Hello SmartGirls!
This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the USA, and to celebrate the national holiday, our office will be closed down on Thursday and Friday. We will be back on Monday!
However, in the month of December, our site will only be updated once weekly. You may continue to submit things as usual with the understanding that turn-around may take longer than normal. We will return to our usually daily updates in January.
Thank you for understanding!
Sincerely,
The SmartGirl Team
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Life of a Teacher, by Katie J.
This guest blog to "SmartGirls Get Real" was submitted by a SmartGirl! If you would like to guest blog for SmartGirl, please contact us at admin@smartgirl.org. Thank you!
Many of us don’t realize how important teachers are, but I’m a trainee teaching assistant and have been training for a whole year. I think I may have insight into what important work teachers do!
As a trainee teaching assistant, I have been helping the teacher make sure the class runs smoothly as possible. I work with certain groups of children, run errands, photocopy, and sometimes I even get to take over the classroom for her. But there is so much more I am still training for.
With all this experience, I thought I would write an article for those of you who are curious why a teacher behaves in different ways.
When someone studies to be a teacher, they have to pick a specific age they want to work with. Different age groups need different teaching methods. For example, if you are working with students between 4 and 7 years old, you should avoid shouting unless as a last resort.
A teacher’s tone of voice is very powerful in a classroom. They might use their tone to indicate that they aren’t happy and you think, “Oh, I’ve done something wrong! Her tone of voice has changed!” Another technique they use is to talk really quietly. Children will have to listen more closely, and it reduces the noise level in the classroom. If your teacher is talking quietly, she might actually be trying to get your attention! So listen carefully.
When students are older than age 7, shouting becomes more common. Usually it’s because the teacher can’t be heard. She will shout to those who are being rude and talking over her, or if some members of your class are doing something they shouldn’t be doing!
Sometimes it can be annoying how bossy our teachers seem to be, but trust me, they have a good reason! If you’re teacher says, “tuck in your char” or “stop swinging on your chair,” it’s actually part of health and safety to keep you out of danger. Chairs that are left out can get tripped over and cause serious injury, or you might fall backward and hurt your head.
In my studies, the the safety precautions that are most common are:
They may seem silly, but these rules are made up to keep you safe! Think about it: running in the corridors, you could collide with someone. I’ve actually seen this happen, and two students were seriously injured!
No open toes in case a chair or someone steps on your toes!
No rough play... well, quite often it turns to real fighting, which can get out of hand.
All doors be shut for the health and safety of children.
All equipment should be put away. For example, if you had a pair of scissors lying down on a chair and you sat down without looking, you could get injured.
So next time your teacher prompts you, remember why!
Most of all, every teacher has a different teaching style. All teachers are different. Some may be more strict than others, but it all depends on the teacher. But every teachers two most important questions are: are you learning new things, and are kept safe? So if she seems more strict, she is just doing her job.
Teachers are very wise people and often can teach you things your parents can’t. So we should praise them!
However, no teacher for whatever reason is allowed to man-handle a child. This is not right!
There’s so much to learn as a teacher, isn’t there? It’s not just about teaching subjects, but taking care of a lot of students.
From being a TA I have learnt all the above. If you have any more questions I would be happy to answer them!
So happy learning everyone, and remember: respect your teacher like I am sure she respects you!
Many of us don’t realize how important teachers are, but I’m a trainee teaching assistant and have been training for a whole year. I think I may have insight into what important work teachers do!
As a trainee teaching assistant, I have been helping the teacher make sure the class runs smoothly as possible. I work with certain groups of children, run errands, photocopy, and sometimes I even get to take over the classroom for her. But there is so much more I am still training for.
With all this experience, I thought I would write an article for those of you who are curious why a teacher behaves in different ways.
When someone studies to be a teacher, they have to pick a specific age they want to work with. Different age groups need different teaching methods. For example, if you are working with students between 4 and 7 years old, you should avoid shouting unless as a last resort.
A teacher’s tone of voice is very powerful in a classroom. They might use their tone to indicate that they aren’t happy and you think, “Oh, I’ve done something wrong! Her tone of voice has changed!” Another technique they use is to talk really quietly. Children will have to listen more closely, and it reduces the noise level in the classroom. If your teacher is talking quietly, she might actually be trying to get your attention! So listen carefully.
When students are older than age 7, shouting becomes more common. Usually it’s because the teacher can’t be heard. She will shout to those who are being rude and talking over her, or if some members of your class are doing something they shouldn’t be doing!
Sometimes it can be annoying how bossy our teachers seem to be, but trust me, they have a good reason! If you’re teacher says, “tuck in your char” or “stop swinging on your chair,” it’s actually part of health and safety to keep you out of danger. Chairs that are left out can get tripped over and cause serious injury, or you might fall backward and hurt your head.
In my studies, the the safety precautions that are most common are:
Chairs tucked in at all times
No swinging on chairs
All equipment be put away
No jewellery worn to school
No open toe shoes
No running in the corridors
All doors be shut
No rough play
They may seem silly, but these rules are made up to keep you safe! Think about it: running in the corridors, you could collide with someone. I’ve actually seen this happen, and two students were seriously injured!
No open toes in case a chair or someone steps on your toes!
No rough play... well, quite often it turns to real fighting, which can get out of hand.
All doors be shut for the health and safety of children.
All equipment should be put away. For example, if you had a pair of scissors lying down on a chair and you sat down without looking, you could get injured.
So next time your teacher prompts you, remember why!
Most of all, every teacher has a different teaching style. All teachers are different. Some may be more strict than others, but it all depends on the teacher. But every teachers two most important questions are: are you learning new things, and are kept safe? So if she seems more strict, she is just doing her job.
Teachers are very wise people and often can teach you things your parents can’t. So we should praise them!
However, no teacher for whatever reason is allowed to man-handle a child. This is not right!
There’s so much to learn as a teacher, isn’t there? It’s not just about teaching subjects, but taking care of a lot of students.
From being a TA I have learnt all the above. If you have any more questions I would be happy to answer them!
So happy learning everyone, and remember: respect your teacher like I am sure she respects you!
Friday, September 24, 2010
The SmartGirl Pledge
Recently, we crafted a SmartGirl Pledge. We made it because we're opening up SmartGirl to a lot more discussion, adding comments everywhere and just really encouraging everyone to speak their minds. That being said, we still want SmartGirl to be a safe place where everyone can feel welcome. If we disagree on something, we want to be able to talk it out and learn something about each other and why we feel differently about the same thing.
So we wrote this pledge. Here's what we got so far:
So we wrote this pledge. Here's what we got so far:
- I promise to keep an open mind and withhold judgment
- I promise to learn more about other people's experiences and ideas
- I promise to share my own opinions, even if someone will challenge them
- I promise to ask for support when I need it
- I promise to be supportive and encouraging when I can tell others need it
- I promise to make my own decisions by being informed
- I promise to take responsibility for the choices I've made and the future I'm making
SmartGirls Get Real
Hey Volunteers!
We're looking for some opinionated SmartGirls to write essays on important topics that today's girls care about. We'll publish them in a new article section called "SmartGirls Get Real."
The idea is to get girls talking about things they don't usually get to talk about with other girls who really care what they have to say. We'll all have our voices heard, our opinions challenged, and hopefully we'll learn something, too.
So. You've been in this world for a long time. What do you stay up late thinking about? Contact Boowee at admin@smartgirl.org with your SmartGirl Gets Real topic idea, and soon you might see your first or fake name as an author on our new blog!
We're looking for some opinionated SmartGirls to write essays on important topics that today's girls care about. We'll publish them in a new article section called "SmartGirls Get Real."
The idea is to get girls talking about things they don't usually get to talk about with other girls who really care what they have to say. We'll all have our voices heard, our opinions challenged, and hopefully we'll learn something, too.
So. You've been in this world for a long time. What do you stay up late thinking about? Contact Boowee at admin@smartgirl.org with your SmartGirl Gets Real topic idea, and soon you might see your first or fake name as an author on our new blog!
Friday, July 30, 2010
SmartGirl Reviews
More changes are happening on SmartGirl! As things with the Real Life section are coming together (we just updated SmartGirl Boy Advice to look like the Issues section so now you can leave comments), we're starting on the Reviews section.
The reviews section has been broken for a long time. You can submit reviews, but the way to publish them stopped working. We're finally rewriting this section so that your issues can make it out to the world! So, over the next few weeks, we'll be adding several new reviews every day, both classic reviews and new reviews with our brand new questionnaires. There's new categories that cover more things, new pages to sort through the reviews, and new looks to the review pages themselves. Right now it's in a draft stage, so check back often to see how things progress!
Most importantly, if you are messing around in the reviews area and you think something could be improved -- or if you love it A LOT -- leave us a comment and let us know! We love to hear your thoughts!
The reviews section has been broken for a long time. You can submit reviews, but the way to publish them stopped working. We're finally rewriting this section so that your issues can make it out to the world! So, over the next few weeks, we'll be adding several new reviews every day, both classic reviews and new reviews with our brand new questionnaires. There's new categories that cover more things, new pages to sort through the reviews, and new looks to the review pages themselves. Right now it's in a draft stage, so check back often to see how things progress!
Most importantly, if you are messing around in the reviews area and you think something could be improved -- or if you love it A LOT -- leave us a comment and let us know! We love to hear your thoughts!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
SG Reviews
We overhauled SG Authors. Then we overhauled SG Peer Advice. Now we're working on SG Reviews!
It's been a long time coming, and it's about time. We're rewriting the surveys to take out the silly questions that no one ever answers, we're updating the formatting so it's easier to read, we're condensing some categories that overlapped, and we're adding new categories so you can speak your mind on new stuff!
So, expect to see some new reviews posted on SmartGirl (finally). If you want to help out, submit a review today so we can tweak the new template for published reviews!
While we're working on them, do you have any suggestions? Have you ever used SG Reviews before? What's missing? What do you love and don't want taken away? We're listening.
It's been a long time coming, and it's about time. We're rewriting the surveys to take out the silly questions that no one ever answers, we're updating the formatting so it's easier to read, we're condensing some categories that overlapped, and we're adding new categories so you can speak your mind on new stuff!
So, expect to see some new reviews posted on SmartGirl (finally). If you want to help out, submit a review today so we can tweak the new template for published reviews!
While we're working on them, do you have any suggestions? Have you ever used SG Reviews before? What's missing? What do you love and don't want taken away? We're listening.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
New Look for SG Peer Advice
SG Peer Advice is one of the newer areas of SmartGirl. First, SmartGirls apply to be mentors. Then I send them issues that were submitted by other SmartGirls and they respond. Our SG Peer Mentors are dedicated, thoughtful, caring, and really want to help.
However, after a few months, we realized that the way we were running SG Peer Advice just wasn't good enough. SG Peer Mentors felt disconnected from SmartGirls even though they were responding to real questions. The problem was that there was no interaction. There was no way to know if what they had to say was helping anyone at all.
Now, if you've ever read one of our Advice Polls, you know that if an SG has an issue, there's another SG out there who can totally relate and has something to say to help. That's because even though all these issues are unique and special, the feelings are universal. That's why even though our submission form is anonymous and we may never know how the person who submitted the issue feels about SG Peer Mentor advice, their advice can still help tons of people who relate to it.
So how could we connect to all those people who felt touched by a certain issue, had something to add, or wanted to offer advice of their own? We wanted these issues to start discussions, share knowledge, be supportive, and all that great stuff. Our current format wasn't going to cut it. It was too rigid. We needed something brand new.
So we built it! You can see it, right now! Renamed Issues, it's based off of our SG Authors book structure. Each issue has its very own page and comments section, so you can leave comments on questions. Offer your advice and your support and get to know other SmartGirls who care about the same things.
We hope you like the changes!
However, after a few months, we realized that the way we were running SG Peer Advice just wasn't good enough. SG Peer Mentors felt disconnected from SmartGirls even though they were responding to real questions. The problem was that there was no interaction. There was no way to know if what they had to say was helping anyone at all.
Now, if you've ever read one of our Advice Polls, you know that if an SG has an issue, there's another SG out there who can totally relate and has something to say to help. That's because even though all these issues are unique and special, the feelings are universal. That's why even though our submission form is anonymous and we may never know how the person who submitted the issue feels about SG Peer Mentor advice, their advice can still help tons of people who relate to it.
So how could we connect to all those people who felt touched by a certain issue, had something to add, or wanted to offer advice of their own? We wanted these issues to start discussions, share knowledge, be supportive, and all that great stuff. Our current format wasn't going to cut it. It was too rigid. We needed something brand new.
So we built it! You can see it, right now! Renamed Issues, it's based off of our SG Authors book structure. Each issue has its very own page and comments section, so you can leave comments on questions. Offer your advice and your support and get to know other SmartGirls who care about the same things.
We hope you like the changes!
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