Looking for a few tips on how to teach or write essays? I've got a solution. This step-by-step guide will assist you in writing an effective five paragraph essay. Once students have this down, they can move on to more complicated essay formats.

Many student teachers are in the middle of their teaching internships. In my experience, the student teaching experience varies from one person to another. You might have a great group of students or a challenging group. You might have a wonderful cooperating teacher or one who doesn't provide you with enough guidance. Hopefully these top ten tips for student teachers can help make the student teaching experience more successful in the short and long term. Student teachers and their instructors can use these top ten tips to help them be more effective in their initial teaching assignments.

In cities across America tomorrow, citizens will be casting votes for new governors, representatives, senators, mayors, and other public officials. In honor of this, here is a great class debate how-to that can be used across the curriculum. The tips and ideas found here can help a classroom debate be successful, educational, and an enjoyable experience for the students.

How to Hold a Class Debate

And for more civics information, check out the American Government Course Outline.

Fire drills are a part of every teacher's life. In order for a fire drill to be effective while causing the least headaches for you, you will want to make sure that you plan ahead and remain in control. Here is a list of the top actions you can take to prepare for and lead during a fire drill.

While many articles and books explain what a teacher should do to be effective, this list of the top twelve worst things a teacher can do shows you what you should avoid as a new or veteran teacher. Any of these can create problems for you as a teacher and if you combine two or more than just expect to really have a hard time gaining student respect and finding your profession enjoyable.

Teacher planning and preparation is a key part of effective teaching. However, this is an area that often faces cuts when dealing with issues like increasing the number of periods in a day, reducing the number of days each week that students come to school, or putting schools on double schedules. It almost appears that there is a lack of concern over the importance of planning time. In school districts across the nation, many teachers already get too little time to accomplish too many tasks before any cuts are made. Educational policy makers fail to see why more than a few minutes of before-class preparation is necessary. This article about planning time and budget cuts looks at why planning time is so important for teachers to be effective and still have a life outside of school. You can also check out these example planning periods to see what often happens to the little planning time that teachers get.

Teachers often struggle with how to get students to achieve at a higher level. Sometimes the answer is greater buy-in and ownership by the students. Grade contracts are one tool that some teachers use to great effect to get students motivated and put them in greater control. However, there are correct and incorrect ways to use grade contracts and they are definitely not for all students. Learn more about grade contracts and how you might be able to use them to help your students achieve better grades.