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Teacher Quote of the Month...
"Two weeks ago I demonstrated your website to our director of elementary education and he was so impressed he went back and asked the superintendent to approve ESGI for all kindergarten teachers in our district beginning next year. I can't wait to tell him about the classroom management piece. It is great!"
~Nancy F., Seaman USD, KS
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Monthly Tip:
Personalized "Concentration Game" for Each Student:
Using the Flash Card report, you can make an instant Concentration Game for each student to play at home, or with a big buddy at school. Concentration games are good for making letters, sight words, numbers, etc. more recognizable to students.
1. Decide which "tests" you would like to use to make a concenration game.
2. Click on the "Flash Card Report" button. In the "Tests to show" column, check only the test(s) you decided on in Step 1.
3. Un-check the checkbox for the "Items to Show" column, and put "6" in the box. (6 flash cards fit on one page.)
4. Click "Show for Whole Class" button, and you will have pages for each student. Print this report 2 times, so each student has 2 copies of their item cards.
5. Have the parent or big buddies cut up the cards, turn them over, and play the concentration game.
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Teacher Tip
Sunshine Handprint Craft
Materials:- dinner plate or margarine lid (must fit on a piece of construction paper)
- pencil
- yellow and orange construction paper
- scissors
- glue or glue stick
- markers
- OPTIONAL: wiggly eyes and pom pom nose
Directions:Use a pencil to trace a dinner plate onto a piece of yellow construction
paper. This will be the inside circle of your sunshine. Cut out the circle around the line you traced (this can be done by an
adult prior to craft time if you are working with a group of small
children).Trace the child's hand onto yellow construction paper 4 to 8 times and cut
them out. The number of handprints you need depends on the size of the plate you
used and the size of your child's hand. You should have enough prints to go around the plate without
overlapping them too much. Glue the yellow hand prints around the circle without overlapping them too much. Trace the child's hand onto orange construction paper the same number of times as you did with the yellow. Glue the orange hand prints behind the yellow ones, staggering them so the orange peeks out between the yellow. Draw a face on the plate using markers and wiggly eyes if you like.
To share your favorite teacher tips, e-mail them to info@esgisoftware.com with your name, city and state.
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Jaime Escalante
12-31-1930 to 03-30-2010
 Jaime Escalante was known for his passion and prolific teaching style. He was dedicated to education, specifically in teaching math to underprivileged kids who never thought they were capable of learning. He had many accolades and accomplishments, but most of all he was an inspiration to the students he taught, and to other educators. We honor Mr. Escalante for his dedication to education and for all the lives he touched. |
Race to the Top:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan announces Delaware and Tennessee are the winners of the "Race to the Top" grant. This fund provides competitive grants to encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for education, innovation, and reform. Learn more: Race to the Top
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NCLB Overhaul:
President Obama announces overhaul to NCLB "The nation that out-educates us, will out-compete us" says Pres. Obama in his statement regarding NCLB. America has lost ground over the last several decades. "Unless we step up, unless we take action," Obama said, "there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential." |
Today's Kids are Embedded with Technology:
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 It is a good feeling to know that the students that you teach - the ones that come in and can't read or write, solve complex problems, or do basic math, will be the same students that someday lead our country. In the same token, these kids are different as they have been affected by the technology that is now embedded into their life. In Feb 2010's California Teachers Association newsletter there was an article explaining that this new generation is so much more tech savvy than generation's before them. Growing up with cell phones, IPods, and PC's, they automatically know how to use technology. They are more curious, have access to more information, and tend to know more about the world. The challenge is that they have less patience, a shorter attention span, need immediate feedback, and sometimes can get overwhelmed by too much information - not knowing how to properly filter this data deluge.
As educators, this poses a new set of challenges as these kids learn differently, act differently, and in some cases, require more stimulation. To accommodate for these differences there has been a flood of technology-based teaching tools on the market, from computerized learning aids to video games that help teach as you play. But how has this translated to the classroom?
At ESGI we recognize this paradigm shift and have begun to shift teachers away from the traditional "pencil and paper" approach to assessments. This is not only for the teacher's sake in saving time and accessing more meaningful and real time data, but also for the students who enjoy seeing words or letters in digital format.
It is our intention, not to push technology, rather to help teachers slowly migrate to the innovations of the future. After all, paper and pencils and the chalk board (or now white board) have been used for 200 years.  Not to say all that is old is ineffective. ( I hope Crayolas are around forever!) But as the generations develop new behaviors, so must the pedagogues. Who knows what the classrooms of 2050 will be like...after all, it will be the kids you are teaching today that will set that framework.
As a closing comment I think of this quote to ponder:
"We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past; remembering that once it was all that was humanly possible."
-The Philosophy of George Santayana, Northwestern University Press 1940 |
 Announcements
Did you just start getting ESGI's Monthly Newsletter? Would you like to browse past issues? Click here!
July 15-17 |
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Quote of the Month:
A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.
~Author Unknown
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