Classroom Management

Managing time and motivation are essential skills for classroom teachers.  Students require a steady hand that can guide the course of inquiry but they also need a teacher who can allow learning to unfold naturally.  In order to strike this balance teachers need to build respect and trust with students.  When teachers and students are united in purpose, great learning can happen. 

Research and Scholarship

All academic skills must be taught in a systematic manner.  In writing, students proceed from the mechanics of simple sentences, to compound and complex sentences.  As student experience incremental success and increasing mastery, they begin to find their voice as a writer.  Teaching research and scholarship skills is the same.

From elementary school to university and beyond research is, like writing, a craft that must be continually honed, through consistent practice and constant refinement.  Whether entering the work force or enrolling in a university program, research is a must have skill for successful students in the 21st century.  A strong foundation in scholarship and research is therefore of the utmost importance.

Differentiated Learning

Struggling students often approach their academic work with a posture of learned helplessness.  Good teachers counter this attitude with instructional strategies that draw on student interest, promotes confidence and reinforces success.  This requires a can do attitude, a belief that there is an accommodation for every learner, whatever their ability or learning style.  All young people whatever their ability, want to learn and want to experience feelings of accomplishment.  With careful planning, explicit instruction, consistency and patience, every student has the ability to grow, learn, succeed and achieve.  The follow is an interview I did on Autism America Radio about using music in the special education classroom.