Public or Private School

   Choosing what school your child will attend can set their goals of life as well as will help you to be set financially. It is hard on parents to choose between them, in their opinion they want better future for their children at the same less pressure on their pocket. Whether it's public or private, here are the pros and cons of both:

Public school Pros:

• They are more affordable to attend than private schools😊
• They have more flexible curriculum and more after school activities than private schools😊
• They are well established and have great facilities.😊
• Children who attend public local school tend to part of the community.😊
• Children will be meeting students from other cultures and race.😊 

Public school Cons:

• They have big and overcrowded classes.😞
• They have no enough teachers.😞
• Some students will be missing attention due to large class.😞
• They may have lack of discipline.😞
• Some of them will lack basic resources.😞

Private school Pros:

• They have more challenging curriculum.😊
• Some are religious and can provide religious classes.😊
• They have smaller classes and less students which makes teacher give better attention to individual.😊
• They have better access to basic resources.😊
• They have less discipline and trouble maker student is usually expelled out of school.😊
• Student will have better communication with classmates and teachers though alumni.😊

Private school Cons:

• They are far more expensive than public schools.😞
• Contain students from different social classes that puts pressure on lesser students.😞
• Religion being taught will be alienated on those of different religion.😞
• Some have less access to sporting facilities.😞
• They have less cultural and race diversity that may not prepare student for after school life.😞

   So choosing which school to send your child actually depends the most on the needs of the child and the financial abilities of parents.

Webinar Reflctions

Integrating Digital Literacy into Core Subject Areas

   A webinar was presented by Mr. Jeff Meyer, the director of education for learning.com and resident expert for digital literacy solutions. He is passionate about the need to transform education to data-based and digital resources. In this webinar he discussed incorporating essential digital literacy skills into core subject areas and the standards requiring it.
   The instructor started introducing himself to the audience, he was very gentle and polite, then he started to tell about the objective of the webinar. He was trying to convince the audience about the importance of integrating digital literacy skills into core subjects. these skills can be used in mathematics, social, language and arts. He discussed with details four pillars of digital literacy that teachers should teach to students starting from early grades. The first pillar was teaching students how to work with keyboarding and digital essentials, and I see that this step is the most important one and it is introductory step. the second one was teaching students the safety skills and digital citizenship, they need to know how to hold problems, how to site resources, how to know credible from incredible online sites and the rules of school concerning using computers. then after learning these essential skills, teachers start educating students how to apply these skills and create applications, they become independent. In this pillar students start to collaborate with others, use technology to refine, edit and communicate their skills with others. they use these applications to conduct research, produce essay, analyse data, draw conclusions, draw charts and graphs... the last pillar was computational thinking and coding which is the newest and is being used in the United States student will start to think and solve problems like scientists, they will start coding.
   In my opinion, teaching students these skills will allow teachers to make online assignments and quizzes making sure that students know all the skills that they need to deal with technology, so the student will be focusing on solving the questions and thinking of the answers not the literacy skills. On the contrary, how would teachers integrate digital literacy skills in subject areas when they themselves don't know most of these skills? and how could they teach students these skills if the school itself doesn't follow any program?
    

Challenging Fear of Presenting

    I was a student of clinical lab science at AUST. In this major, every student needs to make a power point presentation about a clinical topic and present it in front of their classmates at the end of each course. 

    I was taking virology course back then and as every course requirement, we were asked to choose a virus and talk about it and the disease it causes. When I searched google, I found a lot about a virus called Corona virus, so I suggested that one and two other to the doctor to help me choose one, unfortunately he loved that one topic rather than the others; that had made me happy and proud, but the shock was that he obliged me to make a seminar about it! I fear presentations more than seeing a lion running to eat me, how could I present in front of doctors and all students of the department and faculty!! This virus was making epidemic back then in 2014 so the doctor wanted me to present about it in a way to alert people about its danger on population. That seminar was really a challenge to me. 

    I started preparing for it two weeks before, I visited the auditorium to experience a little bit the atmosphere, friends sat playing the role of the doctors helping me breaking the wall of fear. I worked really hard to reach the big day, I don't forget how much the doctor Issam Mansour, who was the instructor of this course, helped me feel confident and strong. The due date came, doctors, employers, and students from the faculty of health science and other faculties were watching, I was stressed out all eyes on me, but hopefully I broke the ice and put all the pieces together and completed the mission successfully. Dr. Mansour was proud of what I did, I grabbed all the attention, I gained great confidence.

    That day I broke the wall of fear in me, I recognized that whenever students are fully prepared for presentations they will surely succeed and won't feel stressed or afraid anymore. 

Gender Differences in Classroom

Question to teachers:

How do boys and girls differ? Are these differences making them less qualified in class? 

  

    Gender differences is another challenge facing teachers in class.It is not the diversity that matters, it is the gender bias against girls or boys that matters, and the big concern of balancing between them. 

     Here are some guidelines to follow when working in such classes. Firstly, teachers need to be aware of their beliefs and behavior, example if you are teaching mathematics forget the idea that boys are better than girls and bring problems to solve based on student's needs not gender diversity. Secondly, you as a teacher need to assure that the language and verbal interactions you're using are gender free and balanced. Also assign group work that ensure boys and girls working together. Finally, show respect to all students and challenge both girls and boys.

     Teachers are certainly not the primary cause of gender role differences, but they influence them a lot by their responses. 

Working with Learning-Challenged Students:

   Teachers, especially beginners, worry about how they can work with students who are learning challenged; they can take several steps. 

   
   First beginning teachers must the policies for students with special needs and how to work with them. Then they must be alert to those students with special needs. Also teachers should be aware of specific categories and disabilities as mentioned in the law. Teachers should develop materials and activities needed for a specific lesson. In addition, they need to work on the classroom layout that allows students to move easily. More over, it is beneficial to make group work that mixes gifted students with learning-challenged ones. Also, teachers must communicate with parents and maintain trusting relationship with them. Finally, expect improvement on long term basis not short term. 

   
   By following these steps, teaching students with learning disabilities will be more effective.

Working with Gifted Talented Students

   Teachers will meet students who are gifted and talented and must know how to guide them. working with gifted students would be a joy but on the same time frustrating. So teachers need to know the definition of gifted students, which is a student whose IQ score is 130 and above. Guidelines and Programs for working with gifted or talented students varies from country or school to another. Moreover some have programs and others don't. On one hand, schools which have such programs work normally on three strategies which are:

1. Acceleration: using curriculum that allows students to work more than regular students, for example taking algebra earlier than their actual level.
2. Enrichment: allowing students to build on standard curriculum, for example making students do a chemistry experiment or do a research paper.
3. Creative exploration: allow students to create alternative work on standard curriculum. such as making them create multimedia presentations on a topic they choose.

   On the other hand, in schools which there is no such programs, teachers must remain alert to students that are talented, identify them, and find a way to work on their talents.  

Overview on Teaching Planning

   Most of us have planned for trips that required sophisticated arrangements. We have planned for wedding, graduation celebrations and many other events, as well as, surviving the deadlines for school projects and finals; all these required planning. teaching planning is maybe a bit complex, but the experiences we passed in with other events will act as foundations to build on.

   Planning is vital to teaching, it reduces uncertainty. It is really an important step to teachers, they spend minimum about 3 hours a day on this activity. As well as the importance of planning can be illustrated by the curriculum changes made by teachers. When a teacher plans for teaching, she will be able to make effective decisions about what to teach, she makes additions, deletions, and interpretations on the curriculum to adapt students' needs.

   Therefore, by planning teachers are able to decide what curriculum content is important to students and how can be enacted in classroom settings.