Blufrog Energy Drink Contest

July 3rd, 2009

They may not be “just” for teachers but the BluFrog energy drinks are great. They are tasty boosts of energy in that last half or quarter of the day when you really need it. We always think about teenage kids with their energy drinks in hand but what about the teachers? If we are the ones teaching the kids, shouldn’t we have an energy drink as well?

BluFrog is having a contest to promote their drink to the planet. There are some truly incredible prizes and the entry method is truly modernized: You may, 1) Comment on their blog; 2) Post a Twitter (TWEET TO WIN!); or 3) Write a blog post on your own blog about the contest. Now for the coolest part of this post: THE PRIZES!

Xbox 360 Elite Gaming System with a Rock Band 2 bundle.
A New Years Eve trip to NY.
A trip to Lolapalloza in Chicago.
Win a Richard Petty Racing Experience.
A trip to the Winter X Games in Aspen.

As you can see, learning about this new drink can win you some dandy stuff! I’ve entered the contest and if I were to pick my favorite prize, it would definitely be the Richard Petty Racing experience. I have always wanted to get behind the wheel of a Nascar vehicle.

Think about it, if you have a blog or if you Twitter, or if you know how to simply leave a comment on the Blu Frog site, you can enter! Go for it. In conclusion, I recommend picking up a six pack of BluFrog for those days when the students are wearing you down. It will boost your energy and taste great too!

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Scholarships and Grants for Teachers

July 3rd, 2009

There are hundreds of scholarships and grants available specifically for students pursuing continuing education or a degree in education. These scholarships and grants are available for all skill levels and fields of study. This article contains a list of just a few of the resources available to current and future teachers.  

Teach Grant Program – The Teach Grant Program awards a grant worth up to $4,000 to any student seeking to teach in a “low-income” elementary or high school. Students who accept this grant must sign a Teach Grant Agreement and follow through on the agreement after graduation. 

Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarships – This Department of Education program gives scholarships to outstanding high school students seeking teaching degrees. 

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Scholarships – Aspiring teachers are eligible for several different scholarships though the National Board Scholarship Program (NBSP). Scholarships are available for elementary teachers, middle school teachers, math teachers, science teachers, and reading and language arts teachers.

StraightForward Media’s Teacher Scholarship – StraightForward Media offers four $500 scholarships each year to aspiring teachers. This scholarship program has deadlines in January, April, July, and October. 

The Coca-Cola Foundation – The Cola-Cola Foundation has provided millions of dollars in college scholarships to students over the years. Aspiring teachers who are the first in their immediate family to go to college can apply for Coca-Cola’s First Generation Scholarship.

American Montessori Society Scholarships – This program, offered by the American Montessori Society, provides 16 scholarships to students enrolled in teacher education. To be eligible, students must be accepted by an AMS education program.   

Applegate/Jackson/Parks Future Teacher Scholarship – The National Institute for Labor Relations Research offers this scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in education. Applications are accepted for the $1,000 scholarship between October 1 and December 31 each year.  

PDK  Prospective Educator Scholarships – Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) awards annual scholarships to students majoring in education. To be considered eligible, applicants must be a member of the Future Educators Association or have some relation to PDK (a Kappan, a relative of a Kappan, or a reference letter from a Kappan in good standing.)

SPS Future Teacher Scholarship – For those choosing to be physics teachers, this program offers a $2,000 scholarship worth applying for. To be eligible for the award, future teachers must be pursuing physics education and be a member of the Society of Physics Students. 

The Delta Gamma Foundation Florence Margaret Harvey Memorial Scholarship – This scholarship, offered by the American Foundation for the Blind, is one of two scholarships available to students who want to teach the blind or visually impaired.

Barbara Lotze Scholarships for Future Teachers – This Barbara Lotze funded program offers annual scholarships worth up to $2,000 for high school and undergraduate students pursuing physics high school teaching careers. To be eligible students must attend a U.S. school.

JEA Future Teacher Scholarships – The Journalism Education Association offers three scholarships worth $1,000 each to students pursuing a career in scholastic journalism. Students looking to receive this award must submit an application, essay, and two recommendations.

Texas Instruments Demana-Waits Fund – This $10,000 scholarship is awarded annually to prospective high school mathematics teachers. The scholarship winner receives $5,000 in their third year of study and the remaining $5,000 in their fourth year of study.

The Mikkelson Education Fund – Since 2006, this fund has been offering scholarships to undergraduate students obtaining a degree in mathematics or science education. Thousands of dollars are awarded each year.

SSA Teacher Development Scholarships – This program, offered by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, assists teachers with pedagogy study by providing awards worth $300 to $500. Awards can be used to aid in the cost of summer workshops, teacher development courses, and other approved education programs.

Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer, who writes about online courses for OnlineCourses.org.

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Treadmills and Teaching

July 2nd, 2009

My treadmill is a great way to get more energy while burning calories and strengthening my heart.  Besides that, it cleans my arteries while I have fun.  As a teacher, I carry stress around.  It’s all about health. We struggle with legalese all day trying to give kids the academic knowledge they so desperately need.  Unfortunately, we are often kept from our best due to fatigue, poor health, and lack of exercise.  The right exercise equipment can bring back the sparkle in a personality.  I have a friend with an elliptical machine and he enjoys it immensely.  Since he bought it he has stayed much thinner and his energy is through the roof.

Think about the many ways to exercise.  It’s all about fitness. When you think of fitness, imagine how much work each requires to do.  If you want to stay regular in a workout routine, you should choose an exercise that you are likely to come back to.  In other words, don’t overshoot your athletic ability.  Start slow and measurable and then work your way up from there.  There are exercise bikes worth looking into since you can workout without leaving your home.

I know when I am doing my treadmill, or exercises, regularly, I have more ideas.  The ideas I get  are exciting and fresh.  It’s truly amazing what a little adrenaline will do for you.

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Teaching With Less Than the Budget Allows

June 30th, 2009

In California the budget crisis has truly hit home.  The last I heard, my school district was ordered to make 17m in cuts.  There just isn’t any money to work with in education.  Gone are the days of three day weekend trainings where companies were paid millions to service entire districts in methods for teaching.

So what now?

Plain and simple, we need to always be teaching with less than the budget allows.  When you get a teaching assignment, start assembling cheap or free, paperless if possible, methods of teaching the class.  I am still writing my book “The Paperless Classroom,” and getting better ideas by the day

Teaching in this new time, which I assume will stretch to 2012 or more, requires doing more with less money … plain and simple.  Can you think of a way to eliminate paper usage?  Do you have ideas on how schools can save money?

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Free Education and Learning Tools for Teachers

June 29th, 2009

Teachers who want to learn something new need look no further than the web. There are thousands of sites that have been created specifically for teachers and other lifelong learners who want to explore new topics and share educational materials with the world. Here are 15 great sites to try today:

LearnCentral – LearnCentral is a new, social learning network for education. Teachers can participate in this global community to learn, connect, and share with other people.

Classroom 2.0 – Classroom 2.0 is a social media network for educators who are interested in web 2.0 technologies. Teachers can participate in forum discussions and learn about technology from like-minded colleagues.

TeachStreet – This online community was created for people who love to learn. Teachers can use it to learn, teach, and network with students and other educators.

Mindpicnic – Mindpicnic is a place for people to learn on the web for free. Once you sign up, you can take tuition-free courses or create your own learning materials.

TeacherTube – This online community was created so that teachers would have a place to share videos and instructional materials. You can upload your own videos or watch the videos that other teachers have created.

Exploratorium – The Exploratorium is a hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception that posts education tools for teachers. Tools include a digital library, hands-on activities, and much more.  

Connexions – Connexions is a great place to learn new things and share information. You can use it to take free courses, view study materials, and submit your own educational content.

ResearchChannel – The Research Channel is a consortium of research institutions and universities. The Channel publishes lecture videos from researchers, scholars, and various speakers. There are more than 3,500 videos on this site that can be viewed for free.

OpenCourseWare Consortium – The OCW Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions. The Consortium publishes links to schools that offer free courses and course materials to self-learners around the world.

Learn Out Loud – With more than 20,000 educational videos and audio files, Learn Out Loud is a fantastic place for teachers to learn online. The site also offers a newsletter, articles, and other valuable resources.

Livemocha – Livemocha is hands-down the best place to learn a foreign language for free on the web. This social language learning site connects learners from around the world and provides free intermediate-level courses for dozens of languages.

VerbaLearn – VerbaLearn is a relatively new site, but has quickly earned a reputation as a great place to learn and practice vocabulary. The site offers free vocabulary building programs and tips for teachers who want to incorporate VerbaLearn in the classroom.

Shmoop – Teachers who are interested in exploring literature, poetry, and U.S. history will love the free study guides and other materials offered free through this site. Shmoop was created by Ph.D. and Masters students and is dedicated to making learning fun for students and teachers alike.

Learning Essentials – Learning Essentials is a Microsoft Office add-on that can be downloaded for free. Features include tutorials, templates for classroom hand-outs, customized toolbars, tools for technology integration, and kits for teachers who want to create their own classroom content.

Learning Circles Teacher’s Guide – The Learning Circle Teacher Guide is an excellent online publication for teachers who are interested in learning more about cross-classroom collaboration. The guide includes information about opening, planning, and exchanging work through teacher’s circles.

Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer, who writes about online college degrees for OnlineColleges.org.

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Local.com – Finding Local Services

June 27th, 2009

Have you ever tried searching for a local company on Google and found the first five across the country?  This happened to me recently.  I wanted to find a lawnmower repair company so I typed into a search engine the name of my city along with the words “lawnmower repair.”  I found out there are a couple cities with simliar names to mine and my search basically left me empty.  I did find a great one on a new search engine format out there called “local.com”

This site is just like a search engine but it specializes in helping local people find local services.  They have teamed up with Citysearch.com, Yelp.com, Yellowpages.com, and Superages.com to create a serach that is as extensive and specialized to area as is possible.   For example, to search on the internet for services in my area is fruitless most the time.  With local.com, my area is already recognized from my cookies and all I need to do is type in the service I need:

The Spray Doctor at the bottom is the one that I ended up using.  They got my lawnmower working perfectly at a very low price.  This bargain was made possible by local.com.  If you have a need to find local services or deals, I challenge you to find any means better than local.com.  Keep it bookmarked or memorize their url, it’s hard to forget.  Local.com is filling a void of the internet:  local services listed online you can find in a normal search engine format.

In our business of education, Local.com can help us connect students with services in their community.  Especially if we don’t live in the area.  Local.com can actually become a social services portal for teachers.  Try it out and see if you find it as useful as I do.

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Discipline and “The List”

June 26th, 2009

Today I learned a lot about list-making.  Unfortunately I still have lots to learn about discipline and the list.  Some of you may know I started my first day with teachers yesterday as lead teacher.  Today I had the chance to address them in a staff meetimg: my first ever!  I am happy to report it went well.  In between my shpeel about the classrooms and the daily schedule, I fielded questions and concerns about our upcoming 3 weeks.  I was smart enough to write them down in a list when I couldn’t answer them immediately.  When the meeting was over, I had my list in hand and was able to get most all of it accomplished.  I don’t know why it took me to age 40 to make a point to write things down, but it pretty much did!  Make sure to write things down you intend to do and then once you’ve said you’ll do them (to others or yourself) make sure you follow through.

In conclusion, remember both aspects of this post: “Discipline and the List.”  You’ll need both to be successful in career endeavors, not the least of which includes leading teachers.

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Who are Teachers, Really?

June 23rd, 2009

At least three times I have been part of an article in the local newspaper regarding teaching.  I’ve also read hundreds on the topic.  One time I was involved was when the Secretary of Educatio in California came down to visit our rural school in 2007.  That article was very complimentary but they aren’t always that way, in case you haven’t noticed.  As I was mowing “the weeds” out front today I thought of this topic for a blog post: “Who are Teachers, Really?”

Teachers are people who used their education.

So many of my friends I run across now either on Facebook or just around town did not put their excellent “South Orange County” education to work.  Some did and went into various trades but teachers used it to keep getting educated.  All teachers have at least a Bachelor’s degree.  I’ll never forget when I was about 23 and I’d just started my college path for the second time.  This time I was serious about it and a few of my friends almost made fun of me for it.  One said, “Wait until Bill Clinton makes it free.”  I might also mention that he had a joint in his hand when he said it.  I remember that as a defining moment for me.  I gained a new respect for teachers and education in general when he said that.

Teachers have shown discipline as interns and student teachers.

My Master Teacher, Anthony Tebelskis, was the one who told me when my class was out of control: “The best behavior control is a dynamite lesson plan.”  That quote has so much meaning to me, I named this blog after it.  The only way I appreciated that though was through being humbled.  Being in the presence of close mentors can often cause one to be humbled.  Teachers have been, and often.

Teachers have “people” as their work product.

Look at any mall and you can imagine all sorts of products: diamonds, electronic, cheese and sauce (Pizza), entertainment.  The product that teachers mold is “people.”  I love that about my job.  The bottom line is how many or how much you helped people.

Teachers are communicators and lifelong learners.

At work, I often have aides or parents that approach me about math problems or the like that are stumping them.  I always feel flatterred and try my best to help them out.  It’s one thing to know how to get the answer but another completely to teach it to someone.

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I used to think teachers were lame.  Like they had 2 left feet in the real world so had to take a mindless job of teaching.  How ironic that I have become a teacher!  The purpose of this post is to show the amazing things teachers do and the wonderful people that they are.  Those who can, teach!

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