easier and make money.

There are a lot of different types of schools. Some are private, some are public and some are charter.

History

In the early days of schools, children were expected to put in long hours. The earliest schools incorporated methods of discipline that were cruel and often brutal. As industry progressed, the need for child labor declined. School began to replace field and factory work as the primary job of childhood.

Studying history helps students learn how to read and understand the world around them. It also helps students develop a sense of pride in their country and their past. Moreover, it teaches them to organize and communicate ideas. It also teaches them to be critical thinkers.

Studying history is also interesting because it allows students to travel to various historical places. This gives them a first-hand experience of ancient civilizations and their culture. This way, they can understand why these cultures eventually collapsed and how other cultures succeeded. Students are also able to explore architectural sites designed by past architects, which can help them better appreciate their own modern buildings and architecture.

Purpose

The primary purpose of school is to teach students the skills they need to get a job and contribute to society. This includes basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. It also involves learning about the world and fostering critical thinking. In addition, schools provide opportunities for vocational education, which is especially important for people who don’t enjoy academia.

The purpose of modern schooling shifted more toward economic development during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and across Europe and North America after the Thirty Years’ War. Protestant leaders and Enlightenment thinkers wanted to build loyalty to new nation-states and replace the Catholic Church’s reign with a secular government.

Whether through group projects or classroom participation, schooling encourages students to work collaboratively with others. This skill will be helpful in the workforce, as teams will often be required to work together on complex tasks. It also teaches students about the importance of civic engagement and how to work with diverse people.

Structure

School structure refers to the way in which a school is organised to achieve its aims. A school is a formal organisation which has as its primary function the presentation of formal instruction, maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and has a regularly enrolled student body.

A school’s organizational structure typically includes administration, licensed and unlicensed support staff and teachers. Administrators handle supervision of teachers and students and make schoolwide decisions, although they usually do so after consulting with other members of the staff.

A strong and clear hierarchy within the school helps pupils to feel safe and supported and enables them to focus on learning. It also provides stability for teachers, particularly NQTs. This structure can range from a macro level, such as school policies and procedures (like no-excuses school discipline or ability group tracking), to an individual classroom level, such as behaviour management strategies.

Funding

School funding comes from a mixture of federal, state, and local dollars. The bulk of local funding stems from property taxes, which are generally higher in richer districts where families have more valuable homes and businesses. These disparities in school funding are exacerbated by statewide funding formulas, which allocate revenue among districts based on a number of variables.

When it comes to maximizing school funding, administrators must first set realistic goals and determine the ideal ways to attain them. Whether it is through maintenance upgrades, new technology or streamlining business services, spending wisely can make a significant difference in overall student performance and learning environment.

Schools can also generate income by renting out spaces for special events and student activities. Oftentimes, these additional sources of revenue can offset some of the costs associated with education. In addition, advocacy organizations are working to make unbiased information about school financing easier to find. This helps to make informed policy decisions.

The Importance of Kindergarten

kindergarten

Kindergarten is an important step in a child’s formal education. Children in kindergarten learn to read, count, and write. They also begin to understand socialization skills, such as taking turns and following classroom rules.

The word “kindergarten” is derived from German educator Friedrich Froebel’s preschool educational approach. His ideas influenced early-years teaching worldwide.

Language

A good kindergarten curriculum includes developing children’s oral language skills. The development of these skills has a significant impact on how well they will do in reading and other academic subjects.

Kindergarteners learn to name uppercase and lowercase letters, associate letter names with their sounds and blend the sounds of letters together to form words. They also learn rhyming and high-frequency words, which are words that do not follow regular spelling or phonics rules and therefore need to be memorized.

Kindergartners also develop their ability to read by using context clues and illustrations to make predictions, ask questions and find answers in stories. They learn how to sequence events in a story and recognize characters, settings and main events. They also begin writing, by reciting what they have written and drawing pictures on paper.

Math

Whether your child attends public school, private school or home school, kindergarten math is about building a foundation for future learning. Among the “big ideas” in early childhood mathematics is the notion that objects have predictable similarities and relationships, a concept that is nurtured through play and classroom activities like sorting and seri- ating.

Children also start to learn about numbers, counting and recognizing shapes. They work to develop their problem-solving skills and gain an understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as numbering, comparing, classifying, and adding and subtracting.

These are all goals that kindergarten Common Core standards seek to accomplish. However, these standards vary by state and school. They are intended to provide a standardized approach to math education that aims for consistency across the country.

Science

Young children’s natural curiosity, when channeled in the right direction, can lead them to discover how things work. This discovery can happen in a range of settings. For example, the study of snails can help kids learn about a variety of science concepts such as adaptation and life cycles.

For this reason, it is important that the science used in kindergarten includes both life and physical sciences. This is not always the case, as some teachers tend to lean more toward the life sciences and steer away from the exploration of physical phenomena such as motion or sound.

The Sonlight Science K curriculum is written in a story format that engages students and is all about exposure. But it also includes a second half that serves as the parent guide and provides carefully crafted activities that are easy to incorporate into daily experiences with their children.

Social Studies

All children must learn to interact with others, even if they all come from different cultural backgrounds. That’s why teaching social studies is so important for early childhood education.

Teachers can encourage social skill development by utilizing classroom meetings, discussing daily news and weather, and by incorporating learning expeditions, projects, case studies, or problem-based content. These approaches can help young students develop the capacity to interpret their world critically and engage productively in civic activity.

KinderSocialStudies offers kindergarten curriculum that integrates all aspects of students’ lives into their learning. Each lesson is quick-paced and written in teacher language that’s kinder-friendly. Each lesson includes a list of objectives, “I can” statements, vocabulary, detailed activity lesson plans and student follow-up practice sheets. These lessons can be used as a stand-alone unit or easily integrated into a full school year plan.

Art

At this age, children are interested in learning about their world. The arts help them develop a better understanding of themselves, other cultures and new ways to express themselves.

Kindergartners love art projects that allow them to explore line, color and shape. They learn about different types of lines, such as straight and curved, and they begin to distinguish between bright and dull colors.

They learn about symmetry and texture by painting with their hands, and they also learn about form by molding clay. Try a salt print on paper, or make a fizzy baking soda print that incorporates science and art. Other fun ideas include making paper towel flower prints, painting with rubber bands or creating a Dale Chihuly glass art collage or Monet’s water lily paintings from tissue paper.

What is Reading Intervention?

Reading intervention

Reading intervention is often part of schools’ (federally mandated) RTI or Multi-Tiered System of Support processes. It can help students who struggle with the five core parts of reading: phonological awareness, lexical access, word level skills, text structure and comprehension strategies.

Poor readers with word level problems tend to over rely on textual cues and fail to transform unknown words into sight words (Pressley, 1998). Reading intervention should include: Guided oral reading with error correction.

Targeted Instruction

Many students are not receiving the supplemental instruction they need to become proficient readers. In addition, decisions about who receives an intervention program and which interventions they receive are often unclear or based on inappropriate beliefs and criteria.

Reading intervention programs should provide a systematic approach to identifying students who need additional support, determining which skills and strategies to teach them, and monitoring student progress. These instructional programs should include formative assessments to guide ongoing instruction, diagnostic assessment to provide in-depth data about students’ learning accomplishments and needs, and benchmark assessment at specified times throughout the year to evaluate student progress against a set of longer-term goals.

These programs also require explicit teaching of foundational reading skills, including sound-letter knowledge and phonemic awareness, blending letters to produce words (decoding), and word-reading accuracy and fluency. These programs should be taught to small groups of students, and their pace adjusted for different rates of learning. They should also incorporate instruction on strategies and concepts that are consistent with evidence-based tier 1 instruction.

Fluency Practice

A student who struggles with fluency may read word-by-word, lose their place frequently, or skip over words and pause awkwardly. They might move their mouth while reading (a practice known as subvocalizing), or they may mispronounce words or ignore punctuation, often failing to hear the tone of questions and statements.

Research has shown that the best way to improve reading fluency is to reread passages until they are accurate and expressive. This is called repeated reading, and the National Reading Panel has found that this is one of the most effective strategies for improving reading achievement.

There are a number of different ways to engage students in repeated reading, including student-adult reading, partner reading, choral reading, readers’ theatre, and tape-assisted reading. Some teachers also teach children what prosody sounds like, focusing on intonation, volume, smoothness, and phrasing. This is particularly helpful for students who are unable to pick up expression intrinsically.

Independent Reading

Students need to develop reading stamina if they are going to read long passages and understand complex texts. Independent reading time provides them abundant opportunities to do just that (Hiebert, 2014).

When it comes to independent reading, a teacher’s role is more to provide students with access to authentic literature at an appropriate level rather than assessing their comprehension. In addition, teachers should provide time for students to read in smaller groups during this time to promote discussions that support student understanding.

Reading helps build vocabulary, whether it is in a child’s first language or a new one. It also helps children gain an understanding of the world around them, which is critical for their academic success and cultural awareness. This is why it’s important to allow children time to read independently in both their school and home environments. Ideally, these environments should be full of rich and diverse books that are appropriate for the student’s age.

The Importance of Early Childhood Education

children education

A good education is one of the best ways to give your kids a bright future. It teaches them essential information, helps them expand their ideas and allows them to grow and become self-reliant.

From an early age, children begin to develop incipient theories about people, living things and objects. These are implicit theories that organize knowledge and provide explanations for events.

Socialization

Early childhood education provides many opportunities for socialization. It teaches children how to interact with other people, no matter their age or socioeconomic status. It also helps them develop their cognitive abilities and improve their ability to understand both verbal and non-verbal social cues. It is important that parents support their children in their socialization efforts to promote proper child development.

In addition to socialization, school experiences also shape students’ moral identities. They learn to value virtues such as hard work and generosity, and they are often exposed to moral exemplars through their curriculum. Teachers are one of the primary sources of socialization in school.

Vygotsky suggests that adults can enhance socialization by guiding children in their learning through cooperative meaning-making with them. This method encourages the formation of cognitive development and can help kids adapt to new environments easily. This will also allow them to develop the skills needed for lifelong learning. Moreover, it can help them become more prosocial and contribute to the world around them.

Learning new things

Young children build their knowledge of people, living things, objects, and numbers through their interactions with other people. This knowledge, referred to as implicit theories or theory of mind, is a prerequisite for later learning about other subjects. In addition, children learn how to adapt their existing knowledge when they encounter new experiences and objects.

In addition, they develop cognitive control processes that help them engage in goal-directed behavior (e.g., short-term and working memory, attention control and shifting, and cognitive flexibility). These skills are also important for academic achievement. They promote the growth of subject-matter content knowledge, motivate advances in learning, and strengthen children’s self-confidence as learners.

For example, when a teacher introduces a new concept, such as a number line, it helps children develop their understanding of number relationships by providing them with opportunities to interact with the materials and discuss them with peers. This enables them to transfer the number line concepts they have learned to other contexts.

Adaptability

Adaptability is one of the most important skills children can learn. It helps them adjust to new situations and manage their emotions and thoughts, which is essential in a world of constant change and disruption. In the case of education, this skill can help kids remain motivated and focused. Montessori classrooms encourage adaptability by allowing students to stay with a lesson for as long as they want. Moreover, teachers frequently bend and soften rules so students can solve problems creatively.

Some children are naturally flexible and adapt to changes easily, while others may have a harder time transitioning to different activities, schedules and ideas. Those who are slow to adapt often feel stressed out and uncomfortable, but they usually warm up to new things once they’ve had the opportunity to consider them. This is why it’s crucial to provide fore-warnings and information about upcoming transitions before they happen. It also helps to teach children that they can choose not to go along with a suggestion, but that they should always be respectful and thoughtful.

Self-confidence

Self-confidence is a key component in a child’s learning experience. Children with low confidence may be reluctant to try new things and have a hard time dealing with disappointments. This can affect their long-term success. Teachers and parents can help children develop their self-confidence by encouraging them to tackle challenging tasks. It is also important to teach children how to be resilient. Resilient kids have a positive attitude towards challenges, and they stay strong even after experiencing setbacks.

Children build their self-confidence through their everyday experiences and interactions. For instance, a baby who cries and is comforted by their parent learns that they are loved and valuable. A toddler who plays dress-up and pretends to be a mom going off to work can practice negotiating and adjusting their own feelings, such as separation anxiety or aggression.

Montessori schools are a great environment for children to build their self-confidence because of the smaller class sizes and one-on-one attention from teachers. In addition, many educational materials are designed with young children in mind.

Education, Academic, and Health Support

education support

Education support is a wide umbrella term for all staff who work in schools. This includes cafeteria workers, custodial staff, bus drivers, and paraeducators.

They are critical to keeping schools running and students safe. They deserve our thanks and respect. Here are some ways to do just that.

Academic Support

Academic support provides students with additional instruction, practice, and guidance in their academic performance. This may take the form of specialized programs designed to improve literacy skills or math proficiency or more generalized services that focus on reading, writing, or communicating. Often, academic support is integrated into classroom learning or offered during the school day or after school hours.

Student support services can help keep students enrolled by helping them overcome barriers to success, such as financial concerns, difficulties finding or affording childcare, and crises of confidence brought on by challenging classes. Examples of academic support services include tutoring, cultural houses and affinity groups, and academic advising.

Studies have shown that when students struggle academically, they most frequently seek assistance from peers. Mahasneh, Sowan, and Nassar [59] found that students with greater self-efficacy are more likely to seek help from peers than those with lower self-efficacy. Moreover, they tend to prefer in-person over online help-seeking resources.

Social and Emotional Support

Educators who understand social and emotional learning can help students of all ages better comprehend their emotions, learn to manage them and develop empathy. This can also allow students to focus on their studies more and perform better on standardized tests and in metrics such as attendance, assignment submissions and grades.

Using an approach called instrumental variable regression, researchers found that classroom emotional support and organization explained more of the effect of an SEL program on low-income racial/ethnic minority children’s math achievement in first grade than did INSIGHTS itself. This is one of the first known efforts to identify classroom emotional support and organization as mechanisms explaining impacts on students in randomized trials of school-based SEL programs.

As the pandemic continues, it is critical that schools are able to provide their staff with resources and tools to promote their own social emotional wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of their students. National University’s master’s of education program includes coursework in SEL and other areas of student development that can help teachers improve their own well-being as they work with students of all ages.

Behavioral Support

Positive behavior support strategies are based on values and research to prevent students’ problem behaviors from occurring, while teaching them new skills. These preventative strategies can range from rules and expectations posters in hallways to clear instructions for teachers on how to handle classroom disruptions.

The most effective PBIS framework is one that fits within a multi-tiered system of supports, so that all educators are on the same page when it comes to how to best help their students. Tier 1 includes universal supports that are available to every student, such as consistent consequences for misbehavior and a clear set of guidelines on how to respond to it.

Tier 2 supports are geared to individual students with behavioral needs that may be too complex for the first two tiers. These support services are typically administered by behavioral health specialists and can include a functional behavior assessment. A functional behavior assessment looks at the antecedents and consequences of a person’s problematic behaviors to find out why they persist.

Health Support

Health support is the services performed, provided, or arranged to promote, improve, conserve, or restore the physical or mental health of personnel. These include the management of medical manpower and resources; selection, disposal, and disposition of the unfit for duty; blood management; combat stress control; and dental, veterinary, laboratory, optometric, nutritional therapy, and medical intelligence services.

It is not the role of higher education to ensure students avoid any emotional discomfort or that on-campus treatment options are available for every problem, but schools can provide a sense of community and support in a variety of ways. It is important for educators to know how to recognize the signs of student mental illness, and Navigate360 offers a comprehensive system that allows them to quickly connect students with situationally relevant wellness resources.

Implementing social and emotional learning programs doesn’t have to disrupt a teacher’s curriculum or schedule. With Navigate360’s whole-child student safety and wellness suite, administrators have the tools they need to develop a culture of wellbeing without altering classroom lessons.

The Importance of Schools

schools

Schools are organized spaces where learning takes place. They usually include classrooms, cafeterias and schoolyards. Traditional schools are public, governed by their district and follow standards for curriculum, governance and policy.

School is a chance for students to grow, boost their talents and become part of society. They’re surrounded by hundreds of people who share their age and learn to communicate and work together.

Education

Education is a critical part of our lives, and it should teach us to be honest, kind and compassionate. It should also help us to understand the world around us and learn new things. Teachers are an important part of a child’s life, and they should be able to inspire children to become leaders in their communities.

A school’s curriculum is a set of courses and topics that it teaches its students. Initially, the field of curriculum studies focused on a narrow definition of curricular content: the books, subjects and topics that are explicitly selected for teaching in a given school. As the study of curricular theory developed into a rigorous academic discipline, however, broader understandings of the concept were developed.

A school’s curriculum is made up of overt and covert components that shape its operations. These include the philosophies, goals, and objectives that are chosen by its faculty and administration, as well as the curricular materials that are not chosen for instruction. These components are influenced by political, racial, gender, aesthetic and moral concerns.

Socialization

The socialization process, the way students learn to adapt to their school community, is influenced by many factors. In general, the family is a major source of socialization for children; however, when they enter school as the primary source of their education, they must also adjust to characteristics of schools and teachers as well as peer groups.

One form of socialization is through the teachings of curriculum. For example, in the United States, students are taught to say the Pledge of Allegiance and take classes about American history and geography. This type of socialization helps to promote a sense of citizenship and national pride.

Another form of socialization is through school policies and rules, such as dress codes, disciplinary actions, and zero tolerance policies. These types of rules and procedures are a source of socialization because they teach students what it means to be a good student. They also give students a set of expectations that they must conform to in order to be accepted by the school community.

Collaboration

The collaboration process requires teachers to share resources and ideas. It also teaches them to respect and support one another. This builds trust and creates long-term connections that will benefit students.

Research shows that teacher collaboration is an essential part of professional development. In fact, it helps make teaching a desirable career for many. Collaboration can take many forms, from informal connections on social media to structured meetings. OECD researchers have found that teachers who collaborate regularly are more productive and happier with their work.

For example, Mary Beth Cunat, principal at Wildwood, pairs teachers by grade level and content area to create collaborative teams. She also ensures that they have shared preparation time and sets clear agendas. This makes it easy for the teachers to discuss the students they have in common and brainstorm strategies to help them succeed. The resulting partnerships have led to powerful learning. In addition, the team members have formed meaningful relationships that extend outside of their collaboration sessions.

Responsibility

Students play a significant role in managing their schools and classrooms. They are expected to leave their comfort zones as capable leaders and contribute towards the development of the society they live in. This requires them to be respectful, punctual and true to their teachers & classmates.

It also teaches them to be resourceful and understand that their choices and actions have a direct impact on the rest of the world. Instilling responsibility in children helps them grow into confident adults who are capable of tackling any challenges that life may throw their way.

One way to teach students about responsibility is by assigning them chores like picking up trash around school grounds or taking care of a class pet. Another is by creating goals with them. This will encourage them to work hard and achieve success, which is a great learning experience. Moreover, they will be motivated to set more goals in the future as they will see how important it is to take responsibility.

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