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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!

 

Sharon Ethier General

Embrace the Mud

Something about the beautiful sunny spring days that just makes me smile and want to spend more time outside. However, this past spring was RAINY! I feel like it rained for weeks at a time! Now, I know that saying “April showers bring May flowers” but it’s hard to keep that in remind when there are endless indoor recesses and postponed outdoor activities happening!

And so, this spring I decided to enjoy the weather. I was reminded of when I had a class trip and it rained all day. In fact, it poured! We were at an outdoors learning centre that only had a small enclosed area for shelter. Fortunately, students were dressed for the weather so we decided to dig right in.

Now, I enjoy the outdoors as much as anyone else (though perhaps slightly less than most in inclement weather), but spending all day in rainy conditions was daunting and stressful. The students, however, were prepared and excited. In fact, none of them seemed worried at all – they wanted to enjoy the day being together, learning outdoors, and being physically active.

I learned to embrace the mud! I let go of the idea of a perfect, sunny spring day and found joy in watching the students play, race, and splash. The outdoor learning staff was excellent at keeping them engaged, active, and busy. In fact, I even found myself enjoying the opportunity to build a wonderful, perfectly imperfect day together. We all came back soaked and smiling and happy.

Sometimes that’s just the way education goes. We have days that don’t go as perfectly as planned; art lessons or science experiments that leave the classroom a mess at the end of the period. This is the essence of teaching – embracing those muddy moments and seeing all the fun that is happening. Sometimes that’s the biggest lesson of all.

Brenda MacNaughton General

Refresh and Ignite!

I’m writing today from the shores of Rice Lake, where I’m attending a women’s retreat for seventy Kawartha Pine Ridge ETFO members. Sharing a cabin with three long-time colleagues, we are here to “Refresh and Ignite .” At dinner last night, we heard from Ontario NDP leader Merit Stiles about the importance of women in leadership roles, followed by a very entertaining round of Drag Bingo featuring two outstanding performers: Betty Baker and Sahira Q. There are a variety of sessions offered this year including outdoor education using wonder wagons, coping with burnout, breast cancer awareness, health care from an Indigenous perspective, landscape painting, humour/comedy, and yoga.

Attending retreat weekends takes coordination and effort, and many women have multiple roles of responsibility. There were years when I could not work the retreat into my schedule, but I’m so happy to be here today, even if the skies are gray. There is strong camaraderie and a friendly atmosphere for us to laugh and learn together.

Why is this retreat just for women? We have a history; before ETFO existed, our teacher unions were gender-based. The rise of women’s rights over the past century has allowed us to look at women’s issues and note that women need opportunities to connect in a safe environment. Saturday’s informative keynote address was by ETFO vice-president Shirley Bell. She reminded us that ETFO is mandated to fund and create women’s and other social justice programs. She said, “women need to see themselves reflected in leadership.”

Our local also held an all-members retreat this year for the first time. I’m sure this event will grow over the years. I appreciate the outstanding leadership at our local office and the dedicated volunteers who put the retreat together. I can’t emphasize enough how many fabulous opportunities there are within ETFO, and I encourage readers to explore how to be a more significant part of our union.

Further Viewing/Reading:

Equity and Women’s Programs Annual Report. 2022. ETFO.

Hanson, Andy. 2021. Class Action: How Ontario’s Elementary Teachers Became a Political Force.

It’s Elementary: 2020 Edition

Will Gourley 21st Century Learning, Celebrating Success, General, Social Media, Use of Technology, Why unions matter

labour(s)

This post has nothing to do with trade unions other than for me to publicly reiterate how important they are in the fight against oppressive, racist, exploitative, and elitist status quo economic structures. The golden rule has nothing to do with who has the gold getting to make the rules. It’s about treating others with the dignity and respect regardless of station or social status. I’m writing about labour as a positive antithesis to any entitled money addled capitalist con-drones deign to read something on a site other than Truth or Rebel media not something that is maligned for seeking acknowledgement and fairness for professionalism and hard work. 

Now back to the regularly scheduled post already in progress. 

Labour is in interesting word. It has roots in Latin (labor)* and can be a noun, adjective, and or verb. Labour is a clear description of subject and action. In many ways, labour encapsulates everything we know as educators. Teachers, like labour are nouns and verbs. We are subject and predicate. WE are purpose and passion in perfect action. It must be the sunshine or the good vibes of April that have me reflecting like this because lately there has been so much good happening all around in education, and it is outshining everything else on the horizon.

Since September until now students have been participating in competitions ranging from robotics, chess, athletics, and skills(animation, construction, media arts – to name a few). To no one’s surprise they are coming back energized from their experiences – teachers too. It was as if the void of the past 3 years are truly being left behind now as we focus our labours on the present and future. With so many positives happening in schools I think it would do us all good to share more of the good news going on as a result of our collective labour(s). 

In my last post loves I share about all the good things going on in my school right now, and how we need to hear/see more of the positives happening in our profession rather than nonstop negative narratives from non-educators intended to devalue the work we do each day. This got me weighing what gets shared and how it get shared when it comes to all of the good news going on in classrooms. Is once a week per classroom enough? Is everything worth a post? I have to believe these decisions lie ultimately with the individual educator in accordance to privacy policies. What we have to avoid in one breath is making it performative and in the other feeling like we are not doing enough when we choose not to share.

I know that many schools and teachers use Twitter/Instagram accounts to various extents myself included. Typically, I have tried to post moments of levity from the classroom or positive support for fellow educators doing and contributing great things via #onted. When it comes to sharing, student work is the focus while they themselves are blurred in any images shared. I have found that the Prisma app  installed on my smartphone is far better than sticking emojis on all the faces.

When it comes to resources I am always open to sharing freely and give mad props to other educators doing the same. I especially love sharing any TED Ed lessons that I’ve created, and am happy to respond to educators looking for ideas. As you grow your PLN on social media, you will find lots of like minded and generous educators doing the same with their work.

Whether it is on ‘socials’ or shared with the amazing staff in your building, it becomes very clear that our dedication and labour on behalf of our learners is what we all need to see more of in our feeds. Our labour(s) are worth celebrating in and out of our classrooms. 

*The Latin etymology for labor is obscure: the noun may be related to the verb lābī (which has a long ā ) “to move smoothly, slide” (commonly with implication of downward movement). Lābī in its turn may be related to labāre (with a short a in the root syllable) “to be unsteady on one’s feet, falter, totter.” via dictionary.com 
“Middle English, from Anglo-French labur, from Latin labor; perhaps akin to Latin labare to totter, labi to slip” via merriam-webster.com

Arianna Lambert Math, STEM

What’s the Probability?

This month we’ve been learning about probability. We started off by watching videos and learning about probability language. From there, older students connected probability language, representing the likelihood of events on a probability line. We’re running a series of probability experiments and spiralling back to some of the work that students already did in Data Management with graphing and analyzing the data. All-in-all, it’s been a busy and exciting month learning about probability from kindergarten to grade 5!

Kindergarten

In kindergarten, it’s been all about probability language and explaining our answers. The students are learning that there isn’t always just one right answer but that we can have different answers that can still be correct. One example was the probability of having dessert after dinner. When asked, some students said certain because they always have dessert. Others said that it was unlikely because they rarely have dessert, while still, others said it was impossible because they can’t have sugar in the evening. We learned that our justification was just as important as our answer. One activity that we did was in Jamboard where students sorted items based on their probability of either seeing them or eating them. 

Primary Classes

Give primary students a quarter and the excitement in the room is palpable. After trying their hand at the Jamboard to learn more about probability language, students started to get into doing some experiments and talking about events that are equally likely. Tasked with tossing a coin 20 times, students had to colour in a chart that served as the graph of their data. We also spoke about sample size and I collected the data from multiple classes to show the difference between the results from one group, one class, and then the entire sample who tossed the coin. We’re going to be designing spinners next and using our probability language to make predictions and then analyze our results. 

Junior Classes

Who knew that rolling a number cube could be so exciting? I did run out of number cubes so we’ve also been using Mathigon Polypad and the excitement is similar. We’ve done 2 experiments so far with our number cubes. The first was to see the results of 30 tosses with one number cube. The second was to investigate what happens when we roll 2 number cubes, 35 times. We were interested in finding the probability of the sum of each roll. We started out by making predictions and after about 10 rolls, some students were already wanting to change their predictions. This led to conversations about which sums would be more likely than others. After graphing their results, we collected the data from different groups and have been analyzing it. 

Up next

Now that students have an understanding of probability, they will be tasked with creating their own games that involve probability. There are a number of online templates available that I can share with students or they can choose to design their own games using found materials in the classroom. For some of our activities, we have been using Alice Keeler’s blank dice roll template. May will be a month of creating and hopefully we’ll have some new and exciting games to try.

 

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.

Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola General, Health & Safety, Mental Health, Mindfulness, wellness, Wellness

Pause as Motion

Rest
Picture by Anna Shvets

 

Have you ever thought of that? Pause as motion. Take a break, a breath, a moment to gather momentum and run well-oiled instead of fumes.

Rest is an essential practice for teachers for several reasons:

  1. Self-care: Teaching is a demanding profession requiring much mental, emotional, and physical energy. Rest is crucial for educators to take care of their well-being. Like any other professional, educators must prioritize their health and well-being to be effective. Rest allows educators to recharge, rejuvenate, and replenish their energy levels, which can help prevent burnout and promote overall well-being.
  2. Mental and emotional well-being: Teaching can be emotionally challenging, as educators often deal with various stressors such as managing classrooms, navigating student behaviour, meeting deadlines, and dealing with parent concerns. Rest allows educators to relax and de-stress, which can help them manage their mental and emotional well-being. It will enable educators to take a step back, reflect, and process their thoughts and emotions, which can improve their ability to handle challenges and make sound decisions.
  3. Cognitive functioning: Rest is essential for cognitive functioning, including memory consolidation, problem-solving, and creativity. Educators must be mentally sharp and alert to effectively plan and deliver lessons, assess student performance, and adapt their instruction to meet diverse student needs. Sufficient rest can enhance cognitive functioning, including attention, concentration, and critical thinking skills, essential for effective teaching.
  4. Work-life balance: Rest is crucial for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Teaching can be a demanding profession requiring long work hours, including lesson planning, grading, and voluntary extracurricular activities. Educators may become overwhelmed with work-related responsibilities without adequate rest, negatively impacting their personal life, relationships, and overall well-being. Rest allows educators to establish boundaries between their personal and professional lives and promotes a healthy work-life balance, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction.
  5. Role modelling for students: Rest also serves as a positive role model. Educators are responsible for imparting academic knowledge and modelling healthy behaviours and habits. By practicing rest, we can show students the importance of self-care, well-being, and overall balance, which can positively influence their behaviours and attitudes toward their health and well-being.

Take a moment. Give it some thought. Pause as motion. Educators must maintain physical, mental, and emotional well-being, enhance cognitive functioning, establish a healthy work-life balance, and model positive student behaviours. Prioritizing rest can lead to more effective and fulfilling teaching and learning practices.

Amanda Hardy General

Embracing Change

I couldn’t believe it when I got the call. Although, hopeful and eager, I knew the odds of getting my dream job right out of Teachers’ College was not likely. So, when that call came in for a homeroom class of Grade 1 students in a school close to home, I was ecstatic. That first year was full of learning, not only for my students, but for myself as well. As I settled in, my classroom became my second home. As we know, educators often spend more waking hours at school than at home. And, I loved my job, my students, co-workers and community; I landed my dream job and I wasn’t going ANYWHERE. 

Or was I…

I still remember going home so upset that dreadful day in early spring when I received a letter from my school board indicating that I was redundant.  What does this mean? Redundant? How did this happen? I thought. I was confused with the process and what it all meant. The staffing process can be overwhelming, confusing and a little bit scary for new and even experienced teachers. Gratefully, my Local was there to support me through the process. If you’re working through the staffing process of your board right now and unsure of anything, remember to reach out to your Local and ask questions. 

Since that first year, I experienced many other unplanned changes to my job assignment depending on the needs of the school. One year, as a result of being surplus, I took a junior homeroom teacher position with the hopes of getting back into the primary division, preferring Grade 1. Although initially unwelcomed, that change, among others, opened my eyes to the variety of teaching roles within my board. 

Intermediate Student Success Teacher, Music, Physical Education, and Dance teacher, and recently providing preparation coverage/planning time to our Special Education, Self-Contained Classrooms are not roles I ever thought I’d do. Truthfully if some of those initially unwelcomed changes early in my career didn’t happen, who knows if I would have taken those opportunities as they came up. When I started my career I had little interest in teaching anything other than primary homeroom. I certainly didn’t want to work outside a traditional classroom setting. 

Experience in different teaching roles throughout my career has allowed me to truly grow and learn as an educator. While the changes, especially early in my career, were hard to accept, I am glad I did and now embrace these changes and challenge myself in learning new roles. In fact, in September I will take on yet a different role within my school and look forward to learning and growing with my students. 

If you are new to teaching or have been doing the same thing for years, I encourage you to explore other teaching roles and see what is out there  – You might surprise yourself!

Brenda MacNaughton General

Using National Film Board Resources in Elementary Classrooms

Created in 1939, the NFB is a federal agency under the Department of Canadian Heritage. Its mandate is to create, produce, and distribute distinctive and original audiovisual works that reflect the diverse realities and perspectives of Canadians, and to share these works with the people of Canada and the rest of the world.  Source

Using audiovisual media with our students helps create a dynamic learning environment. As Canadian educators we can inspire our students by promoting Canadian filmmakers. Canada’s National Film Board provides many examples of film and video across all subject areas and age groups. Here are some examples of NFB content that are particularly suited to elementary educators. Please explore the NFB Education page and the NFB Blog for many more films to use in your classes. If you would like to work with other Canadian educators who promote the use of NFB content, then consider applying to be part of the NFB Educator Network.

Private Eyes Ages 6-9

Why is it important to respect individuality and encourage independence?

Topics: Independence, Physical Disabilities, Visual Impairment, Blind, Senses, Braille, Companion Pets, Communication, Confidence, Self-Worth, Challenges, Resourceful

Film Length: 14 minutes 26 seconds

Overdose Ages 6+

How does stress impact your life?

Topics: burnout, stress management

Film Length: 5 minutes 30 seconds

Elbow Room  Ages 7+   

How can you express your emotions to others?

Topics:  conflict resolution, emotion, dialogue, compromise

Film Length: 8 minutes 30 seconds

Big Mouth Ages 8-10

Is telling the truth always the right thing to do?

Topics: Truth, Communication, Social Relationships, Empathy, Unique Character Traits, Differences, Poetry

Film Length: 8 minutes 20 seconds

Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows   Ages 12+

How has the rise of social media and digital technology used entertainment and sensationalism to overshadow responsibility, human dignity and human rights?

Topics: Consent, Social Media, Technology and Innovation, Cyber-bullying, Identity, Self-Esteem, Media Ethics, Privacy, Online Relationships, Digital Environment

In Full Voice  Ages 11+ (In French with English subtitles)

How can we deconstruct and disrupt anti-Muslim racism by understanding the specific and diverse experiences of Muslim women?

Topics: Muslim women, Islam, Islamophobia, diversity, identity, religion, gender, spirituality, stereotypes, culture, intersectionality

Film Length: 52 minutes

Warnings: It is important to take a trauma-informed approach to this learning. It is not uncommon for Muslim students to experience Islamophobia in various aspects of their lives. Non-Muslim students may not be aware of the challenges Muslim students face. It will be helpful to inform and prepare Muslim students, with care, that this film may bring up some difficult emotions. It will also be helpful to remind all students of class guidelines and agreements about the discussion of difficult topics.

Hi-Ho Mistahey  Ages 12+ 

Why isn’t the right to a quality education universal in Canada?

Topics: Treaties with First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Oral Promises, Constitutional Rights, Indian Act, Underfunding, Departments of Aboriginal Affairs

Film Length: 1 hour 40 minutes

Colleen Elep General

Book Review: Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces, by Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Professional reading for educators tends to be rather prosaic, focusing on how to do things, such as taking a new approach to teaching or reinforcing specific strategies. While these books are certainly important to read, it can be highly stimulating to look outside the realm of education for new perspectives and ideas. For this reason, autobiography is one my favourite genres of writing. Reading the everyday, exceptional and relatable lived experiences of others is fascinating, inspiring, and empowering at the same time. As the publishing industry has diversified, the range of voices we can choose from as readers is broader than ever. In my own reading and exploration, I have found that many autobiographies I have helped me to enhance my work in becoming a more culturally responsive educator.

One particular autobiography that stood out for me this year is Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces, by Elamin Abdelmahmoud. I initially picked up this book because I had been following Abdelmahmoud for his journalistic writing, but quickly learned that it was an excellent text for enriching for my teaching practice as well. Throughout this book, Abdelmahmoud shares his lived experience of Canadian school and society as a Black newcomer student learning English and a plethora of different cultural norms.

Abdelmahmoud’s book describes his journey from Sudan to Canada as a child, interweaving the turbulent colonial history of Sudan and “Operation Infinite Reach” with the numerous culture shocks that came with moving to the largely white community of Kingston, Ontario. Both informative and reflective, Abdelmahmoud’s writing tenderly intersects geopolitical, migration, and coming-of-age narratives. The concept of “elsewhere” forms the foundation of Abdelmahmoud’s storytelling. He writes: “elsewhere is an orientation, an emotional frequency, a chaotic compass that waits until you take a step in one direction, then immediately points in the direction behind you.”

Abdelmahmoud’s developing sense of identity is a central theme of the book. He discovers that he has “become” Black when he arrives in Canada, and grapples with the expectations and stereotypes that are ascribed to his skin colour in Canada. He describes the Islamophobia that surrounded his upbringing in Kingston, and the suspicion his community faces after the horrific 9/11 attacks. He also delves into what secondary school life was like as an English language learner, sometimes humorously exploring what that meant for his dating and social life.

Music and pop culture fans of the early aughts will also appreciate Abdelmahmoud’s reflections on country music and his complex connections with Linkin Park, WWE wrestling the OC. Personally, I found his thoughts on adolescence incredibly relatable and heartwarming. The tensions he describes between his parents’ Sudanese cultural values and Canadian society will likely be incredibly relatable for anyone who has grown up in a cross-cultural home.

Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces is a worthwhile read for educators reading for work, recreation, or both! It is also available on audiobook, and is read by the author himself, which I highly reccommend.