I have compiled a few more tips for fellow educators and parents to use to help children stay focused during a lesson! I have personal experience with some of these, while others I learned from researching online and recommend trying out! You can click [here] for my first post.

4) Confiscate Cell Phones at the Start of Class. Many schools in South Korea do this, where students are notoriously tech-savvy and even the younger children come to school weighed down with a Samsung Note 7. As students enter the classroom, they are asked by their teachers (seun seng nim 선생님) to deposit their cell phones in a communal bin at the front, and can only retrieve their electronic property during the lunch break and then again after school. I am intrigued by this idea because it serves two purposes: is prevents students from ignoring the lesson, as well as preventing other students from disrupting the class whenever they forget to put their phone on silent. Cell phones are fast becoming public enemy number one in schools. They are exceedingly hard to regulate, and are a huge player when it comes to disrupting classroom learning.

5) Ask Questions. A healthy classroom should have questions coming from both sides: from instructors and students. But sometimes no matter how encouraging you are, there will be days when students do not ask any questions during the lesson. Now, this does not necessarily mean they are not paying attention, but studies demonstrate the important role questions play in learning, especially the right types of questions. For each lesson, try to come up with some questions to punctuate your lecture that will facilitate classroom discussion and students' engagement and participation. These questions shouldn't feel like you are "quizzing" your students, as if you are putting them on the spot. I highly recommend taking a look at this amazing resource from The Teaching Center that will teach you all about asking the right questions, and how different types of questions improve the retention of information and critical thinking. 

6) Enthusiasm is Contagious. Students will feed off of your energy. Even if they find the subject boring, students will demonstrate interest if they are captivated by an enthusiastic instructor who knows how to make the lesson interesting, entertaining, engaging, etc. If you can find ways to visibly show your own interest in the lesson, you really can inspire students to pay attention and get involved in the content.

Please let me know in the comments what you think! Have a fantastic day.



With the rise of ADHD diagnoses and declining test scores, it is more imperative than ever to ensure students are actively digesting the material they learn in class. The apathetic and unmotivated student can be an educator's worst nightmare. The following post is a comprehensive guide for fellow instructors and parents to learn about how to keep students engaged  in their education, compiled from my own experience and outside research. Some of these tips may work better for younger children, but mostly they provide a great foundation for students of all ages. Let's get to it!

1) Passive Learning Can Create Passive Learners. Passive learning is a traditional instructional style in which students merely take a compendium of notes while the teacher lectures. The bell rings, the students leave, and all of the day's lessons remain stowed safely away in a notebook, only to be viewed again during exam season. Now, some students are great active listeners, but the reality is students are either too busy feverishly recording the lecture to actually digest the information being thrown at them, or the wave of new knowledge inundates them and they spend the class in a daze, unable to get a word in edgewise. In the higher grades, this teaching style is necessary to impart the necessary material required for the course, but all things in moderation I say. And especially for students below the age of 14, an alternate teaching style that facilitates classroom discussions, group activities, and in-class assignments is much more conducive for the retention of new information. One solution? Check out private schools that offer concept-based learning.

2) Get Active. Especially for younger students, it is inevitable: kids get the jitters! Why do you think Sweden gives its students free time every hour for 15 minutes? Because it works! It dramatically improves a child's concentration and demonstrably affects their engagement in the classroom in a positive manner. Now, this is not something you are going to find in North American public schools. I think in Ontario especially the educational status quo needs a reform on this matter, especially since many elementary schools have eliminated their second recess (the second 15-minute break that used to occur after lunch). But I am proud to say that at St. Jude's Academy, students are not only allowed, but encouraged, to move around the classroom to support physical health. And it does help.

3) Change Up the Classroom Environment or Seating Plan. This is a good technique because it represents a simple and manageable change that will help keep students engaged. Sitting next to a new classmate every month in a different desk or in a rearranged classroom helps prevent stagnation. A new physical perspective might actually result in a new mental perspective!

These are just three of my top tips for now. If you are interested in reading more, I can publish a second post with even more ways to help keep students engaged in the classroom. Thanks for reading!



References and Other Great Resources:

http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-participation-tips
http://archive.brookespublishing.com/articles/ed-article-0212.htm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/29/five-key-strategies-to-getkeep-kids-engaged-at-school/
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald007.shtml
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/


... Especially IB World schools. This is because many private schools share similar characteristics with universities. The most obvious example is the rigorous academic environment at IB private schools. Many first-year students entering university from the public education system are overwhelmed by the increased workload and thus witness a drastic grade drop; Maclean's has a fantastic article about this phenomenon. In addition to being unprepared for a university workload, public school students often receive inflated averages at high school which provides an unrealistic assessment of their skill to their detriment. University professors mark much more strictly because they are holding their students to a much higher standard; as evidenced by a real life scenario, in which a grade 12 public high school teacher gave an A+ letter grade to an English essay and an English professor evaluating the same paper assigned a B- letter grade instead. This disparity in grading systems makes the transition from grade 12 to first year much more difficult for students and demonstrates a severe lack of preparation.

Alarmingly, in addition to unrealistic grade assignments in public high schools, Ontario university professors in the sciences are reporting massive knowledge inconsistencies amongst their incoming first-year students. That is to say, in first-year science classes there is a huge diversity in background knowledge of core concepts with many students being insufficiently prepared for undergraduate chemistry and physics courses (which is reflected in their grades).

This is because Ontario has a huge spectrum of high school types and localized learning is leaving students unprepared for, and unaware of, university expectations. That is why I cannot stress how important IB private schools are for offering an international standardized education. This is the greatest solution for preparing students for university, by equipping them with all of the necessary tools to survive first-year courses. Private school students perform better on standardized tests than public school students, and by receiving a rigorous and advanced education they are less likely to experience a grade drop or learning gap when they enter university.

To all my readers, I hope you have a fantastic long weekend! And please let me know, what was your experience like making the switch from high school to university?


Private schools reduce the need for afterschool private tutoring. The ultimate benefits of this are a reduced education cost (depending on the external private tutoring company) and the elimination of a disjointed education experience (a tutor often complicates a child's learning experience because there is no coordination between school teacher and tutor).

In Canada, supplemental private tutoring is growing exponentially. Many parents are sending their children to afterschool tutoring sessions because the large classroom setting in public schools is overlooking struggling students. Private tutors also individualize students through their one-on-one tutelage. Many critics are pointing out this flaw in Ontario's public education system that is resulting in swarms of families having to supplement their child's education on their own time with their own money.

But instead of paying for a private tutor, why not just enrol your child in a private school instead? The guaranteed small classes eliminate the need for hiring a private tutor because no child is overlooked and the teacher has more time to mentor each student. Private schools also eliminate the disjointed learning experience that an independent tutor engenders, because a child will be receiving sufficient attention and education from one reliable source. Especially at an IB World school like St. Jude's Academy, you also know the exact qualifications of your child's mentor; whereas at independent tutoring companies you often do not know the education background of your child's assigned private tutor.

Also thank you for the almost 3,000 G+ views! If you haven't checked out my Google Plus profile yet, you can click here.




Bullying. It has become so commonplace in our society that it feels like an inescapable reality of school life. It is a parent's greatest fear, and too often it can feel like you are helplessly stuck on the sidelines, only able to hope that it does not happen to your child. Bullying is not okay: it is harmful and corrodes the purpose of school, which is to get an education. There does not seem to be a concrete solution for public schools to deal with this alarming issue. Often bullies only get a "talking to" and are rarely suspended, which only cultivates the fear that makes victims reluctant to ask for help from their teachers.

I do not profess to know a permanent solution to this troubling issue, but I do know one thing: Studies by the National Center for Education Statistics show that bullying is less prevalent in private schools than in public schools. A 2015 HILDA survey revealed that twice as many parents of public school students reported their children had been bullied compared to private school parents. Of course there are many different degrees of bullying, so that one definition does not fit all, but it is logical to assume that in at least some capacity, private schools do offer a solution to the problem.

The first way private schools are contributing to a workable solution is choice: if your child is being bullied at a public school and the school administration is unable to offer an acceptable solution, the existence of private schools allows you to enrol your child at a different school and thus escape the bullying.

But once at private school, how can you feel rest assured that your child will remain safe? One answer is small class sizes. Because private schools guarantee small classes, the teachers will be able to supervise students more effectively, and any whiff of bullying will not go undetected like it often does in public schools. Greater and more effective teacher supervision has been proven to be a strong deterrent against bullying, nipping the problem right in the bud.

Another reason why private schools have less bullying—and if they do, are more effective at dealing with it—is the nature of the school administration. Because private schools are independent, they possess more freedom and authority to deal with the perpetrators instead of having to adhere to a lot of bureaucratic red tape. If a case of bullying is proven to exist and has occurred on more than one occasion despite formal warnings, private schools have the ability to expel problem students; they don't expect the victims to solve their own problems by switching schools. Private schools have zero tolerance for bullying, because they have a greater responsibility to students' families (who are paying for their school experience after all).

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that one day public administrations can come up with a permanent solution for dealing with school bullying.

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Where: Ontario, Canada

Who: A passionate Vice Principal and IB coordinator

Why: I love blogging about education in my spare time!

St. Jude's Academy is an IB School

St. Jude's Academy is an IB School

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