Category: Education

“They are not interested in reading anymore.” The ‘anymore’ will be confusing for a non-parent! But, parents know (and try to prevent) the pattern of a reading slump for the five-year-old. It starts with them learning the alphabet. They are curious and love the new books. However, after a few weeks, they are suddenly not interested.

As a new parent, the confusion is inevitable. For teachers, it’s a yearly challenge.

“Is it the book I am choosing?”

“Where did I go wrong in building their reading habits?”

“Are they having difficulty understanding?”

These are some of the few questions we have seen parents ask when their children suddenly hit the reading slump a year into their reading journey. Some even panic when it is right before the children are about to join preschool.

The good news is summer holiday is around the corner. You can bring a new reading challenge to every alternate day of the holiday. Summer calls for a 15-day challenge that could make reading enjoyable for your kids again!

15-Day Reading Challenge For Kids

We crafted this challenge after going through some of the activities children love while reading. This 15-day challenge will dive into those activities until your kid cannot wait for reading hours!

Day 1: 

Create a permanent fort or reading nook. Add some mood lighting to their taste and stack the children’s literature in the nook. Having a relaxing place to read will attract them to the activity. Why not join your kids in the nook?

Day 2: 

Take your kids to the nearby bookstore and let them pick their favorite book.

Day 3: 

Try making reading an adventure! For example, reading in the dark under covers with flashlights on.

Day 4: 

Plan for an immersive storytime where you dress up as the characters and then proceed to storytime.

Day 5: 

Encourage your kid to read aloud in funny accents for each character.

Day 6: 

Take them to a nearby library and teach them the beauty of reading, among others. Yes, as parents, our first concern is “they will get bored.” This is why the library day shouldn’t be more than 30-45 min. Plus, you can try to make it an adventure.

Day 7: 

Introduce them to the wonders of immersive audiobooks with excellent narration. Show them that they have an option when they do not wish to read.

Day 8: 

Download a good illustrated children’s book on your tablet and show it to them. Yes, we know there are better ways to excite them than technology. But it is inevitable! So, better they read an E-book than consume mindless videos.

Day 9: 

Snacks can make any activity 100 times better! Choose the snack carefully since they might develop a habit. Milk and cookies will always be an all-time favorite!

Day 10: 

Today, you will find interesting places to read! Under the table, on the terrace, or at a picnic in the backyard. Let their imaginations run wild!

Day 11: 

Ask them to mimic your storytime with their soft toys! Your child will be super excited with a little sense of autonomy. You can even leave them alone and let them find joy in storytelling all by themselves.

Day 12: 

This may be a little out there, so keep this activity for the weekend! You can allow them to pick their favorite story and build a small Lego city resembling it. They can choose the characters and colors and enjoy the story all over again!

Day 13: 

Kids love to make friends with like-minded people, and as parents, we are always looking for good playmates for them. Why not find another fellow kid who also loves reading and set up a playdate? You can even find online book clubs for children to help them understand they are not alone in their reading expedition. Get them the best free online books for kids to read for these clubs.

Day 14: 

Find real-life inspiration which resembles their favorite stories. Do they love Winnie The Pooh? Plan a visit to the woods! Do they love Harry Potter? Plan a craft day to make wands!

Day 15: 

Ask them about the experience and describe their favorite part.

How To Encourage Them For The Courage!

The challenge is undoubtedly interesting, but a parent’s concern is always the initial excitement. Here is how you can excite them about the challenge.

• Make it sound like a 15-day adventure!
• Constantly ask them for recommendations rather than simply hoisting the challenge upon them.
• If they do not wish to read one day, give them the space to breathe. Afterall, it is not a scheduled task.

Overall, try to keep it interesting!

Discover how kids can start their own safe online book club.

Every parent in the US is aware of a growing problem in our K-12 education system: teacher turnover. The root causes for this problem are complex and many. Schools’ efforts to recover from the effects of COVID-19-related school closures and transitions into and out of online schooling are taking a toll on teachers.

From increased student mental health needs to learning loss to a divisive political climate in classrooms, teachers are bearing a heavy burden. An overall shortage of trained teachers puts further strain on school staff.

Public school teachers are leaving their posts in high numbers to move to different schools or leave the profession altogether. To provide the best quality education to their students, schools must fill the vacancies that turnover, attrition, and other factors (such as increasing enrollment or expanded curriculums) create.

A positive and safe school environment is the antidote to this phenomenon. Teachers who feel safe, supported, and respected in their workplace are more likely to stay. The key to retention, then, is an investment in teachers. Efforts to promote a positive and inclusive school climate, address disciplinary issues, and ensure staff members’ physical and emotional safety positively impact teacher retention.

What Does Job Satisfaction Look Like for Teachers?

In 2022, job satisfaction among teachers hit an all-time low. More than half of the teachers interviewed stated that they likely wouldn’t advise their younger self to pursue a career in teaching. But teachers’ job satisfaction rebounded somewhat in 2023; studies describe a battered workforce that’s regaining momentum. Two-thirds of teachers say they’re satisfied with their jobs, up from 56 percent in 2022. This may be partly due to policymakers’ growing awareness that policy decisions can effectively improve workplace conditions at the school and district levels. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, focusing on workplace conditions is a feasible way to improve teacher satisfaction.

The following concrete factors are central to creating favorable workplace conditions in schools:

• safe working environment
• supportive administration
• teachers’ feelings of autonomy
• support for teachers’ involvement in school-wide policy decisions
• environment encouraging equal representation for minorities

Ensuring these factors are in place demonstrates administrative support for teaching staff. This investment in teachers creates a working environment that keeps teachers coming to work. Safety, support, autonomy, and professionalism are important to teachers. They are, therefore, critical factors in retaining skilled teaching staff.

Factors that Promote Teacher Retention

Compensation and Benefits

Raising pay could help improve retention rates, teachers say. Analyses of job satisfaction among US teachers indicate that salary and benefits contribute positively to teacher satisfaction: the higher the pay and the greater the benefits, the higher the satisfaction score. But in a 2022 survey, 74 percent of teachers indicated that they did not believe that their salary was commensurate to their work; this number was up from 65 percent in 2012. Increased compensation has a positive impact on job satisfaction and strengthens the pipeline of qualified teachers entering American school districts; when people see the profession as sustainable, higher numbers of quality candidates will join the education workforce.

Reasonable Workloads

In the wake of the changes the COVID-19 pandemic forced upon teachers, many are experiencing burnout. Staffing shortages and increased student needs have placed very high demands upon teachers. Many say they feel new expectations are constantly being put on their plates—but nothing is taken off. School districts must work to hire and retain both teachers and other staff to ensure that workloads are distributed among staff. By understanding and working to mitigate teachers’ increased burden, administrators can minimize teacher burnout and improve retention rates.

Professional Development Opportunities

Studies show that professional development positively impacts job satisfaction among educators. Although school administrations are generally accommodating, barriers to fully realizing professional development remain. Educators are fully credentialed professionals in their field, and they, like other professionals, seek to increase their skills and knowledge. School administrators indicate their esteem for their workforce by supporting teachers with professional development opportunities. More professional development for teachers also results in a highly skilled group of teachers who can collaborate with administrators and improve the school climate overall.

School Leadership and Support

Today’s teachers are under stress and seek their administrators’ support. When asked how schools and districts can support their mental well-being, many teachers request pay raises, smaller class sizes, better support for student discipline, fewer administrative burdens such as meetings and paperwork, and more acknowledgment for excellent and hard work. Teachers are invested in their students’ success. They desire that their administrators demonstrate the same level of investment in teachers’ success by enacting policies focused on teachers’ well-being.

Recognition and Appreciation

Teachers understand their jobs will be challenging, particularly in today’s environment. Administrators improve staff working conditions by acknowledging this challenge and publicly recognizing effective teachers. Recognizing excellence in teaching supports improved student learning and faculty retention. Educators are more likely to become excellent, scholarly teachers when their school culture promotes development.

Healthy Work-Life Balance

Excessive workload and the lack of a work-life balance remain key issues in the field of education. These factors drive poor mental health for school staff, a challenge to teacher retention. While teachers can work to create healthy boundaries around their work hours and responsibilities, administrators can also work to create and respect these boundaries. Administrators can support teachers’ mental health by clarifying staff responsibilities and adhering to these expectations.

School Safety: the Baseline for Teacher Satisfaction

Creating a safe environment is perhaps the most fundamental way administrators can support their teachers. A safe and secure school environment is a prerequisite for creating good working conditions for school staff. In one survey, roughly half of the teachers, regardless of gender or race, felt that physical security measures at their school (which most commonly include locks, ID badges, cameras, and security staff) positively affected the school climate. Teachers who feel safe at school are more likely to stay. Schools can make their buildings safer by implementing enhanced security measures:

• monitored building access
• security cameras
• wearable mobile panic buttons
• visitor check-in procedures
• collaboration with law enforcement

CrisisAlert School Alert System Creates a Climate of Safety

Teachers who are easily able to summon help in an emergency gain a sense of security. CrisisAlert’s wearable mobile panic buttons enable teachers to discreetly request help from designated administrators or staff members even as they continue to intervene in an ongoing incident. Teachers who wear mobile panic buttons are never “alone” in a crisis; the sense of security teachers gain from these devices contributes to a positive working environment. Administrations that invest in these security systems show their support for school staff.

CrisisAlert also features Enhanced Visitor Management, which enables schools to perform:

• real-time locating of visitors
• location mapping to show visitor location
• visitor analytics that enables informed decisions on visitor policies, vendor billing, and approved visitor lists

By monitoring visitors carefully, schools create an environment with minimal interruptions. This contributes to a climate of safety that is the groundwork upon which administrators can implement other measures that improve working conditions. Building a supportive and positive working environment for teachers starts with safety and security. After all, teachers who feel safe are free to focus their energy on the reasons they became teachers in the first place: classroom teaching and student engagement.

After years of having the kids at home, it can be daunting to send them off for in-person learning. But there are many advantages to getting your kids back into the classroom. Whether you’ve been home-schooling this whole time or you you kept the kids at home due to the pandemic, we have some tips to help you readjust.

It’s Okay To Allow Your Kid To Return to School

While there are perks to online learning, like the flexibility to take classes and exams on your schedule and the ability to access all lecture notes and study guides through online portals, there are some things your kids miss when they don’t leave the house.

One of the biggest benefits of in-person learning for a growing child is the chance to interact with other students they’d never meet at home. It’s the only way they can build new relationships that could blossom as time goes on. The ability to talk with others and make friends is an incredible experience you can’t replicate at home.

Another benefit of attending in-person school is that children can also have more structure than they might have at home. That’s because they need to be in the same place at the same time every day, so they learn about expectations and they develop a sense of responsibility. Plus, even though you’re doing your best as a parent, your child can still get distracted at home by things like the television and their siblings. In a physical classroom, they may be able to focus more easily.

Finally, kids can get hands-on experience in classrooms and labs that they can’t get at home. Sometimes, touching and seeing things in real time can help your child to absorb the information.

Mentally Prepare For A Return to School

There’s also a mental health aspect to the argument of online versus in-person education, and parents need to be aware of the red flags of each situation.

The opportunity that kids get to learn in person with other students is incredibly beneficial because they avoid social isolation, which can contribute to anxiety. While it’s okay for kids to spend time at home, if it goes on for years, and they don’t meet new people, then they can become lonely. Those feelings can turn into anxiety and depression which can feed into social anxiety.

In-person learning can also be a challenge for some children, which is why it’s important to educate them about the potential for bullying and peer pressure. Teach them how to cope with or avoid these stressful situations. Teach them to talk to a teacher or come home and report to you if they’re bullied mentally or physically. Also, speak to them about peer pressure, present some hypothetical situations, and tell them how they can react to each.

Finally, teach them about the dangers of social media and how classmates may try to reach out on Facebook or Instagram and say unkind things. You can prevent negative situations by monitoring their web usage and enacting parental controls so they can’t be pressured to dangerous websites.

Preparing for In-Person Back-To-School

Once you’ve told your kids what to expect when they return to in-person learning and everyone’s on board, you need to choose the right school. Look at local schools and contact the administrators to learn more about the establishment and ask your questions, like how many students are in a class and the type of subject matter they teach. If you really want to know what your kids will experience daily, then ask if you can sit in and observe a class.

If you borrowed or rented electronics from an online school or an electronics store, then you’ll want to return computers, books, and whatever else you may have. Kids tend to put stickers and decorations on their belongings; if that’s the case, you’ll need to remove them. You can remove stickers from hard surfaces like a laptop with products you probably already have at home, like toothpaste. Do the following:

1. Apply a small amount to the sticker.
2. Rub it with a cloth.
3. Wait 10 minutes.
4. Scrape off the sticker with a razor.

You may also be able to follow the same steps with petroleum jelly.

The next step is to talk to your doctor and the school administrators about back-to-school vaccinations. In addition to the COVID-19 vaccination, they may also ask your child to get the flu vaccine and take other steps to ensure the safety and health of the other students. You’ll also want to ensure your kids have safe transportation to and from school.You may opt to drive your child to school and drop them off,  have them take a school bus, or arrange for carpooling with the other children.

If you’re apprehensive about bringing your kid back to a physical school then remember that the experience could do wonders for your child. Prepare them mentally and physically for the upcoming change, and they will thrive in the classroom.

About the Author
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in education, mental health, family lifestyle and online safety. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. You can follow her on Twitter.

Parents are increasingly turning to tutoring to enhance their children’s academic journey and ensure they receive a quality education. With the assistance of a seasoned tutor, students gain a competitive edge and excel academically. Tutors do more than provide individualized instruction to enrich educational development, they also help with organization and study skills.

Tutors also take the pressure off parents to continually persuade their kids to focus on their studies. If you are contemplating the idea of hiring a tutor for your child’s learning needs, we’re provided this guide to explore why it can be a wise and beneficial decision.

Providing one-on-one support for your child

Every child possesses unique learning styles and individual needs.  This requires additional academic support beyond their regular classroom environment. If you’re in need of affordable JC math tuition, do some online research to find the right teacher for your child. Identifying the ideal tutor who matches their educational needs will ensure the make the most of the one-on-one attention your child will, tailored specifically for them.

Tutors are well-equipped to provide assistance across various subjects, including math, science, reading, and writing. They create a conducive space where your child can freely ask questions, practice their skills, and reinforce their understanding in a relaxed atmosphere.  By engaging in personalized instruction, your child gains confidence in their abilities and learns how to draw on their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.  All things combined lays a solid foundation for their academic success.

Answering any questions your child has

As a parent, you want to ensure that your child is getting the academic support necessary to succeed. That’s why tutors are often called upon to answer any questions students may have outside of the classroom. With one-on-one attention, your child can receive immediate feedback and clarification on areas that may be confusing.

Plus, tutors can provide additional resources and examples to help reinforce understanding. The best part is that tutors can do all of this in a timely manner, allowing your child to stay on track and confident in their abilities. With a tutor, your child can overcome challenges and achieve their academic goals.

Helping your child stay motivated and organized

Does your child struggle with staying on top of their assignments or lack motivation when it comes to studying? A tutor may be just what they need to get back on track. Tutors provide focused attention to identify areas of difficulty your child may be encountering. They work to develop a plan to improve.

Furthermore, tutors can also provide strategies for organization and time management to help your child stay on top of assignments and feel confident in their ability to succeed. With the help of a tutor, your child can stay motivated and focused on their studies, leading to academic success and a positive attitude toward learning.

Providing feedback to parents

Sometimes, it can be difficult to decipher what areas they’re doing well in and where they could use extra help. That’s where tutors come in. With their expertise, tutors can provide valuable feedback on your child’s performance and pinpoint areas they need more work on.

Additionally, tutors collaborate with your child to enhance their proficiency in challenging areas, nurturing their skills and knowledge. With the support of a tutor, you can provide your child with the guidance needed to excel academically, ensuring they stay on the path to success.

Finding a tutor for your child is an excellent decision that can help them excel in their studies and reach their educational goals. Tutors can provide a customized approach to learning that meets the specific needs of your child. This one-on-one focus helps make sure any questions are answered quickly and accurately, providing your child with more confidence in their academic abilities.

With the added support of a tutor, your child will have better organization skills, more motivation to learn and gain an improved understanding of the material. Ultimately, hiring a tutor will empower your child to reach new heights in academic performance without feeling the pressure to compete with other students in a classroom setting.  Any additional attention given by parents when helping their kids with homework is a bonus for your child’s success.