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Deb Weston Health & Safety

Being Allergy Aware

In dealing with allergies in schools, it is important to be aware of potential allergens. Introducing allergens into schools can put people at risk, including students, office staff, teaching assistants, custodial staff, administrators, non-teaching professionals, teachers, and even trades people.

Allergens are not just something that can bother people, allergens can be life threatening. There are a number of life threatening allergies that can result in anaphylactic shock. In extreme cases, life-threatening allergic reactions can happen or make people really ill.

Anaphylactic shock symptoms

  • Skin reactions, including hives and itching and flushed or pale skin
  • Low blood pressure (hypotension)
  • Constriction of airways and swollen tongue or throat, which can cause wheezing and trouble breathing
  • A weak and rapid pulse
  • Nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea
  • Dizziness and/or fainting

Causes of severe allergic reactions 

As part of a defense against diseases, people’s immune systems develop antibodies to defend against harmful foreign substances. These substances could be bacteria or viruses. But some people’s immune systems develop reactions to substances that usually don’t cause allergic reactions in others.

Some of these substances can include:

  • Medications such as antibiotics and over-the-counter pain relievers
  • Foods like peanuts, nuts, fish, seafood, milk
  • Bites and stings from bees, yellow jackets, hornets, and fire ants
  • Exercise
  • Cosmetics and scents, latex products
  • Air particles like plant pollen, dust mites, animal dander, mold

Allergies causing death

Some allergic reactions can be so severe that people can die from anaphylactic shock. This means that breathing can become highly constricted and, in addition, severe loss of blood pressure can occur. Due to the reality of some people dying from anaphylactic shock, laws have been put in place to protect people from dying from allergic reactions.

 Sabrina’s Law

Sabrina’s Law came about as a result of a young girl dying from anaphylactic shock after accidentally injecting peanut oil.

This act requires that every school principal establish strategies to reduce the risk of exposure to anaphylactic substances. Plans also must communicate information about life threatening allergies to school staff. Administrators must arrange for regular staff training to prepare for an emergency situation. Principals must maintain an up to date file of current information on about each student who has an anaphylactic allergy and establish an individual plan for each student who has a life threatening allergy.

In case of an emergency situation, school staff are authorized to administer an epinephrine auto-injector to a student without the written consent of the student’s physician and parent or guardian or adult student. In addition, staff should call 911 and follow the directions provided by Emergency Management Systems.

There has been some research done to limit and/or prevent life threatening allergies such as the early introduction of peanuts to babies. This prevents children from developing a severe reaction to peanuts thus preventing allergen issues later in life. Early introduction of peanut to babies

Other allergies that are smelly

Besides ingesting food and/or medications, cosmetics and scented products can cause allergic reactions. For some people, scented products can cause serious reactions including asthma, migraines, and other reactions such as rashes.  A person wearing scented products to school could cause another person to become very ill – resulting in the person having to leave work. Even clothes washed in scented products such as wash-in scent balls can trigger reactions. Health and Safety legislation consider scents in the workplace as a workplace hazard. 

Scented products can be found in workplaces in:

  • air fresheners
  • hand sanitizer, hand soap, dish washing liquid, industrial and household cleaners
  • facial tissues
  • laundry detergents and fabric softeners
  • candles
  • building material, upholstery fabrics, carpeting

Being aware of scent allergies means that people do not wear perfume or cologne to work. It means not using cosmetic or laundry products that give off strong scents. It means thinking about the needs of others in schools and in workplaces.

For preventing allergic reactions in other people, be aware of what you bring to school including scents and smells. It’s kind and it’s common scents.

Always fresh and never smelly!

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

Deb Weston Advocacy for change, Advocacy for public education, Special Education

What’s up with the increase of students with IEPs in Ontario classrooms?

From People for Education, 2019, p. 15

An Individual Education Plan …

  • is a working document that is developed and maintained for a student who is deemed exceptional by an Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC)
  • must be developed with input from the parent(s)/guardian(s) and from the student if he or she is 16 years of age or older
  • is developed within 30 days of the placement of an exceptional student in a particular program
  • must provide a copy to parent(s)/guardian(s)
  • must provide a copy to student 16 years or older
  • identifies the student’s specific learning expectations
  • outlines how the school will address these expectations through appropriate accommodations, program modifications and/or alternative programs as well as specific instructional and assessment strategies
  • includes accommodations (i.e. ways to support the student’s learning) and modifications to learning expectations (i.e. often changes to grade level expectations)
  • has students deemed with an exceptionality based on a psychoeducational report
  • contains IPRC recommendations when developing or reviewing the student’s IEP

Psychoeducational reports/assessments

  • completed by trained educational psychologists
  • based on testing and observations
  • identifies student’s profiles including their strengths and needs
  • suggests accommodations and/or modifications to support learning
  • includes supports such as special equipment, technology resources, and educational assistance
  • “Psychologists are a vital component of special education support in Ontario. These professionals assess students’ special education needs, design interventions for students, and provide direct support to both students and the staff supporting them (Ontario Psychological Association, 2013).” (People for Education, 2019, p. 15)
  • “Northern school boards report the highest percentage of schools (58%) without access to a psychologist – this may be due to the difficulty of traveling to more isolated schools in Ontario’s rural North. According to a 2017 report, the cost associated with travel and housing for specialized staff have contributed to a lack of support for students with special education needs in Northern and isolated First Nations communities (Ontario First Nation Special Education Working Group, 2017).”  (People for Education, 2019, p. 15)

Role of Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC)

  • consideration must be given to any recommendations made by the IPRC concerning special education programs and services that may be particularly appropriate for meeting the student’s needs
  • includes possible funding to support these recommendations made by the IPRC concerning special education programs and services that may be particularly appropriate for meeting the student’s needs

What if the student has not had a psychoeducational assessment?

  • an IEP can be developed for students who have not had a psychoeducational assessment and/or have not been identified with an exceptionality under the Special Education Act
  • students may also have an IEP developed when they require accommodations, program modifications and/or alternative programs
  • students with special needs, not formally identified with an exceptionality, may receive appropriate special education programs and/or services that will allow them to be able to achieve the grade-level learning expectations
  • IEPs can include accommodations and modifications documented in the students’ IEP
  • some students require alternative expectations, not specifically related to curriculum, that may outline specific learning needs and strategies

Why is the IPRC process so important?

  • IPRCs deem students with an exceptionality based on psychological educational assessments
  • IPRCs recommend supports and funding to support students’ learning needs
  • approximately 50% of students receiving special education support go through the formal IPRC process based on psychoeducational assessment (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2018b)
  • students with IPRC identification have a legal right to special education support (Education Act, 1990)

Has there been an increase in students with IEPs in classrooms?

The Ontario Human Rights Commission 2018 policy stated that schools must accommodate students’ disability needs “whether or not a student with a disability falls within the Ministry’s definition of ‘exceptional pupil,’ and whether or not the student has gone through a formal IPRC process, or has an IEP” (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018, p. 13).

“Data from the Ontario Ministry of Education show that, while the proportion of students going through the IPRC process has remained relatively stable since 2006-2007, the proportion of students with IEPs has been steadily increasing” (People for Education, 2019).

In other words, students who are not identified via the IPRC process are increasingly receiving special education support through an IEP. With no exceptionality in place, specific supports are not always forthcoming. These supports could include educational assistants, support personnel, and specialized equipment.

Lack of funding for psychoeducational assessments

 People for Education (2019) reported:

  • “60% of elementary and 53% of secondary schools report that there are restrictions on the number of students who can be assessed each year”
  • “92% of elementary schools and 94% of secondary schools report that students waiting for an assessment are receiving some special education support”

With little or no funding for psychoeducational assessments:

  • students are put on waiting lists for assessments, sometimes for many years
  • students with the greatest needs are moved to the top of the lists leaving other students waiting longer for assessments
  • parents with resources pay out-of-pocket for each private assessments costing up to $4000
  • 94% of elementary and 81% of secondary schools reported having students on waiting lists for psychoeducational assessments (People for Education, 2019)
  • on average there can be up to 6 elementary students and 4 secondary students on waiting lists for professional assessments in their schools (People for Education, 2019)

Gaps in support – Lack of equity in special education funding 

Students with psychological assessment

 Students with no psychological assessment
  • psychological assessment to develop IEP
  • no psychological assessment to develop IEP
  • psychological assessment to have student deemed with an exceptionality via IPRC
  • no guarantee of funding or support via IPRC
  • funding in the form of additional special education support for teacher and/or educational assistant time
  • no funding for special education support for teacher and/or educational assistant time
  • funding can include special equipment and technology supports
  • no funding for special equipment and technology supports

The People for Education have noted an increasing gap between students with IEPs as compared to students with IPRCs (see chart below). This means there are an increasing amount of students with special education needs in classrooms with little or no support as compared to students with special education supports.

Year

Students with IEPs

Students with IPRCs

2017 – 2018

16.7%

 8.5%

2016 – 2017

 16.5%

8.7%

2015 – 2016

 16.2%

8.8%

2014 – 2015

 15.9%

8.9%

2013 – 2014

 15.4%

9.1%

2012 – 2013

 15.2%

9.2%
2011 – 2012 14.5%

9.3%

2010 – 2011

 14.5%

9.3%

It is not Ontario teachers’ imaginations that there are more students with IEPs in their classrooms. With less support for students with IEPs, teachers struggle to meet the needs of these learners and the needs of the rest of the students in their classroom.

“Large class sizes impact the teacher to student ratio. Students with special education needs require greater support and more teacher one-on-one time. Large class sizes make this challenging. Having more special education teachers would help to reduce this challenge by decreasing the teacher to student ratio. Elementary school, Peel DSB” (People for Education, 2019).

Questions about supporting students with special education needs:

  1.  Why are there so many students with IEPs in classrooms without additional adult support?
  2. What data is being used to develop IEPs without psychoeducational assessments?
  3. Given the Ontario Human Rights Code, why is the public education system condoning the lack of assess to psychoeducational assessments for students who have less assess to funding?
  4. Why are teachers solely having to support so many students with IEPs?
  5. Are Ontario public schools NOT meeting the needs of their most vulnerable students with special education needs?

As an advocate for students with special education needs, I write this blog out of concern for all students with special education needs who are not getting the support they need to learn.

Special Education Teacher,

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston, PhD

References

Education Act, Revised Statutes of Ontario. (1990, c. E.2). Retrieved from the Government of Ontario.

Ontario First Nation Special Education Working Group. (2017). Ontario First Nations Special
Education Review Report. Toronto, ON: Author.

Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2018). Policy: Accessible Education for Students with
Disabilities. Toronto, ON: Author.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2018a). Education Facts, 2017-2018 (Preliminary). Toronto, ON:
Government of Ontario.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2018b). 2018-19 Education Funding: A Guide to the Special
Education Grant. Toronto, ON: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2019). Part E: The Individual Education Plan (IEP), Downloaded from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/os/2017/spec_ed_6.html

Ontario Psychological Association. (2013). Professional Practice Guidelines for School Psychologists in Ontario. Toronto, ON: Author.

People for Education. (2019). Annual report on Ontario’s publically funded schools 2019. People for Education. Downloaded from https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PFE-2019-Annual-Report.pdf.

 

Deb Weston Teacher Wellness

Did you get your flu shot yet?

Did you get your flu shot yet?

It’s a good question to ask teachers as the nature of their professional exposes them to hundreds of people each working day – this includes children who get sick on a regular basis as they are still in the process of strengthening their immune system. Unlike medical workers, teachers do not work in an environment where surfaces are continually cleaned. Flu is spread by tiny droplets from a sick person coughing, sneezing, or talking. Children openly sneeze and do not always wash their hands. This results in teachers having increased levels of exposure to colds and flu as compared to other professionals.

The Flu: A Guide for Parents

When does flu season start?

Flu season starts in the late fall as the weather changes and people spend more time inside. Starting in October, getting a flu shot is the perfect time to hold off the flu.

What’s the difference between the flu and a cold?

Getting the flu is not like getting a cold. Colds usually come on gradually with symptoms of sneezing, stuffy noses, sore throats, and a mild to moderate cough.

The flu is very different. Getting a flu virus results in an abrupt onset with fever, aches, chills, fatigue, weakness, cough, headache, and overall body discomfort which sometimes includes a sore throat and stuffy nose.

Who is most at risk?

For most people, getting the flu does not cause serious health problems. But in some cases, flu can cause pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, and ear infections. With health conditions such as asthma and heart problems, people can end up in complications resulting in much time off work and/or hospital stays. High risk groups include people with asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, blood disorders, liver disorders, diabetes, cancer, and neurological conditions. The age groups most impacted by the flu include adults older than 65 years, pregnant women, and young children under 2 years old.

Can a flu vaccine give you the flu?

“No, flu vaccines cannot cause flu illness. Flu vaccines given with a needle (i.e., flu shots) are currently made in two ways: the vaccine is made either with a) flu viruses that have been ‘inactivated’ (killed) and that therefore are not infectious, or b) using only a single gene from a flu virus (as opposed to the full virus) in order to produce an immune response without causing infection. This is the case for  recombinant influenza vaccines.” Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD)

Why is it so important to get a flu shot?

When a healthy person gets the flu they may spend time at home in bed and then recover relatively quickly. The challenge for a healthy person in getting the flu is that they can transmit it to people who are compromised due to health issues. When a healthy person gets a flu shot, they protect their friends and family from getting the flu. I often say to my students that getting a flu shot prevents their young and older family members from getting the flu.

What’s so special about this year’s flu season?

One hundred years ago, between 1918 to 1920, a vigilant H1N1 flu (influenza) pandemic spread across the world infecting 500 million people and killing over 50, million people. This resulted in a decrease in the world population by about 3 to 5%. This flu is often referred to as the Spanish Flu but its origins are still debated today. This deadly flu was thought to have spread from soldiers fighting in World War I. This flu was associated with high death rates of healthy young people with some dying within hours of developing symptoms

North American health professionals often look to Australia to predict the next flu season. This year, Australia had an early and severe flu season which could mean a similar outbreak in Canada. In 2017, Australia had their worst flu outbreak in 20 years which was followed by one of the worst outbreaks of flu in the United States with an estimated 79,000 dead.

Flu outbreaks can result in complications with more hospital stays that overtax health systems for people needing hospitalization for other issues. Getting the flu vaccine could prevent this from happening.

In 2009, my students invited their classmates to a birthday party. One of the students had the H1N1 flu virus. In a class of 24 students, 18 students missed a week of class due to this flu. Their teacher, me, was then hit with the flu. I missed 4 days of work. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Upon hearing I was diagnosed with H1N1, my partner got his flu shot and slept in another room until I was well. The flu compromised my immune system and months later I contracted Whooping Cough.

Stay healthy. Be prepared. Get a flu shot this year.

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

Frequently Asked Influenza (Flu) Questions: 2019-2020 Season

Misconceptions about Seasonal Flu and Flu Vaccines

 

 

Michelle Fenn 21st Century Learning, Behaviour Management, Building Inclusion, Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Design, Diverse Learning Needs, Flexible Classroom, Inclusion, Inspiring Students, Learning About Your Students, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection, Wellness

Triggers and Habits in Teaching Part One

Dreaded Seating Arrangements

Almost every teacher I talk to says, “I have a really difficult class this year.”  The difficulties identified are most often tied to “behaviour” issues.  In my experience effective classroom “management” can be connected to dynamic programming and developing solid relationships with students. Many of us go to things like Class Dojo or incentive programs to “manage” behaviour and some have their merits.  However, they might “manage” behaviour, but does it help student to learn to self-regulate?  I understand that there are students who have behaviour safety plans that can provide challenges and I do not mean to downplay the effect that even one student’s behaviour can have on an entire class.  However, there are ways in which we can have small tweaks in our triggers and habits in teaching that will have a positive outcome on developing a community of learners.

So what is a trigger?  A trigger in psychological terms can  used to describe sensations, images or experiences that re-visit a traumatic memory.  It can also mean to make something happen very quickly; a reaction.  It is also referred to as an event that kicks off the automatic urge to complete a habit.*  Habits are seen as something that people do often or regularly.  Habits can even be unconscious behaviours and sometimes difficult to stop.  What do triggers and habits have to do with teaching?

Over the years I think I have become more self aware in the classroom about my own triggers and habits.  It is easy to continue to do a routine in a classroom simply because it is something that we have always done. Even when we have sound pedagological reasoning, it can be difficult to change or cease a habit. For example, for many years I put names on the desks of students before they entered the classroom on the first day of school.  I don’t really know why I began this habit.  Besides a wedding, some kind of gala or a reservation at a restaurant, I get to choose where I sit every day.  It is a fairly important life skill.  I’m not going to find my name on a seat on the city bus.  Once I recognized that this routine was purely out of habit and was “triggered” by the first day of school, I decided to change it up.  On the first day of school with a grade 4-5 class, the students came into the room and sat wherever they wanted. I admit that this made the perfectionist in me who loves order, routine and habit rather uncomfortable.  I had some students sit in groups, some in pairs and some on their own.  Then we had a class meeting about how they had felt when they entered the room and had to make their seating choice.  There was talk of anxiousness, sweaty palms, heart rate increase, fear of missing out and for some it was no big deal.  I decided to create a google form to survey the students about where to sit in the classroom, how often we would change it up and who would decide.  The results of the survey were fascinating.  Some students wanted me to choose where they sat and wanted to have that same spot every day for 194 days.  Some never wanted to “sit” in a group but wanted to be a part of it during group work time.  We came up with a plan that each Monday the students would choose where to sit for the week and the students who wanted a regular spot would be able to keep it and the other students would respect their choices without question.  We also had some extra choices for seating that students could go to if their choices for that week weren’t working out.  The students gained incredible insight into self-regulation.  I heard things like, “I sat with Gracie all week and we’re such good friends, I didn’t get my work done so I’m not going to sit with her next week.”  or  “I don’t hang out with Olivia but I know she is a serious student so I’d like to sit with her in a group.”

It isn’t easy to be self aware while we are trying to keep our head above water, collect permission forms, listen to announcements, adjust our day plan for the assembly that was announced, deal with a parent that wants to chat in the hallway AND teach curriculum.  I GET that…however, being aware of triggers and habits and making small tweaks to our teaching behaviour can make a big difference in our classroom community.

*106:Triggers-The Key to Building and Breaking Habits, Chris Sparks, 2018

 

Michelle Fenn 21st Century Learning, Behaviour Management, Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Constant Learning, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Inclusion, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, self reflection, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher Wellness, Wellness, wellness

Daring Classrooms

I state the obvious when I say that teaching is a demanding job.  If you are reading this, you are most likely a teacher and this is not news to you.  I’d like to highlight a resource that feeds the soul of a teacher (and quite frankly a human being) while also providing some strategies for integrating that soul feeding into your classroom practice for your students.  Wait, what…that exists?  It is a website from Brene Brown called Daring Classrooms.  If you haven’t heard of her yet, you can find “The Call to Courage” on Netflix and/or her Ted Talk on Vulnerability.  She is inspirational in leadership, in life and in work.  Here is a snippet from her #DaringClassrooms website:

“Teachers are some of our most important leaders. We know that we can’t always ask our students to take off the armor at home, or even on their way to school, because their emotional and physical safety may require self-protection.

But what we can do, and what we are ethically called to do as teachers, is create a space in our schools and classrooms where all students can walk in and, for that day or hour, take off the crushing weight of their armor, hang it on a rack, and open their heart to truly being seen.

Teachers are the guardians of spaces that allow students to breathe and be curious and explore the world and be who they are without suffocation. Students deserve one place where they can rumble with vulnerability and their hearts can exhale.

And what I know from the research is that we should never underestimate the benefit to a child of having a place to belong—even one—where they can take off their armor. It can and often does change the trajectory of their life.

Teachers: Everyday should be Teacher Appreciation Day. I am so grateful for you and your willingness to show up and create brave, safe spaces where our children can learn, grow, and be seen.”

Some of the short (8-12 minute) video resources from Daring Classrooms include:

How do we avoid the pressure to please?

How do teachers manage oversharing?

How do we help parents understand failing as part of the learning process?

Does the word “disappointed” shame students?

In addition to the video resources there are free downloads for resources, parenting the classroom and daily life.  There are pdfs that you can print out for working with students.  My favourite one is the list of core emotions.  Sometimes when students have triggers they can’t always name or explain the emotion that caused the trigger in behaviour.  Being able to learn about the names and the definitions of core emotions is helpful for students to self-regulate.

Every year in a classroom brings new challenges.  In fact, every day in a classroom will bring on a new challenge.  I hope that as you lead your own #DaringClassroom you will find this resource helpful and that it may feed your teacher soul.

Laura Bottrell General

What Can We Learn From Halloween Candy?

Math talks encourage participation, nurture intuition, build fluency, and enhance mental math strategies. Most importantly, math talks improve students’ ability to justify and defend their thinking. In my own practice, this instructional strategy has been the most valuable window into my students’ thinking.

Sometimes the best math talks come from things that seemingly involve no math at all. One of my class’ favourite math activities is to play “Which One Doesn’t Belong?”, where students examine four pictures (or shapes, or numbers) side by side and must decide which one does not belong with the set, justifying their answers. These are open-ended, high-ceiling prompts with multiple access points which allow the teacher to meet students where they’re at in the conversation, and other students’ more complex thinking to challenge their peers. You can access these images for use in your own classroom here.

I want my students to see that math is everywhere in their lives. Taking a bit of a Kindergarten approach, I’ve been going out of my way to point out math concepts that occur naturally throughout our day. On Halloween, before sending them home for their night of trick-or-treating, I asked them what they usually do with their candy when they get back home. Most said that they dump it on the floor (of course!).

I asked, “well, what do you do next?”. About half of them shared that they sort or count their candy. We talked a little bit about the different ways that everyone usually sorts their candy. I invited them to have their families take a picture of their sorted candy piles and send it to me! They seemed pretty excited about their “candy homework”.

That night, almost all of the families in my class submitted a picture! The following day, I used their pictures for one of the most engaging and valuable math talks we’ve had this year.


We took our time looking at each of the submitted photos, noticing and naming math concepts that were visible in each one. Their best ideas came from my simple prompt, “What math can you see here?“. Some of the concepts and skills that we touched upon include:

Number Sense – subitizing, estimating (when a full set is visible and when parts of a set are buried – for example, what could be the answer when we can’t see what is underneath the pile?), counting, least/greatest, mental math addition and subtraction

Patterning – patterning by different attributes (shape, colour, kind of candy)

Measurement – measurement with non-standard units (the way we line up the candy along the floor affects how the quantity appears – for example, if the same amount of different sized bars are lined up touching one another, it may appear that there are more of the larger sized bars because they create a longer line)

Data Management – different rules for sorting and classifying, different ways of arranging the candy to make their thinking clear, discussions about the most and least popular types of candy given out

Geometry – sorting and classifying by geometric properties of the candy packaging (rectangular candy, square packages, spheres, 2D vs. 3D packaging, etc)

Our wonderfully rich math talk also lead us into a media literacy discussion about packaging, advertising and marketing, and why certain candy brands appeared to be more popular than others.

They had so much to share that we will have to continue on Monday!

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment and Evaluation, Celebrating Success, Language Learning, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy

Halloween learning opportunity

During the past few weeks, my students have been writing short scary stories. They have been working in groups to create stories with creative characters, a strong plot and a problem that arises in their story. 

About a month ago, my students were thinking hard to plan for our first drama task of the year. Knowing Halloween was at the end of the month, they wanted to plan a Halloween task. They wanted to have some sort of haunted house that would involve all of the grade eight students. Unfortunately that wasn’t able to happen, but for the 30 students that did participate, they worked well to create an exciting final product. 

With my students help, what we ended up deciding on was that each scary short story would be performed in our class in the haunted house. We would present our scary short stories. Five stories ended up being brought to life. Each story had unique characters, a unique stage, audience setup and music soundtrack. For that reason, students who did not want to act helped in other ways such as stage crew, music creator or class collector. This short story project ended up turning into a show for six classes to view. 

Students decorated the room to their liking the day before towards the end of the day. They worked hard to set up a spooky setup that would work for everyone. A student in my colleagues class donated decorations for the entire project and the students had fun setting them up. A few days prior to decorating, two of my students went around to the grade five and six teachers and asked them to sign up for a viewing time. The classes would come on October 30th to view the five shows. 

The performances went very well! Students were evaluated on the writing of their stories for literacy as well as many drama expectations for their performances. They were marked on their ability to plan and shape the drama throughout their many performances and were also evaluated based on their ability to use the elements of drama. They did an amazing job telling each of their created stories to their peers. 

It was great to see such collaboration for this project as many students invited other actors into their group as they enjoyed writing a story that would include as many as up to ten actors. They let students audition for the part and then the show became their own as well. Teachers complimented the students on their amazing show creation and very well written stories. The kids had a great time and are excited to try something like this again during the winter holidays. I am so proud of my students for their collaboration skills during this project and their ability to take on such a large task. I am excited for their next opportunity to showcase their incredible leadership abilities and their group work skills. 

Will Gourley General, Making a Difference Through Education, self reflection

Seedlings, trees, and fallen leaves

It’s Fall. Ugh.

As the last leaves drop, it is a good opportunity to share some recent thoughts inspired by the change of seasons beyond the sub-joyous feelings from cold, wet, and grey days. It is a season that offers a lot of natural analogies about education as well.

Around my neighbourhood, as in most, the trees have shed their fashionable foliage, trading in their shade and shelter for a minimalist cover of bark. Thankfully, the ground continues to accept the last colourful leaves without a fuss. This cover provides much needed nutrients and insulation to seeds burrowed beneath the surface.

I have cut my lawn for the last time this year and made sure the leaf litter was mulched back into the soil, not removed. No raking for this homeowner. I would never have known this without teaching a unit on ecosystems. Think of all the time I could have saved?

I have accepted that wearing shorts and a golf shirt to school is no longer a viable option. Like Fall, change is all around. Time to dig out the sweaters, toques, and other winter wear. Summerlike weather is gone, I know this because more students are trying to find excuses to hide indoors as temps dip or by the behaviour challenges arising from a number of weather related indoor recess days in a row.

Speaking of weather, the other week, I was really reminded of Fall’s arrival during an end of day bus supervision where the wind was so strong it felt like it was raining under my umbrella which then collapsed into uselessness shortly thereafter. Nothing like looking like a wet rag for meet the parent night, eh?
It’s a busy time of year at home and at school. Reluctantly, my patio furniture has been forced into hibernation. My class furniture has also been arranged, unarranged, and rearranged. There’s lots going on in and outside of schools.

Everyone is in motion and even though 20% of the year is on the books it feels like the work is just getting started – not to mention progress reports. Like squirrels living in a local ecosystem, teachers are busy gathering and storing marks for progress reports and Winter. UGH!

Well enough about that. I want to spring forward to Spring because I need to have something to look forward to as the cold sets in. This means a lot of front loading with students now as we have established many solid classroom norms and daily learning opportunities. The energy and effort we are all planting into our students now will quickly grow and become so much more visible when the sun finally melts the snow and our parkas are put away.

By Spring time, seeds which have been hiding under ground have become sun seeking sprouts that quickly turn into saplings in a matter of months. Soon enough these little trees will reveal their own little canopies, provide shade, and photosynthesize like their taller neighbours. Like the classroom, with time, our students are empowered to grow and contribute to the classroom first and then the learning community.

This can get scary sometimes. Not for students, they usually take everything in stride. My fear comes from not being able to clear the weeds away or worse, inadvertantly standing on the spot where they are trying to grow. And then I remind myself to just plant the seeds, clear the rubble, and get out of the way to watch them grow. Next, prune the branches with clear expectations and feedback and above all, keep the pests away.

By Summer, you will see new seeds floating to the ground and the process has come full circle. Until September.

In the meantime, take time to enjoy every moment as you plant the seeds this Fall. Stay warm and get ready for an amazing Spring.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Special Education

Lenses

Take a moment to imagine something. Please and thank you.
What comes to your mind? Was it difficult to shut out the world for a moment?

For me the freedom to take time to imagine something came as a shock to my senses at first. Shouldn’t I be working and not sitting still in my chair with my eyes closed? However, after some permission(self-authorized) and intentional practice, a pause for imagination has become quite productive in my professional and creative life.

Oddly enough, whenever I intentionally do this, there is a barrage of thoughts projected onto my internal IMAX screen. My mind is parsing out billions of accumulated bits of known and unknown datum. It’s incredible how, more often than not, this exercise usually causes the mind to quicken rather than slow down.

Now do it again, but this time think of your classroom or school.
Who immediately came to mind?
Why them?

Whenever I do this, it comes as no surprise that the most frequent faces are those who are viewed as hard to manage and or struggle with interpersonal interactions. Oddly enough, it is never the most “behaved” or “successful”, although each of these descriptors are relative, who come to mind. I am working hard to change this.

To be honest, I struggle at times to understand how best to serve the enigmatic students in my community. That’s not a cry for help, but it is a lens that I look through in order to provoke the deepest reflections and change in my practice. After IEP season in my school, my SERT partner and I are now working to add another 8 to 10 students to our caseloads and as the leaves have fallen, a number of new faces have come clearer into focus.

The other day, a student who is new to our school decided to elope from class and then from school. Thankfully, the outcome of this behaviour ended positively without the student leaving the property or being injured. There and then, new plans needed to be laid to support this bright and conversive student who possesses a great sense of humour.

This meant changing our view as a team to include “eyes on” check-ins, intentional movement management(let’s call it logistics), and the use of supportive strategies that will ensure safety at all times. Viewing a child with the “eyes on” lens can take a lot of energy, training, and practice. In many cases, the training comes on the job. For me, it’s like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle while on top of a speeding train. Sure there’s plenty of room and there’s a nice breeze, but do all of the pieces have to be flying around?

As I reflect on this student and their behaviours at school, I am constantly reminding myself of the lenses we must all wear in order to effectively serve the diverse social, emotional, intellectual, and behavioural needs of our students. There have been many days when every fibre of my existence fights against the way my own teachers used to handle things in order to concentrate on seeing events and actions as pieces to a much bigger puzzle.

I didn’t ask to see things that way, but I do have the capacity to leave antiquated practices in the past in order to update my prescription to see the present and future. This comes from teamwork, experience, and imaginative approaches to solving new problems and challenges as they appear.

We need to wear different lenses in order to find and place the smallest pieces not easily visible to the senses. We learn what we’re taught. So, we can also unlearn what we’re taught in order to blend, bend, and break past practices. What worked when we were kids rarely works today because that was then and this is now. That’s where taking some time to imagine and reimagine the lenses we choose through which our students are seen and served.

 

 

Laura Bottrell General

A Beginning Teacher’s Journey: Part Four

Since I started blogging with Heart & Art three years ago, I like to think I’ve had an ongoing storyline in my “A Beginning Teacher’s Journey” posts. So far, I’ve written three instalments.

A Beginning Teacher’s Journey: Part One reminisces about the day I found out I had been hired to the Occasional Teacher list in my board. I still remember that moment clear as day – the moment that began my career. I wrote about accepting my first LTO position, and how it felt to finally, truly be a teacher. I was so excited, and still feel that excitement today.

In A Beginning Teachers’ Journey: Part Two, I shared some of the struggles and joys of being a brand new teacher. As I’m reading that post again today, I’m proud of myself for how I’ve grown but also humbled by how much I am still thinking those same things. Even three and a half years in, I’m still feeling like a new teacher. I’m still learning as I go.

I wrote A Beginning Teacher’s Journey: Part Three at the end of my first significantly long LTO position. I wrote about the sense of loss teacher feels when they must leave a class or a school, moving between different assignments throughout the first few years of teaching. As an LTO teacher, this has been the hardest part of my job. Since writing that post, I have taught in two full-year long LTO positions at two different schools. I felt the exact same way leaving at the end of the year each of those times, too.

Today, I’m writing part four as a permanent teacher! I have finally accepted a full time, permanent position teaching grade 3/4 at a wonderful school.

There’s still a part of me that can’t quite believe it. It was only recently that I wrote this post, sharing how many of my colleagues, myself included, were concerned about the prospects of permanent employment.

I had just started my first day of a full-year LTO assignment when I received the call to interview for the permanent position I had applied for. When asking a good friend and colleague for interview advice, she simply told me to speak from the heart and exude who I was as a teacher. So that’s what I did. I think it was pretty good advice! The phone call I received officially offering me the position is yet another moment that I will always remember!

Tomorrow will mark four weeks since beginning my new position. Beginning at a new school isn’t new territory for me, as this is the fifth school I’ve now called home. Only this time, it feels a lot more like home. I have learned a lot already and I know that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve spent late nights and early mornings setting up my classroom, planning my program and settling in. I’ve focused the most on building relationships. I am so excited to watch my students grow even beyond my year with them. I am so eager to build my second home and become a part of the school community. I am so relieved that I no longer have to worry about job security, and maybe even more relieved about not having to pack up and bring home my classroom with me this summer.

At first when writing this post, I thought I might title it “A Beginning Teacher’s Journey: The Final Part”, or something more clever but along those lines. However, that’s not how I see it. The journey is still continuing and a lot of new things are ahead for me. I’ll be going through the New Teacher Induction Program process, which will include two Teacher Performance Appraisals and building a portfolio of professional growth. I look forward to writing and sharing all about it!

I’ve still got a long way to go with this whole “beginning teacher” thing, but my journey so far has been the most rewarding, exciting and challenging experience I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t change a thing!

And this girl? She’s pretty happy. My first class photo as a teacher, circa 1995.