General – Page 68

January 30, 2018 Tammy Axt General, Professional Judgement

Professional Judgement-Report Cards

I belong to a few Facebook groups for teachers. It is a great place for the sharing of resources, ideas and for suggestions on how to handle conundrums about classroom management. As teachers across the province write report cards, a few of the questions posted on these groups had answers to them that relied on teacher’s Professional Judgement.

Professional Judgement is enshrined in our central collective agreement and defined as:

“Professional Judgement” shall be defined as judgement that is informed by professional knowledge of curriculum expectations, context, evidence of learning, methods of instruction and assessment, and the criteria and standards that indicate success in student learning. In professional practice, judgement involves a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in terms of accuracy and insight with ongoing reflection and self-correction.

Some of the Facebook questions that I have seen recently are below, along with some suggestions of publications that you can use in your discussions around professional judgement with your administrators.

“My principal has requested personalized comments for my students. I teach over 400 students. Help!”

This is a place where teachers can use their professional judgement. Having personalized comments does not mean that every student needs to have a different comment. This term, through my data I have collected, I can see that 6 students in my class are really strong at generating ideas in the creative process, but are still working at revising their musical compositions. Therefore, those six students will all have the same comments. Another group of 5 students can create a piece of music effectively and play it with good technique. They will have the same comment. In most of my classes that translates to about 4 or 5 comments per class. Some students get their own comments if their strengths and next steps are different than everyone else’s. Students on IEPs will have their own comment, but may be the same as another student working on similar goals. Refer to the Professional Judgement Matters Series for further details.

“My principal has told me that I am not allowed to use an “I” for the student even though I have only seen the student twice in music class, due to an IBI schedule.”

Growing Success clearly lays out that it is within the teacher’s professional judgement when to use an “I”.

“For the report card, teachers will use their professional judgement to determine when the use of “I” is appropriate and in the best interests of the student. For example, teachers may find it appropriate to use “I” when evidence of a student’s achievement is insufficient because the student has enrolled in the school very recently or because there were issues or extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as protracted illness, that affected his or her attendance and/or ability to provide sufficient evidence of achievement of the overall expectations.” ( Growing Success pg.42)

This term, there were many instances where I used an “I” for insufficient data on the report card. It is very common for some of my students to take 2 or 3 months off of school somewhere between November and March to travel. I have students who have been ill for many days throughout the term and others who have just arrived. All of these situations would make the use of an “I” quite clear according to the Growing Success document. In other instances, if students have not completed a lot of work for the term and you have insufficient data, both you and your administrator may question the use of an “I” versus an “R”. I direct you to the Report Cards-Questions and Answers on the EduGAINs site in order to help you answer this question. Question 40 explains in what circumstances an “I” or an “R” could be used.

“My principal wants me to fill the entire Learning Skills Box”

It is really important to focus on quality over quantity. In speaking with some of my homeroom teacher colleagues, they have spoken about the various lengths of learning skill comments that may exist within the class. Some students may need longer Learning Skills explanations to clearly outline their next steps. Other students may require less explanation. Use your professional judgement. The Growing Success Document outlines the following:

“In the space provided for anecdotal comments, the teacher will elaborate on the student’s demonstration of the skills and comment on “strengths” and “next steps for improvement”. (Growing Success Pg. 55)

At no point does it say that you must fill the entire box.

ETFO has a great series called Professional Judgement Matters that you can refer to when questions arise. Topics include: diagnostic assessments, reporting, evaluations, IEPs and Kindergarten reporting.

The Virtues of Non Fiction Reading and Writing – Part 1

Many years ago at a Reading for the Love of It Conference, I listened to author and educator Tony Stead speak about the virtues of teaching non-fiction reading and writing in the elementary grades. It was an “ah-ha” moment for me as an educator. As an adult the majority of the text that we interact with each day is non-fiction. Writing a grocery list, filling out a survey, reading an advertisement, reading a blog and corresponding in an email are all examples of interacting with non-fiction text. If I read fiction it is because I choose to do so for pleasure. Yet, much of my language curriculum in the primary grades had been fiction based. I had chosen many beautiful picture books for read alouds and focused a lot of our time on narrative story writing. Most of what I write as an adult is purposeful communication, not for pleasure. During that time I also put together that the majority of what the boys in my class were interested in reading and writing were non-fiction topics and that likely contributed to the reluctance of many of them to read and write.

Consequently, as an educator, I spend much more of my time teaching how to read non-fiction and how to write in different non-fiction genres. Recently with my grade 4-5 class, we have been investigating non-fiction text features. We are learning to use non-fiction text features to help us both as readers and writers. For example, through inquiry the students learn what a diagram is, what is used for, how it helps the reader to gain new information and how we can then use it in our own writing to communicate information effectively. The students are working towards providing a kind of instructional guide to non-fiction text features using the app Explain Everything to present to younger students in our school. Students search for examples of non-fiction text features, take photos and using voice, text or diagrams; explain how the text features work and how they help readers and writers communicate. Students understand that these diagrams, graphs, maps etc., in their texts can provide quick snapshots of important information and make their research interesting, richer and often more expedient. In their writing, they understand that many features provide “proof” of the point they are trying to make for their readers.

My love of non-fiction does not exclude studies in fiction. However, as educators it is important that we are expose our students to purposeful, rich, relatable tasks as well as good stories. In part two of the blog, I will be sharing student work with non-fiction. For more information about educator and author Tony Stead I have included some links below.

Tony Stead author biography

The RAN Strategy video

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018 Laura Bottrell Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Use of Technology

Digital Documentation

Documentation can be one of the most time consuming aspects of teaching Kindergarten and working with young learners. Especially in a program where there are no pencil-paper assessments, but rather the learning is something that is seen and heard.

I found a tool a few years ago that changed the way I document tremendously. Not only is documentation easy, natural and quick – it is inclusive of families and further builds our classroom community.

SeeSaw is an online documentation tool designed for teachers to capture the learning of students through photo, video and audio recording. What makes SeeSaw unique, and in my opinion its best feature, is that it acts as almost a social media tool for engaging parents and families. Here are some ways that SeeSaw is working wonders in my classroom:

SeeSaw is easy and quick, allowing me to capture learning in the moment. I have the app on our classroom iPad as well as my own device. This way, I’ve always got my documentation tool at hand when learning happens. The interface is easy to use and navigate. SeeSaw allows you to create a folder for each individual child, which is visible only to that child and their families. For each entry, I can select individual children, groups of children or post it to the entire class’ journal. SeeSaw allows you to add multiple teachers to the account, which makes co-teaching and collaborating with prep coverage teachers even easier.

SeeSaw has tools that deepen and strengthen learning. After capturing a photo, I have the option draw on top of the photo (even record and replay this drawing), as well as record audio. If I take a photo of a structure a child built in the block centre, I’ll ask them to add a label or verbally describe their creation. I can also record how my students are thinking while writing and view it again later. The opportunities to capture much more than a written sample are endless!

SeeSaw can be used by my students to document their own learning. This takes a little bit of scaffolding, but children as young as Kindergarteners can independently use SeeSaw to document their own learning. In my classroom, we have a designated SeeSaw iPad that children know they can access to take photos and videos of something they are proud of. This is powerful because, even with two educators in the room, we can’t always see everything that happens. At the end of the day, I can scroll through what the children chose to document that day and “approve” their posts to the journal. This provides so much insight into what my students think is important. In the older grades, the opportunities are endless to use this as a tool for paperless assessment.

SeeSaw has become the guide to our “reflecting and connecting” discussions. My favourite time of day is just before we head outside for our second outdoor block, when we all sit down together on the carpet and “see what we saw” – a term coined by one of my year two students! During this time, we scroll through the posts to SeeSaw from that day and talk about them. We might view a photo of an art project done by some students, invite them to talk further about it and then ask the entire group if they might feel inspired to try something similar the next day. This way, my students have a chance to see what other children are doing during the day and be inspired by their ideas. It also allows us to have reflecting and connecting conversations about our experiences. This continues at home, when children and parents can do the same together.

SeeSaw is the “one stop shop” when it comes time for writing the Communication of Learning. When it comes time for assessment and writing reports, I’ve got all of my documentation in one spot. I simply open that child’s folder and then have access to hundreds of photos, video footage and notes that I have entered about that child’s learning and development. I also record my students during their DRA assessments so I can share this with parents and I can refer back to their reading behaviours. This allows me to easily include very personalised information into my comments, including direct quotes from their videos and audio recordings.

SeeSaw brings parents into our classroom and opens doors for family involvement. My favourite thing about SeeSaw is how inclusive it is of families. As I mentioned earlier, it acts almost as a social media platform where parents can view their child’s or class wide content, “like” it and even add comments. The comments build community between families but also acts as a communication line between the child and their parent. If a comment pops up during the day, shortly after I post something, I will share it with the child and then we reply to the comment together. Parents in my class are fully informed about what we’re doing in the classroom and what their child works on during the day. Many parents have told me that it has become a nightly ritual to sit with their child and look at SeeSaw together, discussing the events of the day. Parents love the app because it provides spark points for discussions about what their children are learning, rather than asking what they did that day and being told “nothing!”. SeeSaw also has a messaging tool that allows me to send announcements to families (for reminders, etc) and a private messaging tool that I use for all communication with our families.

SeeSaw is a wonderful tool for all grade levels. So far, I have used it with Kindergarten, 2/3 and 5/6 and have found new and wonderful uses for it in each setting! If you’re looking to try something new with the way you document your students’ learning, I recommend checking out this awesome – and free – app!

January 23, 2018January 23, 2018 Kelly.McLaughlin General

Venngage: new and useful online program

While visiting Hillfield private school the other day with the grade eight students at my school, I came across many different grade eight presentation displays. We went to learn more about ways to help the environment and after hearing an excellent WE presentation, we were able to explore the grade eight presentations. They all worked on various topics such as the liquid in ice packs, growing habitats for various plants, stereotyping, etc. There were over 50 topics and they were all made on these beautiful display posters. I had to ask the students where they had designed these posters since they looked beyond professional. They had used a program called venngage. A nearby teacher said they if you want them poster size you need to print them with an outside company such as kinkos but if you want them just your standard size of paper then you can print them off any computer.

After leaving that conference, I went online right away to check out the program. There are many things you can do with it that will not cost you any money at all. Some more exciting features such as saving your work to a PDF would involve you paying the monthly costs. After playing around with the program I discovered exciting features such as adding bar graphs to the document, pie graphs, text and various professional looking icons that make the page stand out.

I taught my grade four/five class how to use this program to display their recent data management project results. I will attach a few photos of their finished work. It took them less than an hour and it was a neat and organized way for them to display their results for their final data project. An awesome program worth checking out!

January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 Laura Bottrell Classroom Management, General, Professional Learning and Growth

Guiding Principles

I’ve been doing some self-directed professional development on behaviour management lately. I have a personal interest in the psychology behind learning and development, and as a Kindergarten teacher this is my main area of focus on a daily basis. Before my students will learn literacy and math, I need to ensure their social and emotional well-being.

I recently took a PD session through my board where I was inspired to take a step back and think about my language in the classroom. How do my words and actions influence the behaviour and well-being of my students? After all, behaviour management in a classroom is influenced the greatest by the teacher’s words and actions, rather than those of the children.

As adults, we are tempted to flood our children with rules. These rules make us feel better. If we redirect our students constantly, we will keep them safe and ensure they are doing what we want, right? Well, this isn’t always the case. Think of how many commands, comments or redirection you dole out to your student on a daily basis. These phrases may sound familiar to you:

“Don’t run in the hall”

“Quiet voices inside”

“Don’t build that tower too high”

“Get down from that chair”

“Careful with those scissors”

“Hands to yourself”

“That wasn’t very nice”

“I don’t like to hear those words”

The list goes on, and on, and on, and on. But what if we don’t need to spew out these phrases repeatedly? What if there was a way to get that message across without overloading our kids with what, will inevitably, become white noise to them? We know that overloading kids with language can be overwhelming and as a result, can bring about even more behaviours.

This is where guiding principles come in. For your classroom, choose a phrase or a few words that define what you believe to be the most important rules. In our classroom, we use:

“At school, we are safe and kind”.

Rather than throwing out constant redirection and comments as listed above, we simply repeat this statement to our class. Why is this effective? We’re using simple language with words that are clear and effective. Almost any situation that could come up in your classroom can be successfully redirected using this phrase. For students who are ready, it can be turned into a question to get kids thinking and reflecting about problems as they arise. For example, if a student is running in the hallway I might stop them and say, “At school we are safe. Are you being safe?”, rather than giving the command, “Stop running in the halls”. For a group of students that are not including someone in their play, I might remind them, “At school we are kind. Are you being kind?”. I think of the two words as umbrellas that all desirable and undesirable behaviours can be categorised under.

This method has worked wonders in our Kindergarten classroom. I always know my strategies are effective when I hear my students repeating my language. Since beginning using guiding principles, I hear my students guiding each other through situations by using the exact same phrase, “At school we are safe and kind!”. Undesirable behaviours are being stopped much faster and I’m noticing more mindful students.

I do believe that there is never a “perfect” or “correct” method for anything in teaching, as we know, every group of children is different. This particular method has really changed how I think and interact with my students and has been a wonderful guide to my own approach to behaviour management. I encourage you to give it a try!

January 16, 2018January 17, 2018 Laura Bottrell General, Outdoor Education, Outdoor Learning, Play-Based Learning

A Tree-Mendous Learning Opportunity

Outdoor learning is becoming an increasingly important and celebrated element of the Kindergarten program. As more and more teachers are beginning to embrace true inquiry and play-based learning, time spent outdoors is becoming a focal point of the Kindergarten day rather than a “break from the learning”. Outdoor time IS the learning.

My Kindergarten class spends upwards of two and a half hours outside each day. We begin and end the day outside, which helps us arrive at school smoothly, eliminate transitions (especially with those pesky winter clothes) and get valuable physical activity before entering the classroom. Unless there’s a cyclone, we’re out there.

The school I teach at is very lucky to have an amazing outdoor learning space. Designed by a natural playground company, our outdoor space is filled with sand boxes, stumps, giant logs for climbing and trees. It is an outdoor learning lover’s dream! Not one primary coloured, plastic thing in sight. I really love the pedagogy behind forest schools or completely outdoor schools, and while we aren’t quite set up for that here (or ready for that amount of norm-challenging!), I think our outdoor space comes pretty close.

My students are always engaged when we are outside. Whether it’s finding interesting pieces of nature, building forts, dramatic play or digging in the sand – all of my students are learning.

We love to introduce new and interesting nature activities. In the fall, we began to hone our skills at wood whittling. This can be done safely with proper adult supervision, some potato peelers and freshly picked sticks off a bush or tree. My students always feel so empowered when we allow them to engage in “risky” play!

After the holidays, we asked our families to donate their discarded Christmas trees to our playground. We were so impressed at the response when we returned to find about 30 pine trees laying in our yard! This began the most engaging experience we’ve had outside yet.

Other than a quick chat about making choices that are safe and kind, we didn’t assign any rules to these new materials we had to explore. The children quickly put them to use by moving them around the space, rearranging them into walls, forts and mountains. They climbed on, under and between them. The dramatic play that happened was so rich. Children demonstrated perseverance and grit when they couldn’t lift a tree or got stuck. There was a huge amount of problem solving, communication and collaboration as the students negotiated how to safely move the trees and build different structures.

After a few days of exploring the trees, we interrupted the play by suggesting that we all work together as a class to build a fort. This is when we brought out the hand saws! Saws?! Many people panic at the thought of Kindergarteners using saws. In our program, we are working to empower and build confidence in our students. We want them to have applicable, real world skills. What better time and place to learn how to do “risky” things, than when you have several careful adults supervising and guiding you? So, in our class… we saw!

Students had the opportunity to saw branches off the trees under 1:1 supervision. Once we have enough loose branches, we plan to use sticks and twine to build a large fort in the corner of our playground. We will learn about how to make the structure walls and roof, and our students will take the lead in all of the design and construction process. Talk about a hands-on, authentic project!

We are all at different comfort levels with outdoor learning and exploration. I hope this post might inspire you to rethink and challenge your outdoor play norms to turn it into something valuable and authentic for your students! After all, being outside is our Kindergartener’s natural habitat!

January 13, 2018 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, General, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health

The detour

Wanderers, tourists, sight seers, visitors, escape artists, runners…”Hey!” this teacher asks, with a smile, “See any cool artwork today?” or maybe the exchanges are in passing such as, “How are you? How’s your day going?” However, what rarely gets asked is, “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

Have you ever observed a student or few who seem to be conspicuously far away from their usual classroom or floor? Have you ever watched them take the long way around the school to complete an errand? How about the students who take the time to ponder every single art exhibition or piece of student work in the hallways? Not surprisingly, these are the same students who are frequently found quenching their thirsts at the farthest drinking fountains or outside of their friend’s classes waving as well.

At first, I paid little attention to moments like these. Perhaps those students were delivering messages to the office or helping another teacher? Of course it’s a possibility, but I was able to discern the difference quite quickly when the students being observed were empty handed, on the opposite side of the school building relative to the office, and not in possession of a good reason for being in that particular space and time. I have to empathize with students like this. That was me too. I used to take lots of notes to the office for my teachers. I wonder if those notes said, “Please keep William busy for a few minutes and then send him back. Thank you.”?

The Thinking Lap

Maybe the students that I’m seeing are taking a lap to think? Most times I use this option as a means to support anxious, stressed, and or physically active learners. A walkabout is an excellent mental health strategy for all of us, but then I started to see some patterns that piqued my attention. The students who I was regularly seeing in the hallways, were showing up at around the same times each day? Was there something going on that they needed to get out of class at the same time each day? It was then that I began to see this through a different lens.

In my role as SERT, I provide resource support in a number of classes throughout the school. Recently, I observed a student from the intermediate panel at a water fountain on a different floor about 30 minutes into the first period of the day. Harmless enough in itself, but what struck me about all of this was the fact that the student would have had to pass at least 2 other fountains along the way. 45 minutes later they were skipping down an empty hall during class to their locker. 30 minutes after that, back at the faraway fountain. I smiled, said hello, and went about my morning.

Perhaps they are enjoying an extended walk to work out some stress? If so, what are the underlying factors that explain this student’s to need be out of class so often? Could all of their self-navigated detours be coincidence? Barring medical issues, this is less likely to be believable based on frequency and time of day. What’s worth noting as well, are the other students who might be taking their own detours around the school.

3 Questions and 3 Answers

Q1. Would these students like to have someone to walk alongside and listen?
Q2. How many others feel like doing the same, but don’t act on it?
Q3. How can wonderlust be infused into these learners’ days to go with their wanderlust?

A1. It depends on whether they will be heard or given a hard time for being in the wrong place at the wrong time without any understanding by others.
A2. If there is one, there are others. Albeit subtle, shifting, shuffling, and staring into space are good indicators to teachers that students need a break.
A3. Throw the map away sometimes. Keeping the learning space, active, challenged, and engaged is often a trip to an undiscovered land. It is an act of re-invention and creativity that takes practice, patience, and persistence. Don’t be afraid to change directions by throwing in detours of your own.

Thank you for reading this post. Please take time to comment and share to keep the conversation going. Enjoy your detours.

December 30, 2017January 1, 2018 Will Gourley Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Making a Difference Through Education, Modern Learning, self reflection

The destination

This is the companion post to The drive shared on December 30, 2017. I wrote it because trips are always more fun with a partner.

When I was in grade school, there always seemed to be one adult whose job it was to ask students, “What do want to be when you grow up?” For some reason, this was more of a cruel conundrum rather than a sparkling conversational point. I hated hearing this question in my day. I still cringe whenever it gets asked today. Secretly, I hope students respond with something creative like Unicorn rancher or underwater coffee shop owner – anything will do, as long as it changes the subject.

I see the question more like asking students to pick the trip of their lifetime without ever having a chance to take a Geography lesson, browse a web-site or read any reviews on TripAdvisor.¹ Even though our jobs are to provide and guide our students, we still must let our learners decide their own destination(s).

This is cause for concern because I fear we’re running out of road(s) for some of our learners. For many, the destinations are leading to dead-ends instead of their dreams coming true. If we consider the ruthless nature of the real world our graduates will face, there will be many detours, breakdowns, and accidents outside of the classroom courtesy of life. And yes there will be traffic, road closures, and potholes. This makes it even more crucial for us to be paving new roads with our learners.

It’s hard to drive.
It’s even more difficult to discover what drives us.
Then there’s always the destination where departure times depend.
Decidedly, education helps define destiny and dignity.

Over the past 9 years of my teaching journey, I have sped past a few common sites along the way. Like the repeating background of an old cartoon or the cookie-cutter rest stops that line the highway – each with the same caffeine, food, and fuel options. They are;

A. Our students are taught to worry so much about the destination that they risk getting lost or forgetting the reason for their journey all together. If all they are taught to see is a mark, then it is time to redraw the maps and reprogram the GPS.

B. There is no amount of training to completely equip educators for every iteration of classroom they will work within. Some or most of the learning will come on the job, and that’s okay. Redrawing the map required, again.

C. Worksheets are neither the solution for active engagement, nor parents who demand homework for their child. They are most likely mind-numbing disengagement exercises destined for the recycling bin if not managed. How can students be free to think when the answers are fed to them to regurgitate on a page? Maybe this paper could be used for the maps instead?

D. No matter how much teachers care for their student’s well-being, academic achievement, or future they will still be allowed to fall through the cracks due to decisions made outside of our school walls. This is hard to understand, but we have to accept it and support these students where possible inside of the system.

E. Students have voices that need to be equipped and amplified. If we are not listening to our learners when they whisper, it will be too late to help when they are screaming at us. Asking students for feedback, ideas, and improvements has been one of my favourite and frightening activities. It can hurt the ego from time to time, but can also break down barriers in the classroom that can lead to more effective and honest feedback as learning.

Destination TBA is A-OK

Over the course of their learning, students will change their minds 1000s of times. They will find something interesting one week and then something different the next. What worked to inspire them last year may be the thing that gets in their way the next. As educators, we have to consider the importance of our work in preparing students to reach their destinations not ours. We must always be creating new roads for them to travel not just maintaining existing ones. We must also be teaching our students to read and draw the maps to their own future.

There will also be slamming brakes, reversing at full speed, doing donuts in snowy parking lots, and tearing out engines for rebuilding. We will fill their tanks, provide directions, and clean windshields. Yet, as elementary teachers, we rarely get to see our impact on students once they’ve traveled further down life’s roads.

Hopefully, they’ll send an occasional postcard and maybe a map to let us know they’ve arrived at their destination.

1. I used to tell people corporate lawyer so they would leave me alone. It seemed to cover all of the bases even though I would have rather pursued diplomatic or NGO work overseas. And now, here I am – a teacher, writer, and question askerer.

December 30, 2017January 8, 2018 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Making a Difference Through Education, Modern Learning, self reflection

The drive

Hands up if you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the minds of the drivers on the road around you?

Recent commutes to school and to shopping feel more like scenes out of a Mad Max movie, except with snow storms instead of sand storms. Vehicles speeding, tailgating, weaving, cutting one another off, and then there were some drivers who provided visual proof that not all birds have flown south this winter. However, none of this reflects anything close to the spirit of kindness and giving this season is supposed to celebrate.

Lately, a combination of work-life/Geo-political stress, an over-abundance of festivities/holiday cheeriness, and wintry weather have made people significantly more interesting. And by interesting, I mean disagreeable, distracted and sometimes dangerous. Being easily distracted myself, I started thinking about self-driving cars and how an autonomous vehicle would handle this time of year?¹

Then came a realization that our current cohort of elementary students could be among the first to have self-driving cars by the time they get their driver’s licences. Will this be a good thing or will a Neo-Luddite backlash prevent this particular advancement in technology from coming? What about education? Could classrooms become more autonomous too?

Why hasn’t all of this happened sooner when it could be better and safer for everyone? Are there Edu-Luddites at work trying to preserve exhausted and traditional systems? As education ploughs into this century, will it keep pace with a modern world that is changing at the speed of learning? Will broke down dogmas of teach, test, report, and repeat finally be traded-in, repaired, or left on the side of the road? Is this why NASCAR is so popular?

Getting somewhere

Speaking of NASCAR, I wondered whether everyone travelling at the same rate was a good idea. Did you know there is something called a restrictor-plate? Isn’t that what’s happening in our classrooms already? Students race through their learning based on birth years, circling the track over and over until all of their age appropriate laps are completed, and then they’re towed or driven off at the end of Grade 12.

But what if they need to stop along the way? Are there pit-stops/provisions in place to support students who do not fit the factory learning model or who prefer a different pace? I get that special and alternative education options are already available, but what if more students need them and they are not available? Think of a racer who needs tires and gas at a pit-stop, but only being able to choose one. It’s only a matter of time before frustration and failure become the outcomes.

In my next post I want to continue driving home this theme, but will shift gears to consider where we and our students are heading. Please read my companion piece The destination to continue the journey.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please share and take time to comment.

1. Did you know that Tesla’s autonomous vehicles are logging over a million miles of data per day?

December 28, 2017 Michelle Fenn Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Constant Learning, Equity, General, Inspiring Teachers, Mindfulness, Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Planning, Professional Judgement, self reflection, solidarity, Wellness

Occasional Teachers; Unsung Heroes

Unfortunately, I have had many health challenges this year that have necessitated having to take a significant amount of time off of work to recuperate. These absences have provided me time to reflect on my practice as a classroom teacher and about how important occasional teachers are in our practice. I had the pleasure of working in our local ETFO office as a released officer for 3 years alongside the incredible Marsha Jones, Occasional Teacher President extraordinaire. She taught me a lot about Occasional Teachers, the obstacles they face and the little things that I could do to make their days go easier. I thought I would share a few of my insights.

Occasional Teachers that come to our school like to return because of the friendly atmosphere. In the staff room, they are included in our “tea days”, people engage them in conversation and always ask how they can be of help. It sounds like a simple thing, but many of the Occasional Teachers that come to our school comment on our friendly staff. So the next time you see an Occasional Teacher in your school, smile and say hello and ask them how their day is going.

Do NOT ask an Occasional Teacher “who” they are for the day. What an insult! You can ask who they are in for, who they are helping out, who they are rescuing or replacing, but they are themselves each and every day they come to work. We should appreciate the fact that we have access to qualified teachers to replace us for the day so that we can take sick days when we need them or go to conferences for professional learning.

Speaking of insults, please try not to call Occasional Teachers “substitute” or “supply” teachers. We rely on these colleagues. “Occasional Teacher” is their job title. Be respectful of it; we rely on them.

Remember to have a few days of “emergency” plans in advance of your absence. It takes the edge of having to type up plans in between trips to the washroom when you have the flu. Leave them in a place that is easy for the Occasional Teacher to find. This makes your life easier too.

If you generally have an active classroom that engages in centres, activities etc., then TRUST your Occasional Teacher and leave plans that include those lessons. Chances are your students know how this stuff runs and will let the Teacher know. It may mean giving up a bit of control; deal with it. If you leave all day seat work that you’ve photocopied or a movie that isn’t connected to anything that they are doing in the classroom, it will not be enjoyable for the students and likely your Occasional Teacher will have more behaviour issues. Consequently, you will not get the quality of work that you normally see from your students. Don’t have huge expectations. No matter how wonderful the Occasional Teacher may be, they are not you and the students know that. We also need to remember to trust the judgment of an Occasional Teacher. I’ve heard it and I’ve said it; “The ‘supply’ didn’t follow my day plan. I worked for hours on that detailed plan.” We don’t know what kind of a day that teacher had with our students. They may have experienced a lockdown, fire drill, class evacuation, pizza money, scholastic money, a student injury or even a skating field trip. (My sincere thanks to Occasional Teacher Rachel Johnston on that one!) We need to remember that they are qualified teachers and they have the right to exercise their professional judgment in order to keep the class calm and engaged. Let them do their job and thank them for it.

I write my day plans on my computer for myself each week. This makes writing a day plan for the Occasional Teacher much easier. I have all of my emergency information, how to deal with specific students, who to count on and the general rules and routines in a separate document to attach to daily plans. I always attach a class list. Try to keep your plans as close to the regular routine as possible. If I am going to be away for a meeting I will try to find out who will be replacing me for the day and I email them the plans in advance and ask if they have any questions. I include my cell phone number in case they can’t find a password or an item and few of them ever use it but if they do then I know that they care about my students and the plans that I have left for them.

Finally, show your gratitude. Some Occasional Teachers drive an hour to get to our school and in bad weather. Some are called at the very last minute, through traffic, to an unfamiliar school using GPS. Their mornings are often stressful before they even arrive on site. So when an Occasional Teacher has done a great job and your classroom is still standing when you go in the next day, write a quick email and say thank you. Occasional Teaching is often a thankless job but we can’t be sick without these wonderful people.