Category: General

I’ve learned so much this year while working with colleagues in the early learning department. They always leave me with some new learning to ponder in relation to my practice. Recently, we’ve had a conversation about Dr Jean Clinton and her work around something called the C:D:C ratio. For many Designated Early Childhood Educators this is the basis of their work; however, for me, this was a different framing of the student and educator relationship. 

The C:D:C ratio is short form for Correct:Direct:Connect.  Dr. Clinton’s work emphasizes the importance of relationship building between educators and students.  Connection, she says, is key.  The relationships educators build with students can positively transform learning and how students see themselves in the classroom environment. Dr. Clinton encourages educators to think about the ratio of time we spend correcting students, directing students, and connecting with students.  

Correcting might sound like verbal cues “Stop speaking out” or “You’ve made a mistake here”.   It might even appear in non-verbal ways, such as eye contact or moving closer to stop certain behaviour. I stopped to reflect on what this looked like in my teaching; how many times do I correct students?  Are there any students that I correct more often than others?  What reasons do I ‘correct’ (e.g., academic errors, classroom rules, or something else).

Directing students involves directing accepted actions or behaviour.  Perhaps this manifests instructionally, for example, telling students “It’s time to do some math now”. It might also indicate acceptable behaviour, such as “Thank you for raising your hand before speaking out.”  I wondered how many times I directed students in the classroom.  How do my own expectations and biases about a ‘good’ classroom affect our relationship in ways I haven’t noticed before? 

Connecting with students is really where the educator intentionally builds meaningful exchanges with students.  How does this happen authentically in the classroom space?  Dr Clinton offers some guidance by modifying suggestions from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.  

A few of those suggestions are as follows: 

• Be at the child’s level for face-to-face interactions 
• Use a pleasant, calm voice and simple language while making eye contact  
• Help children understand your expectations by providing simple but clear explanations (not by directing) 
• Take the time to engage children in the process of resolving problems and conflicts, rather than reiterating classroom rules
• Be genuine in acknowledging children for their accomplishments and effort by clearly saying what it is they have done well 

It feels to me like the connecting part is about building relationships with students.  It’s partly how we interact with them (eye level, eye contact, face to face) and it’s partly how educators are intentional about engaging with students (resolving problems, genuinely acknowledging efforts, trying to understand behaviour).  Directing and correcting seem to be more about student compliance.  We know that students thrive when they feel seen and heard and valued – all of which is expressed through connection.  Dr. Clinton’s research tells educators that if we spend more time on connecting with children, there is less need for correction and directing. 

Dr. Clinton’s work is based in early learning, but her appeal for educators to reflect on their C:D:C ratio speaks to educators at all levels in schools. Of course there are times throughout the day when correcting and directing are necessary; however, it’s valuable to reflect on which interaction is most prominent and why that is. 

There’s so much to learn about in Early Childhood Education.Even if you are not a kindergarten teacher I urge you to read and listen to some of these brilliant researchers.  I promise you’ll learn a lot. 

Learn more about Dr. Jean Clinton’s work by exploring: 

https://etfopley.ca/jean-clinton-well-bring-relationships/

https://drjeanclinton.com/

The Power of Positive Adult-Child Relationships: Connection is the Key

 

 

In an age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms and large language models (LLMs) that generate clear and lengthy texts at the click of a button, it’s not difficult to see how the act of writing may be changed forever. For students, it is all too easy to turn to tools like Copilot or Chat GPT to create a research report, to analyze a poem, or to write a current events article assignment. Adults similarly turn to these tools to make their workflows easier, whether it is writing emails, presentations, or a report.

You may even be wondering if what you are reading right now is an authentic piece of writing, or generated by a prompt. To clarify, I wrote this article but also prompted an LLM to write an article about the topic – as I often do to support and accelerate the work I do as an educator and as a content creator.

To be transparent, the LLM gave me a ton of great ideas, summarized succinctly in seconds. It reminded me that AI has provided educators with “a huge opportunity: we can teach better writing and better research habits by showing students how to use AI as a thinking partner rather than a shortcut.” In fact, the prompt gave me so many good ideas it made me realize how little I really know about leveraging AI effectively in a literacy classroom. It made me realize that while I can’t truly write a fulsome article on using AI in the writing classroom, I can reflect on what human-generated texts really mean to me.

I have always considered myself to be a writer, and after reading so many AI generated texts I’ve really started to deeply appreciate the insights, mistakes, and voice that only us perfectly flawed humans can make when we write. And while I truly believe educators need to lean into AI (as my AI generated text encouraged me, “teach it” don’t “ban it”), I hope there is also a mindset shift toward valuing the very human action of writing as a function, an art, and process of learning and creativity that is unique and special.

Writing is hard work. It only gets easier when we write frequently, and become skilled at spontaneously applying verb tenses, drawing from text forms, and leveraging punctuation and sentence structure to add variety to a draft. It’s easy to see why many kids and adults dislike writing longer texts or being tasked to write a paragraph, and find AI tools so alluring.

As educators and teachers of language and literacy, I think we can play a unique role in helping students to become more aware of what makes human-generated texts so important as a source of enjoyment, a way to express creativity, and a valuable skill that helps us to become more effective communicators and readers. Through human-driven writing, we learn new information and how to use new words.

How can we teach students to use AI effectively in their writing? Here are a few tips that were generated by my Chat GPT prompt:

Create an “AI Use Policy” with students in plain language. Include:

• What AI is allowed for: brainstorming topic ideas, building question banks, outlining, planning research steps, language clarification, vocabulary support, examples of structures (e.g., thesis, counterclaim), and feedback on clarity.
• What is not allowed: submitting AI-generated drafts as one’s own, fabricating sources or quotes, bypassing assigned readings, using AI to misrepresent understanding.
• Non-negotiables: protect privacy (no personal data), verify facts, and always disclose when AI materially assisted the work (“AI Acknowledgment” note at the end).
• Equity check: ensure every student has access to board-approved tools for teacher and student use (in boards that have policies around the student use of AI) or school devices during structured time so policy doesn’t advantage only those with home access.
• Post norms as an anchor chart; revisit them before major tasks.

To be honest, these tips are actually much better than anything I probably could have created about using AI!

While we may be saying goodbye to “old” ways of communicating, I think its exciting to contemplate what the future of writing will look like with so many new tools at our students’ fingertips. It’s also important to remember that guidance does exist for us as we navigate this new and evolving realm: be sure to check the members section of the ETFO website for AI advice, in addition to your board’s own AI policies. And as educators, we should always try to remember that we have the privilege and responsibility of teaching students the value of human-centred writing.

In my previous post I shared how I’m teaching students conjunctions to support their ability to create increasingly complex sentence forms and help them in comprehending increasingly complex written ideas. In this post, I’ll share an initial step I’m taking to help students develop their vocabulary knowledge by having them create vocabulary cards. I’ll also share some thoughts on how I’m planning to use the vocabulary cards to explicitly teach students specific words.

Specific expectation B2.2 in the revised Grades 1 – 8 Language curriculum (2023) calls educators to teach students to demonstrate their understanding of a wide variety of words in addition to helping them acquire and use explicitly taught vocabulary in various contexts. One of the ways that I’ve been striving to support students in acquiring and using new vocabulary is by having them self-select new or vaguely familiar words from the short stories they have been reading then create vocabulary cards.

To begin, I ask students to select a word from one of the short stories they’ve read. I then invite them to create vocabulary cards where they use an online dictionary to find a definition of the word that makes the most sense in the context of their story, identify the part of speech to which the word belongs, find two synonyms for the word, and create an image of what they envision when they read or hear the word. I then ask students to record the word, definition, and synonyms in their language notebook for future reference. Once students create their vocabulary card, I add it to our class vocabulary wall as reference tool that they can use when they are reading or writing. See images of our growing vocabulary wall attached.

I got the idea for vocabulary cards from reading the book, Visible Learning for Literacy: Implementing Strategies that Work Best to Accelerate Student Learning, by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. In it the authors explain how word cards or what I call vocabulary cards can aid in helping students retain and recall information like new words.

To provide opportunities for students to practice using their new vocabulary in familiar contexts, I’ve been asking them use different vocabulary words during complex and compound-complex sentence practice exercises. From reading students sentences from practice exercises I gained insight to how accurately they use the vocabulary in addition to their ability to create increasingly complex sentence forms. From this teaching experience I also learned that having students identify new or vaguely familiar words, create vocabulary cards, and practice using them in a sentence is insufficient vocabulary instruction. Meaning, I’ve observed that without explicit vocabulary instruction and practice, the students I teach have yet to develop their ability to consistently use new vocabulary accurately in sentences. I now better understand why students require explicit vocabulary instruction and practice to support them in building their vocabulary knowledge.

One of the primary purposes I had students engage in the vocabulary card activity was to have them generate a list of words they do not know and want to learn to inform my instruction. From reading the Grades 3 – 5 Edition of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom, I learned that for students to really know a word they need to know the individual sounds, how it is spelled, how it is used as a part of speech, and some of the multiple meanings connected to the word.

My next step is to create a list of words that I see multiple students identify and use those to begin my explicit instruction along with using a spelling program called Catch Up Your Code that provides explicit lessons on how to teach all the different spelling patterns found in the English language.

In preparation for instruction, I’m thinking of selecting 3 – 5 words per week to explicitly teach students. I think 3 – 5 words will be a manageable and reasonable amount taking into consideration the range of abilities, needs, resources, and time I have available. My explicit instruction will include a student friendly definition of the word, a review of the pronunciation, spelling patterns, morphemes included in the word, and direct connections to word networks meaning synonyms and/or antonyms.

Again, I gained these instructional approaches from reading the Grades 3 – 5 Edition of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom.

I think that if we as educators really want to improve students’ vocabulary knowledge, then we must make time to explicitly teach them words which is what I’m striving to do. In a future post, I hope to share additional insights I’ve gained from utilizing these instructional approaches and how they have impacted students learning.

They told me,
“Build relationships.”
“Plan ahead.”
“Collaborate with your teaching team”
“Reflect on your practice”

All good advice.
All true.
All necessary.

But the best advice?
The one that is not said out loud enough?

Rest.

Rest because teaching is heart work.

Rest because your students
need a human, not a hero running on fumes.

Rest because the work
requires presence,
listening,
courage,
and a full battery.

Rest because your joy matters, too.

The best advice as a teacher has been rest.

What is the best advice you have received as a beginning teacher?

Several years ago I was looking through a catalogue of vocabulary-learning apps, searching for one that might work well for multilingual language learners. As I swiped through the demos, a familiar pattern emerged – and it was most clearly illustrated in an upbeat app that was basically a digital version of flashcards. I tapped the screen and the program sprang to life, an enthusiastic voice firing out vocabulary students were expected to repeat while looking at a picture of the word. I can’t remember exactly what the app said, but it was something not unlike this:

“Aardvark! …. Buttons! … Cheesecake! …”

I silently asked myself where I would ever hear those words again, and swiped away.

This unfortunately is the downfall of many vocabulary-learning apps: the words are random, or at best organized into broad categories such as “fruit” or “sports equipment”, but which are not usually the categories of words being used in class, that the student will need to understand lessons.

Going through these apps reminded me of the day I first realized the teaching and learning implications of this ubiquitous resource type. It was near the beginning of my career, and I was attending a teaching conference in Toronto. One of the presenters was a professor of linguistics and language acquisition, and as a newly-hired ESL teacher, I had signed up for her seminar.  The presentation went as usual, the professor walking back and forth across the room, animatedly talking about her own experiences learning English as a child, and her current research focus for teachers of multilingual language learners. There were about 50 of us sitting in those old-style lecture chairs with the swing-out desktop, watching her as she paced back and forth discussing the topic she was so clearly passionate about. I was scribbling notes here and there when she stopped and directly addressed us, punctuating the importance of her statement with gestures:

“Students need to hear and use a word – speaking, listening, reading, writing – in context, at least ten times, for it to be committed to memory.”

This stark number slammed right up against the wall of ESL learning materials and workbooks I had encountered thus far: the picture flashcards full of unrelated words, the grammar-heavy ESL drill books, the word game packages … the kind of resources that saturate the market.  And when we examine these resources, several questions arise. Where is the context in flashcards? Where is the authentic communication for real purposes in grammar drill workbooks? And perhaps most relevant to the professor’s statistic, what are the chances the student will naturally hear and meaningfully use these words at least ten times in the coming days and weeks?

Over the years I have heard adjustments to the number the professor quoted … 15 times to learn a word, 20 times … sometimes more. But the common takeaway in all of the studies is, quite frankly, “a lot”. Students need to interact with words meaningfully and repeatedly in order to retain them. And if there is one place students are going to hear words repeated and used for authentic purposes, it is the mainstream classroom. How many times will we say, read, and write words such as “cloud”, “evaporate” and “rain” in a science unit on the water cycle? Way more than ten, I’ll wager. Conversely, how many times will vocabulary like “cheesecake” come up?  And what then is the chance of the student remembering that isolated lexical item and committing it to permanent memory? Words, words, words … we teachers may get that Hamlet-style reply from students, if we ask them what they learned on one of those popular vocab apps.

I have kept this guiding principle as one of the main starting points for ESL instruction over the years, identifying words students will need for learning and authentic communication, and being intentional about teaching, clarifying, and recycling them.

And on a positive note, there have been some changes in ESL resources in recent years. I have seen some new learning programs that have moved away from generalized word themes to more specific ones that students will encounter, grade by grade, according to curriculum topics. But there are still an overwhelming number of them that do not follow this model.  So I will keep searching.  And although this will never happen in any other context in my life, I think I’ll pass on the cheesecake.

 

When a book begins with a map I get very excited. When a book begins with a map AND has interactive flaps to lift, I’m all in! These illustrative choices make “Mouse’s Wood” a beautiful book to enjoy just for the sake of the creative style but the story also can be a springboard into the curriculum. Alice Melvin created a whimsical woodland where Mouse is found visiting various friends such as squirrels and hedgehogs who live in different micro-environments of the forest. Among them are cherry trees, a strawberry patch and the river bank.

 As Melvin says on her website:

“Mouse’s Wood is my love letter to woods and nature.  The book follows Mouse on a woodland walk through the changing seasons.” https://alicemelvin.com/mouses-wood/

This story can help children see the natural world in a way that feels peaceful and respectful. Isn’t this perspective needed amongst all the negative messages kids get about the environment? The story can be read at any time of the year, since all seasons and months are represented. The book is ideal for kindergarten as well as grades one and two but there are many students over 8 years old who would love to have this book shared in their class or recommended for a small group or reading buddy situation.  Here are some cross curricular follow up activities and theme ideas to go with Mouse’s Wood.

Activity 1: Illustrated Map Primary/Junior

After reading Mouse’s Wood, students create an illustrated map of their neighbourhood or a fictional location. An illustrated map gives the students poetic licence to enhance their favourite areas with illustrations, graphic designs, logos, etc. If you want to follow the model in Mouse’s Wood, encourage them to show details about the location in a particular season. For example, do the plants have buds, blooms, or fruit?

Activity 2: Observing Animal Habitats Primary/Junior

Mouse’s Wood is set in England so some of the plants and animals featured are different from the ones we find in Ontario. As a class, create a chart listing animals in the story and discover more about their habitats. What types of plants and animals live there? 

Compare those habitats to animals in Ontario. Consider including porcupines, skunks, beavers, or study some less common animals like shrews, bats, or voles.

Activity 3: Making Flip Art Illustrations Primary/Junior

Having students analyse the illustrations and develop their own flip art illustrations just takes paper, scissors, glue, pencil and the courage to experiment. These illustrations could be subject based for a science, social studies or health topic. Another suggestion is to turn these illustrations into greeting cards that students can use as thank you cards.  The idea of opening a door or window and seeing what is inside a room piques the reader’s curiosity. One of the illustrations in the book flips up to show the underwater world of the river in the wood. I’ve included a picture of another type of 3-D flip art that students have enjoyed making.

Theme Suggestions

Mice in Children’s Literature

Students are often interested in comparing picture books. There are thousands of choices of picture books with mice as characters. We can read these other books and ask questions about the art and the story, looking for contrasts with Mouse’s Wood. I immediately think of the series by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond,  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Another favourite is the outstanding Canadian book, Subway Mouse, with plasticine art by Barbara Reid. Jan Brett has detailed illustrations for Town Mouse Country Mouse. Also, the Mouse King in the Nutcracker ballet gives us a chance to explore characters in dance as well as literature.   

Months and Seasons

One way to start the new year in January is to review the upcoming months and seasons. To reinforce these concepts, younger students will also enjoy Hap-Pea All Year by Keith Baker. The illustrations in this book are bright and colourful and the little peas do a wonderful job showing activities common at various times of the year. The style of illustrations is quite different from Mouse’s Wood and will make an excellent discussion topic. For an Indigenous perspective, try Kaitlin Curtis’ three books: Winter’s Gifts, Spring’s Miracles and Summer’s Magic. I referred to Winter’s Gifts in my December 2025 post about the winter solstice.

…

If this is the start of a new year for you, I hope it is a wonderful one full of many delightful books that entertain and educate.

Happy Reading!

Brenda

“Burning out” is something I have become all too familiar with as an educator, parent, and person that tends to take on a lot of additional roles and responsibilities. It seems like there is always somewhere to be, an appointment to make, or thing to do. And while it can truly be a privilege to be in this position, it is hard to ignore the feeling of being exhausted and “finished” by the time winter break rolls around.

Recently I had an opportunity to attend an ETFO workshop on “Building Sustainability for Complex Lives”. During this workshop, we were encouraged to examine ourselves critically and think creatively on how we manage self-care. For me, the most important part of the learning was realizing my mind was too busy to truly slow down and not always think about the next thing I needed to get done.

In my experience, part of being an educator means always trying to get ahead: planning the next lesson, special event, or presentation, finding resources, marking, assessing, or getting an important piece of paperwork or report card comment in on time. There are endless tasks, and it becomes easy to “feel behind” or overwhelmed by the amount of things to do. Sometimes even the act of making time to relax, exercise, take a walk, or watch a movie or show can feel like another task, since there is inevitably something you want to get done before I practice “self care”.

It is no surprise when the “burnout” kicks in, and I start scrolling my phone endlessly for distraction (a way to feel busy but not necessarily productive), I start avoiding work, or start to panic over not having spent my time wisely. Everything starts to irritate me, and motivation to do anything goes out the window.

So what is the best way to get through burnout? How do we make life more sustainable?

There is no shortage of advice on the internet for how we can better practice self-care. Indeed, there is an entire industry and culture built on the need for wellness in today’s modern world. Here are a few practices that I find work well for me.

Remind Yourself You May Be Exactly Where You Should Be

In the never-ending quest to get ahead, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that you may have indeed gotten everything done that you really actually needs to get done. Reminding yourself that some items on the to-do list are better done the next day or week can do wonders for your outlook and free up some time to rest or turn away from work.

Cut Things Out of your Schedule

When life gets overwhelmingly hectic, it may be a sign that you need to take cut back or cut out unnecessary items. This can be hard, as sometimes the items you can reasonably cut out or pause on are things that you genuinely want to keep, like a book club or even a home improvement project. Remember that the pause is just temporary, and that you are simply re-prioritizing to make your life make sense again.

Become a Morning Person or a Night Person (but not both)

Historically, I have been a night person throughout much of my life. I absolutely love tuning into a good show for a few episodes or getting a few things done when the house is quieter. I’ve learned, however, that the very early morning is a great time for productivity or going to the gym without cutting into family time, plus I feel more focused when I arrive at work.

Whatever you choose, make sure you get all the sleep you need to be healthy!

Stop Everything and Walk

There is nothing like a good walk to distance yourself from your screens, your work, or to take a breather after the constant stimulation of teaching in a busy classroom. I always find that walking gives me a chance to think through different problems I need to solve or simply to clear my head. Best of all you can get some steps in and maybe even some vitamin D if it’s sunny!

Find your Wellness Indulgence

Health and wellness activities are abundant where I live (the Toronto area), but you can always do at home any activity that makes you feel both healthy and a little indulged at the same time. Perhaps it is a warm soak, a great massage device, or time in a special place outdoors. Whatever it is, carve out time to do that wellness activity that takes a little more investment of time and resources.

For me, my favourite is a trip to a sauna/cold plunge circuit. The heat and stillness, combined with the shock of cold water somehow always does the trick of making me feel relaxed physically despite however I am feeling mentally, and by the end of the session the world seems a lot more calmer.

Sustain Yourself in the New Year

As I look ahead to the new year, my resolution is clear: to prioritize self-sustainability and actively guard against burnout. Working in education can be deeply meaningful, but it is also demanding, emotionally intensive, and often relentless. Without purposeful self-care, even the most passionate educators can find themselves stretched too thin.

As I continue my learning journey with Structured Literacy, I’ve been reflecting on the shifts that have had the biggest impact on my teaching.

The shift I will be reflecting on builds on the last post of progress monitoring, and focuses on something equally important for student growth: the power of positive self-talk. 

In this video, Rita Pierson reminds us how relationships are at the heart of teaching. One line that stays with me is: “-18 sucks the life outta ya, but +2 ain’t all bad”.  It is a powerful reminder to reframe how we share feedback to students, and families. Growth is growth. No matter how small, it deserves to be seen and celebrated.

This year, I have embedded positive self-talk in our daily routines, such as before exit tickets, assessments or even problem solving tasks. Students have generated their own phrases that they can say or write to themselves when a task is challenging. Together, we co-created a “self talk” chart that continues to evolve throughout the year. I regularly model it through “think alouds” to normalize it and show what it can look like in action. 

I have noticed that naturally, students are starting to use this language independently! The power of this self-talk is really transforming my students mindset, perseverance and resiliency. It is helping them see themselves as capable learners. 

I’m proud of this shift and excited to continue building on it, including writing (I will be reflecting on later in the series). I hope this inspires you to try it in your own classroom—you might be surprised by how powerful a few words can be.

At a professional learning workshop in the fall, we went around in our circle and offered tips to each other for report card writing.  I thought it was a great way to have an opening and also a great way to share ideas and strategies during this time of year.  Many of you may already be thinking about report card writing or even be in the middle of writing by the time this is published, but I’d like to share some of my own tips and ones that were shared with me.

First, know what conditions you need to focus on your writing.  For me, I need silence but I know many other educators who have a ‘report card playlist’ or who are able to maintain focus with some ambient sounds in the background.  I definitely require a well lit space (it helps if there is a view) and I put my phone in another room… I can be easily distracted!

My next tip is to take breaks when you need them.  When I sit and write, I know it takes me a while to get started, but I have also learned to recognize signs that I need a break.  My mind starts wandering or slowing down and I lose focus – two key indicators that I need a movement break.  I will get up and walk my dog for a quick outdoor break and it’s amazing how 15 minutes outside recharges my brain instantly.  Whatever your clues are, think about the strategies you need to refocus and bring yourself back to task.  

Just like some of my students students, I like to use a timer.  I’ve tried a few different techniques in the past, such as finishing all of one subject before a break or writing for three students and then a break, but I’ve found that a timer helps me the most.  I’ll set my timer and then keep track of how many comments I can write during that time. It helps to keep me accountable, but can also help me to anticipate when I will likely need a quick break as well. 

Last tip: plan your snacks!  I’m all about the snacks to fuel my motivation and I like to have some things in the house on hand….Whether popcorn is your snack of choice or fresh fruit, having those things ahead of time is handy. One educator I met told me that their staff members each bring a snack pack or fruit or such to give to every staff member;  each educator then goes home in report card writing season with a variety of snacks.  

This time of year when report card due dates are looming on the horizon can be daunting. While I love the opportunity to reflect on student learning, I also acknowledge the immense amount of time and energy that writing takes. Some of you may already have these strategies, but you might find some new ideas and maybe even some reminders of tried and true methods that have worked well for you in the past. If you’ve got more tips, share them with your colleagues – and me!