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Tammy Axt General

A letter to an inspiring teacher

Amazing work that encapsulates the heart and art of teaching and learning is happening all around the province every day. Many of us can remember that one amazing teacher who had a positive impact on our life. Recently, I decided to look up that one teacher that really had a positive impact on me and wrote her an e-mail telling her how amazing she is. I realize how impactful she was on my current practice and how I try to emulate her caring nature every day in my classroom.

Hello Ms. S,

My name is Tammy Axt (used to be Gallant) and over 20 years ago I had the pleasure of being one of your students.

Today, I spent the day at a workshop where the following question was asked: “Which teacher had the biggest impact on your life?” That answer was a simple one: it was you, Ms. S.

I joined the cross country running team, which you coached, during my time in high school. I was not interested in joining, but my friends talked me into it. I was definitely not the fastest runner that you ever coached, but because of your perfect blend of high expectations and caring nature, I felt great after every practice. You gave up your time after school to run with us around the neighborhood and taught us the mantra “Kill the Hill” when running up the never-ending hill close to the site where the school used to be. You taught me that hard work pays off and to never give up on difficult tasks. I really believed that you cared about us, our futures and our well-being. I have carried so many lessons learned from that time over the past twenty years.

You also supported me through the opportunity of teaching a dance unit to younger high school students when I was in the upper grades. Talk about a confidence builder. You really took the time to help me prepare and execute a successful dance class during your gym period. You valued my abilities and recognized my strengths that I didn’t even knew I had.  Taking on that leadership role was huge for me, and it started to shape my ability to explain things to other people.

As you might have guessed, I am now in the best profession in the world as well. I am a teacher with the Peel District School Board. I teach music, drama and dance to students in grades 1 to 5 and I love it. I try every day to do what you did for me, for my students.

You also might be interested to know that I lead learn to run clinics in my community, where we also have a huge hill. The mantra “Kill the Hill” continues on. I try to look at all of the runners the same way you looked at me: with confidence and belief in their abilities.

I hope this letter finds you well and if you have a moment I would love to hear how you are doing.

Thank you for doing all that you do every day to help kids reach their potential.

 

Tammy

 

 

Tammy Axt General

Classroom Management- Nothing seems to work. What should I do? Part One

Classroom management is something that has been drilled into me since day one of Teachers’ College. I use my knowledge and training every day to make sure that my classroom is a safe and enjoyable place for students to come and learn. However, I do believe that classroom management is not always perfect. Sometimes a strategy that you have used for years just doesn’t work with a certain student. Also, every year your new group of students brings with them a new set of challenges. Maybe they are a chatty bunch or a group that really struggles with social skills. Therefore, classroom management is always a skill that needs work and constant reflection.

In addition, sometimes your management strategies can be working with a certain student, then one day, for whatever reason, it stops working. This is the position that I am in this week. I have had one of my students for a couple of years in music and this year, the strategies I have used are just not working as well as they have in the past.

As the problem is escalating, I feel like I have tried as many strategies that I can think of to help this student be a positive, productive member of our class, but nothing seems to be working. So now what?

After I exhausted all of my own strategies, my first step was to book a meeting with my special education team. To help facilitate this meeting, I brought in a few notes to help me explain the issues that were happening in class.

The page of notes that I brought was divided into four sections:

Section one– Concerns

This section outlined the concerns about the academic success of my student. In my experience, this is always the place to start any meeting of concern with administrators or advisory teams, as it shows the impact the behaviour is having on the child’s success in school.

This section also briefly outlined the behaviour concerns that I was witnessing in the classroom. I chose two main concerns as a starting place. I know that if the concerns that I chose were managed, things would not be perfect, but the student would be able to learn and begin to have positive interactions in the classroom.

Section Two- Strategies tried and results

This section explained the strategies that I have tried and what the results were. I wrote about proximity teaching, peer helpers, one-on-one assistance, scaffolding and many more. For each strategy, I explained exactly what I said and did, and what the child’s response was to the intervention strategy. This helped the special education team and I to identify trends and allowed the team to begin to see the picture of the interactions in the classroom.

Section Three – What is working/Not working

For this section, I made a list of things that I felt were working in the class such as: entering the classroom, finding their designated spot, sitting in that spot during introduction of lesson without interruptions. I know some of this may sound very obvious, but it helped the team and me to identify some triggers for the student. It also gave us a starting point for further discussions on strategies to help the student.

Section Four-  Next steps

This was a section that I left blank for notes to record all of the suggestions and ideas.

This is only the beginning of the conversation about this student. We will be meeting again this coming week to co-plan intervention strategies and plan check-in points for this student to gauge the success of our plan.

 

Beverly Papove Inquiry

Construction Day

Something my ECE partner and I are developing is a more general structure to our week so that the students know what to expect on certain days. We have the usual special activities throughout the week such as Reading Buddies and going to the library, but we have begun to look at having a theme for certain days. So far, we all now look forward to Fridays – not only for the obvious reason, but also because it happens to be our weekly Construction Day (Jour de la construction). We got the idea from one of our colleagues who mentioned that she had heard about a kindergarten teacher who had a building day where the students exercised their burgeoning engineering skills. Given just the general idea of a day dedicated to building stuff, my partner and I jumped on the idea and are now constantly building on (no pun intended) ideas and activities for the kinders as designers, builders and artists.

All week long, boxes are delivered to my classroom from other teachers, from the breakfast program, from the office administrators, and even from the construction workers who were on-site for several weeks putting in a new accessible toilet in the school. In the classroom during the week, the creation station might not be set out, but is always an option if someone asks for it. We do hold on to some special boxes so that there is plenty of variety to be brought outside during the first block of outdoor learning on Friday morning, if the playground is dry. Typically, masking tape, scissors and markers are brought out as well to be used with the cardboard. From our shed, large building blocks, buckets, shovels and sometimes pylons, are also hauled out and presented as possible building materials.

Before we get building, however, we usually have a book and a discussion on the topic, just to stir up the creative energy and to garner ideas of things that are built – either by people or by creatures. Last Friday, we made a list of planes, trains and castles, until one JK student with a fascination for spiders, put up his hand and said that he wanted to build a giant spider web. Great idea! I thought for a moment, then told my ECE partner that I needed to get a few things from inside the classroom. I found 3 different small balls of yarn in various colours and textures for the giant spider web. I attached one end of the yarn to a spot on the chainlink fence, and gave the ball to the student. He easily picked up the idea of how to weave the yarn through the links, and the spider web started to grow. Other students became interested and soon I had fished out 5 more balls of yarn. One side of our school yard began to bustle with children who were pushing and pulling yarn through the fence, trying to attach pieces of cardboard or rocks, some of them even getting ‘caught’ in the giant web as they tried to pass over or under someone else who was weaving. It was a huge success. The web stayed up for about a week, until the arrival of heavy winds and rain, then it soon came unravelled and blew away.

Every Friday, when we come into the classroom, we continue construction activities with whatever we can gather up from our art supplies and toys; playdough; blocks; Duplo; popsicle sticks and white liquid glue; or, chairs, tables and table cloths. We ask the students to draw a diagram of what they plan on building before they get started. For the SKs this is an interesting challenge, while only a few JKs at this point are able to see the connection between what they are drawing and what they end up building. Nonetheless, they like to talk about their ideas, whether the final project looks anything like their ‘blueprint’. Midway through the day, we have a circle so that students can share their creations and hopefully inspire others to build different things than they usually build, like the spider web.

Construction Day offers great opportunities for inquiry and it touches on key aspects (the Four Frames) of the kindergarten curriculum, namely, demonstrating mathematics behaviours, problem solving and innovating. What we like most about it is that it is largely a student-lead day. We have to do preplanning to be ready with a variety of opportunities for building, but we are at our busiest in the midst of a variety of projects, as we try to produce materials that the builders ask for.

Mike Beetham Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context, Professional Learning and Growth

Self-Guided Professional Learning

As an adult learner, you know what your strengths are as well as what your next steps should be. You understand you current lifestyle, the demands of family and friends as well as the other components that are a part of your busy life. Self-guided professional learning allows you to continue to enhance your classroom pedagogical practice and curriculum knowledge at a pace and focus that is specific to your needs.

There are so many learning options available to ETFO members. It starts within your local federation where your professional learning committee is already at work planning out opportunities for members to continue to enhance their best practice. Talk to your committee, find out what is being offered, put forth suggestions that they can look at or better yet, get involved in this committee.

The next main area that provides a treasure trove of learning opportunities is our provincial organization. If you go to the provincial website (http://www.etfo.ca/Pages/default.aspx) and search under the subsection professional learning you will find a wide variety of options that are offered by our provincial team. The scope and sequence of the options available ensures there is something for everyone. The provincial office also provides equitable access from a geographical standpoint.

Whether it is AQ courses, Summer Academy, one time workshops, workshop series, provincial or local book clubs, or just gathering together as same grade colleagues and having professional dialogue on a topic, find what you need and seek to grow as a teacher each and every day. One of the most rewarding facets of teaching is when students and teachers can continue to grow side-by-side.

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Will Gourley General, Occasional Teaching

Making la vida “OT” less loca

By Agriculture And Stock Department, Publicity Branch [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By Agriculture And Stock Department, Publicity Branch [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
As a teacher, the daily demands of planning, preparing, assessing, and constant learning occupy most of my waking hours. Thankfully, after several years at, what I call, the speed of learning I have achieved what appears to be a work life balance.

One thing I clearly remember, from the start, was a vow to never (emphasis on never) take a day off due to illness, PD, or any other reason. And for a while, everything went according to plan. Steadfastly, I made it 8 months before the inevitable happened. I had to take a day (NTIP will get you every time).

4 brain wracking hours of over planning later, I gave myself permission to believe I was ready to be away. Looking back, I had really over-prepared and I know it…now. From what I reckon, I planned about 3 times more instruction and work on that single day for the Occasional Teacher or OT who covered my classes. Well, better too much than not enough right?

After the experience I began reflecting about that day. My first thoughts were a tad egotistical, truth be told. Did my class(es) behave, were my plans good? Was I going to be outed for not knowing how to prepare for an OT? What if I messed up? I felt a bit vulnerable. What if my colleagues (all experienced teachers) had to cover for me? What would I do the next time?

I also thought about what it must be like for the Occasional Teachers who, on a daily basis, find themselves in a different school classroom teaching someone else’s students and lessons? Did they ever get a chance to feel connected to the lives they were impacting, however brief? I remember the first time I noticed a couple of OTs sitting by themselves in the staff room during lunchtime – little to no eye contact and even less interaction. I didn’t like how it appeared so different than the inclusive environments we were espousing in our classrooms.

Did it have to be this way?

We are all in the same educational boat, but it seems that some are sailing on a different part of the ship. Did I break an unwritten rule the first time I said hello, and invited an OT to sit with our staff to eat? Did I miss a class in teacher’s college that covered how this was supposed to play out?

Perhaps, this was a rite of passage that all OTs had to go through in our profession? If it was, I claim ignorance, but what I observed guided me more towards how I wanted to support these colleagues who were going to occasionally be part of my teaching life. I wanted the OTs that were me for the day to feel welcome and valued in the space in my place.

So, I started with my Day Plans; ensuring they were informative, concise, and easy to follow. As a prep coverage teacher, I made sure all of the resources were marked by subject, class, and time on the schedule. I included names of students who are helpful, descriptions of students who might need extra support, and all details related to any/all safety routines/plans. Thankfully, our school had a booklet printed up with most of the general info to leaf through as well.

I thought about what else could I do? Maybe they’d like a snack? So I included a peanut free granola bar with my plans too. The response was overwhelmingly positive. I had a number of teachers write a personal note saying that no one had ever left them a treat. It made me feel good because we all know as the day goes on a little snack goes along way to staying strong. To this day I have a drawer full of treats ready to share with my OTs. I knew that if a little snack works for my students, it would work for others too.

Now that I’m a homeroom teacher, I share my plans with OTs digitally via Google Apps for Education or GAPPS. This allows me to include links to any internet content like websites or video to be shared throughout the day without having to risk typing in the wrong URLs or mistakenly opening the wrong file(s). The easier I can make their job, the better the day.

Taking stock of my OT plans from last year, it struck me that, for various reasons(mostly giving/receiving PD), I was away over 25 days from my class last year. I had to rely on a host of OTs like never before and with their support not a lesson was missed. Each one delivering the lessons and sharing important feedback after each day.

With more days out of the classroom guaranteed in the future, I know my students are in good hands.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to share your OT stories and keep the conversation going.

 

Beverly Papove Field Trips, Outdoor Learning

Walking in the Woods with Kinders

With our weekly walks in the woods, I’m trying to come to terms with having a planned lesson versus just letting my kindergarten students explore the space in their own way. On the one hand, presenting a challenge to them as we enter the forest is a good way to target curriculum expectations and to focus their attention on things they may not yet have the literacy for, i.e., certain kinds of plant characteristics, the change in seasons, or evidence of animals, even the habits of relatively common ones such as the beaver, woodpecker, or wood duck. On the other hand, it is so true that real learning can happen when the teacher steps out of the way. We often think we are doing our students a favour by helping them inch towards enlightenment with guided questions, but sometimes, it is much better to turn our voice off and turn up our listening skills to hear what is being said without interrupting. While our responsibility is to make sure everyone is safe, we don’t always have to be in charge of learning – letting the students lead their learning is a rich experience we need to foster as much as possible, even if we feel to do so is not really teaching.

So, the obvious choice for me is to do a bit of both with some teacher-lead learning, followed by me following the students. With the hour that we spend in the forest each visit, we have a goal upon entering that helps remind the students that they are there to use their senses as ‘Nature Detectives”, after that, comes the free-association part of our forest ramble. As we start on our visit, I am ready with one teacher-lead activity that draws their attention to some new aspect of the forest that they might not have noticed before, such as, “Find a yellow flower,” or “How many different colours can you see in the forest?”. As we walk along and they point out the yellow flower, that gives me the opportunity to talk about the plant’s (goldenrod) properties, or when they notice different colours, it opens up the discussion about why leaves are not staying green any more. With the natural environment all around us at that time, it is amazing how much deeper students listen and how much more they remember. They are relaxed, it is calm, and there is just a small group of them, so learning comes a little easier because they are, in a sense, using all of their body to learn.

After a few minutes of teacher-lead learning, I am ready to follow their lead about which paths to trek down, or which fallen tree trunk to climb under or over. I look forward to hearing what they notice and listening to their talking. When we take the time to stop and just hang around in one spot for a bit, they are quiet at first, taking everything in. Some wander a bit and focus on the ground just at their feet, others crouch and look under branches. While it would make sense for me to point out the big things like the beaver lodge, or the dead birch tree full of holes made by various woodpeckers, the Kindergarten Nature Detective draws my attention to the smallest orange and black, fuzzy caterpillar on a leaf about 2 feet off the ground. Or crouching down, in a mess of mud and twigs, someone spies one red berry, or a toad stool the size of a fingernail. Our perspectives are completely different – I am taller, look farther into the distance, and know the space and what can be typically found there. With the 4 and 5 year olds, some of whom are very tiny, the forest they see is new and the area they are comfortable exploring is on the ground around their feet.

When we are walking back to the school, I try to recap some of the things we experienced so that they can write or draw it in their journals, share it with their classmates or talk about it with their families when they get home. Do they readily remember the yellow flower they learned about? Sometimes. But the student who found and gave a pat to the fuzzy orange and black caterpillar easily recalls every detail.

Laura Bottrell General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Learning in a Real Life Context

Wisdom Begins in Wonder

 

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The end of the Kindergarten day. The students are safely back with their parents, the classroom is a mess and I’m probably covered in some form of art medium, tidying blocks, cleaning paint brushes, organizing toys and most importantly, reflecting – reflecting on the deep thinking, problem solving, exploration and discoveries that my students made in just one day. Sometimes this meaningful learning took place as a result of a simple question or observation made by a child that exploded into a day full of inquiry. One morning, a group of students were chasing each other’s shadows, which led to the entire class exploring the concept of light, an inquiry that captured their full attention for three days. Another day, two students noticed a sprout growing in the cracks of the pavement outside which turned into a nearly month-long exploration of life and natural life cycles. Another time, a large truck came by the school to pick up a garbage dumpster, and after witnessing this the entire class spent days researching heavy trucks and vehicles, relating them to simple machines. This eventually stemmed into a second inquiry about recycling and caring for our environment. In every case, the learning spanned into their writing, their demonstration of mathematical concepts, their dramatic play, their art creations and their building projects. What was my role in all of this? To question them, support them and observe them. This is what I love about Kindergarten. It is the perfect environment for inquiry-based learning.

Inquiry is probably one of those buzz words that you are hearing left and right – and rightfully so. To prepare students for life in the 21st century, we need to change the way we are teaching them to think. In other words, we need to teach them to think. It’s not just about teaching facts and information, but teaching our kids how to come across, process and communicate that information. The process of inquiry is not just about delivering the curriculum in a new way, but equipping our students to apply critical thinking, research and exploration skills to all areas of their life.

A colleague of mine implements Genius Hour in his grade five class. For one hour each week, his students are given time to research and explore any topic that is of interest to them. His students are working in a variety of areas – researching dogs, writing skits, creating a new sport, making presentations about the Eiffel Tower. Are they necessarily working on curriculum concepts? No. Are they learning? Yes! Are they engaged, intrinsically motivated and excited about their learning? Yes, and this is the key.

When our students are engaged in an authentic inquiry process, guiding their own learning, being autonomous in their decisions and problem solving on their own, they are engaged in much higher learning. We need our kids to take ownership of their learning. We need our kids to be excited to explore the world around them. We need them to wonder. When we accomplish this through immersing them in inquiry based learning, we are creating 21st century learners. It’s not always about what our students learn, but how they learn it.

Many classrooms that I have been in are using the inquiry model of learning in at least one or two subject areas – most often in science and social studies. Think of how valuable the learning could become if one inquiry could span into all curriculum areas, much like it does so naturally in the Kindergarten classroom. Why not give it a try? As I’ve learned from teaching Kindergarten, when students are free to direct their own learning, amazing things can happen.

As a teacher, it is such a rewarding feeling to watch students go above and beyond in their learning when they are motivated and engaged. I think it’s important for us all to remember that sometimes we need to step back, stop teaching and start asking.

 

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Mike Beetham Assessment, Classroom Management, General, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Resources

Ontario Student Record Search

Wow, we are already into the second month of this school year and I am not sure I really know my students very well yet. I have a working idea of who they are as students and as people but need to gather more information to help me with my programming. That is where using their Ontario Student Record (OSR) can help you gather further data to assist me  in this process.

I typically do not complete my OSR searches until after the first month of school so that I can establish my own opinion about them as learners. The OSR is a cumulative record of them as a student since their entry into the Ontario education system. It is a legal document that travels with them from community to community and school to school in Ontario. It is a valuable tool for any educator who is working with a student.

There is a wide variety of information that exists in a student’s Ontario Student Record. First and foremost are the provincial report cards from their time at school. It is here that a teacher can gauge where a student has typically performed in the various curriculae. In addition there is often a wide variety of other sources of information specific to that student. For example, there could be documentation around outside supports such as occupational therapy, early intervention, psychological assessments, legal documentation around custody, Family & Children Services involvement, suspensions, Individual Education Plans and Safety Plans. When you look at the back of the OSR you can see a history of whether a student has had a stable education in one school or whether their circumstances show multiple schools with little or no stability. I have had one student who was entering into his 8th school and he was only in Grade 4.

There is a combination of hard data as well as data that has a subjective component and is based on the interaction and opinions of adults. It is important to differentiate between the two. I am not saying you should discount in any way or ignore that data, but rather understand that the circumstances in which that data was obtained may have been affected by many outside factors. For the student who was entering into his 8th school, his OSR showed that he had difficulty making friends. That data was accurate but was also impacted by his inability to be in a single place long enough to establish friendships or the fact he knew if he did make friends, he would probably be moving soon.

The OSR search is most valuable to me for my at risk students. Students who I know come with challenges either from an academic or behavioural standpoint are the first ones I search, as they demand my attention immediately. When I have a firm understanding of what level of achievement my students are displaying I then look at previous report cards to help me. If for example a student is obtaining a lower mark in mathematics then what has been previously reported it prompts me to further examine my assessment data to ensure my determinations are aligned with my criteria.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the proper protocol of what goes in an OSR, who can access an OSR, where that OSR can be viewed and the responsibilities a teacher has in regards to filing information in a student’s Ontario Student Record. A really rewarding aspect of doing my OSR searches is that I get to see how they have changed over the years with their annual photo. I have attached a template that I use when completing an OSR search.

 

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Kelly.McLaughlin Challenging Topics, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Interviews, Learning in a Real Life Context, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning

Meet the teacher night

Tonight was open house at my school and as usual parents wanted to know how their son or daughter were performing. This is always an interesting question to answer because parents want to know about math and language and I want to tell about how they are getting along with others and how polite and helpful they are.

It’s interesting to see that what a teacher values teaching the most is not always what would come up at a meet the teacher night. I hope that in my program I can help children with their math and language as well as help them treat others with respect as well as help them make our class a friendly place.

As a young teacher, I am always hoping that parents will be on board with the new shift in education, away from tests and onto rich learning experiences. Sometimes I wonder if after my students leave me, that I have failed them if they start to take tests and have no idea what they are doing. I do see the value in showing how much they know on a piece of paper as many high schools still work with this model, but I am always wondering how that will help them in their future. I understand that test writing is an important skill, so I need to think of ways to include this in my program in the future.

I am working on making our class a very open and comfortable space for learning right now and I am hoping in my next post to share about how the alternative seating is making the student space an amazing place to work. I hope to see the benefits of the seating and I am excited to take pictures of student learning experiences and share the stories.

 

Laura Bottrell General

Hello, I’m Laura!

My name is Laura Bottrell and I am quite happy to be joining the Heart and Art team for the first time this year. I am an Occasional Teacher in both the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and the Grand Erie District School Board, certified in the Primary and Junior Divisions. I had the wonderful opportunity to teach Kindergarten in an LTO position last year, and I am enjoying every moment of navigating my way through my first calendar year of teaching.

I hold a Bachelor of Youth and Children’s Studies and I am a Registered Early Childhood Educator. I have a professional interest in [and huge love for] early years education and I’m passionate about promoting and further exploring inquiry-based and play-based learning.

My other passion is the performing arts, which I love to bring into my teaching. I currently work in local community theatre and have taught drama, dance and visual arts for almost ten years. This year I am running a musical theatre program for children aged 3-6, which is just about as much fun as possible!

Other interests of mine include photography and travel – in fact, I’ve just returned from a five week adventure in The UK!

I’m very much looking forward to sharing my experiences as a beginning teacher with you and learning new things myself as we go along.

Happy Friday!