Good Teachers, Great Teachers

In the movie Dead Poets Society, teacher John Keating goes against orthodox education methods. He urges his uptight prep-school students to climb onto their desks to see the world from a different perspective.

What makes a good teacher? Depending on our own school experience as well as on the challenges facing us as parents, we may choose somebody who:


· gets learning results,
· recognises potential in students,
· identifies possible learning issues,
· identifies social problems (bullying, alienation),
· maintains class discipline,
· is aware of each student’s learning style needs, such as the need for details or the need for the big picture,
· teaches in a multi-sensory way,
· is likeable, interesting and fun.

Great teachers are more than that. They are the ones dedicated to their job and committed to their students’ individual success. They respect their class and automatically receive respect in return. Positive and energetic, they guide, nurture and inspire their pupils. While their conduct is adult and responsible, they remember what it’s like to be a child and are able to communicate on the child’s level. Enthusiastic, with a contagious thirst for learning, great teachers love their job. They teach with heart and from the heart, beyond the textbook, passing on universal wisdom and life insights.

Great teachers are born, not made. But you can help you child's good teacher become an even better one by showing him or her your child's LSA report.

 

Job Seekers' Guide To Learning In Style

(read to see this week's special on our Working Style Analysis tool)

If you’d like a job - any job, or just a newer, better one - you’re not alone. Sadly, in this job market, promotions often go hand in hand with upgraded technology skills. Today's technology advances at an astonishing rate, with the amount of new information doubling every two years. Blink, and you’re left behind. Take a year off work to have a baby and when you come back they are using different software. Become a stay-at-home mum and, before you know it, your child’s school project involves technology you’ve only ever heard of.

Arthur C. Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Learning according to your own unique Learning Style or Working Style will make updating your computer skills seem as easy as saying Abracadabra. As long as you do the course and the tasks in accordance with your learning preferences, and not against them, you will have a much higher chance of success.

Of course, you have to be realistic about your goals and expectations. “I want to program in C++” may not be the right goal four you if you've never programmed before.

Be specific. “I want to get better at computers” is vague and difficult to measure, while “By the end of the year, I want to be able to write a PowerPoint presentation” is a clear, achievable goal.



Set your goals with a positive attitude. Stay excited and passionate about your goals.
 
Most important of all, discover the preferences and non-preferences of your Working Style today. Order it before 20 July 2012 and get it at half price by quoting this promo code: BVFDELE.
 
 

July Holidays Special

July means school holidays. No school. None. It's time to relax and... hang on. Did I hear there's a special going on Learning Styles?
That's right! For the entire month of July 2012, we're selling our Home Packages at half price! 2 WSA and 3 LSA Mini! This means:

• mom can check her Working Style;
• dad can check his Working Style;
• 3 kids can discover their Learning Style.

Home Package. For a happy home.
Just use this promo code when ordering: 796KLU9.
Happy shopping!

Learning Styles and Your Future Career

Your career choice is important. You wouldn’t want to mess up your future by choosing wrong. That's why you must read on.

Every person has his or her unique style of learning: some of us want visual props like photos and diagrams, others prefer listening to a taped lecture, others still will pace up and down the room in order to understand the new material better. Well, we are also poles apart when it comes to the way we work: some of us tackle one task at a time and keep at it until it’s finished, while others prefer working on several things at the same time.

All these different preferences are called your Learning Style. And the thing is, they can be measured by applying a Learning Style Analysis Test from Creative Learning Systems. It’s an online questionnaire and takes about 10 minutes to complete. As soon as you answer the questions, you receive a report with your own personal learning profile.

So how do you use the information contained in the profile? It’s really simple. The profile will make recommendations as to which careers may or may not be suitable for you. For example, if you can’t stand routine, your profile will say something like: “As you love change, and enjoy trying out new things, you hardly ever do the same thing the same way twice. It is important that you take into account your strong need for variety and your love of change when you consider future career planning.”

If you’re a talker who needs people interaction, the profile will guide you as follows: “For your future career planning it is very important to consider jobs which require good communication skills and a lot of people involvement.”

Sometimes the profile will list your preferences and let you decide what to do with the information, without suggesting a specific career path. Let’s imagine that your report says: “You have very strong analytical skills when it comes to problem solving or brain storming, and you always tend to use your rational, left-brain style first. When something is neither logical nor proceeding sequentially, you are not really interested.” The report does not state explicitly that you should seek careers that require strong analytic skills, but that stands to reason, doesn’t it?

Your Learning Style Analysis report will not tell you that you should become a lawyer or try to dissuade you from following your dream to be an actor. What the report will do, however, is list your strengths, your flexibilities and your non-preferences. That knowledge will be priceless when you’re considering the career with which you will begin your adult life. And the pictures in the report are kind of neat, too!

Just imagine... the career you choose now may well be the career you are stuck with for the next 50 years. You may as well go for something you enjoy and are good at, right?

Check out your Learning Style - it’s the cool thing to do.

Discipline Issues and Learning Styles

Attention all teachers! Barbara Prashnig’s book, “Learning Styles in Action”, is a practical guide to implementing learning styles in your daily teaching practice. It does more than help you implement learning styles: it actually helps you solve your stress and discipline issues.



The book is full of scenarios and diverse real-life situations. Among others, “Learning Styles in Action” shows you:


· How learning styles can help underachieving or disruptive students


· Multi-sensory teaching and learning in action


· Ways to integrate learning styles and ICT (computer technology)


· How to create a real learning styles classroom


· The do’s and don’ts of using learning styles.



It’s a sad fact that, despite the many enlightened teachers who are doing amazing work with young people, there are still too many educators and particularly administrators and decision makers who believe learning should not be fun, it isn’t play and it can’t be made to look like play; it’s hard, hard work that cannot be made interesting. With such beliefs it is no wonder that too many students fail in education systems that do not cater for diverse learning needs.


If you want to make sure that your school is not one of those education systems, read this book. You will be amazed, astounded even, how little effort can translate into positive results.


Click here to buy the book.
 

Analytic? Holistic? Which Learning Style Is Which?

People often ask what the difference is between analytic and holistic learning styles.

Left brain information processing = analytic/logical thinking = sequential processing



Generally, people with a left-brain dominance are sequential thinkers, analytics who like facts, details and logic. They tend to like their work areas neat and organised. They have perfect filing systems, always deal with one project at a time and are deadline-driven. Keeping lists of tasks to do is their favourite hobby, and if they complete something that=s not on their list, they are likely to add it just for the satisfaction of crossing it out. Analytics are the ones who know the price of eggs in the local dairy, hang up the toilet paper so that the straight part touches the wall, roll up the toothpaste tube and replace the cap. An analytic cook follows a recipe step by step, and if she runs out of an ingredient, she drives to the shops to replace it.



Right brain information processing = holistic/global thinking = simultaneous processing


Right-brained people, in contrast, are holistic multi-processors. They aren't interested in the nitty-gritty of issues. Instead, they need to know the overall picture, the reasons behind a project rather than its deadline. Piles of paper gather dust on their desks and office floor, yet they are able to find any document at a moment's notice. Holistics tend to use their intuition or feelings rather than rationalise about a problem. A holistic cook never ever keeps a shopping list, doesn't sticks to recipes and is happy to substitute milo for cocoa powder in her chocolate cake.


That's why some people mistake right-brain dominance for creative talent. But creativity and genius are a marvellous combination of our entire brain and have little to do with the processing hemisphere of our preference.

Are you analytic or holistic? Find out.

Class Size and The Quality Of Learning

It's difficult to compare apples with apples when it comes to learning outcomes. Similarly, it's difficult to predict whether adding an extra student or five to a class is going to lead to decreased academic achievement. Some studies say decreasing class sizes to 16 or fewer gives better results. Some say it's ok to have as many as 40 students per class, provided that:

• there are enough learning resources (textbooks, study aids, scientific equipment);
• all 40 students are at a similar academic level;
• there are no discipline issues.

One thing is certain, though: there is no research that indicates increasing class sizes results in improved learning. Which is why New Zealand is celebrating today: the government abandoned its plans to decrease the national teacher force by two per school. We can keep our class sizes to under 30.

Not all countries are so lucky, however. In many parts of the world, classes of 30 or 40 pupils are the norm. At Creative Learning, we have a free tool called Group Profiles, that helps teachers make sense of the behaviour issues and learning needs of their students.

Of course, even if your class size is only 25... or 15... or even 5, you can still use Group Profiles. They will show you the most effective and efficient ways of teaching your unique group. The changes to your teaching day may be as tiny as installing a dimmer on the classroom light switch, and they may make all the difference between hyperactive and alert students!

Analyse your students' learning style today!