Kelly.McLaughlin Challenging Topics, Indigenous Perspectives, Indigneous Ways of Knowing, Learning to learn, Questioning, Truth and Reconciliation

Remembering why

On Friday, September 29th, our school board wore orange shirts to remember the mistreatment of Indigenous children in residential schools. As September 30th is the national day for truth and reconciliation, Friday was the day we recognized  this date in schools. 

This year, one of my students who just arrived in Canada a few years ago asked why we do this every year. I gave him the best answer I could, mentioning how important it is to learn about the mistakes of our country’s past and to work towards reconciliation. He understood that but didn’t understand why we were watching the same story as last year. So this year I decided to have my students reflect on some of the key takeaways of reconciliation.

  • How genuine are apologies? Do they change what happened in the past? For this, we watched several videos of apologies made to Indigenous communities  
  • What can you do in your life to make sure you never try to change someone? We reflected on how all these children were assimilated after their arrival to the schools and how their rights and freedoms were taken away
  • We shared how learning about this each year is part of the truth and reconciliation process and that it is an important part of the work that still needs to be done

However, the “why” on Friday made me remember that the “why” should always be the central focus of all of our lessons. If we don’t know why we are teaching something or starting some project, we haven’t really thought out our lessons. If there is no end goal or why, then we need to re-examine our work and try again. Which is why I am so glad I was asked that on Friday, I needed to remember what I wanted the learning to be. I worked backwards from there.

Another important thing I remembered this year was that our newcomers may not know about this history of our country and it may be a lot to tell them at once. I had some of my students translate the central ideas around Orange shirt day but fear it may have been too much to handle. Next year, I look forward to planning ahead of time with an ESL teacher to think how I can make this learning more accessible for all.

As we reflect on our past and how we can better shape the future, I think about our new language curriculum with the Indigenous focus of many expectations and look forward to planning and focusing on the “why”. 

Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, General, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, self reflection, Student wellbeing, Wellbeing, wellness

10 years later…

It is officially my tenth September starting the school year. I am so excited to blog once again this year and share the experiences from my grade 7/8 classroom. As I reflect on the past ten years, there are many things I have learned. Things I have stopped doing, continued doing and started doing. I have reflected on almost all of these in the past on this blog and enjoy reading old posts to see how far I have come.

Most importantly, I enjoy remembering why I got into this profession. I thought I would share that as my first post this school year.

Why Teaching is the best job on earth

Teaching is the best job on earth because I get to inspire and help students each day. That is something that means a lot to me because when I was in school, nobody ever did that for me. I used to get spoken to as a student if I was doing something wrong, not something right, which made me upset. Now that I am a teacher, I can make a difference in many ways. One way I would like to make a difference is by helping students with their mental health.

Mental health is so important because if students do not feel safe and happy, they cannot learn, so those are both needed in order to start teaching. That being said, it is easier said than done. It is important to spend the first few weeks of school helping everyone get to know each other and finding out what interests each student has. Then, you can begin teaching the curriculum. Thankfully, my school board created a wellness activity set for teachers to use in their classroom. We have over 100+ activities that foster a community in our classrooms and are encouraged to do one daily for the first six weeks of school. I have seen my class enjoy these activities and start to create friendships with students who they had not met before. Here are some of the activities we enjoyed the first eight days of school:

  • sharing about their identity
  • finding things that have in common/unique things within their seating group
  • two truths and a lie
  • sharing goals for the year
  • finding an inspirational quote that is meaningful to them
  • sharing one interesting fact about themselves

Another element about teaching I enjoy is coaching. I enjoy coaching because you get to see your students outside of the classroom, which for many is their favourite spot in the school. Coaching gives me a way to connect with students who may not build that connection inside the classroom. I also have always loved sports, so I enjoy coaching now that I do not play on as many teams as when I was younger. 

The last thing I love the most about teaching is creating leadership opportunities.  I have had many opportunities to be a leader and plan events as a teacher, so it is my turn to teach students how to create these events and help me run them. That way when they are older they can run them on their own. I am most excited for school spirit days, music events, sport events, Prom Project and more for the 2023/2024 school year.

Even though I could go on and on, I thought I would sum up my three favourite things about teaching so I can always reflect on these when I have a challenging day. I hope each and every one of my students find something that they are passionate about one day just as I have found. Ten years later, still loving this job!

Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, Inclusion, Inspiring Teachers, Literacy, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection, Teacher Appreciation, Wellbeing, Year End Reflection

Celebrations

Congratulations, you did it! We all made it through another year and are now on our much deserved summer vacation. This calls for a celebration! Yesterday at my school’s final PA day of the year, we were asked to reflect and share with our table-top the celebrations of the year. Things that have happened that we can positively reflect on. After everyone shared in the small groups, we were asked to share with our entire staff. It’s funny that with 10-12 different table groups, almost everyone shared the same general ideas. I am sure as you read this, hopefully you will also be able to share in the same celebrations. 

Reasons to celebrate the 2022-2023 school year:

  1. Student growth- the common idea amongst us all was that students grew from September to June. Not only with their reading, writing, etc. but their character developed. Behaviours settled down and students matured as the year went on. We were all able to identify a specific student that amazed us, specifically with their personal growth. I shared about a student who found it challenging to come to school last school year but thrived this year in a new classroom environment. Tears came to my eyes sharing about how proud I am of this student as his personal growth inspired me in so many ways.
  2. Writing- teachers shared about how their students could only write a few words at the beginning of the year but by the end, were writing stories by the end of a school day. I can also relate to this as I have so many students who doubled their writing samples by the end of June. 
  3. Reading- our school’s plan this year was small group guided instruction and we especially focused on this in our language classrooms. Many  of us noticed the impact this had on our students, focusing on phonics really allowed our students to grow as readers. Many of the primary  teachers worked with programs that helped their students read. They noticed large gains and were so excited to share the success that the reading specialist and these programs helped them to achieve. We are continuing with this goal next year and I look forward to starting small reading groups in September. My class especially amazed me with their reading abilities, decoding at grade level and making connections to what they read. 
  4. Making good memories- with the year having minimal disruptions, students had a hard time picking just one memory to share that was their favourite. Opportunities were available again for students to make memories and they were all so excited to share during the last few days of school. When my own students shared this was their favourite year of school, I was so happy to hear! I look forward to creating new memories in September. 
  5. Feeling like a family- something that I am personally celebrating is that feeling of togetherness that every educator hopes to achieve with their class. By the end of June, I can fully look back on the year and say we achieved it. With respect, random groupings, positive affirmations and weekly celebrations, I know that everyone felt that our class was a family. This feeling made the final bell especially hard to hear on the last day of school. However, I look forward to next year and hope to achieve that same feeling again. 

As we reflect on our successes from the year, they are probably some things we wish to “leave behind”. Whether it be a project, a mindset or a seating plan style that we didn’t quite like, it’s important that we don’t dwell on the negative, but look at the positives. I encourage you all to make a list of things that you want to celebrate from this year and think about it during your much deserved summer break. See you in September!

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment and Evaluation, Celebrating Success, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Report Cards, Reporting, Start of the year, Year End Reflection

The importance of goal setting

A few years ago, I wanted my students to have a deeper understanding of what each learning skill meant so we dissected them as a class. The one we struggled with the most was “self regulation” as it was the only one students hadn’t ever understood. All of the other learning skills were easy to understand as the meaning was in the word but for self regulation, there was no prior knowledge.

 

We looked at a few different documents defining the learning skills and got a better understanding. For that reason, each year I have my students work on setting goals and creating steps to ensure that it’s possible.

 

Each Monday, my students start the morning off by writing a goal for the week. This goal is usually related to school work, relationships with peers, personal life or about something that is challenging them. Throughout the week, they take steps to try to reach that goal and then the following Monday, they write down if they reached that goal or not. Students can share each Monday if they reached their goal or not and what their next goal is. This is optional as goal sharing can be very personal to the student.

 

Then, before term one and term two report cards go home, I ask students to count how many times they met their weekly goal. That determines part of their self regulation mark. I have a lot of students who comment during the week how they are working hard towards their goal and that extra motivation helps them succeed.

 

I also had a student write her entire speech for our school speech competition on the importance of goal setting and how it can help you achieve your dreams. She made specific reference to how setting weekly goals each week helped her achieve bigger goals. I was so excited to hear how this helped her!

 

In addition to these small goals, in September I ask all my students to create one big goal for the year. The goal has to be something that they want to achieve by June. Goals range from:

  • Getting a grad award in June
  • Getting an 80% or higher for report card average
  • Socializing with new people
  • Coming to class each day 
  • Trying out for all of the sports teams
  • Winning athlete of the year 
  • Joining band and sticking with it
  • Winning the most improved student award

 

The list goes on and on. Last week I asked students to reflect on their goal from September and to write about whether they reached it or not. Some students are still unsure as the year has not ended but they reflected on if they think they will reach it or not. Many students have high hopes that they have reached their big goal and can identify at least three or four reasons why they may have reached it. I can tell the students have a lot of pride relating to their goal and are excited to see if they reached it or not. I can say that out of my 25 students, more than 75% achieved the goal they created in September by June. 

 

I look forward to continuing this activity each year as I know goal setting is a big reason why I am where I am today. Having something to aspire towards is sometimes the motivation needed to get through a challenging week. 

Kelly.McLaughlin Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Modern Learning, Resume Writing, Year End Activities

Job Interview Season

It’s that time of year again when students in grade 7/8 create their very own resumes based on their volunteer experiences in and outside of school. My students got to thinking about all of their volunteering that they had done this school year. It was so impressive to see how full their resumes already are and they are only 13/14 years old. Some of their experiences include:

  • Student leaders during school-wide events: Pink Day, Winterfest, Mardi Gras, etc.
  • Selling pizza on pizza day
  • Scorekeeping at volleyball/basketball games
  • Reffing soccer games
  • Coaching junior sports teams 
  • Helping in the music room 
  • Selling cookies and popcorn

The list could go on and on as so many students are involved in our school community. So as students came up with these volunteer experiences, they also had to list skills on their resume that they thought could relate to a part-time job. It was very interesting to read all of the things students considered to be within their skill set. 

After writing the resumes, students once again had the opportunity to interview for the food sales job at the soccer tournament. I created five interview questions for students to answer:

  1. What experience do you have selling food?
  2. Tell me how you would deal with a challenging customer.
  3. Why should you be hired to sell food?
  4. Why do you want to sell food?
  5. Who are your two staff references?

Students had to answer three of the five questions and I also spoke to their two references. It was quite the process as over 42 students interviewed and staff had a hard time selecting between all of the students. We narrowed it down to the top 12 and let them know that they had gotten the job. Students were so thrilled and are looking forward to representing our school in this unique experience. Many of the students I hired last year have now started part time jobs and have let me know that this experience selling food helped them prepare for not only the interview process but also their actual job. This real-life skill is something that I look forward to each year and once again, was thrilled with the results. 

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment and Evaluation, Combined Grade Classes, Curriculum Planning, Literacy

Not your usual reading groups

Recently I have been working a lot with flexible grouping in the classroom since I have been experimenting with Liljedahls’s thinking classroom in math. But flexible grouping does not need to stop in math, it can work in your literacy classroom as well. 

I know most of us are used to ability groupings when it comes to literacy centers but recently I have been using random groupings in the literacy classroom. I wanted to take you through a quick journey of my literacy centers. 

Our focus as an intermediate team this year is reading, more specifically fluency. We are happy with the comprehension of our intermediate so we are digging deeper into their actual reading fluency. For this, I decided to allow each student to select a novel. We discussed what to look for when selecting a novel and what to do if we end up deciding we dislike that novel. Students are welcome to return the book if they do not find it intriguing enough. Once they have selected a novel, we read for about 15 minutes during our literacy lesson. Then students can answer one question related to their book in their language duotangs. These questions are centered around vocabulary with a small percentage based on comprehension. Students keep a vocabulary journal to write down any words they are unsure of. They then have to define them and use them in a sentence. 

While my students are doing this, I take three random grade sevens and three random grade eights. I use a random name generator. Students then read one page from their book in a circle with myself and their classmates. I use this as a fluency mark. We then discuss their books orally including questions such as:

  1. If you could read any of the other books in this circle other than yours, which one would you read and why?
  2. Were there any words heard here today that you are unsure of?
  3. What would you rate your book so far out of 10 and why?

This random grouping makes all students feel comfortable as they can tell it was done randomly and that they are all created randomly. They also feel confident in their abilities as they get to work with students whom they may view as a stronger reader than them. The fluency skill is still being assessed but in a way that makes all students feel equal. I enjoy getting to work with each student in my class at least once a week as I meet with all students (five days x six students per day). I think my students enjoy the personal connections they get to have during these groups as well. Also, some of my students who usually sit at their desk with their book shut are now participating in literacy at least once a week as opposed to not at all.

I encourage you all to try random groupings in your literacy classroom to increase confidence!

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Math

The Thinking Classroom

The Thinking Classroom

I was recently at an in-service about “The Thinking Classroom” where we were learning about how to pose questions to students in an open-ended, group work setting. We were taught how to set up vertical, non-permanent surfaces around our class and to make random groups of our students. The randomization of the groups is because all questions will be the same and all students will have an entry point. Students are also encouraged to walk around and look at others answers rather than to cover the answers to their question. We were also provided with a copy of the book behind this math that allowed us to learn more. The book also has some great question ideas in it. Here is the link to the book, well worth the read: Building Thinking Classrooms

After gaining all this knowledge, I decided to try it out with a question in my classroom with my friend who is a Math Facilitator in our school board. My students did well answering the open ended question and worked well in their groups (for the most part).

Benefits I noticed:

  • new students stepping up as leaders as they weren’t with their same group of usual friends
  • students feeling confident with their work
  • less students feeling anxious in the math classroom and asking to leave to take a break
  • almost 100% participation
  • students trying to solve as many possible answers as they could rather than stopping at one
  • competitive mindsets
  • students looking around at others answers to get ideas

Drawbacks:

  • anxious students who do not work well without that specific friend did not participate (only 2/24)
  • a few students giving up because it was too hard

We used a few different surfaces for this thinking classroom math:

  1. Window/window markers
  2. Wipebooks
  3. Chalkboard

I also am trying out a variety of open-ended questions during these math lessons to get my students thinking:

  • https://www.openmiddle.com/
  • https://www.wouldyourathermath.com/
  • https://www.visualpatterns.org/

It takes a while to get used to it, especially because the question you are asking your students do not necessarily need to relate to which part of the math curriculum you are at. They are also not meant to be evaluated as part of your students math mark. Instead, we were told to use it as part of our observations to inform how we assess collaboration within learning skills. If you are using it as a math mark, suggestions include asking your students to write in different colour whiteboard markers so you can see who did what.

I look forward to sharing more of our progress with this new way of thinking as our journey continues.

Kelly.McLaughlin 2SLGBTQ+, Anti-bullying, Celebrating Success

International Day of Pink

On Wednesday, April 12th students at my school (along with many other students and staff in our board) celebrated the “International Day of Pink”. This day is different from “Pink Shirt Day” which was celebrated earlier in the year in February. The International Day of Pink is a day to stand up against bullying, especially against members from the 2SLGBTQ+ community. “We believe when we wear pink on Day of Pink April 12th, 2023, we join the stance in having the courage to be yourself, to be kind, and so much more.” (https://www.dayofpink.org/en/home-2023)

This year’s theme was “Courage” so when planning for our school’s event, we talked about how can we embrace this theme in our school-wide activity day. As we started to plan, staff members mentioned that we should speak to our 2SLGBTQ+ positive space group first to get their ideas. They suggested poetry activities and other great ideas to be included in our day. Students from different classes in our school made posters, announcements and video advertisements about the day to get conversations started in classes about the meaning behind the day. Some videos included:

  • Students saying the Pink Day Pledge Pledge
  • Members of a school sports team sharing about times that they had shown courage
  • A video of 13 Trans and Queer Canadians that everyone should know Featured Canadians

These videos prepared students for activities that will be listed below that took place on the event day.

On the day of April 12th, teachers and students came together to prepare for the gym for a day of education and fun. Our stations were planned by a Committee of nine staff members who thought about activities that would be beneficial, educational and fun for students K-8. Each station was led by grade 7/8 student leaders. These students gathered together before hand to learn about what each station had to offer. I hope that you can use these acitivies next year as they all went off without a hitch and were loved by all.

International Day of Pink Activities

Colouring with Pride

Students used their prior learning from our video and were able to select a colouring sheet to colour about one of the 13 featured Trans and Queer Canadians. Link to this colouring book can be found above.

Photo Walkway

Students could wear some Pride related glasses, hats or pink items and take a walk down the rainbow/pink walkway. The walkway had a rainbow balloon arch around it so that students felt excited to walk down. It was great seeing students pose for photos with their friends. We will be making an iMovie of all the photos to send to teachers to show their students.

Poetry Station

Students could write poems while enjoying some quality time with their peers. We had pink cushions to sit on and a lava lamp for mood lighting. I was very excited to read a poem afterwards from one of my students who was proud to share what he had written. He was also one of the students who had come up with the idea for the station.

Pink Day Pledge

We had a station where students could read the International Day of Pink Pledge (which they had heard in their prior learning) and could agree that they would uphold that pledge by putting their finger print on it. We had pink stamp pads which students could use to place their finger on. They then would put their fingerprint on the pledge. We are getting this pledge laminated to hang somewhere in our school! A copy of the pledge can be found above.

Rainbow of Courage

We asked students to write on a sticky note about a time that they had courage. Our students leaders then stuck them on the rainbow. This is now hanging in the front of our school.

Friendship Bracelets

Students could make themselves or a friend a bracelet. One of our staff members thought about a meaning for each bead colour. So students could make the bracelets with meaning.

Positive Affirmations

One of our students had remembered an activity from a past pink day where students have their fortunes told. We changed that up a bit and had students sit with one of our student leaders and were told something positive about themselves. Our students leaders created 12 different positive affirmations and used those. This was a very popular part of our event as students went four or five times to hear a positive message.

Those were all of the acitivites we featured this year. We hope to think of more for next year as we heard from all students and staff that the students loved them all. We know that we educated our school community about the importance of being courageous to be yourself and to be kind to others. What did you do for Pink day this year?

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Inclusion, self reflection

Cultural Humility

At a recent P.A. Day, we were learning about “Cultural Humility” and how every person should somehow reflect on this on a daily basis. One definition I found is, “Cultural Humility Is: A personal lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique whereby the individual not only learns about another’s culture, but one starts with an examination of [their] own beliefs and cultural identities.” (inclusion.uoregon.edu)

Cultural Humility is a lifelong process

During our discussions, we talked about how this is a lifelong process, not just something you think about for a month. You need to always be aware of your own biases, maybe based on your personal beliefs or your cultural beliefs. As educators, it is even more important that we take time to think about this on a daily basis.

Everyone is equal

Part of this process is to recognize that no culture is superior and to also learn about other cultures. I think we can do a great job at this by making sure our classroom libraries reflect all cultures, that we make sure we are learning about every celebration and not just one from one culture, and also making sure that the articles and curricular content we are sharing is based on more than one cultural story. This is how we can start to make sure our cultural humility is shown in our own practice.

Be honest when you are unsure

We do not have to know all the things at all times (even though students think we do). It is okay to look things up, to be aware of what we know and do not know. There are so many great resources especially within our own ETFO articles that can help us learn more about this topic. I particularily enjoyed the content during February, having discussions about the Black History Month poster, etc. So it is best to be honest when you are not sure about a specific topic.

Learn about other cultures

I remember being a 13 year old in a Catholic School unsure of the other cultures around me. I knew there were other religions and other nationalities but I had never really learned about anything outside of my inner circle (my own culture). It wasn’t until high school that I started to find out about other cultures and by then, I had already lost so much time getting to know other people. This is why I love how creating these opportunities to learn about other cultures will help others see outside of their inner circle. I have a grade eight student who is so hoping to run a Culture Day by the time she graduates and I hope we have time to get it going. I think this is important of us educators too- if there is a culture we are unsure about, we could do some more research to find out about it.

Our school board has a program that was created to help our students understand more about this topic. Our program is called “LDR (Learn, disrupt and rebuild) and our Module 3- Exploring Human Rights helps students dig deeper into these topics. I challenge you all to think about your own cultural humility as it is a personal commitment but also a lifelong one.

Kelly.McLaughlin Challenging Topics, Mental Health, Resilience, self reflection, Wellbeing, wellness

Mental Health Check

Happy March Break everyone!

I hope you are able to sit back and relax this week as we get a much deserved break from the usual day-to-day of being a teacher. I wish I was sitting on a beach right now typing this but I am enjoying a cup of coffee at my kitchen table after an action pack few days at camp with the grade eights. So for me, the peace and quiet is all the vacation I need.

On our last P.A. day at school, our Emotional Coach helped us work through some challenging feelings. She reminded us of many important things we should focus on each day. I am going to share some of the biggest take aways from the P.A. day session as I feel they would be beneficial for all teachers (and adults) to think about.

Focus on the Positives

During each school day, I am sure many of us feel especially frusturated about the students who aren’t coming to class because they are hiding in the bathroom. Or upset with the students who do not start any activity that is assigned to them. But how often are we thinking, “Wow, I am so lucky to have that student who gets right to work and takes pride in their work” or “Look how many students came to school today with a positive attitude and are excited for what lies ahead.” It is easy to focus on the negatives but take the challenge after the March Break to focus on the positives. Think about those students who are so happy to learn and will dive into just about anything that is given to them. Of course, we still need to help all of our students but with time, maybe they will find their own sense of joy in the school community.

Reflect on a “difficult thing”

Our Emotional Coach asked us all to pick one difficult thing in our life that we think is affecting our mental well being. I wanted to share my difficult thing- negative people. I was challenged last month with a few negative people that brought me down. No matter how hard I tried, their negative comments stuck with me even though I tried to think positively. So my “difficult thing” choice was negative people. We were then asked to write down three ways we could improve the situation, revising them as needed. My three ways that I hope will help me are: focusing on the positives when around these people, remaining my positive self and to not react to them. I hope that next time I am faced with a negative situation, I can use these strategies. One staff member even suggested that once you feel in control of that one difficult thing, you can move on to a second thing and try to tackle that. I am really excited for this challenge and hope it will work! I invite you all to try it and if you feel comfortable, comment your “difficult thing” on this post.