Weekly News

I want to share with you an experiment gone really right. Over 2o years ago, a very good friend of mine and I started working with high-risk youth (Grade 6 -8) in our board in the summers. We had developed a program based around adventure-based learning. Our focus was to use the outdoors and physical challenges to assist them in developing social and self-regulation skills that would increase the probability of their success in school. One of the tools we developed was a Daily Newsletter (as we called it at that time) to inform families of their child’s progress as well as provide a summary of the days successes and occasional not so good outcomes. That one teaching tool has evolved over the last twenty years into what is now my Weekly Parent Book.

At the end of each week, at my classroom computer station I sit, look around my room and ask myself the following questions:

  1. How well did I meet the needs of each of my students?
  2. Did I make time to talk with each student on a one-to-one basis to find out how their life is going?
  3. Did I push too hard or not hard enough in moving them along their academic journey?
  4. What did I accomplish this week in literacy, numeracy etc.?
  5. What went well in Room 16 this week?
  6. What did not go well in Room 16 this week?
  7. How will I use that information to make the next week more successful for everyone?

That weekly routine has turned into one of the most rewarding and successful self-reflection tools I have ever had. Its initial, sole intent was to inform parents of what was going on in their child’s classroom. What it has become is a tool that I use to inform families, publish good news stories, share advice on how parents can help their child, updates on school-wide initiatives and most importantly, a tool to reflect on my week’s teaching.

It is a time that I actually use to decompress from the week’s events, look back in order to plan ahead for my next week and set goals of what I need to accomplish the following week (from a curriculum standpoint or what is needed to help specific students move forward). As the year progresses, the content of the weekly news becomes a shared work whereby students start to contribute to its production. That is when this tool becomes a very powerful learning tool for all of us.

Of course being the old school type, every Monday our morning circle starts with the sharing of the past week, goal setting using the feedback on that two-sided sheet of paper and then the ritual of adding it to their Parent Book to go home and be read and signed by an adult in their home. It goes home on Monday and is not due back until the following Monday to accommodate a wide variety of family scenarios and work schedules. The back of the page usually has some photograph that was taken during the week, an advice column, new goals for the class, a funny parent story or some other kind of important read for my families. At the end of the year it turns into a yearbook that can serve as a memory of their year. I still have all of my copies and when I need a little nostalgia fix all I have to do is go back and look through my career, year-by-year.

Weekly News

Kindergarten at a Thousand Miles an Hour

As I slump in a chair at the end of a day teaching kindergarten, I remind myself that, although I feel overwhelmed at times and unsure at others, I am learning each day. I was placed in this position without having any previous training or experience as a kindergarten teacher. I remember feeling very intrigued at the time my principal and VP suggested the switch from grade 3. I could have refused but instead I accepted the challenge. Now I cannot imagine teaching anything else. I’ve been a teacher for over 25 years, but not a kindergarten teacher. Kindergarten is a whole new ball game. Did I mention that it is a fast game, too? It feels as if the school year has slammed into the Christmas holidays and will continue to gather speed in January.

 
After four months, I am beginning to feel a teensy weensy bit more confident with the planning and activities in the classroom. Although we share and co-plan, I like to ask my ECE counterparts for their opinions about something I have planned because they are the ones with the years of training and experience at this age level. I may have a general theoretical notion of how and what may work, combined with my personal experience as a mother of two boys, now grown up, but really, that does not amount to much compared to what the ECEs bring to the planning table and to the classroom. It takes a team that respects and effectively collaborates to make a kindergarten class run well, and I feel privileged to be part of such a team.

 
And the kinder classroom is so very different from the grade 3 classroom where movement and noise could regularly be brought to a minimum during a learning period. My English counterpart often uses the term, “Birthday party behaviour” to describe behaviour we seek to curb in the kindergarten classroom – the kind of free-for-all party atmosphere usually experienced at the end of a birthday party.

It is an apt description. All the more so since the set up for a well-run kinder classroom feels rather like hosting a birthday party as you plan and prepare enough activities to keep the attendees interested, focussed, and engaged, and you circulate to make sure everyone is happy. Imagine hosting a birthday party for 27 five year olds every day… no other grade quite fits that description.

 
As we gallop along, trying to tie up loose ends, follow through on planning, assessment, evaluation, meeting the curriculum, and contacting parents about behaviour, speech issues, and hearing problems, the only thing that remains constant is each young student – little beings who need to play and explore, and whose emotions are so immediate. They are going at their normal, five year old speed when they come to school each day and we are trying to keep up with them. No wonder I am exhausted at the end of the day.

Photo of Tammy Axt

Do you like the band Rush?

20150617_205634

 

Do you like the band Rush? I guarantee no matter how much you think you love Rush, you are no match for the man who sat beside me at the Rush R40 concert last night. He knew every drum beat that Neil Peart played, every lyric that Geddy Lee sang and every guitar solo that Alex Lifeson wailed. He didn’t just love their music, he loved their music and worshipped the band. We all have music that speaks to us in that way. For me, when I hear Fleetwood Mac or Michael Franti, I have an emotional connection to their music that is unlike any other.

During the school year, my students spend a lot of time writing music or playing music that is from a variety of cultures and time periods. This June, I decided to let the students create a list of what songs they would like to sing in music class to tap into the songs that they love. Most songs that they chose were modern pop, rap, hip hop or alternative songs. The goal was to give my students the same experience that the man at the Rush concert had when he cheered and high fived me for all his favourite songs.

I took the lists that they created and went on line and previewed the lyrics. Some songs had just one or two bad words and with the magic of “YouTube” I found clean version of the song. Songs that had inappropriate themes got omitted from the list. After the list was created, I made a word document that had all the YouTube URLs. I projected the lyrics on my screen and had a good old fashioned sing-along.

These sing-alongs were also a great opportunity to talk about musical tastes with the students. I started off every class by telling the students that “I guarantee that there will be at least one song that you do not like today.” I asked the students what they should do when they hear a song they don’t enjoy. The students quickly said that they should be respectful of someone else’s choice. I added on a quick conversation about how musical tastes develop and that interests in music are very personal.

I have spent the last two weeks singing songs like “See you Again” and “Firework” with my students at the top of our lungs. We have been high fiving each other when we hear our favourite songs. It has been a great way to end off the school year!

4gzuYzgeDK2uv1DA[1]

Photo of Samantha Perrin

“Reconciliation through Education”

It would have been hard to miss the news coverage of the closing days of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last week. With the tabling of the Report, any doubt, misinformation or ignorance has been addressed regarding the cruel treatment that Aboriginal children were forced to endure for over 100 years of Canada’s 148 years as a nation. What was also made abundantly clear is that this history was not taught in Canadian schools in the past, and at present is still not expected to be taught by all teachers all across the country. Last week, many Canadians heard for the first time in detail the horrors that over 150,000 children experienced while attending residential schools across Canada between 1840 and 1996. Throughout the 360 pages of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report, the accounts of 7,000 Survivors document the hunger, sickness, physical and sexual abuse, torture, humiliation and fear perpetrated by their educators and guardians in these schools. And if there was ever any doubt about the severity of the effects of the residential school system on Aboriginal children and families, this legacy in Canadian history was so calculated and so thorough in its aims that it is now considered a “cultural genocide”.
None the less, a week has passed, and the media has turned to other timely events. Where does that leave us? The talk of reconciliation is becoming distant, along with the concern of the general public. As teachers at this critical time we have the opportunity, responsibility even, to not let reconciliation become just another passing news item. Taking to heart what Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair said in his closing remarks, there must be “reconciliation through education”. As Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation inquiry into the terrible legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential School System, Justice Sinclair urged educators to close the gap in our understanding about this shared history and walk with the Survivors and their families towards reconciliation. There is no better time than the present. Regardless of the fact that curricula across the country will take time to change, there are many ways that teachers can start the learning right now: beginning in the primary grades, by reading and discussing books like; Shi Shi Etko, Shin Chi’s Canoe, When I was Eight, Not my Girl, Arctic Stories, to name a few, or, following the lead of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’s initiative, by planting a Heart Garden at your school to commemorate the children lost and those who survived.
Now that it is over, it is not enough to simply have acknowledged the testimony of the Survivors and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and we cannot honour the lives of the generations of Aboriginal children and families who were affected by the residential school system if we wait for other teachers to teach this history. It is our responsibility as educators to open the dialogue now and to learn and grow in this new chapter of reconciliation between settler and Indigenous peoples. Indeed, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has admitted that “for reconciliation to succeed, we must also renew our commitment to educating Ontarians on the role that treaties and the residential school legacy play in Canada’s past, present and future.” So, although many teachers in the past may have faced scrutiny or a lack of support from colleagues and administration as they endeavoured to teach the truth about the Aboriginal residential school system in Canada, we can now consider Premier Wynne’s statement and Justice Sinclair’s words of ‘reconciliation through education’ as a rallying call to all educators to do what is right not just once, but every year we teach.

Photo of Mike Beetham

You Did It

To quote my favourite author Dr. Seuss, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” As the year is rapidly coming to a close it is so easy to reflect on what you did not get accomplished, how you wish you had more time, if only …. The reality is that for the last ten months you have given everything that you have to a group of students, their families and your school community. You have sacrificed your personal health at times, your family time and your passions in order to provide each and every individual under your care the best opportunity to learn and evolve as best they can.

It is now time to allow yourself to take a deep breath, look in the closest mirror and smile as you celebrate the relentless commitment you have put forth in your role. It is not easy for teachers to do this as we are by nature perfectionists that do not seek out the limelight. As the summer break quickly approaches it is important that you take the time that you need to bring that balance back into your life (family, friends, passions) so that in a very short two months from now, you are prepared to do it all again!

Challenging the “Impossible”

“I was shocked when I saw what he had done in class. The psychologist said that’s the kind of thing he wouldn’t be able to do.”

“You’re going to try and teach your class to use sewing machines? Do you think they’ll even be able to?”

“You don’t really think beginner immersion students can memorize an entire play’s worth of lines, do you?”

At least once a year (and usually much more often than that), I have a conversation with someone – parent, colleague, administrator, student – who tells me that something I’m doing in class is “impossible” for one reason or another. Sometimes, like the first comment above, it’s an incredulous parent who is impressed (albeit confused) that their child was able to do something that shouldn’t have been possible. Other times, it’s well-meaning fellow educators who, I think, are trying to keep my lofty newbie expectations in check.

It’s okay, guys. I have this. My students can do it.

I’m not saying that I’ve never tried something that failed horribly (student-created team games in Grade 4 Phys Ed, I’m looking at you) but for the most part, my wackier ideas actually do pan out. Sometimes it takes some creative intervention from me, other times it takes a lot of patience and dedication, other times still I have to admit that we didn’t end up where I had planned but that the activity still taught what I was hoping it would – but we get there!

I credit my dedication to trying new, challenging, ambitious class projects to two people.

The first was my Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion teacher, Mme Crystle Mazurek. I have to admit that I don’t remember a lot about those two years except the really awesome art activities we did, but MAN, did we do some cool things! We made quilts, 3D art out of foam and cardboard, batik designs on fabric using melted wax, linoleum printing… I loved being in her art class (even if her dog literally ate my homework one time). It was in her class (though I can’t recall if it was while I was in Grade 7 or 8, or if it was when she was my teacher again later in high school) that we started a coin collection to help a village in India, where she had spent time in her childhood with her parents, to purchase a buffalo. From those humble origins began an ongoing collection to alleviate some of the effects of poverty in India by buying tools which can be used for trades (such as sewing machines) or by sponsoring students to attend school outside the village. I check in on the fund regularly and have a hard time believing it’s come as far as it has – from old soup cans in classrooms collecting a few coins here and there to a charity raising several thousand dollars a year.

Mme Mazurek, in hindsight, also dedicated a lot of time to helping her students succeed. Some of us were not particularly great students – I may or may not have had a few detentions in my time, despite being an active participant in class – and yet she still managed to get us excited about learning. I never did my homework, but I actually remember one of the novels we read as a class (it was about teenagers in Lebanon), details of Canadian history I know I learned in that class (the Rebellion of Upper Canada comes to mind), and how gracious and funny she was when we played an April Fool’s joke on her by switching her desk with our English teacher’s identical desk across the hall. I think a lot of my interest in becoming a teacher came from her. She probably doesn’t know that. Maybe one day she’ll google her name and find this. None of this paragraph has anything to do with challenging the impossible, she was just a really cool teacher with a bright red pixie cut, leather pants, an awesome attitude, and a wealth of personal anecdotes to keep us interested.

The second was my first Associate Teacher while I was in teacher’s college. I had the extreme privilege of working with a phenomenal teacher, Mr. Bill Morton, in an incredible Grade 3/4 Gifted class. My time in the class was too short, as all practicum placements are, but even in my five weeks there he bestowed upon me a lifetime’s worth of wisdom about education. I’m not sure the word “impossible” is in his vocabulary, unless we’re talking about retiring. His Grade 3/4 students were already engaged in learning and rehearsing A Midsummer Night’s Dream when I started in his class. As I took groups out to work through scenes and break them down, I was amazed by how well they understood the material with very little prompting from me. Nine and ten year olds! Reading Shakespeare! Not just reading it, but actually understanding it. Given what I could remember of reading Shakespeare in high school (and those were plays which I would argue were easier to follow than A Midsummer Night’s Dream, read by teenagers who were given very explicit instruction on what the words meant, who STILL didn’t seem to understand that “wherefore” doesn’t mean “where”), that shouldn’t have been possible.

The point of all of this is that you’re going to hear and read about a lot of things that your students “shouldn’t be able to do”. Students with NVLD “shouldn’t be able to” illustrate a graphic novel with consistency and detail from one page to the next. Second year French Immersion students “shouldn’t be able to” write short stories. Ten year olds “shouldn’t be able to” design and sew quilts. Students with a long history of behavioral problems “shouldn’t be able to” have a year where they fully engage in class and take responsibility for their actions.

You won’t always succeed with the wacky, outlandish ideas you have, and sometimes no matter how hard you and your students try, it won’t work. That’s part of life. But you will almost certainly have more successes than failures, and even the failures teach you something.

Be that teacher who does something “impossible”.

Fair warning, though: it gets pretty addicting to overhear your students bragging about the cool things they did in class as they walk to the bus.

Photo of Tammy Axt

Top 10 things I learned from Linda Beacham

For the past seven years I was so lucky to work with an amazing colleague and special needs advocate, Linda Beacham. She passed away on Monday and she is going to be greatly missed by myself and all those who had the pleasure of working with her. She was famous for her sense of humour and creating the best top ten lists. Today in honour of my dear friend and colleague who taught me so much about working with children, here is my top ten list of things that I learned from her.

  1. Whether or not you have any singing voice at all, singing out loud is really fun!
  2. Sending an e-mail with the subject line AWESOMENESS to encourage a colleague who had an incredibly rough day working with a student with autism can lift them out of some really dark places.
  3. There are so many things to see in the hallways of your school. Just stop and walk with someone with autism who sees things from a different perspective than you.
  4. ERF, Teacher, TA and ECE are useless titles. Team should be the real title.
  5. Never be nervous about making mistakes. Laugh out loud at them!
  6. Sledge Hockey and Wheelchair Basketball are REALLY cool sports and athletes who play them are hard core!
  7. Country music is a great genre of music for boogying to.
  8. Kids just want to have fun, laugh and smile no matter what their needs are.
  9. When the facilities or resources are not available so that people with physically disabilities can play sports, start them yourself. Check out Cruisers Sports at http://www.cruisers-sports.com/Home.shtml
  10. Giving a colleague a top ten list of the amazing things about working with students with autism is a really fun way to end the year.

 

Photo of Mike Beetham

You Never Know

This blog is based on a real life scenario that I was fortunate enough to be a part of both on a personal and professional basis. It truly reminded me just how important our teacher/student relationships are as you never know when your kind word, out of the ordinary effort or simply just being there will make a difference.

On a late Saturday afternoon there was a knock on our home door and to our surprise, there was our very distraught neighbour who just needed someone to talk to. Over the course of the next hour this young mother poured her heart out to both my wife and I. During that time she asked us to read a series of letters that obviously were very important to her.

As we scanned the pages it became clear to us that these letters were from a past teacher who took the time to write to this young women while she was in her classroom. The key message that surfaced on each and every page was that this young woman was an amazing person who had the potential to be herself and that alone would make her great. It was clear that she had experienced trauma in her adolescence and did not receive the necessary support that she should have had. Through teary eyes, this distraught woman just kept telling us how important this teacher had been in helping her get through some very dark times in her life. In fact, she owed her life to her.

Although these letters were almost 20 years old, we could tell by the wrinkled paper and tear stain marks, that she had went to these words of support many, many times over the past two decades. Once again, she was going to this teacher for support in these times of hardship.

As a teacher, we are merely a step or two on a child’s life journey. Yet that time we spend with each child is one of the most influential events they will ever experience. It is our responsibility to ensure that memory is as positive as can be.

Showcasing Student Work for Parents

I’m not a huge fan of Parent/Teacher Interviews. It’s not the idea of speaking with parents about their child’s progress, because I am totally on board with that. It’s not the time spent after school, either; I’m usually one of the last teachers to leave my school at night, so I’m pretty used to being around after hours.

My issue with Parent/Teacher Interviews is that the focus is rarely, if ever, on talking about what students are doing daily in the classroom. To me, that’s the important thing: seeing their work and their progress over the course of the ten months that they’re in my class. My students work hard and take pride in their accomplishments. I’ve never liked that interviews are linked to progress reports or report cards because the natural thing to do seems to be to talk about grades.

I hate grades, but that’s another story for another time. 😉

A few years ago, I did something with my class that I felt really offered my students the chance to show their parents just how much they had accomplished that year. It was a really rewarding experience for everyone.

In spring of that year, a few students in my Grade 5 class came to me and asked if we could do a class talent show. This was a congregated gifted French Immersion class with many performers of all kinds. We discussed it as a class and nearly all of them wanted to participate. We decided that we would host the talent show in June as an end of year event and invite everyone’s parents to come. I was not going to force anyone to participate, though, so I had to come up with some reason for the parents of students who were not performing on stage to attend.

My students had been amassing large portfolios of work all year. I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to student work and I like them to keep it all at school for as long as possible. Usually this just leaves me drowning in a pile of art projects, scientific models, chart paper, and duo-tangs, but this one year it really paid off. I had my students go through all of their work and choose five things that they were really proud of.

We discussed why they might choose certain pieces over others. Some pieces were chosen because students had worked particularly hard and had done a really great job with them. Others were chosen because they were really fun and exciting. Others still were chosen because students felt that they had made a lot of progress that year. The highlight, for me, was when one of my students chose to showcase her Mathematics notebook. When I asked her why, she said that it was because she started that year hating math, just like every other year, but by the end of the year she felt really confident in math and it had become her favourite subject.

Validation! My teaching is working! But that’s not what this post is about.

We ran the entire event in the school’s gym, which had an attached stage. I pulled out some tables and set them up, then gave each student a space to display their work. They decided how to display it. As parents came in, they were able to wander around the tables and see the work all of the students had put out.

The talent show itself was what I expected: a seemingly endless parade of ten and eleven year olds playing musical instruments, telling jokes, dancing, and doing whatever else they had come up with as a talent. It was really sweet. They did a wonderful job. All I really did was invite the parents; they coordinated who did what and when, rehearsed on their own time, and ran the whole show for parents.

After the talent show, all of the students went and stood by their work. They were expected to explain to their parents why they had chosen to include each piece. I was there and able to answer any questions and chat with the parents, of course, but the students were the stars of the afternoon. I got a lot of positive feedback from parents on the event and they were happy to be able to hear their child talk about his or her work in a positive light.

Photo of Tammy Axt

Passion for Teaching

I learned something this fall that will stay with me as a teacher for a long time. I always encourage my students to be creative and be risk takers but I am a planner that usually takes small cautious steps to learn something new.

However, by pushing myself out of my comfort zone I learned that…..CHOIR IS AWSOME!

Let me explain. I am a music teacher who had NO INTEREST in ever running a choir. I trained as a taiko drummer in Japan and am able to play the piano reasonable well. All of my training has been instrument based and I have never once stepped foot in a choir rehearsal. Due to my inexperience, I was very nervous to run a choir so my colleague always led the way.

Due to circumstances this year, I had no choice but to step up and take over the choir. I put in an announcement for choir in October and I started with about 40 students. All of a sudden, I realized how fun it was to join together in song with 40 people and I think my excitement rubbed off on the students. Soon my 40 student choir turned into a 150 student choir and all fall we were having a blast singing holiday songs during our nutrition break. I never in a million years would have thought that I would look forward to Monday and Wednesday choir practices so much. My main focus while running this choir for the students was to have fun and that is exactly what I did as well.

I did my usually research about how to run a choir by reading books and watching videos but this time I really tried to just share my love of music with them. It is a passion of mine but sometimes I think I forget to show the students my passion when I am busy helping them with their technique or teaching them to read or write music.

There is something so powerful about stepping outside your comfort zone and stumbling into a whole new world of possibilities.