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All Blog Posts (208)

A Map to Your Future Education

Believe it or not September 1, 2010 is almost here. So how are you mapping your plan for a successful 2010? Have you written down at least 10 goals you want to accomplish? What are the top three goals on your list? September is a great time to write down your goals. You can develop a road map that helps you to strategize the actions you will take right away. Don’t stick with the same old plan that did not work before. It’s better to forget the things that are behind and to pursue a higher… Continue

Added by Dr. Stephen Jones on August 25, 2010 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

The Inspirational Corner (Creating Inspirational Classrooms and Schools)

On The Freshman Transition Network we try to provide ideas for inspirational/motivational classroom resources. A lot of great ideas have been presented and they have ended up scattered all over The Network. This blog post is an attempt to give folks one easy resource that links to the others. If you have any ideas that should be added just let me know!

BE SURE TO VISIT…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on August 22, 2010 at 10:30pm — 6 Comments

John Wooden's Corner

John Wooden - the man, his accomplishments, his life, and his legacy - is a gift to teachers trying to help students reach their full potential. By bringing John Wooden into the classroom teachers will have an amazing opportunity to give students glimpses into the type of character and virtues that need to be present in their lives. For that matter, students can explore John Wooden on their own.

This blog post is an attempt to compile all the great John Wooden resources into…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on August 22, 2010 at 10:00pm — No Comments

5 Back to School How to Study Tips

The journey back to school is a time when students meet new friends and get adjusted to a new school environment. The adjustment is not limited to K12 students there are changes for college bound students too. Often after the first week students realize that they do not know how to study and they easily get behind on assignments. Going back to school becomes a burden when students realize how much work that they need to complete. Students don’t realize that learning how to study is one of the… Continue

Added by Dr. Stephen Jones on July 27, 2010 at 12:04pm — 1 Comment

A Hero Has Died, Let's Learn From His Life - John Wooden

What an amazing man. What an amazing life. What an amazing example to our young people.

John Wooden, the legendary Wizard of Westwood, died today, June 4, 2010. He was born in 1910, and in his 99 years on earth he found his purpose, lived it to the fullest, and left a lasting mark on the world.

John Wooden is someone your students need to know. I would encourage…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on June 4, 2010 at 11:11pm — 2 Comments

A School Counselor uses AFL

This was originally posted on Assessment FOR Learning.

One of the tricks of staff development is finding ways to apply ideas/strategies/concepts to the many different departments and content areas that make up a school. That's one of the goals of this Ning - to document ways to use AFL in many different settings. For example, there has been a PE… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on May 18, 2010 at 9:18am — No Comments

Does your brain lie to you? (6 lessons for students)

Recently I had the opportunity to spend 45 minutes addressing the 10th and 11th grade students at Estill County High School in Irvine, Kentucky. The topic of my address was Does Your Brain Lie to You (and do you believe it)? I thought that some of the ideas from that address might be ideas that teachers could share in their classrooms with students of all ages. While I did this in one day, I would recommend addressing each of the…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on May 16, 2010 at 10:30pm — 6 Comments

Essential Components of a Freshman Transition Program- Part 1 - A Team of Teachers

This series of posts on the essential components of a Freshman Transition Program is based on ideas found in The Ninth Grade Opportunity: Transforming Schools from the Bottom Up by Scott Habeeb, Ray Moore, and… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on May 10, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Assessment FOR Learning + Enthusiasm = Powerful Instruction

This was originally posted on Assessment FOR Learning.

What a privilege it is to be able to observe great educators practicing their craft!

Recently I had a chance to be in the classroom of Michelle Kovac, Salem High School's Marketing teacher. She was teaching Advanced Marketing. Two things stood out to…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on April 23, 2010 at 11:38am — No Comments

They need us...

This post was originally an email that I sent to our faculty here at Salem High School. I thought that perhaps some of you might relate to it and benefit from it.

Faculty…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on April 15, 2010 at 10:26pm — No Comments

Confusion over Formative Assessment

This was originally posted on Assessment FOR Learning.

Salem High School Earth Science teacher, Wes Lester, recently sent me this link to a post on Edutopia about Formative Assessment (AFL). I found it to be an excellent post and… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on April 13, 2010 at 11:16am — No Comments

How to Study and Succeed on a Final Exam

Getting prepared for examinations and avoiding distractions is the greatest challenge that a student can face. It’s amazing how the best events and the most distracting friends come knocking on your door when you’re trying to study. I always tell students that their first mistake is opening the door to let their friend into their room. To succeed on your final exam you need to set all…

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Added by Dr. Stephen Jones on April 9, 2010 at 4:47am — No Comments

Gotta do it more than once!

If you have read many of my previous blog posts, you'll know that I often share ideas for motivating/inspiring students and for teaching them important life lessons. Here are a few examples of the posts to which I am… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on April 8, 2010 at 9:39am — 4 Comments

Assessment FOR Learning - Don't confuse it for a specific strategy

This was originally posted on Assessment FOR Learning.

When faced with a new concept it is natural and necessary to attach meaning to that concept. Sometimes when we find an understandable example of that concept we begin to confuse that idea for the concept itself. As Salem High School and the City of Salem Schools strive to… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on March 23, 2010 at 4:34pm — 2 Comments

Using Quotes to teach life lessons

Do you remember your parents or grandparents sharing with you the same words of wisdom over and over again until you could quote them in your sleep?

If so, then count yourself blessed. Those words of wisdom spoken by an adult who cared helped to shape you and mold you. Even though at times you were probably tired of hearing those words, they stuck in your head and helped to guide you and your life.

My favorite example came from my grandfather,…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 22, 2010 at 10:23pm — No Comments

PART TWO - Use Music to Inspire and Connect with Students

Recently I posted about ways to use music in the classroom and a list of specific songs that can be used. This post is a follow up to that earlier one. The first part of this post before the list of songs is copied verbatim from the…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 19, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

4 Steps for Starting a Freshman Transition Program

So you want to create a Freshman Transition Program (FTP) at your school and you don’t know where to start. You keep hearing about other schools creating Freshman Academies – is that what your school should do? How do you go about researching and exploring the topic?

Well, you’ve come to the right place.…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 11, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Students can learn from THE HOLE

Many of our students have not seen real-life examples of success, of hard work, of overcoming problems, and of properly dealing with…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 10, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

When Education was King

Americans need to revive the thirst for knowledge. It seems like education is on life support and fading fast. We cannot afford to continue to drift back word. Billions of dollars are spent on education every year and we need to renew the level of excitement of students and parents. Too often a good portion of the money that is spent on education fails to make an impact on communities. Education is one way that we can invest in creating a prosperous community.

There are some… Continue

Added by Dr. Stephen Jones on March 3, 2010 at 4:30pm — 2 Comments

Another Great Song to Share - Our Lives by The Calling

Here's another great song to consider sharing with your students (if the video doesn't load right away try refreshing the page):

This song, Our Lives by The Calling, has an axcellent message for our young people. As I have recommended with songs before, try playing it for your students as a Do Now/Bell Ringer activity. Ask your students to listen to the song and…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 3, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments