7 Back to School Tips for Teachers

Going back to school after the summer break can be exciting, nerve-racking, and hectic for teachers. The summertime is a time for refreshment and renewal. That is important as the beginning of the school year is the most critical time of the year and it can also be the most stressful. Even during the time off, most teachers are looking for ways to improve their class for the upcoming year. Going back to school gives teachers a chance to make small adjustments or significant changes depending on where they are at in their careers. Most veteran teachers have a pretty decent idea of what they need to do to get ready for the new school year. They typically plan to make a few minor tweaks to their overall approach. Younger teachers may totally revamp their approach to how they teach based on their small sample of experience. First-year teachers often come in excited and with no real idea of what it takes to teach. They have ideas that they think will work only to realize quickly that the application of those ideas is much more difficult than the theory of them. No matter where a teacher is in their career, here are some tips that will help them transition back to school quickly and effectively. Reflect on the Past Experience is the ultimate learning tool. First-year teachers will only have their limited experience as a student teacher on which they can rely. Unfortunately, this small sample does not provide them with much information. Veteran teachers will tell you that you learn more in the first few weeks as a teacher than you did during your entire time in a teacher education program. For teachers with at least one year of experience, reflecting on the past can be a valuable tool. Great teachers are constantly looking for new ideas and methods to apply to their classroom. You should never be afraid to try a new approach, but understand that sometimes it works, sometimes it needs tweaking, and sometimes it will need to be thrown out altogether. Teachers must rely on their experiences when it comes to all aspects of their classroom. A teacher must allow experiences, both good and bad, to guide their overall approach to teaching. It Is a New Year Never come into a school year or classroom with preconceived notions. Every student who walks into your classroom deserves the chance to come in with a clean slate. Teachers may pass along pertinent educational information such as standardized test scores to the next teacher, but they should never pass along information about how a particular student or class behaves. Every class and every student is unique, and a different teacher may get other behavior. A teacher who has preconceived notions can be detrimental to the overall development of a particular student or a group of students. Teachers should want to make judgments about a student or a group of students based on their own unique experiences with them and not those from another teacher. Sometimes a teacher can have a personality conflict with a particular student or class and you never want that to cloud how the next teacher handles their class. Set Goals Every teacher should have a set of expectations or goals that they want their students to reach. Teachers should also have a list of personal goals to improve in specific areas of weakness that they have. Having goals of any kind will give you something to work towards. It is also okay to set goals together with your students. Having a shared set of goals will push both teacher and students to work harder to obtain those goals. It is okay that goals be adjusted either way as the year moves along. Sometimes your goals may be too easy for a particular student or class and sometimes they may be too difficult. It is essential that you set high goals and expectations for all your students. Just remember that every student has their own unique needs. The goals you set for one student, may not be applicable for another. Be Prepared Being prepared is the most important aspect of teaching. Teaching is not an 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. job as many people outside the realm of teaching may  think. It takes a lot of extra time and preparation to do your job effectively. The first day of school for students should never be a teacher’s first day. It takes a lot of time to get ready for school to start. There is a lot of work that needs to be done with both your classroom and your instructional material. A smooth year begins with preparation. A teacher who waits until the last moment to get everything ready is setting themselves up for a rough year. Young teachers need more preparation time than veteran teachers, but even veteran teachers must spend quite a bit of time preparing for the upcoming school year if they plan to have a fantastic year. Set the Tone The first few days and weeks of school will often set the tone for the entire school year. Respect is often won or lost in those first few days and weeks. A teacher should seize that opportunity to establish a solid rapport with their students, but at the same time respectively show them who is in charge. A teacher who comes in with the mindset that they want every student to like them will lose respect quickly, and it will be a difficult year. It is virtually impossible to gain a classes respect as an authoritarian back once you have lost it. Use those first few days and weeks to drill components such as procedures, expectations, and goals. Start out hard as the classroom disciplinarian and then you can ease off as you move throughout the year. Education is a marathon and not a sprint. Do not think that you cannot spend the time to set the tone for the school year. Make these things a priority early and your students will learn more in the long run. Make Contact Getting parents to trust that you have their child’s best interest in mind is paramount. Make extra efforts to contact parents several times within the first few weeks of school. In addition to classroom notes or newsletters, try to contact each parent personally early on by setting up parent meetings, calling them on the phone, emailing them, conducting a home visit, or inviting them up for an open room night. Establishing trustworthy relationships with parents early on when things are going good will make it easier should you begin to have issues. Parents can be your biggest ally, and they can be your biggest enemy. Investing the time and effort early on to win them to your side will make you more effective. Plan Ahead All teachers should plan ahead. It is not easy, but planning does become easier as experience is gained. For example, a teacher can save lots of time by keeping lesson plans from the previous year so that they can use them for the upcoming year. Instead of redeveloping their lesson plans, they make adjustments to them as needed. Teachers can also make copies for several weeks or months of work before school begins. Planning events such as fundraisers and field trips before school starts will save time later. Planning ahead will be beneficial if an emergency occurs and you have to be gone for an extended period of time. Planning also tends to make the overall course of the school year go smoother.

The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne - 1795 Words

The children In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter play a major role in the Puritan society. With their honest opinions of Hester and Pearl, the children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults. Due to their innocence, children are capable of expressing themselves without constraints; there are no laws or regulations that they are bounded by. As an adolescent go through the stages of life and grow older, they begin to be more conscious of the how they act as they are more aware of society and the things that are occurring in the world, creating a filter for their actions. When they remain as the children, on the other hand, are adventurous; they are still exploring the universe that seems to fill with mysteries that are bound to be solved. They tend to attach to the truth and they are not afraid to speak it freely. Children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions. With their obliviousness to the things that are actually going on around the town, children therefore react differently compared to the adults, who are more knowledgeable. Perceived to be immature, young children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults due to their innocence, how they are unaware of the reality and the crimes that are presented in society by the adults enables them to be blithe and not afraid of saying what they feel like. Due to their naivety, when they express what they perceive to be true, they do not get punished,Show MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1242 Words   |  5 PagesLYS PAUL Modern Literature Ms. Gordon The Scarlet Letter The scarlet letter is book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne who is known as one the most studied writers because of his use of allegory and symbolism. He was born on July 4, 1804 in the family of Nathaniel, his father, and Elizabeth Clark Hathorne his mother. Nathaniel added â€Å"W† to his name to distance himself from the side of the family. His father Nathaniel, was a sea captain, and died in 1808 with a yellow fever while at sea. That was aRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne960 Words   |  4 Pages3H 13 August 2014 The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was published in 1850 (1). It is a story about the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, set around 1650 (2). The story is written in the third person with the narrator being the author. The common thread that runs through this novel is Hawthorne’s apparent understanding of the beliefs and culture of the Puritans in America at that time. But Hawthorne is writing about events in a societyRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne919 Words   |  4 Pagessymbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†. Symbolism is when an object is used in place of a different object. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most symbolic writers in all of American history. In â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†, the letter â€Å"A† is used to symbolize a variety of different concepts. The three major symbolistic ideas that the letter â€Å"A† represents in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Scarlet Letter† are; shame, guilt, and ability. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†, the firstRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1397 Words   |  6 PagesFebruary 2016 The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 which is based on the time frame of the Puritans, a religious group who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630’s. The Puritans were in a religious period that was known for the strict social norms in which lead to the intolerance of different lifestyles. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the puritan’s strict lifestyles to relate to the universal issues among us. The time frame of the puritans resulted in Hawthorne eventually thinkingRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne999 Words   |  4 Pages Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of the prodigious book entitled The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, soon finds out about the incident after it becomes clear that she is pregnant. The whole town finds out and Hester is tried and punished. Meanwhile, Roger Chillingworth goes out then on a mission to get revenge by becoming a doctor and misprescribing Dimmesdale. He does this to torture DimmesdaleRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne1037 Words   |  5 Pagesthat human nature knows right from wrong, but is naturally evil and that no man is entirely â€Å"good†. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the classic novel The Scarlet Letter, believes that every man is innately good and Hawthorne shows that everyone has a natural good side by Hester’s complex character, Chillingworth’s actions and Dimmesdale’s selfless personality. At the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is labeled as the â€Å"bad guy†. The townspeople demand the other adulterer’s name, butRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1517 Words   |  7 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne composes Pearl as a powerful character even though she is not the main one. Her actions not only represent what she is as a person, but what other characters are and what their actions are. Hawthorne makes Pearl the character that helps readers understand what the other characters are. She fits perfectly into every scene she is mentioned in because of the way her identity and personality is. Pearl grows throughout the book, which in the end, help the readers better understandRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne1488 Words   |  6 Pages In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, is a true contemporary of the modern era, being cast into 17th century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts. The Scarlet Letter is a revolutionary novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne examining the ugliness, complexity, and strength of the human spirit and character that shares new ideas about independence and the struggles women faced in 17th century America. Throughout the novel, Hester’s refusal to remove the scarlet letterRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1319 Words   |  6 PagesPrynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are subject to this very notion in Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter. Hester simply accepted that what she had done was wrong, whereas Dimmesdale, being a man of high regard, did not want to accept the reality of what he did. Similar to Hester and Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth allows his emotions to influence his life; however, his influence came as the result of hi s anger. Throughout the book, Hawthorne documents how Dimmesdale and Hester s different ways of dealingRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1714 Words   |  7 PagesSome two hundred years following the course of events in the infamous and rigid Puritan Massachusetts Colony in the 1600s, Nathaniel Hawthorne, descendant of a Puritan magistrate, in the 19th century, published The Scarlet Letter. Wherein such work, Hawthorne offered a social critique against 17th Massachusetts through the use of complex and dynamic characters and literary Romanticism to shed light on said society’s inherent contradiction to natural order and natural law. In his conclusive statements

The Company of Wolves Free Essays

â€Å"The Company of Wolves† by Angela Carter follows the story line of the classic children’s fairytale â€Å"Little Red Riding Hood† which is known universally in the western world. Despite the relationship between the two stories, â€Å"The Company of Wolves† has cunningly been written with an eerie atmosphere and plot twists to engage the reader. Reinvented into a gothic fantasy, the story highlights Red Riding Hood’s innocence and uses the Wolf as a metaphor for men to position the reader to react differently than the classic fairytale. We will write a custom essay sample on The Company of Wolves or any similar topic only for you Order Now It becomes obvious to the reader that the story is based upon the well known fairy tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ but Carter has twisted the innocent children’s story into a extravagant gothic fantasy which positions the reader to grasp a greater understanding of the events leading up to the climax and the background in general. The stylist choices of magic realism differ from the classic denotation of fantasy because realistic frameworks of the real world are twisted with the supernatural resulting in murderous, sadistic or brutal situations; in this instance Red Riding Hood engaging in sexual acts with the Wolf. From the beginning the reader is fully aware of the stylistic choice of gothic fantasy, â€Å"One beast and only one beast howls in the woods by night† is typical of gothic tales as woods are usually portrayed as a dangerous and a forbidding setting, but also provides emphasis through repetition of ‘one beast’ and ‘only one’ to draw the reader’s attention onto the fact that the Wolf is important and plays a significant role in the story. A common aspect of gothic tales is winter which is the setting of the story, as shown through distribution of the words ‘snow’, ‘Christmas’, ‘Robin’, ‘blizzard’ and ‘cold’ throughout the story which are classic connotations relative to the season. The stylistic choice made by Carter in relation to the classic fairy style creates an eerie atmosphere and positions the reader to question if they really know the plot of the story. Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as an innocent little girl in the classic fairy tale which is carried through into Carters version with a few twists. Initially Little Red’s innocence is clearly defined as her virginal status is described using metaphors as ‘She is an unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel’ and her physical appearance resembles that of a young girl ‘hair like lint, pale forehead, scarlet cheeks’. Since she has ‘started her woman’s bleeding’ it is safe to assume that her shawl is symbolic to represents just that or her innocence as she nters this period of her life. As the story progresses Little Red does not hesitate to hand over her basket when ‘he [the Wolf] offered to carry her basket’, assuming the basket is a symbol used to represents her virginity this scene illustrates how uneducated girls in this era were about sex and the risk it posed to them. Little Red is not hesitant about handing over he r basket because she has no clue about what the Wolf is doing, although she does not know what was about to happen to her he certainly does. At this specific point in the story the reader is positioned to re-evaluate the innocence of the girl, questioning whether the wolf is taking advantage of her or whether she knows what she wants. Regarding Little Red’s shawl representing her innocence, nearing the end of the story the Wolf exclaims in reply to her asking what to do with it choice of diction, â€Å"Throw it into the fire, dear one. You won’t need it again,† clearly distinguishes that he has taken her innocence and virginity and that there is no way for it to be reversed; ‘fire’ representing an irreversible doing. The innocence of Little Red has inevitably been taken away and no long exists to the reader, the reader will no longer be able to read the original version without the constant reminder of Little Red’s deterioration of innocence in Carters version. Carter, being a classic feminist, has shaped the Wolf into a metaphor of the negative side to men. To begin ‘One beast and only one beast howls in the woods’, in particularly the repetition of ‘one’ and ‘only one’ provides emphasis upon the fact that there is only one wolf and that he is an important asset to the story, perhaps the fact that the story could not function without this male character which makes him very important and dominant. Carter has used this to mirror her opinion that men, or some men, have a mindset that a women’s life could not function without them. The wolf is quick to ‘offer[ered] to carry her basket’, which is a symbol of her virginity. These actions demonstrate Carters opinion on men thinking they can dominate women especially since the Wolf knew exactly what he was doing relative to Little Red who was oblivious to his actions because she is uneducated on sex. The Wolf is conveyed by the reader as a vicious sexual predator out to claim young girl’s virginity, which positions them to feel sympathetic for Little Red who represents women. The dominancy of the Wolf taking the girls virginity is pursued near the end of the story as the Wolf orders her to, â€Å"Throw it [shawl] on the fire, dear one. You won’t need it again,† which is significant because the shawl represents her virginity which has now been burnt. The diction of the phrase ‘dear one’ is effective because it demonstrates how a man can pretend to care about a girls feelings and be sweet in order to manipulate her into doing something to his advantage. By this point in the story the reader has been positioned to view the Wolf differently from the one that gets killed in the traditional story to a dominant male character who has no respect for Little Red. Once the reader has read â€Å"The Company of Wolves† they definitely won’t be able to see the classic â€Å"Little Red Riding Hood† in the same light again. Reinvented into a gothic fantasy, the story highlights Red Riding Hood’s innocence and uses the Wolf as a metaphor for men to position the reader to react differently than the classic fairytale. The story however does not necessarily have only negative outcomes because it could make the reader to think deeper about how other characters in different fairytales have been portrayed and how they can challenge the expectations they have been placed in. How to cite The Company of Wolves, Essay examples

Tarc uc english free essay sample

2. Write a story in which you were a victim of a snatch theft. SECTION B: GRAMMAR (30 MARKS) PART I: Word Form (10 marks) Each of the blanks below stands for a correct form of word suggested in the brackets. Write ONE word as your answer. Eg: The scenery here is so ______ that I decided to stay for another day. (beauty) ANSWER: beautiful 1. Jason’s boss advised him to attend an _____ management course. (angry) 2. That _____ dressed woman is my aunt. (attract) 3. Mary’s handwriting is the ___ among all her classmates. (bad) 4. Farid tried to ____ the screws with the screwdriver. (tight) 5. My sister said that the book you lent her was very _____. (interest) 6. Jenny has developed a high level of _____ after her promotion. (confident) 7. We should always be _____ for the unity of our country. (thank) 8. The librarians were told to ___ the books according to their authors. (class) 9. Mei Lin ____ took care of her father when he was ill. (patient) 10. The Olympics involves thousands of ____ from all over the world. (compete) PART II: Error Analysis (10 marks) Each of the sentences has ONE error. Identify and correct the errors as shown in the example. e. g. One of the boys are my brother. ANSWER: ErrorCorrection areis 1. We are planning a trip to Europe on January 2013. 2. Joanne, together with her parents, are attending a seminar next week. 3. My mother does not likes durians, so she never buys them. 4. Neither John or his friend is coming tomorrow as they are not around. 5. One of my friends have shown me the way to the mall. 6. I made the announcement when everyone were in the room. 7. My brother is the only student in his class which does not take tuition classes. 8. I do not have some money because I forgot to bring my wallet. 9. They had already took the bus home before I arrived. 10. She could not complete the work because she did not brought her laptop. PART III: CLOZE PASSAGE (10 MARKS) Each of the numbered blanks stands for ONE word that has been omitted. Write an appropriate word for each blank in your answer booklet. Unemployment among Malaysian graduates has been getting much attention. A study conducted by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers __(1)__ 2010 found certain reasons to be the cause of this problem. Firstly, these graduates __(2)__ poor language skills. They are often hampered __(3)__ their poor communication skills in English and they should work on improving their command of the language. The graduates admitted that they have only themselves to _(4)_ blamed for being unemployed. Potential employers _(5)_ interviewed them did not seem to be impressed with their performance. The study also showed that graduates were unemployed because they _(6)_ self-confidence. Graduates are expected to be dynamic and fearless, _(7)_ they often appear timid and uncertain during the interview process. Unemployment among Malaysian graduates also _(8)_ to their choosy attitude. Graduates want a high salary but they do _(9)_ want long working hours. They also prefer jobs in major cities _(10)_ than in smaller towns. Graduates need to realise that unemployment can be overcome if they are willing to change their attitude and mindset towards employment. (Adapted from: March 2012. http: //my. news. yahoo. com) SECTION C: READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY (30 MARKS) Read the following passage and answer all the questions given. Marks will be deducted if answers are copied directly from the passage. A serious case of plagiarism was discovered at the Faculty of Arts in a renowned university recently. A student submitted a thesis that had been copied in full from the Internet. The university authorities firmly decided to expel the student from the university. Cases similar to the above have been getting worldwide attention in the academic world. Most students have the incorrect concept of plagiarism. They fail to realise that it is not only copying someone else’s work or ideas but also includes other actions such as the absence of citations and the use of incorrect citations. There are two types of plagiarism. One is deliberate plagiarism and the other is unintentional plagiarism. The first occurs when students are aware that they are passing off someone else’s work or ideas as their own. On the other hand, unintentional plagiarism occurs when students use the words or ideas of others but fail to do citation or give credit to the original author. Students who commit deliberate plagiarism usually do so because they are pressured into getting good academic grades. This pressure is due to competition for scholarships and high-paying jobs. Besides that, expectations from family members and personal expectations can also place a great deal of anxiety on students to maintain excellent results. Unintentional plagiarism is committed by students because they do not know how to do citation or give credit to the original author. Many undergraduate students do not know how to do citation or give credit to original author. Many undergraduate students do not know how to obtain correct information. They do not know how to use the library catalogue, search databases for journal articles or critically evaluate Internet sources. Before getting information from the Internet, students should be aware of several facts. They need to know that there is no quality control on the Internet and not all the information found online is public knowledge. Moreover, the information found online is the intellectual property of its author and it requires acknowledgment. Due to this lack of knowledge, journal articles and books found in online databases are not acknowledged in assignments. Plagiarism can have a far reaching impact on a student’s career, especially when applying for a scholarship or a job. When colleges or employers discover the misconduct of an applicant who has a record of plagiarism, it can bring negative consequences. To an employer, a student who would plagiarise an assignment for college may also be capable of stealing company’s information in the future. To a scholarship provider, a student who has plagiarised is considered dishonest and does not deserve to be the recipient of any scholarship. Therefore, a student who has a record of plagiarism would neither get the job nor the scholarship. Another impact is that students who engage in plagiarism negatively affect their classmates, the institution they attend and especially themselves. Submitting plagiarised work is unfair to classmates who struggle hard to do their own work. It also threatens the reliability of the grading system of the institution and goes against the principle that students and teachers are supposed to work together to help students fulfil their potential. The most dreaded outcome for the students is the fact that they may fail their course, be suspended or even expelled from their institution. There is no escape for students as there are numerous software products that can easily detect plagiarism in assignments. All in all, to avert these undesirable effects, students should prepare themselves well for academic life without plagiarism. (adapted from: 2011. http://guides. library. ualberta. ca) 1. According to the passage, what is the correct concept of plagiarism? (3 marks) 2. Name TWO types of plagiarism. (2 marks) 3. Define the TWO types of plagiarism. (3 marks) 4. Students commit deliberate plagiarism for good grades. What pressurs them to do it? (3 marks) 5. What can students do to obtain correct information? (3 marks) 6. What should students know about information on the Internet in order to avoid plagiarism? (3 marks) 7. How would plagiarism affect a student’s chance of getting a scholarship? (3 marks) 8. Who would be affected when plagiarism happens? (3 marks) 9. How would plagiarism affect an institution? (3 marks) 10. Replace each word below with a suitable answer: a) Worldwide (paragraph 2) b) Occurs (paragraph 3) c) Dreaded (paragraph 8) d) Avert (paragraph 9) (4 marks)