Author Archive

Use Text Messaging to Connect with Parents and Improve Student Performance by Ken Rhie

Friday, May 12th, 2017

Use Text Messaging to Connect with Parents and Improve Student Performance by Ken Rhie gives teachers a way to more effectively and efficiently communicate with parents. It also suggests his product from Trumpia that teachers can use to make this process even easier.

Trumpia

Introduction

  • As a teacher, you are strongly dedicated to the success of your students. To ensure that each student has the best chance of success, you need to maintain ongoing communication with his or her parents. However, because both parents and teachers are busy, finding an effective method of communication can be difficult.
  • In the past, teachers often communicated with parents using papers sent home from school, phone calls or emails. However, these methods are resource-intensive and not guaranteed to be seen. Text messaging, on the other hand, is making a strong impact by allowing you to maintain an open dialogue with parents in a more effective and efficient manner.

Why Is It Important to Communicate with Parents?

  • Communicating with parents on a regular basis offers many benefits for students and teachers alike, including:
  • More parent involvement. – When parents are communicating with teachers on a regular basis, they are more likely to become involved in their child’s studies and other school activities.
    Improved performance. – According to Harvard Family Research Project, ongoing communication with parents and increased parent involvement can improve student performance over time.
    Efficiency for teachers. – Teachers need to communicate with parents for many different reasons. However, because teachers are responsible for so many students, communicating with each parent individually can be time-consuming. Text messaging allows teachers to communicate with parents more efficiently, which leaves more time for their other tasks.
    Fewer phone calls or emails from parents. – SMS messaging keeps parents informed about their children’s activities, which cuts down on the number of questions teachers will receive via email or on the phone.

Benefits of using SMS for Communication

  • SMS messaging is an ideal choice for busy teachers who want to communicate with the parents of their students on a regular basis. Some of the specific benefits of SMS include:
  • Flexibility. – The majority of adults own a cellphone, so teachers can use this technology to communicate with most or all of their students’ parents. In addition, teachers can use SMS to communicate about a variety of topics, including grades, upcoming events, parent-teacher conferences, and more.
    It’s Instant – When you send a text message to a parent, it is received almost instantly. Because most people check their phones frequently, the message is likely to be read soon after it is received. In many cases, parents will read messages immediately.
    Efficiency. – Texting is quick and it conserves resources. When teachers use SMS to communicate with parents, they don’t need to waste ink, paper or their time.

Using SMS Effectively

  • As a teacher, you can use SMS to communicate with parents about almost anything, including PTA meetings, holidays, schedule changes, cancellations, grades, and absences. You can also use this technology to collect information from parents, remind them to turn in important paperwork or discuss behavioral problems. Text messaging can be used to send the same message to all parents, to send personalized messages to individual parents, or to send a specific message to a select group of parents. Teachers can also receive messages from parents with this technology.
  • Text messaging can be a very effective tool for teachers, but it is important to choose the right platform. Before choosing a provider, schools should consider the available features, cost, and reputation carefully. For more information on how integrating a text messaging software will boost communication between teachers and parents, click here!

Ken Rhie

  • Ken Rhie is the CEO of Trumpia, which earned a reputation as the most complete SMS solution including user-friendly user interface and API for mobile engagement, Smart Targeting, advanced automation, enterprise, and cross-channel features for both mass texting and landline texting use cases. Mr. Rhie holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He has over 30 years of experience in the software, internet, and mobile communications industries.
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Special Education 2.0: Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law by Miriam Kurtzig Freedman

Monday, May 8th, 2017

SP2

Special Education 2.0: Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law by Miriam Kurtzig Freedman points out the successes and flaws of the 1975 law that established federal control of public school special education programs. It argues against labeling students and for giving all students what they need without wasting money on bureaucracy and litigation. Share this with policy makers you know.

Preamble and Guiding Principles

  • The main idea is that public education needs to meet the needs of all students and that there should be no individual entitlement. Strangling paperwork and compliance requirements need to be streamlined. There is a focus on home-based, parent engagement learning environments along with preschools to close language and other gaps. Adaptations should be aimed at improving learning, not just getting kids through. We should learn from other countries like Finland and fund research-based programs. Early interventions for struggling students is key. Least intervention needed should replace least restrictive environment and strengths should be highlighted along with weaknesses. Teacher preparation should be strengthened. There should be a focus on student engagement and student responsibility to be motivated and present. Due process rights should be the same for all.

Why a NEW Law

  • The current special education law (IDEA) was first passed in 1975 and tweaked several times since. Prior to that, many children with special needs were barred from public schools or served poorly. While the law has had some positive impact, it has also had a number of unintended consequences. They include the rampant fear of litigation, too much bureaucratic regulation paperwork, excessive cost, and input-driven requirements far removed from improving outcomes for students. While Congress is expected to reauthorize the law again, all we can expect is that they will change discipline policies, add and/or subtract assessments, reemphasize inclusion, and perhaps reallocate more resources. What Miriam sees is a 20th-century law that isn’t working well in the 21st century. This is the foundation for her belief that lawmakers should start from scratch.
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Seven Ways to Get More Women into Engineering and Tech by Alyssa Johnson

Friday, May 5th, 2017

7 Ways to Get More Women into Engineering and Tech by Alyssa Johnson covers many current fields in science and engineering that are increasingly available for women who are willing to pursue the proper education, either informally or independently. Alex is a blogger and freelance writer based in Wilmington, DE. 

Introduction

  • With the development of feminism women are now players all the spheres of science and technologies. Schools were rearranged and women in the workplaces doubled. The world was shocked by great minds like a mathematician – Ada Lovelace, electronic engineer – Edith Clarke, computer scientist – Grace Hopper, NASA space program coworker – Evelyn Boyd Granville, and graphic designer – Susan Kare who created Apple Macintosh icon elements. Today women don’t have to fight for human rights. They are widely involved in the tech industry but in terms of administrating, managing, recruiting, monitoring, and other, where did all the female developers go?

Smart is hot

  • Today science is everywhere. The EU provides a list of easiest engineering schools to get into and acquire not only high-quality specialized education but also valuable experience and a high level of self-realization. Women in engineering are as desirable as men because technologies are growing incredibly fast today and fresh new brains are only a plus to every perspective tech, IT, or research company. HRs are always fighting for the best heads. They understand that one talented engineer can make a big difference for the company’s development and as a result – income. Smart people are always in demand.

Geek

2. Go online

  • YouTube is full of tech video(vlogs) like Kurzgeagt and Vsauce, which feature educational videos and experiments, which everyone can use to acquire desirable knowledge. If you need help getting accepted to a university, the guys from Eduzaurus can help. There are plenty of opportunities online. Coursera, CodeAcademy, and other online platforms provide plenty of courses for consulting help or remote education, which can be found on the websites of Barkley, Cambridge, and other world education rock stars.

3. Define what is Tech

  • Under the engineering and technology umbrella, there is work connected with IT (instructional technology). Developers, designers, engineers, operations specialists, quality assurance specialists, and others, are professions strongly associated with information technologies. We don’t say software engineer anymore, we use engineer, and this means the one who works for a software development company. Today this is and excellent field to get into. On the other hand, we still have so-called “traditional” engineering, which includes civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical. The latest updates in the academic world include genetic engineering. The female part of humanity has a potential for employment in all these industries along with males.

4) Answer the question “what matches women’s interests?”

Match

  • This question is always hard to answer in both professional and personal lives. Today, in spite of science popularization, some women still define themselves as a housekeeper and then change their minds and proceed with education after the age of 30 or 40. Hopefully, most universities allow this privilege. Unfortunately, the percentage of girls aged 14-23 can hardly imagine themselves in building industry, developing high-speed trains with a magnetic cushion or discovering all pros and cons of a single and multi-rail. The answer lies in poor distribution of information.

5. School programs

  • Every parent knows modern problems with school education involving pupils in the academic world. The network of secondary education establishments often has a bad interaction with non-formal education programs which teach young people to explore themselves. If formal education were perfect, non-formal wouldn’t have appeared. It is necessary to explain to children how the modern developed world works and encourage their interest.

6. Get rid of prejudices

  • Times when families had seven children, huge houses, livestock, and only one mother to handle it all, are far behind. Women today are educated persons who can be both housekeeper and a director of a corporation. We don’t have strict distinctions in the modern professional world. Be it the South or the West, we are the same when it comes to emerging technologies. The more educated people get involved in it, the faster we develop alternative sources of energy, stop wars, prevent poverty, prevent global pollution and make our world a better place.

Bullet Train

7. Try and fail and try again

  • Many women believe that they won’t obtain the same logical way of thinking as men. This is no more that another prejudice. After acquiring an HNC (Higher National Certificate) women can try one specialization, then another, try different courses and find the one which works the best. No one knows what excitements are waiting in future when you follow your interests, but one thing is already defined – you will never be bored.
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The Highest Paying Freelance Jobs To Focus on For Maximizing Work From Home Earning by Danielle Ward

Monday, April 24th, 2017

SEO
The Highest Paying Freelance Jobs To Focus on For Maximizing Work From Home Earning by Danielle Ward introduces some of the most common and well paid freelance jobs currently available. If you haven’t found a full-time job yet or can only work part-time, some of these jobs might be for you or someone you know.

Introduction

  • Freelancing is the ‘in’ thing, quite officially. The largest corporations out there are hiring freelance IT developers, website designers, copywriters, and app developers for short term and long term projects. Of course, freelancers also continue to thrive by taking up paid projects from the most recognized global job exchange marketplaces with equal success. The point is, freelancing is no more just an additional little drip of dollars, but a gushing brook of decent income, which is comparable to, and sometimes even exceeds that of people with similar skills employed in corporations. All this notwithstanding, here we focus on telling you more about the highest paid freelance jobs, and the skills that are highly in demand.

Marketing

  • Do you have experience in marketing? Didn’t land a job after that marketing diploma? Have you acquired some experience in digital marketing? This is the time to hop on the freelance bandwagon, because marketing gigs can pay you anything between $40 and $50 per hour. Freelance engagements in marketing range from anything like brand management efforts, product promotion strategies, and real sales, to niche digital marketing efforts such as social media brand management, email marketing, etc. Even reputed employers are engaging freelancers to provide impetus to their marketing efforts. Some reselling options are there as well where you don’t need to invest something and based on your marketing skills you can start making money for each sales/sign ups.

Voice Over

  • Did you realize how the advertising winds have been blowing in the direction of video content from the past couple of years? Yes, most advertisers now prefer creating short but catchy videos. If you have a great voice, and have some experience or idea about voice over and dubbing, you can offer your services, and earn up to $70 per hour. People respond well to videos, which has created a large market space for voice over artists and dubbing artists, which means there’s a lot of money to be made for candidates with the right skills.

Recruiting

  • Freelancers are finding great short term opportunities of being a part of HR operations at growing organizations. They can offer services such as drafting of job descriptions, managing recruitment drives, handling documentation aspects of hiring, and even conducting preliminary interviews to shortlist candidates. Better paying opportunities in HR freelancing can go up to $50 per hour, whereas the ones more restricted to documentation can pay up to $30 per hour. The one downside, however, is that freelancers need to aggressively hunt for newer projects to keep the income stream strong. Another downside is that you probably won’t get access the health care from your freelance employers.

Programming

  • This is the umbrella mini-market for all kinds of web development, software development, and app development assignments. Programmers who work with conventional technologies such as Java can make up to $40 per hour by developing programs for projects. However, people with knowledge and experience of lesser known and more contemporary programming languages can make almost double the amount every hour. The key to success as a freelance programmer is to give quality work, and let the positive feedback bring in more clients.

Graphics Designing & Animation

  • Though this is among the oldest vistas of earning via freelancing, skilled graphics designers are in high demand. Experienced Photoshop artists with impressive portfolios can earn up to $40 per hour. Within graphics designing, there’s a niche called ‘info-graphics’ design, which pays as much as $80 per hour. Info-graphics are content heavy designs, with lots of stats and facts organized in the form of a vertically extended graphic. If you have animation skills (2D or 3D) there are many companies in need ot animated content who aren’t big enough to hire full-time animators.

Search Engine Optimization

  • Because of the frequent updates brought on by Google, search engine optimization continues to be a lucrative field for freelancers, especially those with updated knowledge and skills to get good rankings for client websites. The great part about freelance SEO experts is that they land projects that pay up to $40 per hour, and the number of hours they can bill to the client are on the higher side. That’s because freelance SEO engagements extend over a few weeks. Freelance SEO experts can get repeat business from their clients, and can hence earn significant incomes.

Copywriters

  • The number of blogs and websites on the web has had an exponential surge in the past decade. In parallel, search engines have aligned themselves to treat websites with great content with good SEO ranking. These factors have enabled copywriters to sustain their incomes from freelance assignments. Mid-level copywriters can make up to $30 per hour, whereas experiences writers can make up to $55-60 per hour. Like SEO, freelance copywriting comes with the advantage of repeat business from clients, which makes it a lucrative freelancing option.

Final Words

  • So those are some of the most sustainable, highly paying, and in demand freelance skills. If you’re looking to expand the scope of your freelance work, or looking to join millions of people who are already freelancing, you might want to invest effort towards honing skills relevant to these engagements.

Danielle Ward

  • Danielle is a Blogger by profession and loves sharing my thoughts over wealth and wellness blogs so that people can live a healthy life with a handsome income. She is based out in the UK but planning to move to Malta soon.
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Cheap Water Testing Kits / 6 IT Nightmares / Top Ed Leaders

Friday, April 21st, 2017

Test Kit
Four-Pack Water Testing Kit is Only $24.99. Be sure to get one for you school or for your kids to play with at home.

Six IT nightmares plaguing schools-and 6 solutions to stop them – Share with your administrators and IT staff. @DickCsaplar @eschoolnews

25 Education Leaders to Learn from Today – I follow most of these folks and they are indeed first rate. @edutechchick @MsSackstein @gcouros @scholzet @JoyKirr

Social/Mobile Media Education

Ten Traits Shared by Successful Social Media Entrepreneurs – Share with young entrepreneurs you know. @kimgarst @HuffingtonPost @alvinlindsay21

Learning

Take the Boredom Out of Summer with AVID4 Adventure Camps I would rather send my child to this sort of camp than a computer camp. @BigFitFamily @KickingWKelly

Leadership/Parenting

Student Choice as an instructional strategy – three ways to encourage it – If you want to motivate students try giving them some choice. @Jennifer_Hogan @RickJetter

Inspirational/Funny Tweets

Kids jearn better by taking frequent breaks throughout the day. @ShellTerrell See an article about this here. @timdwalk @MindShiftKQED

Humor, Music, Cool Stuff

Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ Sounds Creepy As Heck When It’s Played On Harps by Camille and Kennerly the Harp Twins. I love familiar tunes played on non familiar instruments. Also, check out their Sweet Child of Mine@LaughingSquid

Recent Book Summaries, Original Work, and Guest Posts

Counting

Counting What Counts: Reframing Education Outcomes by Yong Zhao & Friends

Seven EdTech Tools That Make It Easy to Teach Writing Skills by Lucy Benton

How to Stay Motivated in Online Education by Christina Battons – This is also good general advice for everyone. @battonschristi

Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job: Correcting the Top 5 EdTech Mistakes by Yong Zhao, Gaoming Zhang, Jing Lei, and Wei Qiu

Check out my tes author page. @DrDougGreen @tesusa

The drive to fire underperforming teachers will not improve our schools. One of my efforts for @tesusa. @DrDougGreen

Think about how to do it right, rather than do it over @tesusa December 15, 2016.

Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein

Teaching isn’t rocket science, it’s way more complex. This is my latest and one of my best. Hope you like and share. @DrDougGreen @tesusa @davidjmarley

Be sure to try the bottom right translate button for your favorite language or one you are trying to learn. If you don’t see it check your ad blocking software.

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