Being a teacher, you can definitely identify a parent who fits into one of the following categories. The one who wants to tell you how to teach. The one who always wants to see you and has something to say. The one who brings their child to school late. The one who wants to contests their child’s grades. The over enthusiastic parent. The one who thinks you give too much homework. Or the one who threatens you… The list can go on for a long while if you decided to contribute to it.

Every teacher will encounter a difficult parent at one point or the other, it comes with the job. There may be instances when you are tempted to react to your pupil’s parent who is being out of place, and although you may be right, you may be penalized. Because they are your customers and you know what they say about customers. This is avoidable though.

Handling difficult parents is a deliberately learned skill that you must have as a teacher. Here are a few guides that will come in handy when you are faced with a difficult parent.

• Be proactive by building a cordial relationship with your pupil’s parents before avenues for concerns and issues start to arise.
• Inform them early about anything that may come up during the term or session. Especially those regarding finances or that require their participation and preferably via trackable newsletters or emails.
• Show that you care. This you can do by being empathetic, friendly and concerned about both your pupil and their parent. This will also help you build their trust in you.
• Give a balanced report. Try not to only communicate the negative things their child has done but also communicate about the positive things too. This way they know you’re not picking on their child.
• Establish your authority as a teacher who cares for their pupils and who knows what they are doing. This you can achieve by showing professionalism and confidence in speaking and in acting.
• Understand that nobody is beyond mistakes and sometimes a parent’s outrage may be valid. Keep an open mind and ensure that a proper investigation is done and feedback is given, including tendering an apology where need be.
• Keep your cool. Two wrongs do not make a right so try not to engage in a screaming fit by responding calmly and with a good disposition.
• Take charge of the situation as much as possible and try to calm a raging parent. Politely direct them to the school administrator if they are beyond your control.

Remember, the customer is always right, so it is your duty to make sure that your pupil’s parents are satisfied with the services being provided them by you on behalf of the school.

Reading aloud to children, at any age, boosts their brain developments and imbibes a reading culture in them as it allows them see reading as a fun activity.

It is a fun and educative process that is of great benefit to you and your child/pupils especially because it makes learning a whole lot easier.

So, whether in school or at home it is important to make a habit of reading to children because

• If you start reading to children early they are more likely to develop an interest in and a habit of reading by themselves as they grow. Make the process fun and enlightening.

• Children learn to pay attention and have an increased concentration span when they are read to because they have to stay still and listen to what is being read. Start small and gradually extend the reading time.

• It helps improve their vocabulary, communication skills, social skills, emotional skills and their ability to learn language. They pick up the words being read and how they are being used so it helps if you take time to explain new words and contexts.

• They tend to have more exposure to situations and people that they ordinarily would not come in contact with. This gives them a broader understanding of their society and the world as a whole.

• It helps build a bond between parent and child, teacher and pupils. As it is something of an intimate time shared together. It provides topics of discussions and is an opener for teaching life lessons.

• Children who are read to tend to have more creative and imaginative minds as reading spikes up this aspect of them. It also spurs a healthy curiosity in them.

• Reading to children also helps strengthen their ability to comprehend which makes studying much easier for them.

• It also makes it easy for younger children to transition into a school setting as they are able to identify sounds and associate them to words which develops their literacy skills.

Bilingual education is an incorporation of a second language into the teaching and learning process. This means that, instead of teaching the second language once or twice a week, it is used as operationally as the English language is.

However, what we see within the system is a sanction on the use of other languages. How do we expect to teach a language effectively if we do not use it actively? The benefits of bilingual education to pupils cannot be overemphasized as they span academics and beyond, here are a few to note

• Increased cognition- as a result of speaking and writing the language pupils are able to reason better and be more creative.

• They do better in their academics and achieve a lot more than monolingual pupils.

• Bilingual pupils have better memory as they are able to remember names, locations, lessons better.

• Pupils who are bilingual also have more higher education options as universities are biased towards them because of the cognitive and social advantage they have.

• They are also able to pick up other languages easily as they a keen idea about how languages work and have a strong background in learning language.

• Bilingual pupils also have more socioeconomic advantages in today’s world where a multilingual workforce is sort after as office inclusivity grows.

• Such pupils learn to appreciate other cultures which fosters unity and reduces stereotyping.

• Some research suggest that bi/multilingual people have better chances against brain diseases like dementia.

These are only a few of the many benefits of a thoroughly done bilingual education which can be achieved with some dedication and will. The right aids will also come in handy, some of which include Rasmed Publications language textbooks and literature books. Find them in our catalog.

Work-life balance is a term that may be abstract in practicality to a lot of employees and even some employers. Among teachers, statistics show that 74% of them suffer an inability to switch off from work which is the major contributing factor to a negative work-life balance.

A typical day in a teacher’s life involves doing 20% of their work before school, after 6pm or on weekends. Teachers take work home as do a lot of other employees, and with the pandemic resulting in a shift to more remote jobs, it has become harder to find a balance.

A lack of balance can put an avoidable strain on your health, relationships, outlook and output. This just goes to show that while work is important it is expedient that it does not put unnecessary pressure on the rest of your life. Here are a few techniques to begin the journey to achieving a balance between work and life.

• Firstly, take charge of your day and determine what balance would mean and look like to you, as it differs from person to person.

• Shelve the need to be perfect or you will burnout. The goal is to work smarter and more productively not harder.

• Unplug from the world. Reduce your level of accessibility as often as possible and live in the moment. Take breaks and celebrate your small and big wins.

• Exercise your mind and body. It helps you relax and focus for better output.

• Be deliberate about the people and activities you spend time on and make the time spent productive and memorable.

• Set healthy and clear boundaries for yourself, the people around you and your jobs.

• Delegate, ask for help or outsource everything you can so that you can focus on the people and things that especially need your attention.

• Find a hobby and make friends that you can spend your leisure with.

• Create a plan or a schedule for your activities. This way you know what you need to do per time and can thus work quicker and more efficiently.

• Start small. Do not take on so much too soon. Achieving work-life balance is important but even rushing that can lead to burn out so pace yourself.

• Rest. Sleep is an important part of your day and has an impact on how well you perform physically and mentally.

A quote from the 2020 season of Emily in Paris summarizes this quite well, “here, we work to live not live to work”. You cannot do a good job if all you do is your job. Balance is a must in everything you do, especially in work and life since these two take up most of your time. Either run the day or the day will run you.

Teaching is one of the most important professions in the world which implies that teachers are some of the most important people in the world. This importance goes beyond their influence within the classroom to society as a whole since everyone, at some point or the other, has had a teacher.

Every child has a favorite teacher, one whose teaching they understand easily, one whose class is fun, one who looks out for them, one who stands up for them, one who encourages them and reprimands them when need be. These could be different people or just one person depending on the pupil’s outlook.

This week Rasmed Publications launches the “Reward My Teacher” campaign and so we have pulled up a few short quotes from students essays about their favorite teacher to inspire you.

• “When I think of Ms. Kate, what stands out most clearly was her willingness to be unapologetically herself. Ms. Kate put on no airs, showed no pretense, had no need to be “normal.” She, like me, was different and she wore her differences like a name tag that said, “I’m ME! And, you will like me!” What a powerful example she was.”

• “I feel that he is a true teacher because he seems to read faces of his students and the doubts they have in their minds.”

• “Apart from becoming good students he also wants us to become good human beings also.”

• “Ms. Olivia is accessible anytime for clearing doubts and answering questions. She is very innovative and finds out new ways to explain complex issues with fun.”

• “He teaches us to study and share things among our classmates and doesn’t give us loads of homework every day.”

• “My favorite teacher is a well-respected and disciplined man who teaches us in the simplest terms and uses as many relatable examples as possible to communicate the lessons. I have never failed any of his subjects because he is a patient teacher who answers all my questions, even outside classes, so I just have to understand.”

Do you think you deserve a reward?

You can win easily. Just get your pupils or students to write an essay about their best teacher and they might just win their teacher amazing prizes.

To participate in this competition please read the following guidelines.

1. The topic of the essay competition is “Reward My Teacher”.
2. Categories for participation are pupils in Primary 3-6, Jss 1-3 and Ss 1-3
3. Word count per category is 150, 200 and 250 respectively.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Participants must fall within the categories stated.
2. The essays should be reflective of the participants’ original ideas, interpretation and expressions.
3. Only one entry per participant.
4. Essays should be handwritten on A4 sheet of paper.
5. On each sheet should be written; participants name, school, class, phone number and date.

SUBMISSION

1. Submissions can be made from July 1 and closes on July 16, 2021.
2. Submissions are to be made via Facebook or Instagram posts.
3. Two pictures are to be included. One with a close and readable image of the article and one of the participants holding up their article.
4. Rasmed Publications social media handles should be tagged on posts.
5. Posts should be captioned using #RewardMyTeacher and #RasmedPublications.

In the 21st century, textbooks have gained a broader significance beyond their use as a teaching guide. Good textbooks help students learn how to learn, inspire positive values and attitudes, and a commitment to lifelong learning.
In choosing a textbook, it is important to consider noteworthy generic qualities such as contents, learning and teaching development, structure and organization, textbook layout and technical and functional significance.

Here are some values you should consider in choosing a quality textbook:

• Textbooks should align and conform with the objectives and components of the curriculum. Good textbooks should reflect the aims, content, learning objective, and assessment of the curriculum.
• Focused on the development of practical skills for equipping students with skills and knowledge to cope with the challenges of the future.
• Good textbooks should emphasize learning beyond the classroom.
• Textbooks should be interactive, contain lessons to inspire the interest of students, and actively engage their minds in the learning process.
• Quality of Language. Language used in textbooks must be coherent, and accessible to students in order to facilitate independent reading and engage with lessons on their own.
• Textbook Layout. Good textbooks should be well organized, space and margin utilised properly, contain illustrations that enhance learning, and designed in a way that the materials and contents succinctly and clearly describe the aims and objectives of the lessons.
• Data and information used in the textbook must be accurate and relevant.

Rasmed Publications has a wide range of quality textbooks spanning across different age grades and various interests and themes for schools in Nigeria.
You can go through our catalog here

https://rasmedpublications.com/catalog/

Monday Tips From Your Friends at Rasmed Publications

The other day, I went along to drop my niece and nephew in school. As our vehicle approached the gates we heard drums being beaten and the most exhilarating chorus of children singing at the top of their voices. My niece and nephew began dancing before we even parked the car, even I was dancing unconsciously.

After we saw them in we stayed through the rest of the assembly because it brought a rush of dopamine that lasted us the whole day. Imagine the effect of a well-planned out assembly on the pupils and even you, the teacher, at the start of a new week.

As it is apparent, assemblies are important! It is necessary therefore to plan them out at the beginning of the school year. That is, scheduling them, preparing their budgets and assigning duties so that somebody is responsible for each assembly. Once the general plan for assemblies have been put in place, below are some necessary key points to help guide those assigned with the execution.

• Choose a theme for your assembly. Preferably one that follows the overall theme of the school year or one that correlates with activities within the time period.

• Prepare the following- a lists of activities, assign roles and duties, and draw up rules and regulation for the activities which should include duration, seating arrangements, permission guides, etc.

• Prepare and send out invitations (if it is that kind of assembly, you can send an invitation to the head teacher or principal). You can have the pupils design the invitations.

• Draw out a program of activities and time them so they fit into the assigned time.

• Cross check the preparations a day before the assembly. Ensure that everything needed is already available, that everyone is aware of their duties and that the equipment to be used are in a good state.

• On the day of the assembly ensure that all duty posts are properly manned for orderliness. Let those involved in the program be aware and ready to go up on cue, this is to ensure proper time management.

• Pay attention to the welcome and closing speeches. Make sure to acknowledge everyone that was involved in the assembly.

• You can distribute forms for your guest to give feedback about the assembly.

Assemblies should be fun and educative- “funducative”. Going forward, be deliberate about planning out the best assemblies with the most funducative activities.

Running an inclusive classroom can be quite the challenge for most teachers because of the peculiarity of special needs pupils. In the 2007 movie “Like Stars on Earth” we see a young pupil, Ishan, who has a hard time understanding what is being taught in class because he was Dyslexic.

This took a toll on all that he did and even put his teacher, who did not understand his condition, in a bad light. It took the intervention of another teacher who learned and explored Ishan’s artistic strengths and abilities. This helped him a lot and eventually brought out the star in him.

Every teacher wants to make a star out of their pupils, especially those ones with special needs. It is therefore important to understand that a pupil having a disorder does not make them more or less intelligent than their peers and so they should not be sidelined in an all Inclusive Classroom.

Special needs range from mild to severe and must be studied in other to be understood and treated accordingly. Teachers with special need pupils can use some of the following tips to improve their classroom output.

• Learn about your pupils special need by conducting research about it. Ensure that you handle their information with confidentiality. Also interact with parents and past teachers to get an idea of the pupil’s strengths, abilities and weaknesses.
• Interact with the student to learn what they are interested in and what they tend to avoid in the classroom. This would help you know where they need help and how best to help them.
• Get creative and fashion the learning process to suit your pupil’s special need. For instance, if they enjoy music, try to incorporate singing in your lessons.
• Also, create positive modifications, such as visual aids, in the learning environment that will help the student concentrate better and participate more http://studylecturenotes.com/audio-visual-aids-in-education-definition-types-objectives/
• Make sure that they have an ease of access to the classroom resources that they need. For instance, assign front roll seats to pupils with eye defects.
• Use technology in the classroom to your advantage. Allow dyslexic students record the classroom discussions and verbal notes so they can take their time transcribing without slowing the entire class down.
• Socialization is key so encourage healthy peer interaction and peer teaching. Make sure to peer your special need pupils with their friends for team projects.
• Provide exceptional role models with special needs just like your pupils such as Steven Hawking and Michael Phelps. This would encourage them and give them something to aspire to.
• Be consistent in your approaches and emphasize structure in the classroom as it helps build your pupils confidence and trust.
• Mind your language when speaking about or addressing special need pupils. Use language that prioritize them over their disability and does not differentiate them from their peers except when necessary.

Very important is your ability to build your pupils up to trust and depend on you. Teachers should do their best to be considerate, patient and accommodating of their special need pupils. It will not always be easy but the end often justifies the means.