General – Page 54

November 30, 2018 Tammy Axt General

One Sore Throat and Two Stomach Flus

Today in my class, I have one really bad sore throat and two of the ERFs in my classroom are off with the stomach flu.

So, I thought today might be a good day to talk about personal wellness.

We are coming up to the last three weeks of school before the break and these three weeks tend to be the most demanding. The students will be extra anxious, excited, emotional and generally demanding of your time and energy. The problem is after report cards, interviews, IEPs, referrals, ISRCs etc., we are all pretty run down by this point in the year.

There are many ways to make it through December with a smile. Some of my favourites are:

Do an activity with a colleague. Put two classes together and work together to support your students. Having a team approach to deal with extra behaviour from students can take the pressure off of being calm and patient all day long.
Plan activities that don’t require you to take marking home. Try to get all your marking done in class. Commit to taking anecdotal notes about rich conversations as opposed to marking assignments after school. For writing, do an assignment that requires writing conferences as assessment. For Math, get into some amazing Marion Small rich tasks and capture everything in the moment. The less you have to take home, the more time you have to recharge in the evening. You need to stockpile the energy this month.
Get outside. Do a couple of lessons in the great outdoors building structures out of snow, balloon races or making some art out of found objects. Extra time outside can really have an impact on all those high emotions and can help students burn off some energy.
Take time out for laughter. Yesterday, a bunch of my friends and I went out and did an ugly Christmas sweater run. It was great to get out and laugh A LOT. We took crazy selfies all over town and cars were honking at our silliness everywhere we went. I know many of you have a whole bunch of gifts to buy and food to prepare and family to host but somewhere in there find time for laughter. It can be the best self care there is.
Make rewards more immediate and obvious for the students. I sometime up the reward time in my class in December to help the students stay focused and on task. I have posted the letters F-r-i-d-a-y-F-r-e-e-t-i-m-e at the front of the room and tell the kids that each letter represents 10 mintues. I remove letters based on if students are not following the rules.
If emotions are running high, have students do some independent work. Give them a break from doing their work and using their social skills at the same time.

All in all, I love December and all the celebrations that happen at this time of year. But this month requires you to take one deep breath and take care of ourselves!

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 Tammy Axt Field Trips, General, Special Education

Our First Field Trip Into The Community!!

This is my first year being a teacher of students with developmental delays. Being new to the role, some days are very successful and some days are a definite work in progress. Even with the possibly of bumpy days, I decided that my lack of experience was not going to stop me from setting up activities in the community with my students. After getting advice from some other amazing teachers, I set up my first field trip. We went on the city bus to the Dollar Store to buy holiday decorations for our class!!

The Dollar Store is about a 6 minute bus ride from my school and it took us about of 20 minutes in the store to purchase all of our items. However, I planned for this trip like we were doing a backpacking trip across Europe for 45 days.

I began by preparing my students for the trip by explicitly explaining what would happen on the trip and my expectations of their behaviour. I shared many pictures and explained them every day for a week. Here are a few of the pictures that I shared with my students:

I will be leaving school after lunch. I need to use the bathroom before I leave.

Then we will walk to the bus stop and wait for the bus.

I need to stay with the teachers while we are on our trip and listen to their instructions.

I need to stay with my teachers on the sidewalk while we walk to the Dollar Store.

When we get to the Dollar Store Ms. Axt will give me my money.

At the Dollar Store, we will each pick one decoration for the class.

Then we will go to the cash register to pay.

After we reviewed the pictures with the students, we practiced walking around the school like we were out in the community. My team and I had a meeting and made groups according to speed, personality and need. Each staff member took two or three students and walked in the halls at school the week before the trip.

We also practiced expectations of shopping in a store. The staff and I became the cashiers and my students practiced finding something, bringing it into the checkout line and waiting to pay for their item. The more we practiced the more independent they got.

Finally, the day arrived and off we went. The whole trip lasted about an hour and we didn’t have one issue. Preparing the students beforehand went a long way into making the trip successful.

The day after our trip, I showed all the students the pictures from our outing and asked about their experience. I put a few pictures and their thoughts in a little note and sent it home in their communication book. For many of my students, the pictures help them with their ability to explain what happened on the trip. It also gives parents some ideas about what happened on the trip, if their child has impaired verbal skills. The note I sent home looked like this…

It took about 10 minutes to make and the parents really appreciated the communication.

We are off on our next field trip on Monday. Wish us luck…………

November 25, 2018 Shawna Rothgeb-Bird FSL, General, Modern Learning, Technology in school, Use of Technology

Global Read Aloud – Join In!

Over the past few weeks, my class has been participating in the FSL-centric version of the Global Read Aloud, an international event where classes all around the world read the same books and share their learning over social media. Some teachers choose to connect directly with other classes, some simply share their activities online for others to see, but all are engaging with the digital community in some way.

My class has really enjoyed participating in this event. It was entirely teacher led, initiated by Tammy Aiello of Teaching FSL. The official iterations of the GRA are designed for either English programs or French-first-language programs, making it challenging to engage with the event if you teach an FSL program of some kind. Thankfully, there were enough of us interested in working out the details that Tammy was able to coordinate book lists for all ages (based on teacher input!).

If you haven’t participated in the GRA before, I strongly recommend it. While my teaching assignment and personal life meant that I couldn’t delve as deeply into it as I would have liked, even the small taste my students had of engaging with the online world had them eager to do more. More importantly, though, we chose books with deep meaning and strong curriculum connections. For my age range (Junior French Immersion), the books were about Indigenous issues, LGBTQIA issues, infertility, immigration. We had many valuable conversations in the class about history, human rights, and moving forward with a more open mind. These are not easy issues to tackle, by any stretch, but the books served as rich starting points for these topics of incredible importance.

I spoke so animatedly about what my class was doing that another teacher joined in. This gave us the opportunity to share resources and ideas, compare student engagement, and co-plan. We both realized that we really loved the format of diving deep into one picture book a week, as it opened a lot of cross-curricular doors and made for great teaching. It’s changed my teaching for the last six weeks – and may well change my teaching for the rest of the year.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Global Read Aloud, you can check out the website here. If you’re an FSL teacher, our Facebook group is here. The event is officially over for the year, but you can always start it up in your school and go through the book(s) a few weeks late! Otherwise, see you in September 2019!

November 22, 2018 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Special Education

Behind the behaviour – seeing our students

I see you.
I see you trying.
I see you fidgeting.
I see you working hard.
I see you fighting the floor.
I see you being a peace maker.
I see you standing up to bullies.
I see you waiting for snack time.
I see your random acts of kindness.
I see you struggling to pay attention.

I see you trying to find the space where you fit in.
I see you when you haven’t had a good night’s sleep.
I see you watching the seconds slowly tick as time crawls.
I see you throwing things because words have escaped you.
I see you searching for representation in the books you read.
I see you when you are trying to make the distractions vanish.
I see you walking off your school bus with an emotionless face.
I see you when you arrive to school without warm winter wear.
I see you taking extra long water fountain and bathroom breaks.
I see you when you come to school without having a morning meal.

I see you working to make your classroom and school a better place.
I see your desire to move about, doodle or make things with your hands.
I see you looking around the room for something else to do. Anything else.
I see you in your worst in best moments as you learn and grow as a learner.
I see you trying to understand that one student who just doesn’t fit in. Yet.
I see you avoiding difficult things because of a fear of having the wrong answers.
I see you writing notes to comfort someone who is feeling down and needs a friend.
I see you getting frustrated when things don’t go as well as you thought they would at first.
I see you when you come to school exhausted after a previous night’s music, sports or tutoring.

I see you because you matter to me.
I see you because it matters to be seen.
I see the potential in you even when you don’t.
And if I see it, so do others. Now you matter to all of us.
We see you.

Love your teacher(s).

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, General, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, Mentorship, self reflection, Teacher Wellness, wellness

Believing in the power of a mentor to support new educators

It’s Progress Report time in many school boards this week. Once again, ETFO colleagues have typed and tweaked their thoughts about student stemming from conversations, observations, and products onto reports that capture “the learning” thus far. This annual first rite of assessment seems to come earlier and earlier each year, but is an important opportunity to map out the learning for then next 7 + months. Then there’s the meeting scheduling and organizing in addition to our already crammed days. So, how are you doing?

Have you had time to catch your breath since the start of the year?

I know the first weeks in the classroom seem to fly by for all of us. Regardless of years experience, it’s a hectic time of year. This can be especially difficult for new teachers who find themselves working before/after school as well as during evenings and weekends at home to plan, prepare, and assess. All this, in addition to trying to have a personal life that may include time with friends and family or just to be still. To no one’s surprise, the hours that educators invest in their calling are often spent in equal proportions in and out of the classroom. So how are you doing?

What would you change about the first 11 weeks of your year?

Over the years, I have enjoyed numerous conversations with new teachers at Progress Report time. For many new educators, it is the first time that they have had the time to reflect on what has gone on since the first bell in September. Many have shared that they are tired and feel a little overwhelmed by the pace and volume of work. It is not uncommon for new teachers to go through a case of the November Blahs where their energy level has waned a bit from the beginning of the year.

http://weac.org/articles/new-teacher-handbook/phases/

The first question I usually ask after “So how are you doing?” is, “Are you connecting with your colleagues to divide and conquer or are you stuck inside the walls of your classroom?” In my first year as a teacher, I made the mistake of not asking for help because I thought I could solve my own problems as they presented themselves. I did not want to appear weak to my new colleagues or admin. Needless to say, come November of the first year, things were deteriorating. So I suffered. Which means my students suffered too.

Long nights, failed planning, missed opportunities, and frustration were my regular companions at work and at home. I did not feel like I was taking advantage of the natural mentors in the building that first year. However, by my second year, my eyes and mind were open to any and all who were willing to offer their wisdom, guidance, and resources. By taking myself out of my fortress and asking for help I was able to redirect/rescue/re-invigorate my instruction and outlook.

After that point, suffering was optional. I chose to seek out the support of others when things became murky or began to go off course. It was humbling to know that the people I turned to for help had my best interests at heart. Knowing that I did not have to have it all together every moment of the day was like removing a giant gorilla from my back that was constantly whispering, “You don’t need any help. You can do this on your own. Don’t let anyone think your weak.”

Having a peer mentor to turn to has become a cornerstone of my personal development. In turn, I try to support my colleagues when they need someone in their corner. Perhaps when this time rolls around each year the first question I ask teachers is, “So how are you doing?”

November 18, 2018 Kim Cousin Challenging Topics, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Genius Hour, Health & Safety, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Use of Technology, Wellness

Gaming…safely?

We have been trained to watch for concerns of a child’s well being. This didn’t include cyber information. As a responsible teacher I’m drawing the attention of students to current events. During this time of sharing, my students have become more relaxed and open about their after school activities which include gaming for many.

When a child discloses information about their safety we are obligated to report this to children’s services. Write down the facts, call and make a statement, fairly straight forward.

When a child shares information about interactions in Gaming, what do you do? I make a judgement based on what the information is, then I write down the facts are that were shared, then what? I’m really not sure where we go from here. I call the family and have a conversation? I chat with the principal? I provide the student with avenues of help, help lines, internet safety….

This is a new world which effects all of our students. Access to our vulnerable young students is wide open on the internet especially with group gaming and social media. Education is a form of protection. When a child is doing something their family may not agree with, they are reluctant to share concerns and can easily become victims of online abuse. How do we help? Keep open communication lines with students and their family. We all want our children to be safe.

November 16, 2018 Michelle Fenn General

Intentionally Planning with Colleagues

Most educators are routine oriented which in the classroom is a necessity. Routines bring us predictability and comfort. My classroom planning was also routine. I remember spending the majority of my Sundays planning for the week and getting annoyed and almost panicky when I had a social event interfere with my Sunday planning. Once I had a child, I had to adapt and as I gained experience I realized that I was planning way more than was needed and had no flexibility in my program for arising student needs or interest. I became involved in Instructional Rounds for Assessment for Learning with my school board and began to intentionally plan with the support of colleagues. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on my practice and to have feedback with educators that shared the same growth mindset. It shook my teaching world at the foundation and rejuvenated me as an educator.

It is easy to operate in a silo in education. You can close your door, stay in your classroom and go directly to your car after school. I don’t recommend teaching that way. Not only will you burn out quickly, but your teaching practice will stagnate and you won’t have much work-life balance. Plan with a colleague. Make the time.

Yesterday I was able to plan with an NTIP teacher as her mentor. She teaches Kindergarten. I haven’t taught Kindergarten in almost 20 years so it was professional learning for both of us. There is a perception that Kindergarten is incredibly different from the other elementary grades but when you plan intentionally for inquiry, you are thinking like a Kindergarten teacher. Within a few hours we had planned overall expectations and specific learning activities for guiding the students through inquiry connecting literacy to coding and robotics. We started with clustering Kindergarten Curriculum expectations from all four areas, decided specifically what to look for in the learning, what to do in order to help those students that might struggle and what evidence would be collected to document student learning. This isn’t rigid planning. There will be off shoots as students become engaged in different design experiences and take it into their own direction, but the plan will intentionally guide students to a specific areas of learning. By the time we were finished the teacher had an overall idea of what would be happening in her classroom for about six weeks. She still has work to do in terms of collecting resources and setting up learning experiences but the direction for the learning is clear.

Almost every educator speaks to not having enough time and especially don’t have time to meet with colleagues. I have said it myself! However, if teachers make the time at the outset and plan together, there will be more time in the long run. Time for ourselves as people. We need to shift the balance of work and life so that we are our best selves in the classroom for students. That’s just good for everyone.

October 31, 2018November 1, 2018 Laura Bottrell General, Modern Learning, Play-Based Learning, Professional Learning and Growth

Play-Based in Primary

At the start of October, I began a full year assignment at a new school teaching Grade 1/2. After teaching Kindergarten last year, I am overjoyed at the opportunity to teach these grades. I am looking forward to “following” the early learning continuum from a Kindergarten environment into primary, and the opportunity to bring along my favourite aspects of Kindergarten.

As a teacher, I feel I’ve got a strong foundation in my knowledge of child development in the early years. I majored in the subject in University and I am also a Registered Early Childhood Educator. Kindergarten was my “place”. I was comfortable there. I could talk shop for hours about the research supporting play-based learning and child-directed inquiry. I truly stand behind the play-based curriculum and spent my year in Kindergarten challenging norms and pushing thinking. The potential in children that is unlocked in a play-based program is powerful, and I see it first hand.

Moving to primary, I don’t want to suddenly ignore that part of who I am as a teacher. I’m glad that there is beginning to be a shift toward more play in the primary grades, but it hasn’t fully or truly happened yet. This often makes for a rocky transition for our students, who sometimes move from a free-flow day to one with a lot of structure. Some of our students have never seen a worksheet, and are suddenly expected to sit quietly and complete them for extended lengths of time. Even just a comparison between the difference in how long we expect them to listen attentively between the two grades just doesn’t make sense. There needs to be a continuum.

I do believe that change is needed to ease this sudden shift in what we are expecting of our young learners. If Kindergarten is designed to be best for a six year old’s development, why do all of those considerations disappear when they enter primary only two months older? I don’t have these answers, and I don’t have control over this – but I do have control over how I teach.

My personal learning goal this year is to explore authentic, play-based learning and inquiry in primary. I have a lot of questions and things I am unsure of:

How do I ensure I teach to where they’re at, while simultaneously teaching them for where they’re heading?

What does this actually look like? Where does this fit in my daily schedule? How do I effectively combine play and inquiry with necessary instruction “must haves”, such as math talks/three-part lessons, small group instruction or the components of balanced literacy?

How do I make sure I cover the necessary curriculum content?

How do I actually source the materials needed for an effective play-based environment in a primary hallway? My classroom certainly didn’t come equipped with blocks or loose parts!

How do I set up an environment that is conducive to independent inquiry? What materials will my students need access to, and what explicit teaching is needed to set them up for success here?

Aside from anecdotal and conferencing, how do I asses their progress? Obviously, pencil-paper assessments are necessary in many cases, but how can I assess in a more authentic way?

How do I ensure that my environment is meaningful and planned carefully enough that I know my students are exploring curriculum concepts in their play? I’m finding this gets trickier as the curriculum concepts increase in complexity.

How do I support and justify a play-based environment to those who do not understand or agree?

Also on my mind, is that I want my play-based environment to be built around authentic play. There is a difference between learning centre rotations and actual play. Adult created and directed activities are fun but they are not true play. Play is self-chosen, open-ended, child-directed and does not come with instructions. This is the play that allows a child’s curiosity drive them to discover and do wonderful things. This is what I want happening in my Grade 1/2 classroom!

As I figure all of this out, I hope to share my experiences with you. Are there any other play and inquired based primary teachers out there? I’d love to hear from you!

October 31, 2018 Will Gourley General

Bygone day(s)

CC by 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/10485077@N06/38017292926 — https://www.flickr.com/photos/10485077@N06/38017292926 CC by 2.0

It’s October 31st, All Hallows Eve or Hallowe’en to most. The day is lit like the candles of a million pumpkins with anticipation and excitement in the classroom. For most of our students this day could not come at a better time because October 31st is a day that seems to be celebrated across many faith and cultural lines. It could also be that on this day students are able to express themselves in ways that they are not normally permitted. Or it could be the addition of treats or fun activities to accompany a full day of curriculum in the classroom that will happen between costume parades and crafts.

Although it might get overlooked, today also signifies that 20% of the school year has screamed past like a wizard on a Nimbus 2000.

For staff, there are a lot of reasons to get excited about days like Hallowe’en too. It is a great chance to join in the fun. Last year, our school staff dressed up as playing cards. We had fun making our costumes beforehand, enjoyed the camraderie, and took lots of photos for the yearbook. We were proud to wear them alongside of students. They are always thrilled when teachers show their school spirit at events like today. This year most of us transformed into emojis while others took the super hero route (see Wolverine Elvis -below right). It’s nice to let the inner child out in a world that needs to laugh and play more often.

For our students, their childhoods are incredible times of excitement and Hallowe’en tops many lists of favourite dates to celebrate being a kid. I asked my students why they wanted to dress up today and many replied that it was fun and that wearing a costume made them feel good.

On another side of our conversation came a message about how it was okay that some did not wear a costumes. It allowed us to discuss inclusion and respect even while everyone was not doing the same thing.

All of this fun and frivolity, got me thinking about how the world is constantly rushing its young through their childhoods and youth. To this end, I keep wondering for what? What’s even more frightening, is how quickly the world expects students to have it all figured out. We have students who are stressing about going to university already, and they haven’t even graduated grade 8. The horror of the future is the nightmare our youth face today. This is scary because it comes at a time when they are supposed to be enjoying, learning, and discovering their talents and life’s passions not worrying whether they will go to Med or Law or Engineering school.

So days like today are important reminders to us all that we may need to model having fun for our students too. While you’re at it, add a little time for laughter into the day too.

I hope you were able to relive some of the fun of your childhood to share with your students, but if hear any of you knocking at my door for candy, we’ll have to talk.

October 30, 2018 Tammy Axt General

Student Led Conferences in a Special Needs Class

I am so lucky to be working in a class with students who have special needs. I am so proud of them everyday for everything that they learn and how kind they are to others around them. My students are just a whole bunch of awesome! For those of you who are used to student led conferences as opposed to traditional parent-teacher interviews, but are not sure how to organize the experience for kids with special needs below is one possible example. One important piece of information to note is that most of my students are verbal, have the ability to explain something simple and can recognize the numbers up to 10.

I labelled some of the areas of our classroom and had each of my students lead their parents through the numbers one to seven.

1. Pictures of places outside the classroom. Students said statements like “I go to gym to practice my basketball skills” or ” We learn about flowers outside”

2. Our morning activities on the smartboard. Students showed their parents how they could complete activities about the weather, months, date and personal information.

3. This is a picture of our business, the coffee cart. Students shared with their parents “I practice using money ” or “I practice my counting”

4. A table of student work from their teacher table time. Students shared with their parents “I practice my printing” or “I practice my reading”

5. This board is where we shared our ideas of how to be kind. Students shared their ways that they could show kindness.

6. This small cabinet holds our toothbrushes, toothpaste and wash clothes. Students told their parents “I brush my teeth everyday after lunch”

7. We have a baking and cooking program so we made sure to make a sample for our parents to try and an example of a recipe we follow

Parents really enjoyed seeing all the amazing things that happen in our class everyday!