Getting Every Child A Teacher

About 61 million children in the world do not have access to primary education. As per estimation, we need about 1.7 million teachers to get every child into school. Of which, there is a requirement for 1 million trained teachers in the African continent alone.

Global Campaign for Education

Last year’s Global Campaign for Education addressed the issue of poor teacher resources against the demand for education for all. The campaign was called ‘Every Child Needs a Teacher’ that sent across the message for “well-trained and well-supported” teacher for every child.

Aim of the Global Campaign for Education

The aim of the campaign was to uphold every child’s right to quality education by focusing on the huge need for the teachers and the ways to tackle the issue. Apart from the problem of shortage of teachers, the problem of low-quality teachers is another big concern. The overall situation is a definite hinder to the goals regarding Education for All.

Thus, the campaign was aimed at increasing the number of trained teachers that can lead to quality education for all. To achieve this, the campaign was focused on targeting strategic areas such as financing policy, teacher management, and teacher training. The campaign was also targeted the need for gender equity in the teaching profession to enhance gender equality in schooling.

NRC's Alternative Basic Education (ABE) Program

To provide a second chance to the children who were abandoned from primary school education in Somaliland, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a humanitarian, non-governmental organization, has established the Alternative Basic Education (ABE) Program.

Through this program, the NRC has worked to enhance the learner friendly pedagogical skills of the teachers in Somaliland where only 28% of primary teachers are qualified to teach. The NRC has supported the non-formal and untrained formal education teachers with in-service training, and school based mentoring and coaching activities.

The participant teachers of the program were qualified as teachers. This program made a significant contribution in increasing the teaching force under the Ministry of Education of Somaliland.

Exclusive Training For Female Teachers

As part of the program, the NRC has also worked with the pre-service training that enabled opportunity for secondary school teachers to get trained at Universities and Teacher Training Institutions in 2-year certified teacher training programs. This program was aimed at increasing the portion of qualified female teachers.

The initiatives by NRC have also strengthened the capacity of the Ministry of Education in Somaliland by developing a unified Teacher Education Curriculum, a National Teacher Education Policy, and a Teacher’s Code of Conduct that has been approved and translated into Somali Language.



Source: http://www.getteachered.com/blogs

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Rita F. Pierson – The Champion Teacher Of Kids

Rita F. Pierson, an educator for about 40 years, spent her entire life at the schoolhouse, on the way to the schoolhouse, or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse.

As an educator, she had a great chance to look at education reforms from a lot of perspectives. She learnt about the reasons behind the drop-out culture of kids which were usually the poverty, low attendance, negative peer influences, etc.

In one of her TED talks, Pierson talked about the importance of relationships in school and classroom between the teachers and the students for the learning process to happen.

Teacher-Student Relationship in a Classroom

In that TED talk, Pierson quoted James Comer who said that no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.

She said that people think that we can either have it in us to build a relationship or we don’t. She also mentioned about Stephen Covey’s thoughts on relationships.  According to Covey, people can develop good relationship with others by making efforts like understanding, apologizing, etc.

Experience with Students

Pierson continued her talk by sharing one of her experiences with her students who were academically deficient. When she was wondering about how to raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic achievement at the same time, she found an idea and told her students that they are the best students and that she was the best teacher; they were put together to show others about teaching and learning.

She also asked her students to tell, “I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go.”

Her students replied, “Yeah!”

Lesson About Teaching and Learning

Pierson shared her experience that taught her the important lesson about teaching and learning. When her mother died at the age of 92, many former students attended her mother’s funeral that brought tears in her eyes. The tears were because of the legacy of relationships that her mother left.

She concluded her talk by saying that “teaching and learning should bring joy and every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”

Pierson believed that kids don’t learn from people they don’t like. She was truly a champion of kids.

Source: http://www.getteachered.com/blogs

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The Importance Of Teacher Development

What is the most important factor in school that influences a student to learn and achieve? Without doubt, it is the teacher. The role of a teacher to inculcate the passion for learning in a student’s life has been proved in every classroom. Everyone has their own favorite teacher who made them become passionate about different subjects like History, Mathematics, Chemistry, Languages, etc.

Thus, if we are to create experts, it is important that we develop their educators.

Teacher Preparation Programs

Today’s teacher preparation programs give importance to subject-matter mastery and practical training to the student educators. These training methods are being implemented following the methodologies used in a medical school or a law school training. Educators are given opportunities to work and learn through case studies. They are being involved and trained through education in best practices and internship opportunities. Exemplary teacher preparation programs allow teachers to get hands-on training in real classrooms.

The role of Universities and colleges in training student educators is inevitable. These educational institutions are now revamping their teacher preparation programs to give more emphasize on subject-matter mastery. Usage of educational technologies and innovative training programs have been developed for students who are looking for  new career options and wish to pursue degrees online.

Early Career Training

Mentoring and coaching in the earlier stage of the career is very important to retain teaching professionals. Without proper guidance in the high-demanding environment, young educators prefer to leave their profession during their first 5 years in the field. To prevent this, veteran colleagues should step-up to the plate and extend their hands to support and guide the young teachers of our nation to prepare the next generation of teachers as well as the students.

Preparation Strategy For Teachers

The best preparation strategy for teachers is to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Teachers should be able to update themselves through preparation programs about children’s learning methods, emerging technology tools for classroom, new curriculum resources, etc.

Thus, the best teacher development includes ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected learning from each other and opportunity to work with students and understanding their culture.


Source: http://www.getteachered.com/blogs/

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Do-It-Yourself Projects – A Best Way Of Teaching

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects are activities done without the help of others like a teacher or a trainer. Sometimes, they may require minimal supervision from a guide.

For successful completion of these projects, one may require utmost discipline, and understanding abilities & skills. DIY also demands a person to be passionate towards the activity to incorporate his or her own creativity.

Aim of Teaching and DIY

Teaching facilitates learning. Teaching through DIY activities offers scope for students to learn things by themselves. Furthermore, these activities inculcate leadership qualities and provide the required training to complete a task.

In particular, DIY activities increase the rationale and critical thinking in students by enabling them to use their minds in activities they perform.

Important Purpose of Teaching

The purpose of teaching and learning is to create diversity in the society with new contributions from each learner to the already developed theories.

When students try to do activities on their own, their individuality reflects with their work. Thus, these offer the opportunities for creativity and diversity in the resultant products.

Resources for DIY

DIY activities can be done by using objects that are easily available. Also, students can search for kits that are specially created for DIY.

Here, we shall look into some of the inexpensive tech hacks that teachers and students can consider to experience a greater learning session:

• Teachers can find useful information in websites such as Instructables and Make that offer plans, videos, and tips to teachers.


• For simple and inexpensive projects, teachers can browse for Howtoons where they can find these projects presented in an amusing cartoon format.


• In case of blogs, TeachClever is a great resource that makes quality teachers. It has great tech tips for modern educators. One of the worthwhile online resources is Tech Savvy Teachers.


• Another resource is an event called Maker Faire that is held twice a year. This event hosts an astonishing gathering of DIYers of all ages. In this event, kids and adults work on projects under the guidance of university lectures. People from all the age groups with diverse interests will showcase their interests in this event.

In today’s classrooms, enthusiasm and willingness to share expertise make DIYers as special ones. They are truly lifelong learners and teachers.


Source: http://www.getteachered.com/blogs/career-tips/

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How To Develop A Simple E-learning Course

In our Schools and Universities, online courses and online teaching methods are gaining importance every day. More Universities are looking for some kind of financial aid to develop such courses and to train teachers in the specific field. Thus, it is evident that online teaching skill is necessary for a teaching professional in this decade.

In this article, we shall discuss about how to develop a simple e-learning course. Below are the steps to develop an e-learning course that can be used to deliver a lecture inside a classroom. You can follow these steps and develop an e-learning course as a Power Point presentation or a proper course using any available software. The steps explained below are generic and are not focusing on any specific subject or concept.

Before starting to develop an e-learning course, choose a concept or method to teach. It can be a mathematical or a scientific concept or a grammar exercise or a historical event. Narrow the topic as much as possible and provide only the necessary content. Do not deviate or dump the course with unnecessary sentences or paragraphs.

An online course should be in crisp format with less content and more graphic representation on the screen. During the lecture, you can explain the concepts in a more detailed manner and ask the students to take notes.

To develop an e-learning course:

Step 1

In the first slide, provide the introduction to the topic and explain about the sub-topics that will be covered in the course.

Step 2

In the second slide, provide the objectives of the course. There can be 3 or 4 objectives per topic.

Step 3

In further slides, explain each sub-topic in separate slides with supporting graphic representations.

Sub-topic slide:

• Provide introduction to the concept of the sub-topic


• Provide bullets and numbering to explain the concept in detail


• Use graphic representations such as images and icons to explain concepts and processes


• Use animations to display the content and graphics

Step 4

In the final slide, summarize the concepts that are discussed in the course. Ensure that the summary points tally with the objectives.

The important advantage of developing an e-learning course for a lecture is the feasibility factor that allows the lecture to be mind-boggling with necessary graphic representations. This graphic support can add inevitable value and meaning to the concepts and can inculcate interest among the students due to high level understanding.

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The Education System Of The Economic Giant

Education is an organized learning process that happens in an institutional manner with the help of an educator, as per the societal norms. It provides an opportunity to learn properly. It plays a vital role in the civilization process of human being.

In the modern day context, education opens the doors of opportunities for pupils who receive proper mentoring. But the US education system is facing a different situation. It is up against many crucial problems that can obstruct its potential to deliver. The major problems include teacher attrition and unequal school funding.

Teacher Attrition

Teaching profession is a bitter-sweet situation. It is a profession that is both demanding and rewarding. It is tied with overwhelming amount of pressure and responsibility as well as satisfaction.

The US education system is facing the problem of attrition of teachers that is increasing in an alarming rate. Teacher attrition creates problems in education budgets and student learning process. In case of education budgets, $7 billion per year is being spent on the recruitment and retention process alone. This amount can be otherwise used to spend on other education resources for the schools and the students.

Teacher attrition also denies students from receiving high quality teaching due to the replacement of experienced teachers with the fresher candidates. This leads to substandard mentoring.

Unequal School Funding System

In the United States, Public schools are being funded by the federal government, state government, and local organizations. As nearly half of the funds are sourced from local property taxes, the system generates large funding differences between the wealthy and the impoverished communities. Such differences exist among states, among school districts within each state, and even among schools within specific districts.

Compared to other countries, United States faces huge difference in the quality of school buildings, facilities, curriculum, equipment for instruction, teacher experience and qualifications, class sizes, access to auxiliary professionals, and other resources. It would surprise most US citizens to learn that disparities such as these are simply not tolerated in other developed countries, where public schools normally receive equal funding for rich and poor communities alike. The funding is usually allocated on the basis of student enrollment numbers.

The above discussed problems cannot facilitate a smooth education process for the welfare of an individual and for the American society. So, the funding and the faculty system should be organized properly for the education system to serve properly for the society.

Source: http://www.getteachered.com/blogs/featured-articles/education-vs-teachers/

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