For someone who does not have dyslexia or any special learning needs, it is actually very difficult to fully understand the struggles some of our students go through every day, no matter how articulately it is explained.

Although we are oftentimes overwhelmed in our roles as teachers with seemingly very little time left for independent research, we really do need to educate ourselves on these topics so we can find ways to best support our students' needs and ensure they given the opportunities to succeed. Fortunately, my new favourite site Understood.org, is here for us and is an amazing resource for quick bites of information for parents and teachers. 

Here is a short video explaining what dyslexia is, and there is also a link to some other videos and a challenge to experience a bit of what it is like to have dyslexia for yourself below, check it out here:

Today I came across a fantastic resource for helping people understand what it is like to be dyslexic. In fact, I was so impressed by it, it actually left me feeling quite shocked that something like this has never appeared in any professional development meetings during my 10 year career! Thank goodness for the internet...

So, if as many as 1 in 5 students in our classroom have dyslexia, it is something we seriously need to always have at the forefront of our minds when teaching and planning lessons. I have developed various differentiation techniques in my teaching over the years, but this site has opened my eyes to the real struggles that students face as I was able to experience them for myself. 

I thought this site's simulation exercises were excellent and I really felt the frustration when reading and writing - I was spending so much time trying to decipher codes and fix mistakes, that my brain almost forgot what it is I was trying to actually understand or write down. The attention simulator was also incredibly frustrating - I was trying so hard to listen to the teacher but I got so distracted by the noises I completely failed a seemingly simple activity!

Here's a link to their simulator experience which is well worth a go and is something that could also  be shared in your school as part of professional development training.

My brain is already coming up with possible ways I can support my dyslexic students better. I'll be sure to try out new ideas and share my findings with you in the future! (Subscribe to my blog to be updated when I post.) 
​How do you like to support dyslexic students in your classroom? Drop me a comment below! 

It's here, it's finally here! It's the TpT 'Teacher Appreciation' site wide sale where everything is up to 28% off! 

Today I'm linking up with Teaching in the Tongass to share my top 3 most wished for resources on TpT, so you can make your 'wishlists' come true and download them for a steal!

So without further ado, let's check out my most wish listed resources, starting with 3rd place...

Ah my 'Build Your Own Town Map' clip art set - one of my absolute faves. This was originally created as a request for someone almost 2 years ago. Since then, I have taken action on the great suggestions from buyers, and so over time the set has grown considerably and it's versatility is one of the best things about it! But hey, don't believe me, just check out the reviews - and if top TpT seller, Annie Moffatt from The Moffatt Girls loves it, then it has to be great, right?! :)

And in second place for most wish listed, we have...

This End of Year Activities for teens resource is my most wish listed and also my number 1 top seller! This resource has saved my bacon and the bacon of many other teachers who are exhausted at the end of the school year. It's a great way to wrap up, reflect on life, dream of the future and keep students entertained while us teachers are using all our energy just trying to claw our way to the finish line! Most of the reviews say that these activities were compelling for all their students and all the teachers who have rated it have been really happy with the results!
​Wish no more my friends, grab this while it's on sale and you too can breeze through the last few weeks of school.

So there you have it! If you do grab any of these while they are on sale, let me know how you get on with them! Is there anything else on your wish list that you've got your eye on? I'd love to know, drop me a comment below!

And finally, in first place.... drum roll.....

Yay, my teacher binder! I do love this resource and I don't know why I was surprised to find it on the top 3, actually! Considering I offer free updates for life, if it is still sitting on your wishlist you are missing out on those free updates every year that goes by! Now is a great time to download it while it's on sale, and don't worry, come June I will update it for the next academic year anyway (and I'll be including a wider month range to accommodate different academic years around the globe too!)

So if you're curious how this one came about, I created this for myself initially. Schools in the UK usually provide you with "The Teacher Planner" - one company that has seemingly dominated the market over here. I mean they're fine, I guess, but I have some niggles with the practicality of it and aside from the nice colour ranges available, they're just a little bit bland and not very fun to plan with. Plus I wanted the option to go digital too. So one year I just decided enough is enough, I wanted to make being organised and planning my lessons as enjoyable as possible, and so I spent a lot of time planning and creating a teacher planner that is attractive, practical, complete and will also work for secondary teachers! Oh yeh, and that was not an ink sucker and could be typed onto too...  Love it.

Building rapport with our students is a vital part of our roles as teachers, and once successfully established can make behaviour management seem almost effortless - most days! 
It's not something that is ever really taught when we are training to teach, which I think is a crying shame... but don't worry, Teachers Resource Force is coming to the rescue! Sometimes this can come naturally to people, but if you're one of those who may need a hand with it, relax, it is a science and can be taught!

Firstly, it's important to note that we build rapport with others by finding things in common with one another. Now,  obviously the first thing that probably comes to mind here is having a conversation, right? Well that's all well and good, but that can be tricky when you have 30 bodies in the room and you have a lesson plan to get through -there isn't always time to have a chat and find common interests! One tip I have to tap into this though, is to try to modernise your lessons so you are incorporating content they are familiar with and relate to, such as referring to movies, social media, songs etc.

But thankfully, a conversation is not the only way to find commonalities. In fact, it's not even the most effective way, believe it or not. Only 7% of communication is verbal, so by limiting our rapport building with words only, we are missing out on the other 93%!

As you may know, the highest form of communication comes through our body language and that makes up 55%. I think most veteran teachers have mastered "the look" for example...!

I hope you have found these tips useful. I encourage you to try some of these out with your students and see how quickly you can begin building rapport with them. If you have tried these or have any other tips to share, please drop a comment below!