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School lunches around the world

Happy World Teachers' Day

Staying healthy during the school year

image credits: chloraseptic

I have to admit that I have suffered far too many times with sickness in my years as a teacher.  It seemed that whenever a student crossed my path I would inevitably catch whatever the little darling was carrying. What I would like to offer is some advice to teachers who are facing the onslaught of the worst cold and flu season on record, and perhaps some of these habits can be helpful year-round to keep healthy and in the classroom.  Obviously, seek the suggestions of a medical professional before altering your lifestyle, especially if you have risk factors for chronic diseases.

Get enough sleep

I will admit I more often than not will not and cannot follow this advice, however the benefits of sleep are numerous.  While you sleep your body purges itself of toxins and does necessary repair work.  If you do not get enough sleep, chances are you are short-changing your body on its repair time.  We cannot expect a plumber, for example, to install a sink in 15 minutes and then complain when we lack the fixture.  Your body is the same way.  Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.  A nap after school can also help a little, too.

Disinfect your hands

My students laugh when I put a new bottle of hand sanitizer next to the box of tissues, but at least they use it.  Teach your students that, when they cough or sneeze into their hands or after they blow their nose, they should use hand sanitizer in order to kill off bacterial germs.  You can get bottles of it in the dollar store and it will do the trick, but the visual reminder will help them remember to use it.  Also, disinfect your hands after handling student paperwork.  Think about it:  James suddenly sneezes while he is getting his materials out to hand in to you.  The droplets hit his paper and he innocently hands it in to you.  You now have his germs on your hands.  Yuck!  I keep a key chain bottle on my work keys to remind myself to use it.  After you use hand sanitizer several times it is a wise idea to wash your hands like normal and start fresh.  Furthermore, keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth.  If you make yourself aware of how often we touch our faces, it would surprise you.  Those are common locations to catch diseases because they are warm, moist areas: bacteria and viruses love those places!  Do not give them the chance.

Sanitize your desks

While the maintenance staff in our school is fantastic at wiping our desks with cleaner, they could always use the extra help.  Use disinfectant sprays and wipes to assure yourself that you are killing off some of the germs your students are encountering.  Think about the other places student touch:  desks, tables, doorknobs, bookshelves, the community pen cup… and just give them a quick spray or wipe.  I usually try to do this before I leave for the day so the disinfectant chemicals have time to work undisturbed.

Eat right

Aside from helping us with the added calories we can build up, eating correctly provides your body with the necessary nutrients to restore and repair itself.  Give it the fuel it deserves.

Take a multivitamin

Most adults try to take a multivitamin to supplement the nutrients they miss in a normal day.  It would be good practice for you to start this if you have not already done so.  I also add in additional Vitamin A, C, D, and E, but that is a personal choice.  Vitamin C and zinc, I have found, tend to be effective in giving your immune system a boost and help you fight off a cold more easily.

Stay home if you are sick

Yes, I know, we have all gone to work feeling under the weather because we have obligations that we cannot miss, we do not want to make substitute plans, we can survive it and then rest when we get home. I have said them all and none of them have made me a more effective teacher.  In fact, if I am too sick to think straight, I am too sick to teach effectively.  Therefore, if you have a fever, if you feel dead on your feet, just take the day and rest.  You more than likely need it.  Listen to your body.  If you go in sick you expose your students, colleagues, and yourself to other opportunistic infections or to reinfection if you have not disinfected your area.  The school will still be standing when you return, and your students will have missed you but will be much better off having a teacher at the top of his/her game.

While all of us will probably end up getting sick during the average school year, taking care of yourself is something you should make a priority.  Our students count on us, and they deserve us at the top of our game.  You are worth the extra effort and care, and since we are a self-sacrificing group of individuals that can ultimately be the hardest lesson we learn.

By Sarah Sorge, in Sick and Tired – Staying Healthy During The School Year (slightly abridged), via The Educator's Room

From pencil pads to iPads

Source: onlineschools.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Types of Imagination

image credits: Cindy Hayen

Imagination is critical to innovation and learning – but what exactly is it?

Prof. Dr. Murray Hunter of the University of Malaysia Perlis discusses the 8 types of imagination we use on a daily basis, with explanations for each.

Dr. Hunter defines imagination as “the ability to form mental images, phonological passages, analogies, or narratives of something that is not perceived through our senses. Imagination is a manifestation of our memory and enables us to scrutinize our past and construct hypothetical future scenarios that do not yet, but could exist. Imagination also gives us the ability to see things from other points of view and empathize with others.”

8 Types of Imagination

1. “Effectuative Imagination combines information together to synergize new concepts and ideas.”

2. “Intellectual (or Constructive) Imagination is utilized when considering and developing hypotheses from different pieces of information or pondering over various issues of meaning say in the areas of philosophy, management, or politics, etc.”

3. “Imaginative Fantasy Imagination creates and develops stories, pictures, poems, stage-plays, and the building of the esoteric, etc.”

4. “Empathy Imagination helps a person know emotionally what others are experiencing from their frame and reference.”

5. “Strategic Imagination is concerned about vision of ‘what could be’, the ability to recognize and evaluate opportunities by turning them into mental scenarios…”

6. “Emotional Imagination is concerned with manifesting emotional dispositions and extending them into emotional scenarios.”

7. “Dreams are an unconscious form of imagination made up of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur during certain stages of sleep.”

8. “Memory Reconstruction is the process of retrieving our memory of people, objects, and events.”

By TeachThought

St. Valentine's Day & Animoto

And so this is what St. Valentine's Day was like, February 14th, at our school...

Have you visited our FB page yet?

You have seen this poster at the entrances of our school main buildings today, havent't you?

This is simply a reminder so that you don't forget Saint Valentine's is only ONE week ahead and this year we're going to celebrate the venue on FACEBOOK! So, what are you waiting for? Visit us, like us, but most of all, enjoy the LOVE and FRIENDSHIP season!

GR 330 editing powered by Photoscape

Staying healthy during the school year

image credits: chloraseptic

I will admit that I have suffered far too many times with sickness in my years as a teacher.  It seemed that whenever a student crossed my path I would inevitably catch whatever the little darling was carrying. What I would like to offer is some advice to teachers who are facing the onslaught of the worst cold and flu season on record, and perhaps some of these habits can be helpful year-round to keep healthy and in the classroom.  Obviously, seek the suggestions of a medical professional before altering your lifestyle, especially if you have risk factors for chronic diseases.

Get enough sleep

I will admit I more often than not will not and cannot follow this advice, however the benefits of sleep are numerous.  While you sleep your body purges itself of toxins and does necessary repair work.  If you do not get enough sleep, chances are you are short-changing your body on its repair time.  We cannot expect a plumber, for example, to install a sink in 15 minutes and then complain when we lack the fixture.  Your body is the same way.  Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.  A nap after school can also help a little, too.

Disinfect your hands

My students laugh when I put a new bottle of hand sanitizer next to the box of tissues, but at least they use it.  Teach your students that, when they cough or sneeze into their hands or after they blow their nose, they should use hand sanitizer in order to kill off bacterial germs.  You can get bottles of it in the dollar store and it will do the trick, but the visual reminder will help them remember to use it.  Also, disinfect your hands after handling student paperwork.  Think about it:  James suddenly sneezes while he is getting his materials out to hand in to you.  The droplets hit his paper and he innocently hands it in to you.  You now have his germs on your hands.  Yuck!  I keep a key chain bottle on my work keys to remind myself to use it.  After you use hand sanitizer several times it is a wise idea to wash your hands like normal and start fresh.  Furthermore, keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth.  If you make yourself aware of how often we touch our faces, it would surprise you.  Those are common locations to catch diseases because they are warm, moist areas: bacteria and viruses love those places!  Do not give them the chance.

Sanitize your desks

While the maintenance staff in our school is fantastic at wiping our desks with cleaner, they could always use the extra help.  Use disinfectant sprays and wipes to assure yourself that you are killing off some of the germs your students are encountering.  Think about the other places student touch:  desks, tables, doorknobs, bookshelves, the community pen cup… and just give them a quick spray or wipe.  I usually try to do this before I leave for the day so the disinfectant chemicals have time to work undisturbed.

Eat right

Aside from helping us with the added calories we can build up, eating correctly provides your body with the necessary nutrients to restore and repair itself.  Give it the fuel it deserves.

Take a multivitamin

Most adults try to take a multivitamin to supplement the nutrients they miss in a normal day.  It would be good practice for you to start this if you have not already done so.  I also add in additional Vitamin A, C, D, and E, but that is a personal choice.  Vitamin C and zinc, I have found, tend to be effective in giving your immune system a boost and help you fight off a cold more easily.

Stay home if you are sick

Yes, I know, we have all gone to work feeling under the weather because we have obligations that we cannot miss, we do not want to make substitute plans, we can survive it and then rest when we get home. I have said them all and none of them have made me a more effective teacher.  In fact, if I am too sick to think straight, I am too sick to teach effectively.  Therefore, if you have a fever, if you feel dead on your feet, just take the day and rest.  You more than likely need it.  Listen to your body.  If you go in sick you expose your students, colleagues, and yourself to other opportunistic infections or to reinfection if you have not disinfected your area.  The school will still be standing when you return, and your students will have missed you but will be much better off having a teacher at the top of his/her game.

While all of us will probably end up getting sick during the average school year, taking care of yourself is something you should make a priority.  Our students count on us, and they deserve us at the top of our game.  You are worth the extra effort and care, and since we are a self-sacrificing group of individuals that can ultimately be the hardest lesson we learn.

By Sarah Sorge, in Sick and Tired – Staying Healthy During The School Year (slightly abridged), via The Educator's Room

A proper Education...

image credits: Psycho Ulyssis