Carmen.Oliveira

November 23, 2011November 25, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, Interviews, Learning About Your Students

Parent/Teacher Interviews: Connecting, Celebrating, Planning, Supporting

Samantha’s experience with parent/teacher interviews was powerful and resonated with my view of the important partnership we share with our students’ care-givers.

This year I structured my interviews in order to connect, celebrate, plan, and support both students and parents. In each interview I made sure to:

CONNECT: Catching up with parents after our Curriculum Night was a nice way to begin our interview. With each one I tried to express how grateful I was for their involvement in their child’s life and encouraged them to share how things were going outside of school (homework, clubs, sports, hobbies, etc.). I also had parents share their thoughts and feelings about their child’s progress.

CELEBRATE: We celebrated their child’s strengths, progress, and special or important accomplishments thus far.

PLAN: Based on the child’s progress, their strengths, and needs, we created a “next steps” by choosing one or two goals and deciding on some strategies we (student, parent, and teacher) could use to help the child accomplish each goal.

SUPPORT: I offered some resources and advice for both parents and students that could be used to support the plan we decided to put into action.

I had one of the most successful interview experiences of my career which was spectacular! However, when all is said and done, it’s the unexpected moments that empower and inspire me most. I’d like to share one such moment that solidified my belief that we can be agents of change to our students in ways we might not have imagined.

I have a student in my class who spent a great deal of time in the principal’s office during his previous six years at the school. “Good luck” was the response I got when teachers saw the name on my class list (a reaction which is one of my greatest pet peeves). This of course, only sparked my interest and motivation to bring about positive change. The funny thing is that it took very little effort to witness a complete turn-around in behaviour, focus, and attitude toward learning! I attributed it to a structured but engaging classroom environment, a lot of positive feedback, and regularly connecting with his mom with respect to his work and behaviour. During our interview I had the pleasure of sharing and celebrating all the progress and success the student had demonstrated and together, we planned our next steps/goals. At one point, the student’s mother hugged him tightly and filled his face with kisses. She began to tear up and said, “You can’t imagine what it is for a mother to continuously hear negative comments and be called into the school every other day to deal with problems. Since the beginning of this year, he comes home happy to show me his agenda with all the positive notes you write. He believes you like him and is eager to be his best self. At home, he is an amazing kid. I hardly recognize him. I cannot begin to thank you enough.” I quickly reminded her of the factors I attributed to his progress. “I really do feel that he’s more mature and ready for a change”. But she nodded in disagreement and said, “He believes you really like him. That’s all it took.”

Needless to say, as exhausting as interviews are, hearing that from his mom completely made my day.

November 2, 2011November 2, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context

Weaving Inspiration Into the Curriculum

One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching is the creativity and inspiration we can weave into the curriculum to bring deep and meaningful learning experiences for our students (and ourselves!). This past week my class enjoyed an art lesson integrated with media, oral communication, and writing expectations. It served as a perfect example of how students become more engaged when our lessons are filled with what inspires us.

A friend of mine emailed me a phenomenal video depicting the sheer beauty, simplicity, and breath-taking scenery found in nature around the world. It moved me deeply and I knew I had to somehow share it with my students in a meaningful way. I decided to use it as the foundation for an art lesson. We have been exploring cool and warm colours, texture, and patterns. We watched the video and had a class discussion using sensory prompts (I see…, I hear…, I feel…, I smell…). The descriptions were profound and all the students were eager to share their thoughts and feelings!

Next, students chose an aspect of nature (ocean, rainforest, sunset, etc.) to create a frame for a sensory poem using warm/cool colours and different textured paper.

Lastly, using a template as a guide, students created their sensory poem. Students were encouraged to experiment with word choice and powerful images to portray their scene. I cannot begin to describe how excited and proud they were to share their art and poetry with me and each other! At the end of the experience, they asked to watch the video again. I gladly shared it once more and silently thanked my friend for the inspiration that created a beautiful teaching opportunity.

Rainforest

plants, rivers, animals

I see butterflies and nature everywhere

beautiful, colourful, fresh

I smell the fresh scent after rainfall

creeping, crawling, flying

I hear peace and quiet

silence, beauty, nature

I feel at home in the rainforest

Rainforest

October 20, 2011October 20, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context

Finding Opportunities for Learning Outside the Classroom

This week we participated in an excellent real world learning experience outside the classroom (and it was almost free!). My Grade5/6 class has been exploring biographies, memoirs, and looking at the features and format of recounts. We have also been using our MacBooks to support our learning in various ways. An opportunity arose to bring the two together by visiting an Apple store to learn how to create an iMovie in the form of a biography about each student. The entire trip, including transportation, came to $1.50 per student. It ended up being a meaningful, incredibly fun, and real world learning experience for everyone!

This year, our division is committed to creating as many of these powerful learning opportunities as possible for our students because the enthusiasm, eagerness, and results we see back in the classroom support the belief that applying concepts and new learning to real life experiences is what creates long-term understanding.

When you begin to explore all the possibilities to have students apply classroom learning and experience in a real world setting, with a little creativity and investigation, it’s amazing how many opportunities are out there! The only expense our students had was the bus trip to the Apple store for $1.50. In return they received lessons and support from a team at Apple, a free t-shirt, the opportunity to use the latest technology to create their iMovie, and a certificate of participation in the program! It can’t get better than that!

Students working with the crew at Apple

Students watching their video biographies!

October 2, 2011October 17, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Learning About Your Students

Getting to Know Your Students Is the Best Time You Will Ever Spend

We just had our school’s “Meet the Teacher” night and the feedback from the parents in my classroom proved that, without a doubt, the best time spent during the first month is in getting to know my students. I was astounded at the fact that most parents felt like they already knew me. They commented on how their child went home and told them all about our fantastic conversations during our morning community circle and couldn’t wait to be the “Rockstar of the Week.” This month I’ve really focused on and enjoyed creating meaningful opportunities to get students to open up and share who they are with our classroom community.

The following are some examples of how we get to know each other:

1. Each student has a Daily Journal. After they come in, they write a “Reflection Question” in their journal and spend the first 10-15 minutes writing down their thoughts. This is a powerful self-reflection exercise that I have started in my own life and felt the difference it makes on every level: personal, professional, spiritual, etc. We then start our morning by sitting in a community circle and volunteering our ideas and opinions. You can literally feel the good energy permeate in our classroom! I have attached some examples of Reflection Questions.

2. We have a “Rockstar of the Week” bulletin board. Each week, a student is chosen to fill us in on who they are! It involves writing about what’s most important to them in life (we read “The Important Book” as a pre-lesson), sharing their favourite books, music, movies, etc., and putting up pictures that can give us a window into their life. During the week, students must ask the Rockstar about any fact or picture they’d like to find out more about. At the end of the week, we have an oral quiz on the Rockstar for points that go to the groups that answer the questions correctly. This is a blast and the Rockstar runs the show!

In a letter to their parents this week, one of my students wrote something that brought tears to my eyes and affirmed why I love teaching. He wrote, This year, I have an amazing teacher. She really cares about us and says our classroom is our home for the day. I like that because that’s how it feels.” And that’s why I love my job!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

September 17, 2011October 17, 2011 Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, First Week Reflections

Coming Together With Our Class Motto

Cooperatively working together to create a set of beliefs and promises shared by a class using a class motto is a powerful experience that serves as a foundation for a positive and meaningful learning environment. Creating a class motto is one of my favourite moments as I look back at my teaching career. Every year, it proves to be a very meaningful activity that always brings the students together and creates a sense of pride from the moment the motto is said as a class.

During our first week, I had the students work in groups and use graffiti as a strategy to write their ideas about what they believe our classroom should look, feel, and sound like. This is an activity from the “Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” which I have successfully used with my classes every year. Groups then discuss the ideas they brainstormed about their ideal classroom and begin sharing and deciding on the ones they believe are most important. As a class, we create a list using a graphic organizer and then regroup once more to come up with principles that will bring about the feelings, sounds, and “look” of our dream classroom. This is how our A-Team Classroom Code of Conduct (the class voted on the title) is created. As part of their daily reflection question in their journal, students choose which principle is most important to them. This year the overwhelming choice was “We have a ton of fun exploring and learning.”

Our class motto then comes together using the three or four most important principles from our Class Code of Conduct. These are voted on by the students. When it is all said and done, we sit back and proudly read it aloud together. It is one of those moments in the school year that I most treasure. Each day, after morning announcements and the national anthem, we repeat our A-Team Class Motto and then dive into having a ton of fun exploring and learning!

The A Team Code of Conduct

A Team Class Motto