Healthy Brain

Our brains are the most complex structures in the known universe. Every person’s mind is very different from every other person. Our brains are shaped by our genetic potential, physical health, emotional health and by the sum of our life experiences.

We know that the human brain possesses a high level of plasticity. Our mind is malleable, always evolving according to our thoughts and experiences.

  • For example, almost anyone can develop a business brain by doing things such as studying finance and working in a business environment.
  • Brain plasticity is essential for learning new things, retaining memories, and recovering from personal trauma or a brain injury.

Boosting our brain health and achieving a higher level of mental acuity is a worthy goal. Targeting brain health is a good way to ensure we maximise our overall well being.

The brain is a sensitive organ that reflects the overall quality of our life, including things such as having fun and good relationships. If you take excellent care of your brain, you are looking after your whole self. Here are three of the best ways to achieve a healthy brain.

1. Challenge your mind

Challenging your mind with novel activities builds new brain cell connections, increasing your mental strength and flexibility. You may need to give yourself a push if you have fallen into comfortable routines and habits. Repeating things generally means you are reinforcing existing connections, not forming new ones.

Ways of stimulating your mind include learning a new game, living in a different culture, taking online courses, and mixing up your weekend activities.

Challenging your mind does not have to be hard work. Much of it comes down to attitude. Being open to new experiences, ideas and opinions can stimulate new ways of thinking. You need to open your mind to expand your mind.

2. Be socially engaged

Human beings are social creatures. Our brains have evolved to be socially connected and part of a culture. Indeed, rewards from social interaction are believed to be a key driving force behind the development of large brains. Our brains have an innate capacity for processing, in sophisticated ways, the myriad of data that come from social interaction.

Being socially engaged is a natural way to stimulate your mind and really get it working. Provided your social experiences are positive overall, engaging with others boosts your brain fitness. While alone-time is also important, time with others is necessary to unlock your cognitive potential.

3. Find inner calm

Creativity, strategic thinking and focus are some of the higher-level brain functions that tend to emanate from an initial state of inner calm. In a relaxed state, your mind is free to explore. You build up mental energy and allow natural ordering of your consciousness. Calmness prepares you for innovative or deliberate thinking.

Finding inner calm is sometimes challenging. Removing stress triggers and unwanted distractions is a good place to start. You also need rest, adequate sleep and a good balance of activities. Mental fatigue is often the result of trying to do the same kinds of mental tasks over and over again. Mixing up activities helps avoids this. A walk in the park or a lunch date, for example, can feel refreshing because they shift your attention.

Sustained inner calm depends on achieving a balanced lifestyle that works for you. It also helps to manage your thinking, diverting mental energy towards productive activities such as problem solving. If you experience persistent anxiety and/or suffer panic attacks, therapeutic action may be beneficial. Potential solutions include taking a break from stress-causing activities, cognitive therapy and other relaxation techniques.

Top 5 Online Resources for Teachers

Technology and school education enjoy a symbiotic relationship and, as a teacher, it is imperative to have a tech tool that makes the job easier for you and your students. Here, we have compiled a list of the top 5 online resources for teachers that can enhance one’s professional work, experience and confidence.

Teaching resources.

1. Theme Spark

Theme Spark is a free web-based teacher tool designed by former teacher David Hunter. It works on most devices and browsers. Teachers can use this online tool to create standards aligned rubrics and curriculum. Teachers can also build a standards-based rubric with ThemeSpark in under a minute and standards-based lesson in as little as 5 minutes.

The ThemeSpark rubric maker was created to help teachers do their daily work more efficiently, quickly and easily. Available standards under the ThemeSpark online resource for teachers include Art National Core Anchor Standards, Math K-12 Common Core, 21st Century Skills, Science K-12 Next Generation, Language Arts K-12 Common Core and Social Studies K-12 C3 Standards.

2. cK-12

cK-12 is an online platform for teachers that provides information on various subjects and disciplines. It aims to give teachers a great platform that they can use to tailor their individual lessons and teach at their own pace.

cK-12 contains a wide range of resources from calculus to elementary principles and science categories such as physics, Earth science, chemistry and biology. In addition, it includes a FlexBook feature that enables teachers to put together various chapters from textbooks in any of the subjects to develop customized lesson plans.

3. Busy Teacher Cafe

Busy Teacher Cafe is another great all-purpose online resource for teachers for virtually every education niche. In addition to an extensive section for themed lessons, there are also collections of free printable material and strategies.

The theme section allows teachers to choose what type of lesson they would like to cover and provides links to printable materials. The strategies section on the other hand contains lesson plan suggestions and a collection of teaching methodologies as well as links to bring it all together.

4. Lesson Planet

Lesson Planet is available to teachers for a small monthly fee. The content at this online platform ranges from educational apps to prepared lesson plans meant to enhance classroom instruction.

What makes this online resource unique from other resources is the fact that everything provided in it is reviewed by a team of certified teachers. This is to make sure that it meets current-common core and state-standards guidelines (UniCurve). It offers comprehensive teaching resources for both science and math to make planning of lessons much easier.

5. ABC Teach

ABC Teach is a platform that offers many free resources for all grade levels starting with early childhood up through junior high. It also provides membership programs for a more extensive collection of resources.

  • The membership rates to access the full offerings ranges from $25 to $40 per year.
  • The free options include ABC activities, over 5,000+ printables and worksheets for the core subjects, theme units, holidays, reading comprehension, languages/ESL, teaching extras, videos and much more.

Alternative Jobs for Teachers

Teachers don’t have to limit their career options to just working in a traditional setting – inside a classroom – to have an impact in the education industry. There are a lot of education-related occupations waiting to be explored and here are some of those you might consider.

Online tutor.

1. Sales Reps

Everyone from insurance agencies to pharmaceutical companies could benefit from hiring teachers. Teachers have the skills to encourage excitement and be influential, while educating people. These are very important qualities for becoming a successful sales rep.

2. Testing Companies

Companies that focus on creating tests heavily rely on teachers for question creation. Thus, teachers can take advantage of this. They can use their expertise to create tests specifically made for a certain grade level, depending on their experience and skills.

3. Training Companies

There are plenty of training companies contracted by corporations that prefer hiring trained teachers. They believe the ability of these teaching professionals to teach in the classroom can be very beneficial in a boardroom setting as well (Train Smart).

4. Publishing Companies

For teachers who love to edit or write, publishing companies can be one of the best career choices outside the classroom. There are a lot of textbook publishing companies that prefer hiring educators over other professionals. Teachers can also become writers themselves (e.g. Melina Marchetta, a former secondary teacher who wrote Looking for Alibrandi).

5. Education Program Director

Most teachers would assume that they don’t have the capability to become education directors. What they are not aware of is that most museums, cruise ships, zoos, resorts, and historic park programs have directors who used to be teachers. These people have the ability to create programs ideal for school-age children.

6. Freelance Editor

Teachers who consider themselves as someone who pay a lot of attention to details should try applying as a freelance editor for local printers, print companies and alike.

7. Content Creator

For those who enjoy creating curriculum and love to design printables, there are plenty of online options that allow teachers to showcase their skills. Likewise, they can also consider starting their own blog or website.

8. Tutoring

As a teacher, starting an own private practice or applying at a local or national tutoring company can be ideal. The demand for these services are usually after school hours, but there are some tutoring companies that are in need of tutors even during school days.

9. Virtual Teachers

Although teaching online can be as challenging as teaching inside the classroom, this is one of the options that’s worth considering. A lot of cyber schools has state charters that offer free public education to kids (El Toro Battalion).

10. Real Estate Agents

In order to become a teacher, it’s important to be a good listener as well. This comes in handy when helping people find and buy a house. Those who enjoy working with people, and the challenge of helping someone find the perfect home should take real estate classes and become real estate agents.

11. Party Planning

If decorating and planning are some of your favorite parts about teaching, then being a party planner may be ideal. Planning parties for children would allow a teacher to incorporate all the organizational skills, enthusiasm, and creativity in one job.

Tips for Online Teaching

With advanced digital technologies, you can deliver excellent teaching services online. Distance learning is offered in higher education (e.g. Online Study Australia) as well as vocational ed and informal courses. Beyond online learning in universities and colleges, some freelance tutors offer online lessons (Career Lancer). As an online teacher, you will need to have specific strategies and disciplines to guide you in your practice. Here are tips for effective online unit teaching.

Teaching online.

1. Be available and reliable

You need to be online at the specific course time for live sessions. Students will normally be online waiting for the lesson to kick off. That means that you should be there at the designated time. Do not log into the viewer more than thirty minutes after the specific lesson time.

As an online teacher, you must be dedicated to offering the appropriate help to the students. Some students will be busy during the day and study late at night. Here, they might need your help. Therefore, you should be willing to get online whenever your students need you.

2. Know your students

One great way of making the entire teaching process easy is by understanding your students. When you know who you are teaching, it will make the communication easier. Some students will take long to comprehend a topic. Others will follow the teachings easily and understand without much difficulty. For that, know the student, and avoid misjudging them.

3. Communicate regularly and be responsive

Students appreciate a teacher that communicates regularly. Also, they expect timely feedback on their learning progress. Online teachers have a duty to communicate with their students as often as possible. Students are anxious to know what they got in their recent exams. Make sure that you deliver the results and progress report promptly. Ideally, if you are online, even if it is not the official lesson time, inform your students. They might find it to be friendly and helpful.

4. Be professional and presentable

Some online teaching entails text chatting, while others will entail video chatting. These are modern digital literacy tasks (NILS). If you are to offer online teaching from your home through video, you will need to make the environment professional enough. Ensure that the room is clean and quiet and that you are presentable. Some students can be extra judgmental, so you should ensure that you don’t give them a wrong impression.

5. Create self-regulation resources

It can be easy for the student to miss a deadline if they are not reminded constantly. Since you as a teacher can also forget about the deadline, you will need to use a reliable source. Some resources, like the Google Calendar, help to notify the student on the reading deadlines, course deadlines, among others. You can subscribe to any suitable reminder. Such reminders will notify the student via text messages or emails. This way, it can be easier for them to beat the deadline.

6. Encourage interaction

You should treat your students as your team. Here, the best thing to do is to create discussion posts that will invite discussions, questions, responses, and reflections. Create an open question-answer forum for every student to contribute and give their ideas. This is also a way of encouraging online teaching among the students.

Further reading: MSU guide, Victorian Government

Top 3 Sites for Teacher Lesson Plans

Subscribing to a website that offers quality teacher lesson plans is a great advantage for a professional teacher. However, locating the right websites for teacher lesson plans is not as easy as many people think. In fact, you could be forgiven for giving up along the way out of frustration. So are you are you looking for a reliable website that offers quality lesson plans for teachers? If yes, then today you are in the right place. In this article we are going to list the top 3 websites for teacher lesson plans.

Children following a lesson plan in a classroom.

1. Teachers.net

Teachers.net has wide range of lesson plans. Whether you are searching for preschool or high school lesson plans, you can be sure that this website will not let you down. Unlike other websites that have only focused on specific types of lesson plans, this websites has wide array of lesson plan to cater for specific needs of every teacher.

The site is well optimized and easy to navigate. Despite having thousands of lesson plans, you can easily find what you are looking for. This is because this website is well organized. All their lesson plans are listed by grade level and subject area, a factor that makes it easy for user to find what they are looking for. In addition to that, this site also allows teachers to upload their own lesson plans and share it with others. They also have a chart board where teachers can share ideas.

2. Education World

Education World provides quality lesson plans for teachers. In addition to that, it also provide useful content that helps users to make informed decisions. All their lesson plans are broken down into sections that are easy to read and understand.

Although this website that does not allow users to search by subject and rating, the website is very easy to navigate. In addition to that, this website is well optimized and offers a good user experience. Many people who have downloaded lesson plans from this website have said that their lesson plans are well structured and provide quality content. For example, you can construct a lesson plan around a documentary film or current event. It also has a free trial and a variety of options to choose from.

3. Lesson Planet

Lesson Planet is one of the best website offering teacher lesson plans. Unlike other websites that are cluttered with advertisements, this websites is dedicated to offer quality content to their client. With over 150,000 lesson plans, this website is one of the largest teacher’s website around the world – from Australia to America.

The site is so professional and easy to navigate. All that you need to do to find a lesson plan of your choice by selecting your grade and resource type. It also gives users the option of narrowing down your choice by rating, subject and much more.

What makes this website to stand out from the rest is the fact that is allows its users to view all lesson plans so that they can make an informed decision. Another reason why we have listed this website in our top 3 websites for teacher lesson plans is the offer of a 10-day free trial, which you can unsubscribe from if you are not satisfied.

Why Study Abroad at an Australian University

Australia is a vibrant and dynamic country with friendly and energetic people. The beautiful multicultural, English-speaking country has a friendly and welcoming society where students can travel and learn freely. Australia is rapidly becoming one of the most preferred destination in terms of quality education.

International students in Australia.

Currently, the amazing land of kangaroos attracts the third largest numbers of international students from English speaking countries after the UK and the US. And for a pretty good reason: the Australian universities rank highly among universities internationally (Cube Rankings). In addition to this, the Australian Education system is recognized internationally.

Australia offers quality educational experiences and provides a very unique sort of education with a learning style which encourages students to get innovative, think independently and become more creative. Graduates from Australia universities are usually very successful when it comes to finding jobs and holding prominent positions all across the world (see graduate salaries). Additionally, graduates are readily accepted for all kinds of postgraduate studies at the leading international universities. In this article, we are going to take a look at some of the reasons why study abroad in Australian (at university).

1. High Quality Education

Degrees which are obtained from the Australian universities are well recognized all across the world. The country’s higher education (university) industry is federally regulated, which means that the government of Australian evaluates all the country’s universities on a yearly basis so as to make sure that they’re maintaining the set high quality standards. This means that degrees from Australian universities look really good on anyone’s educational portfolio. In addition to this, the country has 40+ universities, and many of them are among the top 50 in the worldwide rankings. The cities of Australia are also ranked among the best student cities for quality education.

2. Recognition

Australian qualifications are well recognised by the leading institutions and employers all across the world. Moreover, most of the courses which are undertaken by the international students are covered by AQF (abbreviation for, Australian Qualification Framework). It’s a system of quality learning that’s authorised by the government of Australian.

3. Student Visa Perks

Although international students are required to get a student visa for them to enter Australia, the perks which come along with the visa, set this nation apart. All students with a visa are eligible for job opportunities in Australia. In Australia, international students are generally allowed to get work while they’re on student visas; this helps them earn some money for their daily expenses. Students can work for up to 40 hrs every 2 weeks in jobs which require basic skills, like in the food and beverage services, in grocery stores, and even in certain roles in their respective universities.

4. Multicultural Environment

Australia is a friendly, safe, harmonious and multicultural society. It is home to students from all walks of life hailing from a wide spectrum of geographical and cultural backgrounds. Australians greatly value the wealth of their cultural diversity and the social sophistication which international students bring in to the communities and universities. Great care is normally taken when looking after international students, and helping them easily adjust to their amazing way of life; this makes it easy for one to easily settle right in. In addition to this, Australia has a strict gun control law, and low crime rates providing a safe and secure environment.