Mike Beetham Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Making a Difference Through Education, Occasional Teaching, Planning

Occasional Teachers As Partners

In my classroom an Occasional Teacher is referred to as a Guest Teacher for many reasons. The most important being that the person who arrives that day is first and foremost a teacher. That individual is a qualified teacher who is there to help students continue on their daily academic journey. They are not there to keep students busy nor are they there to just supervise for the day.

It is very important that in my plans I both value and allow that incoming expertise to be shared with my students. Of course I have developed plans that will be a continuation of what is going on in my classroom but have left instructions that are open ended and allow the guest teacher to be able to adjust them based on the needs of the students they are working with as well as the expertise and experience they bring into our classroom. In that way, my students are able to enjoy and share the uniqueness of each teacher they work with.

My experience has taught me that one of the worst things I can do is to set up the guest teacher for failure or classroom management problems by assigning work that is not relevant or connected to the day-to-day academics that are occurring in that room. My students need to know that each and every task they are working on is important to their overall growth and academic success.

I truly enjoy the day after a Guest Teacher has been in my room and the students remember their name, tell me something personal they learned about that individual and are eager to share the work they completed. That type of response provides very valuable feedback about how well my students are transferring the classroom agreement to all individuals they come into contact with.

 I want to tell Occasional Teachers how important your role is and how much I appreciate the time and effort you put into my students. Thank you for everything you do as partners to contract teachers.

Beverly Papove Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context

Fall Gardening with Kinders

Because we have made it part of our timetable to spend the first and last block of every day outdoors with our SK students, we have become pretty regular weather watchers. So when we noticed that they were calling for 20 degrees on a Thursday in November, we decided to plan for a full morning of activities outside.

 

The first thing we did was brainstorm what learning opportunities we could provide that were a little different from the regular. Then we let the parents know of our plans, reminding them of the importance of dressing their children appropriately for a day of exploring outdoors, a day that included a filled water table. We also included the principal in our communications and were very happy when she had no objections or concerns.

 

With 2 ECEs, 2 teachers, a parent volunteer and a Child and Youth Worker placement student, we were able to put together a good variety of activities 2 days ahead of time. Besides the climbing structure which is always a big draw any day, we had cooperative games on the pavement; a reading area under a tree with a basket of books on a tarp; and a water table and Lego ship building. We also provided metres and metres of mural paper attached to the school wall for painting on; dump trucks, watering cans, shovels and pails for digging and building with; and a chance to do some gardening in the raised vegetable garden beds.

 

I was in charge of gardening. I brought some gardening tools from home (trowels, sequiturs, forks, and cultivators) which the students could easily manipulate. We set about pulling up the dead plants in the vegetable garden, trimming the perennial herb garden plants (lots of great things to smell and taste), planting about 20 bulbs of garlic, and covering the four raised beds with leaf mulch from the school yard. We had so much fun! We dug up a small Rosemary plant to overwinter in the classroom and a small maple seedling that was out of place growing in the middle of the vegetable bed. The students decided that we should dig the seedling up, bring it into the classroom and look after it until spring, at which time we could plant it in the school yard.

 

The students were so enthusiastic about the plants, but even more so about the bugs they discovered in the garden. Although many of them were hoping to find worms, we found slugs, grubs, potato bugs, and spiders, all of which they handled gently for closer inspection. One student asked if we could bring one of the slugs into our classroom. Since we already had a small aquarium set up for observing worms from the vermicomposter, we discussed whether we could use it as a slug habitat. Now we have worms AND a slug in our classroom. I mentioned in last month’s blog what great class pets worms could be. Slugs are even easier!

Mike Beetham Celebrating Success, General, Resilience, Wellness

Celebrating You

As my all time favourite author Dr. Seuss said, “Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” If you are like me at all, you have difficulty accepting compliments from colleagues, administrators, students and/or parents for the commitment that you put forth in your role as a teacher. Yet we are open to criticism each and every day. Why is that?

Well this past weekend while I was doing some work in my office area I looked at the bare walls around me and thought to myself. Today I am going to hang up my diplomas that I received over 30 years ago. Yes, that is right, they have never seen daylight, never been hung and thus never been admired for the accomplishments I had reached. I scoured through a variety of storage bins and found them still in their original holder from the university. So off I went to get them framed. Within a few hours and a few extra holes in my wall, I sat back and admired my accomplishments (albeit a few years later). What I hadn’t expected was the renewed sense of pride and enthusiasm that followed that small action of recognizing my work.

As we know ever so well, positive feedback, sincere compliments and celebrating small and big successes with our students is an essential component to helping students be triumphant in their educational journey. So to it is for teachers. Take the time and not only smell the roses on your grand tour, pick a few and put them on display!

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”