Friendships, extra-curricular activities, and field trips are all amazing parts of the school experience. Ask anyone to recall their most memorable moments across the years, and they usually make mention of one or all of the above. Reflecting on my own time in the classroom these memories are the remnants of many happy times if I ignore the minor conflicts, the bullying, or being scolded/hit/screamed at by teachers.
Perhaps, it’s a function of time, appreciation, and experience, but the good does outweigh the residual frustration. This is not the case for all learners. There are some who barely survived their educations to consider alongside those who have gone on to thrive beyond them. The emotional wounds remain unhealed.
Imagine, being set apart from your friends, losing your privilege to participate in extra-curriculars, or frequent trips to see the principal instead? Imagine being hit for not having your homework completed, for misbehaving, or for being different?
It reminds me of George Orwell’s striking essay Such, such were the Joys. This text reveals as much about education as do the happier parts I mentioned in my opening paragraph. Orwell’s work centred on a British boarding school in the past, complete with constant humiliation and corporal punishment. It is descriptive and dark reminder that education was not be perfect in the “good old days”. Fast forward, it is still not perfect, but it is now getting a G for initiative.
Here’s a more recent story that did not involve the extremes outlined by Orwell;
I was taking part in some Math PD at a sister school in 2015. During lunch break, I wandered into the office and happened upon a student who was sitting at a desk writing lines. When I first saw him, he was trying the multiple pencil method where you try to hold as many pencils as possible to write as many lines at the same time. FLASHBACK to 1978 and it’s me at that desk writing line after line. I suggested he try writing the first word all the way down the page and then the second and so on. He laughed. I laughed, but on the inside I wondered what was being accomplished here?
So, I asked. “What are you in for?” The student replied, “I wasn’t listening during lunch.” I knew that, because it was all across his paper, but thought it good to ask anyway. “How many I asked?” “Two pages,” he replied “both sides.” Ouch. I wished him luck and returned to my session a bit confounded by it all.
During that brief interaction I felt sorry for this student. Somewhere in that building was someone who felt that writing lines was the answer. Yes, he had made a poor choice by disrespecting the lunch supervisor, and by not listening, but I sided with this student. It was as if someone was trying to extinguish a flame that was trying to burn brightly in this child through the exercise of power and authority. That was what troubled me. Was the act of writing lines really going to accomplish something monumental or was it merely a controlled burn?
What would you have done with this articulate, bright eyed student wearing out pencils in a pointless exercise? How could this be turned around so all parties would be satisfied and the pencils spared? Was I wrong to empathise with this kid? After our conversation, I didn’t think so.
Whether it’s 2 or 200 years ago, there are still many issues around discipline in our schools. Isn’t it time to approach it from a different angle?
In my next post I will share about Discipline being a noun and verb. Please share and comment. Thanks for reading. It keeps me going knowing you’re out there along the journey of education. Will
To begin the year of math instruction, most of the junior division teachers in my school decided to try Jo Boaler’s “Week of Inspirational Math” on YouCubed. Jo Boaler is one of the leading researchers in mathematics education and focuses largely on developing mathematical mindsets. On the website www.youcubed.org, there are many high quality resources for teachers and parents based off her research. I am quite familiar with some of the resources, having explored it during staff professional development days. I was quite excited to get into the classroom and try it out for myself.
The Week of Inspirational Math, actually expanded to three weeks, provides student videos and lesson plans that include rich, open ended math tasks. They are described as low floor, high ceiling tasks, meaning that they have many access points for all levels of learners and allow for multiple solutions and higher level thinking. The tasks, sorted by grade level, touch upon different strands of math as the days progress. Each lesson is accommodated by a video for students, usually of Jo Boaler herself, creating and framing mindsets for math.
I loved using this as my programming for the first few weeks of school. First, because it set the tone of positive mathematical mindsets in my classroom. One of the very first activities has students discussing what makes a good problem solving group member. They are invited to discuss what things they might like their classmates to say and do while consolidating math experiences. What a great way to establish classroom norms!
What I really loved about the Week of Inspirational Math was that it acted as a great diagnostic tool for me. By touching upon many strands, offering a large window of access points and relying heavily on math conversations, the program provided me with a great opportunity to get to know my students as mathematicians fairly early in the year.
Jo Boaler’s approach to teaching mathematics is based off of these seven positive classroom norms:
1. Everyone can learn math to the highest levels
2. Mistakes are valuable
3. Questions are really important
4. Math is about creativity and making sense
5. Math is about connections and communication
6. Math class is about learning not performing
7. Depth is more important than speed
The Week of Inspirational Math isn’t the only excellent resource available at YouCubed. I have been spending some time exploring the tasks, videos for students, parent resources and research articles available. YouCubed offers professional development courses both online and in-person. The website also lists a variety of texts and resources for teachers to use in the classroom. If you’re interested in learning more, head over to www.youcubed.org or check out Jo Boaler’s latest book, Mathematical Mindsets.
I am looking forward to continuing to use these resources with my grade 5/6 class in addition to many other wonderful resources out there! As a teacher, I sometimes feel that there is an overwhelming amount of resources, new research and ideas available. It can be quite time consuming to sort through and find what is meaningful to you and your students’ needs. There will never be a “perfect” or “right” way of teaching math, but I thought I’d share with you this resource that has worked well for me!
This year I am teaching a grade 5/6 class. I’m learning a lot as I transition from teaching a grade 2/3 class last year. I have always had a heart for the younger grades but as I am getting to know my new group of grade fives and sixes, I feel my heart growing.
I have a class of 24 wonderfully bright, inquisitive and compassionate kids. Every day I am blown away by their ability to share ideas, challenge norms and push their learning to new limits. My favourite thing about teaching this class are the spontaneous, unplanned conversations that arise during the day and the powerful learning that comes from them.
I wanted to find a way to break down barriers and set an inclusive tone for their year. There had been a lot of buzz around the book Wonder, by R.J Palacio, so I decided to use it as our first read aloud. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you haven’t heard of it, Wonder follows the story of a fifth-grade boy named August Pullman, who has a severe facial deformity, as he makes his way through attending school for the first time. The book is written through his point of view, but also through the point of view of other characters in his life. The story touches upon countless valuable topics, themes and discussion points. Ranging from bullying, social groups, peer pressure, self esteem, growing up, parent divorce and grief to love – the interweaving storylines of Wonder’s characters offer a wide range of access points for teachers and students.
Since the first day of school, we have started every morning sitting under the big tree in our playground reading Wonder together – my students gathered around me reading, completely immersed in the story, always asking to read on to the next chapter. It is my favourite part of the day. Not only does this create a calm transition into the school day for my students, but it sets the tone with powerful messages and mindful discussion.
With Wonder as our mentor text, my students have engaged in many literacy, drama, visual arts and health learning experiences. Our classroom has been taken over by Wonder and it’s message – choose kind. The curriculum connections are plenty but they aren’t why this book is so powerful. It is powerful because of its ability to resonate with every student in the room. It is powerful because of the thinking it sparks.
Last week, I had one of my top teaching moments. After nutrition break, I thought my students needed a few minutes of quiet to transition them into our math block. I called them over to our carpet, sat down there with them, and thought I would read just a few pages of our book. We didn’t get to that math lesson. Instead, we happened to read a fairly impactful chapter about the idea that everyone is fighting a battle though we may not know it. I noticed a few tears in the eyes of some students. When I stopped reading, the chapter sparked a very powerful conversation. Without invitation, several of my students chose to share their own experiences of struggle in their own lives. A few of them were brought to tears in doing so, immediately comforted by their peers. Other students commented on how brave they were to openly share that with others. They talked about empathy, compassion and shared some very profound thoughts. The bravery, maturity and vulnerability they displayed amazed me. It was a beautiful experience to share with them.
All this to say, the author of Wonder has done an outstanding job at addressing real issues in a way that is engaging and accessible for kids. I highly recommend this book for your class and I believe every child in school should have the opportunity to read it.
This year, I‘m in a new school, in a new role. This September, every school day, I’m trying to figure out where my class is suppose to be and what and how I need to teach my students with special education needs. I am gradually learning the names of my colleagues but it seems like I can only get either their first name or the last name – I cannot put the person’s whole name together. My role in this special education classroom involves using a very prescribed program to support struggling readers and I’m still figuring it out.
And our school went through re-org (reorganization). This meant redoing class lists and changing rooms. The first week of school, my room 204 was organized and I had my bulletin boards decorated. After spending two and half weeks setting it up, I had to change rooms. Really? I moved all my stuff to room 102, redoing the bulletin boards and redoing the schedule so my students and I know where and when we are suppose to be.
You’d think this would not be a challenge for me as I am in my 18th year of teaching. But every time I take on a new role, I start all over again. Why do I do this? Because every time I take on a new role, I learn, a lot.
This year, my colleague and mentor, DHS, has been wonderful in supporting me through my transition into the school and into my program. Her contemplative stance has helped me work out various decisions and challenges. She also helped me set up my newly located classroom.
Over the past 18 years, I have been a mentee and mentor. I am a big believer in “Paying it Forward”.
My first teaching mentor was AT. She was my first practicum teacher and I was very fortunate to work with her as a grade level teaching partner. AT welcomed me into teaching with an open heart and a guiding hand. She showed me how to teach and I still use what she taught me today. I’ve had other mentors who were not teachers. My Vice Principal, AMW, walked me through a new program that I started in our school. The best part of AMW was that she was straightforward with me and challenged me in areas where I needed to grow. AMW was and is a great listener and guide.
At about my 7th year of developing my teaching practice, I became a mentor to other teachers. As a mentor to another teacher, I quickly realized that this mentoring process was not about me and my success but about my mentee and their success. I’ve mentored many teachers formally and informally.
My first “official” NTIP (New Teacher Induction Program) mentee was BT. He was a grade 8 Math and Science teacher, like me. After a couple of weeks of teaching grade 8, he was going to quit teaching. He told me (his words) “I did not give up going into the tech sector to deal with this stuff” – he actually used another word. I still remember him pulling up a chair directly in front of my desk and putting his head in his hands. I listened to him talk about the challenges of teaching grade 8 – which can be many and very disconcerting to a grade 8 teacher. BT was ready to jump off the teaching wall in this first month of teaching. I talked him off the wall. We spent time planning and working together – he got through the year without having to take a leave of absence or worse, quitting teaching. I knew he was going to be a great teacher because he was upset and cared about his work. Today, BT is a great teacher. When I saw him recently, I was so proud for his success.
I’ve also informally mentored Long-term Occasional teachers. HK was teaching grade 8 Math and Science. My Vice Principal asked me to help her as she needed collegial support. Unfortunately, at that time, occasional teachers did not have access to NTIP support. HK was dealing with similar challenges I had faced (and BT had faced) as a grade 8 teacher. HK was a highly skilled and dedicated new teacher that was driven to make a difference in her students’ lives. We spoke often and met every week at a well known coffee location. There were tears and many stories. It was a tough cohort year of grade 8s in our school. She made it through and has gone on to be a very strong and dedicated teacher. I am very proud of how well she has done in her career.
I’ve mentored other teachers too. One teacher came from South Africa and was looking for Canadian experience. She spent time in my grade 7 classes, learning how we teach in Ontario. I directed her towards many resources she used for courses she needed to upgrade her credentials. To my delight, she ended up getting a full time teaching position a year later.
More recently, I mentored a newly graduated teacher, who helped out in my contained special education class. SM was keen, very well qualified (i.e. she had French) and working two jobs. She was a natural when working with my academically challenged students. She ended up volunteering in a French class at our school and then landed a full time teaching position.
After many positive and fulfilling experiences, I continue my career as a mentee and as a mentor. It’s part of our teaching practice and it’s part of our career path. We are teachers for our students and our colleagues.
And even as an 18 year plus teacher, I thank my colleagues for all the mentorship, collaboration, and support they continue to give me, every day.
I believe that when working collaboratively, teachers are better together.
Elementary Report Cards … the mere mention of report cards can send some teachers into anxious ridden days and sleepless nights. Even after 17 years of writing elementary report cards, I anticipated that my levels of anxiety would be non-existent but, no, for me, the thought of report card writing still stresses me out. I know of some colleagues who are so anxious about report card writing, that they had to seek medical support.
The source of this anxiety is embedded in inconsistencies in how report card policy is implemented. And the source of the inconsistencies is rooted in the process of educational policy implementation. With each level of educational policy implementation gatekeepers, such as boards of education, superintendents, schools, administrators, and classroom teachers, all interpret and change the policy based on their own context and their own perspectives (Ball, Maguire, & Braun, 2012).
As report card policy initiatives are translated into real life, the policy stakeholders, like administrators and teachers, adapt and reinvent their interpretation of the policy into school contexts. Since the education policy guidelines tend to be abstract and non specific, confusion and disjointedness results (Ball, 1993), and teachers end up decoding and recoding the policy text such as the reporting policy, Growing Success (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). Even with the well written Growing Success document (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010), the process of understanding and translating report card policy can result in various degrees of intentional and unintentional interpretations (Fuhrman, Clune, & Elmore, 1991). Or, in other words, there are inconsistencies in report card policy implementation. Competing theories between policy authors (i.e., governments and school boards) and report card implementers (i.e., principals and teachers) can cause conflicts between the vision of policy and the practice of policy (Timperley & Parr, 2005). This can result in gatekeepers’ experiencing “most carefully planned” initiatives unfolding in a “non-linear manner” (Timperley & Robinson, 2000, p. 47).
This policy implementation process results in the practice of report card writing that look different from the vision of the report card policy writers. Therefore, because of this flux, report card formats and content can change from school board to school board, school to school, year to year, administrator to administrator, and sometimes even term to term (Note: this is strictly based on my own experience over 17 years). As noted earlier, at every level of implementation, each person put their own spin on the policy. The result is that teachers have to deal with changing report card writing expectations. Inconsistencies directly result in teachers having to spend a great deal of time trying to meet the expectations of different stakeholders. Teachers then have to use their professional judgement to interpret these expectations.
The document Growing Success (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 152) states “ Judgement that is informed by professional knowledge of curriculum expectations, context, evidence of learning, methods of instruction and assessment, and the criteria and standards that indicate success in student learning. In professional practice, judgement involves a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in terms of accuracy and insight with ongoing reflection and self-correction.”
Further, Growing Success states that “successful implementation of policy depends on the professional judgement of educators at all levels, as well as on educators’ ability to work together” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 2). It is through educators’ collaboration that educational change becomes reality; it is how policy becomes practice. “Teachers’ professional judgements are at the heart of effective assessment, evaluation, and reporting of student achievement.” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 8). So teachers, working with other stakeholders, using their professional judgement need “to clarify and share their understanding of policy and to develop and share effective implementation practices” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 2).
Below is a breakdown of the Growing Success policy based on areas I have needed information on while writing report cards. This is not an exhaustive list. Please refer to the documents noted below for further information.
The Growing Success document notes the following “It is important that teachers have the opportunity to compose and use personalized comments on report cards as an alternative to selecting from a prepared set of standard comments. School boards should not enact policies that prevent teachers from providing personalized comments on report cards. It is expected that principals will support best practice and encourage teachers to generate their own comments.” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 64)
Given the focus of encouraging “teachers to generate their own comments”, having a bank of pre-approved board-wide report card comments available to elementary teachers may or may not be forthcoming.
After the above analysis and reflection regarding report card writing and professional judgement, I ask myself “What has helped me the most in report card writing?”
My answer is collaborating with other teachers. It is in the discussion, co-creating, and sharing of report card comments that I have been supported the most in my writing of the Progress, Term 1, and Term 2 report cards. For me, sharing report card comments does not mean that I simply “cut and paste” my colleagues’ work. This does not happen because I write comments through the lens of my own teaching practice. My colleagues’ shared learning skill comments often inspire me to write comments especially for challenging students.
In writing report cards, I use my professional experience and knowledge that has resulted in the development of my professional judgement. So my advice to any teacher who is being challenge in report card writing is to reach out to your colleague … for advice, support, or debate.
I believe that when working collaboratively, teachers are better together … especially when writing report cards.
Collaboratively Yours,
Deb Weston
References
Ball, S. (1993). What is policy? Texts, trajectories, and toolboxes. Discourse, 13(2), 10-17.
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. New York, NY: Routledge.
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. (ETFO). (2016). The elementary provincial report card continued implementation update – Grades 1 to 8, Professional Relations Services, PRS, Volume #66, January 2016. Retrieved from http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PDF%20Versions/The%20Elementary%20Provincial%20Report%20Card%20Continued%20Implementation%20Update%20-%20Grades%201%20to%208.pdf
Fuhrman, S., Clune, W., & Elmore, R. (1991). Research on education reform: Lessons on the implementation of policy (pp. 197-218). AR Odden, Education Policy Implementation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2000). The Ontario Student Record (OSR) Guideline, Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/osr/osr.pdf
Learning lyrics to a song can be a time-consuming task. It can also be a task that is really challenging for some students. The repetitive nature of it can make it boring with a capital B. I know that my very heavy population of English Language Learning students find lyrics to songs difficult to remember. In the past, I have taken an approach where we repetitively sang the song over many music classes until everyone in the class had grasped the lyrics. This approach was effective at helping students to learn the songs, but I am not sure it made the experience fun for everyone involved. This year, I made a commitment to make the experience more enjoyable. Ultimately, when you are stuck on lyrics, it can be difficult to focus on all the other aspects of singing such as breath control, enunciation, and good singing technique.
The first song of this school year that we have worked on learning has been our school song. There has always been one line of the song that the students have messed up and I have tried repeatedly to get them to perfect the fourth line. However, it wasn’t until I added a bit of fun to the experience that they really had it. I brainstormed fun ways to learn the song before school started and lo and behold, the idea of two pool noodles and focusing on words from the song seemed to really make things work.
I started by singing the whole song for the students followed by echo singing parts of the song with the lyrics posted in the classroom. I then took the lyrics away and had the students complete the missing words in the song while I sang. For example, I sang Red, Red Willow we are so _______ and the students all chimed in “cool!” when I stopped singing. After I felt that they had a solid grasp of the song, we sang the whole thing from beginning to end as well as we could. Next came the part with the pool noodles. I had volunteers come up to the front where I had words from the song scattered over each side of the blackboard. I sang the song and they had to listen closely because when I stopped singing they had to hit the next word of the song on the blackboard with the pool noodle. Students all took a turn, some individually and some as a team effort.
The greatest part of this activity was that the students were really into thinking about the lyrics. We all learned the lyrics quickly and could really work on our technique in subsequent classes. One unexpected positive that came out of this game was that the students wanted to take over the teacher role. This meant that in all my classes, multiple students sang solos in the first two weeks of school. Talk about risk taking early in the school year! Making it more fun made the whole experience more enjoyable for all.
Hi everyone. My name is Tammy Axt and I am a music teacher in the Peel District School Board.
On the third day of school, which happened to be the first day for our kindergarten students, I went to do my duty at 8:05. I opened the door and observed as our students entered the building. I heard the usual friendly chorus of: “Good morning Mrs. Axt!” as our lovely students entered the building, ready for the third day of school. The door I stand beside is used by our older students in grades 3, 4 and 5 to enter the building. Most of them have been at our school for 5 or 6 years and have contributed to the wonderful climate at my school. They bring their friendly nature, upbeat attitude and are just a pleasure to greet every morning.
This morning there was one addition to the number of students coming in the door and going upstairs to start their days. There was one parent quietly wiping her face as she watched down the hall as her only child started his very first day of kindergarten. In a quiet moment, I spoke with the parent about our school and the very special place that it was. I spoke with her at length about the amazing things that are going to happen for her son this year, including all the friends he was going to make, all the learning he would do, and all the growth he was going to experience. I also spoke with her about the beautiful and amazing children that come to our school. I told her how kind and helpful they are.
After I reassured her, I stopped and encouraged her to tell me about her son and how she was feeling. She told me through tears that this was the first day that she would be away from her child. This was her only child and today she was feeling like the time is going by so fast. That first day of school is a difficult one for many parents as I see them anxiously saying goodbye to the most important person in their lives and literally trusting a virtual stranger with their child’s emotional, physical and intellectual wellbeing.
This experience was a reminder for me that in the hustle and bustle of the school year to not get hung up on the lessons or the colour of your bulletin board, but instead remember what parents have just done. They have entrusted you with their most valued person in their world. They have trusted that you will care for them, help them and teach them all they need to learn this year. That is one important task facing us all this year.
The parent waiting beside me watched as her child cried for a few minutes and then hung up his backpack and joined the kids in line. He was even smiling in the next minute or two. She turned to me and very excitedly stated, “He is smiling, he is smiling!” She wiped her tears and I reassured her that she could do this. Finally, I gave this mom a confident affirmation that everything would be great, and a high five, and she was on her way.
Ultimately, this parent captured what most of our parents want for their children in our care. They want to know that they are smiling and that they are happy at school. They want to know that their wellbeing is looked after. If that is what we achieve for all our students, we will all have had a successful year! Good luck to everyone over the next nine months. I hope you have a great year.
Have you ever walked into a classroom and did a double take? Trying to gather your bearings, did it feel as if you’d been in that exact same spot and the very same moment before? I know it’s happened to me and wonder if other educators feel this way?
Returning to the classroom in September can be like this. The faces are different, maybe even the school, but there are connective currents running through time and space that signal you’ve been there before. I am reminded of a hall of fame quote by Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
This September, I started at my 4th school in 9 years. I could not be more thrilled joining a new family of learners and educators. Of course, I miss my old schools, but as I’ve written before, we have to move on to grow in our professional practice. This year was no exception, even after 3 amazing years at my former school.
Unsurprisingly, since the first bell on Day 1, things have been occurring at the speed of learning. Meeting my students/families, observing them interact, and watching them navigate our classroom for the first time. I’m never sure who is more anxious on the first day, parents, students or me?
To this teacher, the first week of school is like a three-way collision between energy, ideas, and awkwardness. I love walking into a new building and asking students to help me learn directions and routines. On more than one occasion, a student will ask, “Aren’t you supposed to know this?” I reply, “Maybe, but it’s more fun to ask. I’m new.”
What I’ve seen over my first 9 Septembers
After 9 first days of school, some things have not changed. September is a time when everyone is (re)acquiring their routines and rhythms. Everyone is trying to put their best foot forward – almost. Depending on their Summer, the most reticent learners and educators might still require an extra week or 2 to get up to speed. We need to avoid the rush to establish out of reach expectations. There have been a couple of years where I struggled to find my groove. I have found that the first few weeks are like a contract negotiation. Everyone is trying to get what they want out of the deal, and it takes time to hammer them out.
Each year I enter our, not my, classroom with complete trust that students are there to be awesome. Empowering them and presuming best intentions have always been great places to launch an important year together. Bringing students into the conversation and decision-making process, from the start, allows for long-term success based on understanding and mutual respect.
This happens in our classroom in a number of ways across a number of days. Students are asked to take chances, make mistakes, and be unafraid to fail. It asks us all to become comfortable with discomfort, feeling safe when vulnerable, and knowing everyone is respected and valued. If a space for this has not been created in my classroom, then there will be a risk of starting off on the wrong foot. Taking the time to create a consistent and caring class culture will ensure a cohesive committed community for the whole year.
What I did over the Summer
As a kid, it seemed that every start of the year writing assignment was a retelling of my summer. This was usually followed up with a presentation in front of the class. I am not sure whether this was an act of sadism or masochism for the teachers who assigned the task, and then had to listen as each one was shared. All I remember is that the act of recalling my summers and the subsequent in-class attention were boring for me too.
As I enter the classroom, I vowed to change this. I have asked students to share what they’ve regretted about their Summer, or what they would do over and change. We hold off on “presentating” in favour of peer sharing where volunteers are asked to read a few highlights that stand out after reading their classmates’ work. I’ve found that using 6 Words Stories as a great introduction exercise.
This year I had students write their own and then write one for their seat partner. *
Build flexibility into your planning
Beware of over planning. Yes, some planning must be done. Preparation is important, but a measured approach is best. Over planning has been, and continues to be a mistake I make. However, when plans go uncompleted or go off course, I am not going to count it as a loss. There needs to be time built into our work for the second and third questions. Sometimes students have more questions than we have answers. Yes, it takes away time from your plans, but the relationship building established through it will become invaluable going forward. Give yourself permission to go off script. The students will appreciate the spontaneity.
Noise
As part of classroom routines and noise management, I have heard classics from, “Hands on top. That means stop.” to “Un, deux, trois, les yeux sur moi.” These work well with JK/SK and primary classes, but tend to aggravate the more sophisticated learners in the Junior Panel.
I use a number of noise makers, ranging from a wood block shaped like a pig, a rain stick, and a guira Each is strategically placed about the room to access as needed. They are used to draw students back from their independent or team work. I also have a spot in the class where I will wait for students to come back to hear further instruction or feedback.
Another ‘attention-getter’ to consider is something shared by Paul Solarz called “Give me 5!” I love the power this places in students hands along with the responsibility to be relevant and engaging as they capture the room to share their ideas.
Having a wide variety of tools in the kit have allowed each of my 9 first days of school to begin memorably and effectively. Of course there are bumps and tweaks to be made along the way, but that ads to the joy of the job. As each year brings us a unique set of lives to discover, equip, and watch flourish.
Thank you for reading this post. I look forward to sharing with you again this year. If you have any questions about the resources or strategies shared please message me below.
*Which 6 words would you use to share your story? Feel free to share in the comments section.
I’ve always been a lover of Math. Even when I wasn’t particularly strong in a specific area, I always loved the thought of calling myself a Mathematician. Now I know it’s a huge leap from loving the subject to ascribing to being a Mathematician but hear me out for a minute. As many of my friends may know, I love Google so I thought I would ask my good friend for the definition and here’s what I found.
Magically, this definition empowered me to realize that I too can be a Mathematician simply by being a student of Mathematics. It didn’t say that I always have to excel in all areas. It simply says that I have to be a student. Now for the definition of student. Ok Google….
I’m going to go with the last definition. A person who takes an interest in a particular subject. So after much searching, I think it’s safe to embrace the term. The question is, how do I get my students to do the same?
Inevitably, when I ask my students to tell me about their Math experiences, there are many who already describe themselves as being “not good at Math” or state, “it’s too hard”. My task then is to reframe their experiences with Math, encouraging them to change their outlook.
At the beginning of the year, I’m always looking for new ways to engage my students in Math tasks as my assessment for learning. For the last couple of weeks, we have been doing Which One Doesn’t Belong activities and I have been asking my students to use Mathematical language to justify their answers. After a few rounds, one of my students started laughing and said, “there’s really no wrong answer so long as you explain what you are thinking”. It was interesting because it didn’t occur to many of them that there may be multiple possibilities to answering these types of questions.
This got me thinking and asking myself:
Is this what holds our students back from realizing that sometimes engaging in Math isn’t just about getting the right answer but exploring different pathways to finding solutions?
Is Math about allowing students to explore the different concepts and seeing where these concepts intersect or are useful in everyday life?
Can we reframe Math for our students so that they realize that so long as they take an interest in it and persist as students, they too can be Mathematicians and that it is not only about “being good at it”?
On Friday we were coding in Scratch and words like values, angles, turns, length were coming out. Isn’t that Math? Can we explicitly teach the concepts and empower them to create using them?
Ms. Lambert, the self-proclaimed Mathematician, is on a mission this year to work with students to empower them to embrace Math just a little more. I’ll keep you posted on our journey!
When I first began teaching, over 20 years ago, I spent a lot of personal money on “resources”. In teacher’s college I worked part time at The Teacher’s Store and spent the majority of my paycheque on black line master books, “units” and teacher’s guides, which took up space on my book shelves and in large plastic totes in my basement. Now I can access free downloads, use Teacher’s Pay Teachers, Twitter, Pinterest or any number of educator websites. It is difficult to deny that the use of technology is a huge part teaching. I access the curriculum documents online on a regular basis. In fact, I don’t even own a paper copy of the curriculum documents. Attendance, IEPs and report cards are now web-based. Student portfolios are digital and parent communication is mostly electronic. We communicate with our staff on Edsby and post our students’ triumphs using digital platforms such as Seesaw. When I am away from school for the day, I book an occasional teacher online and send in my plans via email. As a parent, I pay for my son’s school trips online. Almost everything we do in education seems to involve technology in some way. It makes our job so much easier! Doesn’t it?
Herein lies the rub. As wonderful and “easy” as it all is, digital information and communication can also be suffocating. For example, it is easy to ask a question of a colleague in my large school something by email or text and get an answer in seconds without having to take ten minutes to walk to his or her classroom. However, it also may mean that I won’t see my colleague all week. It is easy for a upset parent to send an email in the middle of the weekend and then I stew about it until I can take care of it when I am back at school on Monday. It is easy to spend hours following the trail down an internet rabbit hole trying to find the “perfect” lesson plan. It is easy to look at examples of art lessons on websites like Pinterest and then feel inadequate as an educator because mine didn’t go quite according to plan. It is easy to send an email in the middle of the weekend, just to get it done, when I should be spending time with my family. It is easy to get into a chat on Twitter with educators around the world and learn all kinds of cool stuff, and then realize that I have missed going to the gym…again. Digital information and communication is never done. There is always something to check or answer or post. Yes, I admit that it is a little ironic that I am writing this on a blog post, but wait…here’s why.
I have decided to try a few things so that digital information and communication will not suffocate me. I have created “office hours” for communication. I have told the families of my students that I will only respond to emails or messages on Edsby or Seesaw between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. If I take the time to communicate something to families outside of office hours, then I will draft it and save it and send it during office hours. If there is something urgent, families are instructed to call the school. I have turned off notifications of email on my phone. I no longer go on Pinterest and have stopped going on Twitter. I will only check Edsby once a day. If there is something of urgent importance, I have no doubt that someone will find me and let me know. My students will update their own digital portfolios. I am going to try to be mindful of the amount of time I engage in digital communication and information for my job in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. It will take some practice and I’m sure that I will find myself getting into some old habits. However, my mantra this year for my class is also for me…strive for growth and progress, not perfection.
