“I am curious about student achievement awards. I am wondering what you and other teachers do. Do you give out awards based on years in lessons (i.e. 3 year award) or perhaps awards based on level of achievement (i.e. completed Faber level 2A etc.)? Maybe some teachers simply give out a participation certificate. This will […]
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Monday Mailbag – Making Custom Student Worksheets
What program do you use to create your worksheets and publications? It may shock (or horrify!) some of you better designer-types to know this, but I create almost all of my worksheets and practice incentive materials in Microsoft Word. I’ve discovered that with the use of tables, you can accomplish just about anything in Word. […]
Teaching Tips from Snowboard School – Part Three: Plan a Systematic Approach
From the moment we set our snowboards down on the powder, it was obvious that our instructor had a clearly laid out plan for teaching us. He gave descriptive explanations and walked us through each step, familiarizing us with the board and what we should expect from the class. This was an incredible confidence-booster and […]
Teaching Tips from Snowboard School – Part Two: Give Students a Vision of Success
When I first fastened my boots onto the snowboard, the prospect of whizzing down the slopes like the other snowboarders I had observed for years propelled me forward. From my experience years ago, though, I learned that the gap between where I want to be and where I actually am can quickly seem insurmountable (i.e. […]
Do You Keep a Studio Journal?
I’ve been an avid journaler since before I turned 10. And at least three of the pedagogy courses I took required some form of journaling. Perhaps that’s why I made a point years ago to start a studio journal of sorts. There are probably a variety of ways one could use a studio journal, but […]
Teaching Tips from Snowboard School – Part One: Be a Pro
Like I mentioned in my Introduction to this series last week, I think the instructor we had in Snowboard School was one of the best on the slopes. The interesting thing to me was that he knew it and wasn’t shy about “tooting his own horn.” Many people are afraid of coming off as arrogant, […]
