Risper Kwoba’s Post

I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: English As A Second Language Teacher from Alison!

Hi everyone - I am looking for a new role and would appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for any connections, advice, or opportunities you can offer. #OpenToWork

Hi everyone - I am looking for a new role and would appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for any connections, advice, or opportunities you can offer. #OpenToWork

Step Aside We have built walls around us. Career progression, financial growth, social security, health insurance, education attainment, economic stability and life insurance. We have really toiled to build these walls with all that we have in us. We have invested in these walls with all our beliefs, hopes, trusts, faith, resilience and gratitude. Unfortunately, we have been visited by destructiveness from external elements, elements of stumbling blocks along the way. Our walls have come down and there we sit down and regret allowing this happen. We are crying, weeping and mourning over broken walls. We have lost belief, hope, trust, faith, resilience and gratitude. It is very ugly; nothing to salvage. Step aside, rethink, rebuild, repair, restore and restart. Get back to work, it is never serious. Start again!!!

Every Student Matters Student behaviors like shouting, not paying attention, avoiding work, disrespect, refusal, and engaging in power struggles take your focus away from teaching and students’ focus away from learning. The following classroom management strategies can be used to help maintain student focus and create student consistency around class expectations. Understand your students.Get to know each student as an individual. Build rapport with them based on trust and understanding. Be sure to let your compassion for each student reflect through your nonverbal behavior and your paraverbal communication. Practice patience with Rational Detachment.Keep in mind that you have a choice about how you respond to a student in distress. Choose not to take the behavior personally, and use positive self-talk. For example, instead of thinking, “I can’t take this disrespect anymore,” think, “I’ve seen this before. This behavior is not about me. What is it about and how can I help?” Set effective limits.Review and post your classroom expectations so that they are clearly visible. Expectations should be clear, simple, and stated positively as what you “can do.” For example, instead of saying, “No side talk,” say “Please raise your hand to add to the conversation.” Keep to the schedule you set.Following your own expectations is key to modeling timeliness and productivity. The more organized you are, the more opportunity there is to focus on teaching and learning. This will help your students respect schedules and work within designated time frames. Remember that while, as a general rule, consistency is important, it may sometimes be appropriate to address a student’s needs even if it interferes with the schedule or routine. Be aware of the causes of behavior. Be mindful of Precipitating Factors—preexisting circumstances that cause distress behavior—and early warning signs to help you focus on prevention. If a student seems consistently irritable or inattentive in the morning, could hunger be causing the behavior? Could you make sure the student gets breakfast in the cafeteria before class or keep granola bars in your desk? Keep in mind, classroom management is not just about avoiding student disruptions but about creating an environment that enables students to focus on learning.

How to Deal with Obnoxious Colleagues Almost everyone finds themselves dealing with annoying people at work at some point in their careers. Waking up in the morning and dreading the fact that you'll inevitably run into that obnoxious coworker can affect your mood and work performance. Although you can't change the behaviors or personalities of your annoying coworkers, you don't have to suffer endlessly. While it might take some practice, changing the way you interact with annoying coworkers may help minimize their effect on you. 1. Maintain a positive attitude. Honestly, the best thing you can do in this situation is to let the annoying things your co-worker does to roll off your back. Sometimes when you only dwell on the negative, it can distract you from being productive at work. If your co-worker is truly a problem, then address the situation. At the end of the day, it's up to you to stay focused on what you need to accomplish and to have a positive attitude at work. 2. Find a common interest. Sometimes, if you have a co-worker you continually butt heads with, you're probably better off trying to find some common ground with them. Try to find at least find one thing you have in common, even if it's the dislike of the coffee in the break room. This will help working together become more tolerable. 3. Try to ignore their flaws. If your co-worker is a slacker or super arrogant, just ignore them. If your boss is yet to catch on to the problem or simply lets it slide by, it's not your problem to worry about. Even if it drives you nuts your co-worker is never prepared or brags all of the time about nothing, don't feed into their flaw. This will only cause you to become more annoyed and frustrated with the situation. 4. Kill them with kindness. On the occasion you're dealing with a workplace bully, a negative person, or gossiper, it's important to remain calm and continue being kind towards them. Even if your co-worker is going out of your way to bring you down, don't let them rain on your parade. Stay out of arguments or debates that would cause a negative impact on your work. All you have to do is continue smiling and going about your work as usual. 5. Politely reject their attention. Whenever your annoying co-worker begins distracting you from your work, politely tell them to respect your space and to only speak to you if their question is work-related. 6. Be assertive. Tell your co-worker he or she is a distraction and they’ve been negatively impacting your productivity. Don't let your annoying co-workers bring you down at work. If you have to cope with someone who drives you nuts, remember, it's all about how you react the situation.