Category: General

As a student, I would venture to say that math was felt very different. There were a lot of equations and my teacher would write examples on the board to help us to find the right answer to the problems. I could follow along with the examples and formulas and felt confident in completing my homework and worksheets. 

As an adult in university, I had a really great professor. He was so passionate about mathematics and often talked about the “beauty” of math. Things shifted for me as we spent a lot of time trying different strategies to get the right answers. This was the beauty my professor kept talking about!  Thinking about problems and trying out new ideas for solutions. 

Fast forward a few more years and as a teacher candidate, I was now responsible for helping students to understand math. This was a catalyst for me! I wanted my students to have amazing math experiences that would empower them to become mathematicians. It seemed like some things never changed; I was a math student again, in a different way this time. I had a wonderful professor while studying my Bachelor of Education. His classes were all hands on; there were visuals and there were experiences and he chatted with us about our thinking and learning. He made space for us to explore, to question, to articulate what we saw and thought and wondered about. 

Math continued to be beautiful as I used representations and manipulatives.  Mathematics lived here between what I saw and experienced in magnitude and measurement and what I wrote down on the page.  It wasn’t just magic or following examples, it was a language that helped me to communicate what I was doing and what I saw happening. 

In those early days of my career, I engaged in a lot professional learning opportunities including co-planning and co-teaching with colleagues, watching videos of classrooms, reading research and new resources, and even observed some amazing teacher mentors doing amazing math.  I earned a Math Specialist as an AQ through ETFO and it was such an inspirational experience to engage in thinking about building my knowledge as a math teacher. Teaching math was  was exciting and a space where my teacher colleagues and I found joy. 

At this stage of my math journey, I still find math beautiful, but also enjoy a sense of curiosity and wonder. When I’m planning and reading the curriculum expectations, I always make sure to click on the teacher supports found under the specific expectations. The examples show the kinds of things students might write to demonstrate their thinking and the manipulatives they might use to represent their ideas. I take my time with the key concepts too; they help me deepen my own understanding of the math I want students to explore. The sample tasks are a great tool as well. They paint a picture of what the learning experience could look like in the classroom and spark ideas for how I can frame those moments so students have the chance to experience math in a way that leads them to make sense of the mathematics. All of these supports are there to help math feel vibrant and alive.  

While I’m not a mathematician like Sophie Germain or Maryam Mirzakhani, I find beauty and wonder in math. Of all possibilities, this journey has led me to becoming a math teacher and maybe that’s the kind of mathematician that students need.

There is a moment in the classroom when the students are curious.  You’ve probably noticed this moment because it changes the energy of the entire room.  There’s a certain buzz of anticipation; maybe it’s the moment when they are waiting to see what happens next in a science experiment or listening for the next exciting part in the shared reading.  It’s the moment of pure engagement. 

On the other hand, there are other moments when it seems like the students feel disengaged. The classroom feels sleepy and dull, the students are clearly disinterested. I’m sure you’ve felt that moment, too.  The vibe in the room feels like I’m putting on a performance and getting a one star review. 

It’s at these moments that I recognize we need to take a break; we need something to re-energize our systems and get us back on track.  Over my years in teaching, I’ve learned the importance of breaks.  As a student, I can remember many moments of just listening to information or sitting and working for (what felt like) hours and eventually being unable to absorb any more information. My students feel the same way sometimes!  I’m not always the best ‘edutainer’ and sometimes I’m focussed on getting stuff done, but deep down I know that if the students are hitting a plateau then they are no longer in a place of learning. 

This is a great opportunity to take a break!  Reading the body language and emotions of students also means that we can respond to them.  If you’re feeling the energy start to dip or frustration start to grow, consider taking a break to bring the students back to a learning stance. I know that when I’ve spent a lot of time in heavy thinking, a break is always welcome.  While there are many different kinds of breaks to offer, there are a few of my stand by favourites that can easily be incorporated into the classroom.

Movement Breaks

Have a class that likes to get up a move?  A movement break is a great body break that helps students to move their bodies and have a little fun.  This could look like a dance break. Have your students choose a few of their favourite songs and have a moment of music and fun!  You might choose a movement break that gets them to use their imaginations, such as move around the room like you’re at 1.5 speed or 0.5 speed.  I’ve even had students share their own favourite movement break with me, whether it’s Simon Says or Silent Ball, honouring student voice is a great way to let them be creative and feel heard. 

Talking Activities

I love a good moment to chat with my friends.  You might try some talking breaks that incorporate movement, such as Would You Rather where students move to one side or another when making a decision and share their ideas with their peers.  Another fun talking break we use is Mingling to Music; students move about the room to music and when the music stops they must discuss a question or statement with a friend standing close to them. You might even ask students to create questions or topics that they would like to discuss with their peers.  You will likely find out some cool things about the students’ interests!

Brain Teasers

Not all breaks need to involve movement, sometimes a quick brain teaser or game will do the trick.   A fun strategy game we play are counting games, such as Count To  Ten, where students can strategize how to eliminate their friends from the game. One year my students loved a game we called Top Ten where we would try to guess the Top Ten of something, such as Top Ten Disney Movies, or Top Ten Animals You Would Find on a Farm.  I’d Google the answers beforehand and, in teams, the students would try to guess the answers on the top ten list. I learned a lot about what my students liked that year because they all wanted to submit their top ten subjects which ranged from baseball teams to R&B artists.  

In the rush to get through the lesson plan, these breaks might feel like time away from learning, but they’re actually part of the learning. I consider them an investment that helps students return to engagement, that energy we all feel when the room suddenly comes alive again. In all honesty, they help me return to that place too. We all benefit from a break when tasks feel heavy or our thoughts feel sluggish. Our brains need variety, our bodies need movement, and all of us need moments of connection and play.

When the room feels heavy or the energy dips, this is an opportunity to understand more about my students.  An invitation and a reminder that we are building a learning community together and these fun activities can help us to learn about one another and share some smiles. When we honour these moments, we make space for the magic to return. And that’s when the real learning begins.

Check out these links to some of the games in the post: 

Silent Ball: https://www.playworks.org/game-library/silent-ball/

Simon Says: https://www.playworks.org/game-library/simon-says/

Count To Ten: https://greatcampgames.ca/casual-games/ten/

Mingling to Music: https://www.eleducation.org/curriculum/protocols/musical-mingle/

Would You Rather: https://www.weareteachers.com/would-you-rather-scenarios-elementary/

 

Over the past year I have been reflecting on my shifts in practice in relation to my literacy practice. You can see them all below:

• Structured Literacy Shift # 1 –  Explicit Instruction
• Structured Literacy Shift # 2 –  Morphology Instruction
• Structured Literacy Shift # 3 – Progress Monitoring
• Structured Literacy Shift # 4 – Positive Self-Talk
• Structured Literacy Shift # 5 – Oral Reading Fluency
• Structured Literacy Shift # 6 – Vocabulary Instruction
• Structured Literacy Shift # 7 – Structured Read Alouds

There have been many more shifts, as I continue to learn about better and best practices. However I named these shifts because they are the ones that stayed in my practice in lasting ways and had a significant impact on student outcomes. Each shift was not an add on, but rather a better understanding that literacy development extend beyond phonics instruction to include other areas such as reading comprehension, vocabulary, morphology, writing.

What kept me motivated was the way my students decoded unfamiliar words with more confidence. I heard it in their dialogue and use of language during discussions. I noticed it when they make connections across texts and ideas. These were not isolated successes. This was the result of sustained, intentional shifts in instruction.

Through these shifts, I learned that meaningful change in literacy instruction (or any practice for that matter) is not about constantly adding something new. It is about strengthening and refining what works. It will not work well the first time (and most of the time quite frankly, it did not). Engaging in critical dialogue with peers, collaborating with colleagues and experts, and reflecting on assessment data helped me to refine these practices over time.

These shifts are not an endpoint. They are a foundation that I will keep refining. I know there will always be more to learn, more to refine, and more to shift. But perhaps the more important question is not what else we can add, but what we are willing to stay with long enough to see real change?

Every year I start in my garden just a little bit later than the year before, not on purpose, but because May and June are so busy as a teacher. “Professional” gardeners on social media share helpful advice – from when to plant to when to close down the garden to what grows best in different light, soil, and other conditions.  Sometimes I’m even able to follow these best practices!

But my favourite ‘professionals’ are the real people in my circle. My friends, with whom I swap stories when they come for a visit.  My neighbours,  when we theorize about why we have the same plant but mine grows a lot bigger and wider while hers is a more manageable size. These conversations, as “amateur” gardeners, are as much about sharing as they are about gardening.  We try new strategies when we are rooting plants, move our leafy friends to different windows or places in the garden and chat about the differences we see in their growth and thriving. We’re trying new things, learning, sharing our results (for better or worse!) and thinking through challenges together.  It’s like ongoing science experiments that we partake in and share the results of in a never ending science fair.  

Our staff at school feels like the same kind of community. Colleagues come together in small but meaningful ways. Maybe it’s the conversation in the hallway, sharing strategies and resources that we felt worked well and ones where I need a little advice. It can be the scheduled prep time where we bring in student work and look at it together.  Sometimes it’s sharing the frustration when things didn’t go as planned and brainstorming together for a solution or a little shift that might make the difference. Every story about someone else’s classroom becomes a little cutting I can root in my own teaching. 

New ideas and resources take time to implement as we adjust, experiment, and observe together. I rarely teach a new lesson perfectly the first time. It can take awhile to work up to best practices, but it’s my colleagues that offer advice, and share their own stumbles that inspire me to keep trying. In teaching, as in gardening, there’s a joy in trying something new and seeing what happens. There’s comfort in knowing that I’m not on this learning journey alone. Just like gardening, teaching is ongoing, collaborative work where the results are never final, but always full of possibility.

Each spring, Annie starts her seeds indoors quite early and always saves some to share with us. Mal builds new structures and garden boxes and shows me her newest creations. Sandy always reminds me to just enjoy playing in the dirt and not to worry about perfection. I’m always late to the garden centres but it gives me the opportunity to get the best deals and share or swap what I find. My busiest time of year, as a teacher, falls during the optimum planting months, hence why I’m usually late to the party. Yet there’s no judgement from my little circle of gardeners, only support for my imperfect-but-always-trying practice. And through their encouragement, their joy, and their acceptance I’m reminded that growth always finds its way in community. 

Those who know me are well aware of my love of live events and especially concerts and musicals.  I love the theatrics, the costumes, the soundtracks. Something beautiful comes together on the stage in that very moment of storytelling that makes the characters come alive through the music and the shared experience. 

I’ve never really found the same love for sports, though.  Don’t get me wrong, put me in a live audience and I’m cheering with the best of them!  But I don’t follow a specific team and I’m not a sports fanatic. I’ve always felt a little removed from sports and the athletes seemed a little impersonal to me.  It’s a storyline I just can’t follow with a lot of excitement or connection. 

Lately, that seems to be changing.  

With the spotlight on women’s sports, I’m finding myself connected with the athletes.  I’m following their stories, their rises through the ranks, their funny commentaries on social media about themselves and their teammates. I’m listening to these women talk during interviews about topics that are important to me: challenges they face, uplifting one another, finding their own stories and who they truly are. Somehow, through all of these interactions, I have gained a renewed interest in sports. 

It wasn’t the shared identity or interest in sports that finally got me to remember the names of professional athletes or put the game on TV. It was that I saw a shared experience, the same struggles that many of us have: being questioned about talent, setting boundaries, trying to balance careers, mental health, and being true to ourselves. Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles stepping away from their careers to take care of themselves and their health.  Alysia Liu drawing boundaries and defining herself in her own way. Ilona Maher championing body positivity. Their journeys helped my lived experience as a woman feel a little more familiar, a little more seen. In their stories I saw humanity and a reminder that representation isn’t just about who we see, but what parts of ourselves we recognize in others. 

The books, the stories we share with students in schools might echo the same way. Flashes where students might see themselves represented through common experiences, emotions, and challenges. Instances where children might recognize their own stories and respond with a quiet, “hey, me too.”  This is exactly why representation matters: when students see reflections of their identities, they feel less alone and a little more understood. These connections can cultivate compassion, confidence and even a feeling of community.  

I still don’t identify as an athlete and it’s pretty unlikely that I will ever willingly join a sports team. But you will find me following some incredible athletes on social media and liking all their posts. I’ll still be cheering loudly and boldly at any live sporting event I’m attending. Perhaps, though, I’ll be a little bit louder for the women with a voice that is cheering for their power, their resistance, their continued pursuit of excellence. This representation feels personal; their presence feels like a win for anyone who’s ever been underestimated or whose struggles felt unseen. When I look at sports through this lens, it would seem we’re no longer in competition with each other.  Instead, we’re all on the same team. 

 

In my previous post I shared that one of the things I find joyful about teaching is witnessing students make progress in their learning and recognizing that I had some part in it. In this post, I’ll focus on the joy that I find comes from learning how to improve my teaching practices from direct work with students. Again, my hope in sharing the insights included in this post is that they help other educators reflect on what brings them joy in their teaching practices, then think of ways to use that joy to further fuel their passion for teaching and learning.

One of the reasons that I became a teacher beyond a love of helping and working with kids is that I really enjoy learning. To be more specific, I enjoy reading, writing, thinking and engaging in conversations with others about things that add value and meaning to their lives. Because I enjoy learning, I hope that what and how I teach inspires students to engage in the learning we do together and that it brings them some joy and adds meaning to their lives. To hopefully ignite or further fuel a joy of learning in students, I spend a lot of time preparing my lessons and assignments. During instructions I am constantly monitoring student responses to verify their engagement and understanding and while they are working on assigned tasks, I often meet with them in small groups or one-to-one to observe their progress and provide individualize constructive feedback to aid them in further progress.

Over the course of this year, I found that my small group and one-to-one meetings were where I had some of the best opportunities to see how my teaching of the curriculum landed with students.

While traditionally, teachers have been positioned as the ones to impart knowledge to students and it has often been seen as a one-way transactional process, I prefer to utilize a Paulo Freire educational approach where I recognize that both students and teachers are learners and participants in a learning community. This translates to mean that both students and teachers enter classroom spaces with valuable funds of knowledge to share and support the ongoing teaching and learning of all participants within the community. As a result of the sharing of knowledge both grow from their experience of collaborating and working together. I know that I have become and continue to become a better teacher from my work with students and the indirect and sometimes direct feedback they have given me.

For example, to keep myself and students organized this year, I often used slide decks for my whole group instructions. However, during a small group meeting, several students shared that sometimes I moved too fast through the slide decks and sometimes they found them difficult to see from their seat at the back of the classroom.  Finding this to be useful feedback, I made immediate changes. I first posted a digital copy of the deck on our virtual learning platform so students could access them through classroom devices while I taught lessons. I also slowed my rate of instruction to provide more thinking time for students and created workspaces closer to the front of the classroom where students could sit and work to obtain a better view of the screen.

I think being open to hearing and learning about what students need to support and be successful in their learning, then being responsive to those needs is such a vital part of my teaching practice; It reminds me that I teach students the curriculum not the curriculum to students. Understanding the subtle but clear difference between teaching students the curriculum and not the other way around ensures that adapting the curriculum to support student learning remains at the fore of my mind. When I learn simple or complex new ways to help students learn, it brings me immense joy.

The Steps to English Proficiency continua (STEP) is one of those teaching tools that never ceases to surprise me with new insights every time I come back to it. To be sure, there are moments when I wish it was updated, more reflective of changing pedagogy, and more streamlined. However, its importance in our linguistically diverse schools is undeniable.

To those who are unfamiliar, STEP is an Ontario Ministry-developed tool that help educators understand and track the English language development of multilingual language learners (MLLs). They are used to guide instruction, accommodations, and programming in oral communication, reading, and writing.

I have noticed in recent years that many educators are less intrigued by language proficiency and more concerned with literacy screener scores – and it’s not hard to see why.

Unlike other ways of measuring language development, STEP does not have a tangible and specific assessment that generates scores and identifies students at risk. Its purpose is to give educators a sense of a student’s level of English proficiency, so they can plan, adapt, and assess  instruction accordingly. Educators use triangulated assessment (observations, conversations, products) to place students at different proficiency levels. When a student remains “stuck” at a level for an extended period of time, it would be a possible indicator that additional assessments and direct support may be needed.

Screeners and diagnostics, on the other hand, really pinpoint which skills students need to develop to become better readers, and regular progress monitoring helps educators, students, and their families to map growth. What is important to note, however, is that literacy screeners assume that students already know and speak the language they mapping onto different combinations of letters, or graphemes. MLLs in the early STEPs, unlike proficient English speakers, have the more complex challenge of learning the English language at the same time that they are connecting its phonemes to written script.

So what does the STEP continua have to do with it? When we stop paying attention to language proficiency, we risk looking at literacy screener and diagnostic scores out of context. It is only when we look at both of them in tandem that we can gather useful insights about an MLL’s literacy portrait.

For example, an early STEP student may score low on a literacy screener because they are still learning English sounds and syntax, developing oral speech in English, acquiring vocabulary, or processing unfamiliar academic language: not necessarily because of an underlying reading difficulty. It is only when educators examine both STEP data and literacy assessment results together that they can build a more accurate and strengths-based literacy portrait of MLLs.

A colleague recently shared her frustration that the “MLL perspective” was noticeably absent from conversations with about literacy screeners at her school. Another literacy coach commented, “I’m tired of hearing teachers use ESL as an excuse for students doing poorly in reading.” Statements like these highlight the ongoing need for professional learning that bridges the gap between English language learning pedagogy and structured literacy approaches.

It is clear that STEP implementation is more important than ever. Without regularly utilizing and referencing shared language and tool for describing language proficiency for MLLs, especially those in the youngest and most formative years, we minimize and possibly even lose sight of a critical piece of data about students’ oral language foundations, which is well known to be a key indicator of student success.

Did you know that ETFO has a resource that may be a great starting point for you if you are interested in learning more?

Enhance classroom practices with these considerations when implementing early reading screeners and analyzing the data from multilingual language learners. (PDF)

As educators, we know how important strong home school partnerships are. When families feel connected to what is happening in the classroom, they are often able to better able to support their child’s learning and engage in meaningful conversations. The challenge, of course, is finding the time to communicate while balancing everything else we do each day.

As both a parent and an educator, this is something I value deeply. It means a lot when my own children’s teachers share not only what is happening in class, but also the strengths they notice and the areas where my children are growing. It helps me feel connected, informed, and better able to support them at home.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with a Grade 6 teacher whose families consistently say they feel very connected throughout the year. I was curious to learn what makes the difference.

Her answer was simple: consistency.

She shared that communication starts early in the year with positive messages home. Sometimes it is a quick email, other times a short phone call to share something she noticed that made her smile. These small moments go a long way in building trust from the start.

While we often think of positive phone calls home, there are also times when we need to reach out to share concerns or ask for support. In those moments, I try to keep the same mindset of partnership. Sometimes my message is as simple as, “I wanted to share what I am noticing and see if you are noticing something similar at home”. That shift in language helps me open the door for collaboration and brings families into the process, rather than only when concerns become more serious.

She also shared that communication is built into routines she already has. Each week, she uses her school’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to share what students are learning, post helpful resources, and give families a view into classroom life. At the end of the week, she posts a short update with reminders, upcoming events, assessments, and a snapshot of learning, what has been covered and what is coming next. This helps families stay informed and gives them natural ways to continue conversations at home.

As she shared her routine, I found myself reflecting on my own practice.

When I first started teaching, one of the things that made me the most nervous was calling parents. I often worried about saying the wrong thing or upsetting families, especially when I needed to call about a concern. Over time, I learned that these conversations are not about having the perfect words, but about building trust and approaching families with honesty and care.

My approach now looks a little different. Each month, I send home a brief curriculum overview for each subject. Throughout the week, I use our VLE to share tasks, feedback, and helpful links. I also make time for positive phone calls and emails whenever I can. Looking back, I realized we are both doing the same thing in different ways. Neither approach is wrong, we have simply built systems that work within our own routines.

What stayed with me from my conversion is that effective family communication is about being intentional so families feel informed, connected, and valued.