Photo of Roz Geridis
Roz.Geridis Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Planning for Next Year

 

As the school year is coming to an end I use this time to reflect upon my lessons and look forward to next year’s planning. What will I keep, what didn’t work, what needs to be tweaked for next year’s students? Some of this planning will be based on my next year’s students needs and learning styles. Where do I go for new ideas, support for planning and resources?

 

1)       I sit down with the previous teacher.

Most schools will have sheets or some sort of meeting to share information and build the new classes. Looking to evenly distribute the boys and girls, ESL, Special Education, HSP and which kids should be or not be placed together. The sheets are usually given to next year’s teacher to help understand the student. I find the information on the sheets give limited information and don’t always share who the student is as a learner. I listen to the information being given, take notes on every student and review all this information later. At some point, I go back to the previous teacher and ask for further information.  If the previous teacher is an LTO, I need to connect with the teacher before s/he leaves for a new school. If you are a new teacher to the school in the Fall, ask for the sheets and try to connect with previous teachers as soon as possible.

 

2)      If you are lucky to get the same grade, I look at my previous year’s planning.

Now I know a little more about my new students. What are they going to be interested in? What do I need to change? Everything should be tweaked for my new class.

If I am teaching a new grade, I still look at my previous year’s planning and build the new year from that starting point. I have learned more about my personal teaching strengths and areas of professional development which I will look into.

 

3)       Where do I get new ideas?

  • Most boards have teachers who specialize in curriculum areas and provide that support with ideas and resources. Some can even give field trip ideas, support with combined grade planning, will come to your class and teach a model lesson. If you are finding it difficult to locate a name, ask your librarian or administration.
  • Your board website should have some resources available to the teachers. Many board website resources are open to the public and are available for all to find information. There are Science and Social Studies units available for combined grades. I usually don’t use all the information available on the websites but it helps me gather ideas and lessons for my unit.
  • Sitting down with my colleagues to team plan. New people have new ideas. This year, I was the only grade 6 English teacher and my Extended French colleague had already developed his program and found it difficult to devote the time needed to team plan. But we still found smaller opportunities to team plan. I also found support on line, a volunteer who went to different classes throughout the board, student teacher and colleagues who were in the same board but in different areas of the board. Many people have ideas, I find ideas help get me thinking. Whether I take the idea as is or tweak it to suit my student needs, I find all ideas are helpful.

 

4)       Next year’s class – the students.

As we all know, students achieve more when their interest is in the lesson. At the beginning of the school year, I ask my students what you would like to do, what would you like me to teach you in language. This year, my students wanted to write a graphic novel using bit strips. I took their lead and used graphic novels to teach them about narrative writing and to help develop their plans for writing. I also share the Science and Social Studies units and give them an idea of when we are covering certain units.

 

At this point of the year, you are looking at finishing things off and planning for your next year. I personally prefer to reflect and think about my next year’s planning now. For some people, they need that down time before they reflect and plan for the following year. It is up to you and what suits your lifestyle best.

Students lying on the grass for a photo
Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Celebrating Success, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Report Cards, Year End Activities

Looking Back, Reflecting, and Celebrating Our Year!

The students in my class understand the importance of daily reflection in order to take a step back and look at the whole picture before continuing on our journey toward the goals we have set for ourselves.  They also know that celebrating each milestone and learning from our setbacks creates an attitude of gratitude,  a belief in what we can accomplish, and the excitement to take new risks as we adjust our course to take us to the places we imagine in life.

As we near the end of our time together, there are a few activities my students seem to enjoy very much.  It gives them the opportunity to look back on their year, reflect, and celebrate both themselves and their journey.

The activities include:

1. Year End Booklet: prompts are used to get students writing and creating art about themselves and their year.

Students take pride in creating their year end booklet
The reflections and art are meaningful and fun!

 

2. Award: the template is used for students to create an award for themselves and another classmate
On the back of each award students explain why they deserve to receive it
3. Year End Scrapbook Page: students create a scrapbook page using prompts co-created with the class
You can learn so much about Justina!
4. Bucket List: following a story from the Toronto Star on bucket lists, students wanted to create their own (a wall will be put                             up in Toronto this summer so people can write what they want to do in their lifetime)
5. Teacher Report Card: students are not the only ones receiving a report card at the end of the year- I do too! It is co-created
                                              based on what students think is most important for a successful classroom.
Believe it or not, I always get a little nervous when it comes time to receiving my report card!  It too is a way for me to get a sense of how my year went and how my journey as a teacher will look like as I continually grow in the art of teaching and learning!
Photo of Alison Board
Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Wellness

Demonstrating Community

Last week my Grade 1/2 classroom was open as a demonstration classroom. In the morning, we went through a condensed version of our regular day, and in the afternoon we debriefed in the staff room. Every time I attend or host a demonstration classroom, I feel energized. And with the end of the year approaching, some re-charing is beneficial.

What interests me, is the feedback from the visiting teachers. There is always the usual talk about curriculum planning, instructional strategies, and classroom environment. But last week, there were comments about how the children shared their thoughts and ideas, and how they listened to one another with respect and patience. The visiting teachers also noticed that while at the carpet for dicussion, some of the children sat on chairs they brought over from their desks, and a few got up to perform a quick task, such as check on a date in their agenda to confirm a fact.

Although I am aware of our daily sharing and community building, it has become so interwoven into the fabric of the day now that it is less obvious. However, I know that back in September we spent most of our time on routines, expectations, and classroom community building. In The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning, all of Chapter 3 is devoted to Building Inclusion. There are other areas in the book that also provide ways to sustain community, such as the Morning Check In described on page 101. We started doing this exercise when we were studying our Big Idea, “What is Well-Being?” It gave us an opportunity to talk about how much sleep we had, whether family members were home or away, and how we felt in general. We have continued this in the morning – as it has informed us of one another’s feelings and encouraged empathy. Over the year we have also set limits but allowed a certain amount of movement, free choice, and variation to expectations throughout the day. This has resulted in a more engaged learning and responsibility for the children and less classroom management. Discussing with the visiting teachers the intentions in planning and community building that is needed in September, confirms how effective the outcomes are.

 

Heart Picture
Samantha.Perrin Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Occasional Teaching

Using Positive Reinforcement for Persistent Misbehaviours

Recently I taught as a daily occasional teacher in a special education, mostly behavioural classroom.   This was my first experience with the kind of group of students where correcting misbehaviours and classroom management was critical to getting through the day safely and working to complete the regular teacher’s goals for the day.   As a daily occasional teacher, I felt some apprehension knowing that an already challenging class could be even more challenging for a new teacher that is out of their familiar routine, but was prepared to face the challenge to the best of my abilities.

One thing that I noticed upon entering the classroom, was that the teacher had laid out a daily behaviour log for each student.  It was broken down into time blocks (corresponding with entry, class periods, recess, lunch and exit) and it included a rubric consisting of levels 1-4 (which corresponded with expected behaviours for each level).    When going over this student information, I recalled reading in Chapter 4 in the Heart and Art of teaching about positive consequences – reinforcing positive behaviour that is consistent with creating a learning focused classroom environment.  I decided that I would begin with this approach to set a positive tone to the day.

When the students entered in a less than orderly fashion, I commended two students for their ‘Level 3 ½’ entry,  and mentioned that their classroom teacher would be pleased to learn of this when I make my notes at the end of the day.  I saw a smile as one student was particularly pleased that I had noticed. The other students overheard, and while some students chose to continue with their off-task behaviour, a few others took their cue and directed their behaviour towards positive praise.   In commending those two students, I also gained two helpers who were inclined to assist me in the classroom routines (i.e., getting out the nametags, advising me who should not be taking washroom trips together etc.).

If you take  look at the Venn Diagram on page 59 of Heart and Art (Students Who Rock, Students Who Are Deciding, Students Presenting Challenges) , I  would say that the class demographic was made up of ‘students who are deciding (on their behaviour), and students who ‘presented challenges’.  With positive reinforcement, I think I was able to encourage a few of the ‘students who were deciding’ to be a little more helpful and focussed, and in this I feel that I averted some additional behavioural challenges that could have existed.

While it was a challenging day, I found that approaching the students initially with kindness and praise sent them a message that I knew what was expected of them, and that I would follow through with the regular classroom culture of behaviour tracking, reward and consequences.  While not all students in the class ‘bought in’, I do feel that using a positive-reinforcement approach increased the potential of the  students wanting  to be successful, and decreased the ‘us Vs. supply teacher’ mentality that some students can develop.    This is an approach that I think many teachers already use in their classrooms, but I hope that it serves as encouragement for occasional teachers to employ in any challenging classroom environment.

A sign that say No Bully Zone
Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, Wellness

No Bully Zone

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself. -Harvey S. Firestone

This past week I watched a screening of the upcoming movie/documentary “Bully” directed by Lee Hirsch.  It was a highly emotional experience for every educator in attendance and the conclusion many of us reached was the same: we think we know what’s going on with our students but in reality, that’s not always the case.  In fact, getting to know our students is an ongoing process and I believe that we, as educators, must be responsible for creating the safest environment possible and hold ourselves accountable if we fall short of that expectation.

One of the most powerful and emotional scenes was listening to a mother who lost her son after he committed suicide following years of being bullied. She expressed exactly what I, as a mother, also feel when I leave my son at school.  Our children are our precious babies, our treasures, the most important people in our life.  We entrust them to educators who we believe will teach them, guide them, and protect them from harm.  The responsibility we take on is immense but it’s our job to take it as seriously as a parent would.

I shared my thoughts and feelings with my students and they felt that we should take it a step further by creating a school initiative after looking deeper into the issue of bullying.  I will be sharing our unit and progress in a later blog.

I highly recommend that all educators, parents, and students over the age of 11 watch the movie/documentary.  It captures the raw and cruel reality millions of children face each day at school and opens the floodgates to conversations and issues we need to address in our classrooms and schools.

Here are some helpful links:

A good book to read:

Bullying: the bullies, the victims, the bystanders

 

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Alison.Board Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Big Ideas as Themes

I enjoyed reading Sangeeta’s blog and the meaningful themes that her students are learning about in her classroom. When she says, “there are some conflicting opinions about the use of themes in teaching” it is more likely the use of themes that lack relevance, scope, and purpose, such as a theme devoted entirely to apples or penguins.  The themes that Sangeeta have chosen are meaningful to her students and it is evident that she has selected them as the needs of her students have emerged throughout the year.

In my Grade 1 and 2 class we are learning the curriculum using similar themes, though we call them big ideas. These big ideas are umbrellas for the various subjects and strands that we are working on. The big idea provides a lens to consider our world. I used a question format for the students, asking them “What is hope?” at the beginning of the 2 month inquiry, then again at the end.

Here are my reflections on the first big idea that we embarked on back in September:

By recording the children’s responses I could see that the children had similar ideas of hope as wanting or wishing, such as “I hope I get a new toy.”  Only one comment (made by L.) seemed to differ in that it touched on worry or care for others. The children need an opportunity to consider hope in a deeper context. I looked at the sub-questions developed in connection to the Science and Social Studies curriculum, Why is hope important to our community? How is hope different for other communities around the world? How do the sun, air, and water (as energy/life source) give hope to people in our community and other communities around the world?

I needed to find rich texts to read aloud that would provide the opportunity to discuss the idea of hope in relation to our own community and communities elsewhere in the world. 

The following four texts became the foundation for our inquiry that were not in the original long range plan:

Poor Fish (local and global environment) Listen to the Wind (Korphe, Pakistan)
Lila and the Secret of Rain (Africa) The Whispering Cloth (Thailand)

In my long range plans, I had outlined the culminating task as a fabric picture, using a variety of textiles to represent their understanding of hope in the context of their local community (grade one) or another community in the world (grade two). Part of our learning included a class trip to the Textile Museum of Canada. This trip provided us with information about the symbolism and purpose of clothing in African cultures. It also gave the students an opportunity to explore textiles, wool, and weaving in a hands-on area.

After our trip to the Museum of Textiles, extended “inquiry time” in the class to pursue topics and interests at various centers, and discussions around our four foundation books, the children started to make their own observations and connections. Integrating the science curriculum for both grades, which included focus on the sun’s energy (grade 1) and the need for air and water (grade 2) contributed to their understanding of the texts. I asked the children again “What is hope?”

M.: To keep the environment clean.

L.:  To build a school.

A.:  For rain to cool down the land, fill the wells so people will not die.

M.:  To live in a new country; to have a home.

K.:  To go to school.

The children’s responses are reflecting their understanding of hope in other contexts. I see them making connections between the books that we read. They are also showing interest in locating the various countries that are the settings for the texts. When we were in the computer lab many of the children searched their country of interest on Google Earth. Some students were surprised to see the snow covered mountainous terrain of Korph, Pakistan. What a difference when they compared the region to their own street where they live.

 

L. takes her chair to work by the map where she is working on locating Korphe, Pakistan and describing its climate.

 

 

 

 

 

When it came time for the culminating project, I doubted my decision to rely on the fabric representation for assessment. So, I created a graphic organizer or template for the children to complete first.

 

Grade 2 student, L.,uses detailed drawings to represent her knowledge when comparing her community with a community in Pakistan. Note the curly lines in the mountains representing the effects of the air as wind in the higher altitude of Korphe.

 

 

 

 

L.’s fabric representation shows the altitude of the Korphe community, the challenge of the water that was previously crossed using a wire pulley and a box to sit in, as well as the wise man who slipped. Their need for a bridge to connect them to building supplies and resources is more clearly needed before planning for a school.

 

 

 

 

A Grade 2 student, uses fabric to effectively demonstrate her understanding of the dry African landscape. She has also shown perspective with a home and person in the background on the horizontal line, skills that were explored during instruction of the visual arts curriculum.

 

 

 

At the end of the inquiry, I asked the students if their ideas had changed about hope;

K.: Hope is more about needing something, like a place to live, food or water to survive.

L.: We pretty much have everything we need.

In addition to the observations, recorded conservations, and demonstrations of understanding through their independent works – their final responses to the question “What is hope” showed how much they had learned from the first day we considered this big idea. 

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Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Social Justice, Use of Technology

Themes As the Driving Force

While there are some conflicting opinions about the use of themes in teaching, I have found that they are extremely powerful tools we can use to help our students connect their world to curriculum subjects.

I began my school year with the theme of Identity, so my Grade 4 students could know more about who they are as individuals. We examined factors like religion, gender, family, and media and how they play a role in shaping our identities. I was particularly excited to zero in on gender, in an attempt to work on one of the UN Millennium goals:

Goal #3 – Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/)  

This led us to discuss stereotypes that can exist for males and females and through drama, visual arts and writing, my students reflected on their experiences and how stereotypes can lead to exclusion. We read personal stories and viewed clips from the site, “Because I Am A Girl” (http://becauseiamagirl.ca/) and they mapped places in the world where these stories came from and looked for patterns. At the end, students wrote about themselves and their learning in a blown-up version of their individual fingerprints.

Over the course of working within this theme, I began to see the challenges my students had with the concept of Choice and realized I had found my next theme to explore with them.

Goal #1 – End Poverty and Hunger

Goal #2 – Achieve Universal Education

My students made puppet shows on iPads to illustrate a time when they had to make a difficult choice and we studied persuasive writing and how their voices can have an impact on the choices others make. Closer to the holiday season, we planned a fundraiser and I shared Unicef’s website and the survival gifts program (www.unicef.ca/). They convinced me that we should raise money to send a child to school because that would decrease the chances of this child living in poverty. So, we sold popcorn throughout our school, in the hopes of raising $75 to send a child to school. My students designed posters, they went to each class in the school and shared our idea, they counted and tracked the money that came in with the orders and to our surprise, we raised $300 and were able to send 4 children to school. Their one condition before I made the donation: can you please make sure that it is 2 boys and 2 girls?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the holidays, I contemplated how relatively quiet my mind was because I wasn’t hearing the daily concerns: he’s not sharing the soccer ball, I can’t find a teacher to help me outside, no one will play with me. In order to help my students with some of these issues, I needed to move to Power and its role in relationships and specifically on the playground. My students took post-its notes outside to record when they heard power being used and we studied about power in science through light and sound. They wrote articles for a class newspaper that outlined powerful people in our school and my personal favourite, we discussed imbalance in power, which led to yoga during our gym periods.

As I move into my last theme of the year, Agents of Change, Mission Impossible music plays in the background while my students are designing badges and creating surveys which will provide them with the data they need to make changes within our school.

Goal #7 – Ensure Environmental Sustainability

When my colleagues ask me how I find time to teach the curriculum, I say: The themes are my curriculum, they are what drive me to make connections for my students.

Heart Picture
Samantha.Perrin Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Occasional Teaching, Planning

Classroom Management and Tips for Daily Occasional Teaching

It’s funny to me that when I tell people that I am ‘supply teaching’, I am often met with statements along the lines of “Well that’s pretty easy, you don’t have to plan, and you basically just watch the kids for a day.” At this statement, I usually scoff and reply with “Do YOU remember what you and your classmates were like when your teacher was away?”. This is usually met with a chuckle and a “oh yeah, I see what you’re getting at.”

I think we can all recall a time in our years as students, when the absence of the regular classroom teacher was met with the idea that there was a free pass to try to get away with what you normally couldn’t get away with when the regular classroom teacher was around.  Kids being kids, this scenario still often rings true: students, knowing that an occasional teacher is only in for a day and is not familiar with the rules and routines, will try to push some boundaries.  For me, when teaching as a daily occasional teacher, this is where classroom management and foresight are paramount to having a successful day. I have started my daily occasional teaching assignments, and in preparation, I read Chapter 7- Preparing for or Being an Occasional Teacher (Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning). I found the practical ideas from Connie were helpful in getting my head around teaching in someone else’s classroom for the day, and in being proactive in anticipating the turns the day could take.

In addition to the good ideas already mentioned in the book, I start out my day with my own bag of tricks. My daily bag is equipped with my desk bell, a whistle (in case I am teaching gym), a book of fun drama activities and a few picture books that are appropriate and liked by many age groups. Along with it, I try to think of a follow up activity that can be used if the teacher hasn’t left any plans or when work is completed and we have an extra chunk of time (for example, plotting the beginning, middle, and end of a book, writing in the point of view, creating an alternate cover page for the book).

For the older grades, I make sure to write Ms. Perrin’s Expectations on the board for the students to see right when they enter into the classroom.  My expectations follow along the lines of:

  1. Be respectful of your classmates and teacher
  2. Raise your hand and wait your turn to speak
  3. Ask for permission to use the restrooms or to leave the classroom
  4. Be kind and do your best
  5. Let’s have a great day together!

I find that taking this little step sets the tone for the day.  The students immediately know who I am. They understand that my expectations are probably similar to their regular teacher’s expectations, and that I want to have a positive day with them. Once the students are settled, I take a few minutes to introduce myself and share a little bit about the grades and schools that I have taught in. This way, the students (hopefully) view me as a teacher (and not as some grown-up impostor who has taken over the classroom for the day).  I also take a minute to inform the students of my strategy for getting their attention (ring bell, clap sequence) and what my expectations are for when I use the strategy (stop what you are doing, track the teacher).  With these expectations already established, the students are aware of what being successful and being unsuccessful looks like in terms of their behaviour.

Another thing that I do for most grades that I teach, is if the student’s desks aren’t labelled, I will have the students create a personalized name tag that reflects who they are (and maybe include 3 things that they would like to share with me or the class).  I find that this is a great community building exercise, that lets the students know that I am interested in learning a bit about them, and it helps me to call on the students by name from the beginning of the day. A few minutes spent at the beginning of the day establishing community and guidelines, help me to set a tone that is conducive to us all getting along and  doing what we need to do.

I find it most helpful to envision what I want my day to look like, then think about the things that need to be established in order for that to happen.  If you’re starting out as a daily occasional teacher, or are struggling in getting the students ‘on board’ in your teaching assignments, referring to p. 115-116 of Heart and Art is a good place to start. Hopefully my tips will also help some beginning teachers to have a smooth, well managed day of teaching too. Best of luck!

Learning Goals: Today we are learning...This will help me...Question of the day,.. Reflection Question
Carmen.Oliveira Building Inclusion, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Wellness

Just Let Us Be Kids!

Today, during our Gr.5/6 Writer’s Workshop, we were visited (as we regularly are) by a group of “kindies” who dropped by  to share what they had learned and created while exploring constellations.  The fact that the Kindergarten teacher and I have a similar view on the importance of celebrating children’s learning across the grades could in itself be an interesting topic to blog about but today’s visit lead us to another important topic: teachers should sometimes just let kids be kids, especially as they grow older.

The “kindies” very enthusiastically went on about their exciting day which started with “Show and Tell” and then moved on to exploring space.  Oh, yes, they also took a quick rest after lunch because they were very tired from all the work in the morning.  As they were leaving, I commented on how creative their work was and that my wish was that children never lose their curiosity or the simplicity with which they view the world around them.  I also confessed that I wouldn’t mind a nap myself after getting back into the work routine.  Suddenly, one of the little wonders turned around and said, “Well then, why don’t you guys be kids like us?  Why don’t you take a quick nap too sometimes?  That way, you’ll think better.”

I wasn’t expecting what happened next.  I had a class of junior students agreeing with the “kindie” and asking why we couldn’t sometimes take a 5 minute nap to relax before continuing with our work or having “Show and Tell” once a month to share what’s important and meaningful in their lives.  “It’s true Mrs. Oliveira,” one student said, “parents and teachers want us to grow up and be responsible and then they’re shocked that we grow up so fast.  If you let us just be kids more often then maybe we won’t lose our curiosity.”

Let’s just say we enjoyed our first nap to a 5-minute classical music piece and we have “Show and Tell” scheduled for the end of this month when students will be sharing an object that has special meaning in their life.

I expect to get a few calls from confused parents…

 

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Erin.Grewar Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

What’s All the Noise About vs. Tomb-Like Silence

Sangeeta’s January posting What’s All the Noise About struck me as something to which all teachers can relate. I found that as a beginning teacher, I was often “aware” of the amount of noise in my classroom however in teaching French, I always felt a certain legitimacy with student interaction. As Sangeeta also mentioned it’s a trait that also characterises different styles of teaching. I know that oftentimes, teachers are judged (even by their peers) as having a lack of classroom management or that their students are too wild to be doing anything productive.

However it seems to me that it all relates to the level of comfort of the teacher and the task at hand. As long as students are on-task, discussion and interaction demonstrate to me a high level of engagement. One also has to take into consideration that students need a release. In teaching exclusively rotary classes, I’ve found that students coming from strict environments where talking/discussion is discouraged in favour of silent work time are often the most challenging when they come to my class as they are frequently the ones who “chatter” incessantly.  Although a definite proponent of student talking, I would say that there are a couple of considerations:

  • students don’t have a licence to talk indiscriminately (ex. during your lesson)
  • the noise level doesn’t interfere with students being able to work productively
  • you are not disrupting another classroom
  • your students are on task and engaged
  • you feel confident and comfortable

I know that I’ve found it personally rewarding to see students engaged in a lively discussion over an assignment.  To me it demonstrates that (mercifully) they are involved and care about what you’re teaching them.