Photo of Lisa Taylor
Lisa.Taylor Classroom Management, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Resources, Use of Technology

Behaviour Management – is there one magical system?

 

How you decide to manage behaviour in your classroom will in the end be up to you. There are many, MANY blogs about the topic, and many are worth reading, if not to get great ideas and resources, but to hear about what not to do! Pinterest is full of links to blog posts, posters, resources, etc., that you can use in your classroom. In the end, it will depend on what you are comfortable with, and the group you have.

When I first started teaching, I tried a marble jar. I made the mistake in my first year of taking marbles out when my kids were misbehaving and this was an awful mistake on my part. I totally lost their trust. If you use a system where you give something, if at all possible, don’t take it back. They have earned that and no future behaviour should impact past positive behaviour.

There is more than just a marble jar out there now! I am going to list a few systems I have used, and some I haven’t. Keep in mind that each of these systems needs to be rejigged to fit your own needs for your teaching style, and the group of kids you are working with.

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a digital app that is great for tracking behaviours and students and parents can check their progress from home. If you are absent a lot (I was often out on union business, personal illness, and supporting an ill child), it is a great system as you can leave it for

an OT and you can “check in” on your kids and see how they are doing throughout the absence. You get to choose a monster/alien/creature for each student. When I created my class the year I used this app, I chose one colour for my high fliers. I didn’t tell the class this, but it was an easy way for the OT to remember what students needed more positive reminders.

The thing I don’t like about Class Dojo is that it is a token economy where you can give and take points away. Students can actually be in the negative. This is very discouraging for students. It has always been my philosophy that if a child has earned some positive reward of sorts, that they should keep it. If you feel this same way, this app might not be for you, or you would just not use the deduct a point feature.

I have also used this app to track behaviours (secretly – not as a whole class management system). I had a student who was struggling with several severe behaviours – hands on, calling out, personal space, etc. We set him up on Class Dojo and the EA that was in our room would track with positives and negatives as it gave us an excellent print out of his trends. You can change the “behaviours” that it starts with, so you can make them as specific as you need. We even changed one to keep track of ticks in another student.

“Pick Me” Coins

A few years ago I read a blog post about a coins system that I used in my Grade 2 class and absolutely loved! Here is a link to the blog post  – I numbered my students, got some counters (many schools have these in great abundance, but you can get them from most education stores for about $5-10 for enough for the whole class). Each time I saw someone doing something awesome, I would give them a “Pick Me” coin. They would then get to put it into my “Pick Me” bin. I just used a small spaghetti sauce container, or pizza sauce container. Something that will fill up quickly and make a nice sound when you shake it. That way my kids knew I was on the lookout. They put their coin into the draw and then whenever I needed a helper or helpers for anything – attendance, hand things out, collect things, water the plants, run something to the office, etc., etc., etc., the list truly does go on, I just drew a number. This was awesome for two reasons – 1. I never remember to change the “jobs” on the job chart and then the one kid in the class that is on a sucky job like sort the garbage complains relentlessly and you feel awful; and 2. There is never any need to pick anyone for anything and have to think about who has been doing a good job, etc. The system does it for you. My only added rule was that they had to be on task when I drew them. If they weren’t, their number simply went back into the draw for next time. I would empty the “Pick Me” jar at the end of every week.

This is also how I taught my entire probability unit!

I even started letting my kids nominate each other for Pick Mes. I made a form up and they could fill it in and submit it to me. I introduced it during persuasive writing and it was a huge success – and a great way for my kids to start to look for the positive behaviours in others!

This was an amazing system and my class loved it. The second year I did it, my Grade 2s did not buy into it as much and I had to use something else entirely. Every class is different.

Stop Light

My daughter is in Grade 1 right now and she comes home every day saying, “I was on Green all day!” – her class is doing a stop light system. My understanding, from my 5 year old, is that when someone makes a bad choice, they move down to the yellow light, and then down to the red light. “When someone makes to to the red light, Mme calls home!”

Clothes Pin Charts

I have seen variations of the clothes pin names moving around. The thing I am not crazy about with clip charts, is that it really singles out the kids who struggle. Those kids who have IEPs and behaviour plans are going to really lose out in this system. It is really easy to get discouraged and give up if you know that every day you are going to end up at the bottom. Set those kids up for success – catch them doing something awesome to move them up as often as you can to start the momentum early. If you can get them moving toward outstanding early in the day, you will be less likely to end up at Parent Contact. If you leave it to them, they will likely end up at the bottom.

NOISE and Decibel Reader

I used this idea for snack time mostly. Put the letters to the word NOISE up on the board. Erase a letter each time the kids need a reminder that it is getting too loud. When it gets to just NO – that means there is NO Talking. It took a few times for them to get to the No Talking part to realize they needed to keep it down. I have paired this with an app that shows the decibels of the room so the lunch helpers don’t have to guess, and have just given them an upper range and when the class goes over that limit, take down a letter. I project the app on the screen so the kids can see where they are as well – add a little science to their snack time!

When it comes down to it, there is no one perfect behaviour management system. Your behaviour management system won’t solve your classroom management problems on its own. It is all in how you use it and manipulate it to serve your purpose. Keep in mind that positive reinforcement is far more effective than negative.

Shawna Rothgeb-Bird General, Resources

Useful Resources for the French Immersion Classroom

As many FSL teachers will attest, finding resources for your French classroom – especially, I find, an immersion class – is a challenge. It’s difficult for established teachers, so for new teachers, it can seem like an impossible feat to find resources with the right mix of content and language for your students.

The program I teach – Middle French Immersion – isn’t a common one in Ontario. My students start French Immersion in Grade 4, with their only English instruction being in English Language Arts (40 mins/day) and Mathematics (60 mins/day). While most of them will have had exposure to French via Core French classes since kindergarten, it is still a big adjustment to go from primarily oral communication-based learning to a program where you are expected to read and write regularly, including scientific texts.

Luckily, we live in the internet age! There are SO many resources available on the internet. Some are better than others, and some I would avoid entirely, but throughout my first four years I have found a few excellent tools that I have used every year.

Without further ado, my list of useful resources for a French Immersion classroom:

1) Word Reference – This site trumps a physical/paper French-English dictionary every single time. When you input a word, it provides you with a list of options to choose from depending on how you meant to use the word. Context is KEY to using the correct word in French, and English has a bad habit of using one word for 15 different words in French. The sentences/examples for each option are incredibly helpful to my students.

2) Bon Patron – A little trickier to use with beginners but invaluable for experienced students in French, this site will allow students to input typed text and have it check their writing for spelling and grammatical errors. It doesn’t fix the errors for them, just guides them in the right direction so that they can fix it themselves. I’ve seen a marked improvement in my students’ writing since teaching them how to use this site.

3) Duolingo – This is both a site and an app available for iOS/Android. This site allows students to practice a variety of French skills and earn “rewards” (similar to IXL, the Math practice site) as they progress through the levels. It’s great to use as home-based practice. Because many of the activities are user-created, there are some small errors here and there, but overall it’s very well done.

4) Brainpop – A useful website for exploring scientific concepts with your students! The language used is somewhat advanced for my Middle French Immersion students, but it was certainly accessible to my Early French Immersion students when I taught EFI a few years ago. There are subtitles available for the videos, however. Lots of interactive activities/lessons on this website!

5) Reading A-Z – This may not be a free resource, but I have found that the $100 yearly membership fee is worth it for access to all of the levelled readers available on this site. My classroom library expanded significantly when I signed up for this site, allowing my students more variety and choice when bringing readers home. These are also MUCH cheaper to replace than the significantly more expensive GB+ books.

6) TumbleBooks – Your local library likely has an account with TumbleBooks that you can access for free. This site has many picture books available for you to listen to/watch. I’ve used this site as part of my home reading practice in the past. Students like having the opportunity to do something a little different (i.e. listen to reading via TumbleBooks instead of reading out loud to a parent) from time to time.

7) TeachersPayTeachers – There is a growing FSL community on the TeachersPayTeachers site, an online marketplace where teachers can post resources they have created and others can buy and download those resources. While it takes some sifting through to find the really good resources, I’ve found many great language centre activities on TPT – especially this year!

There are so many other great resources out there and I could go on and on, but those are the sites I visit/use most often in my teaching. I hope at least some of them are useful to others out there – and if you know of any others, leave a comment!

Shawna Rothgeb-Bird General, Report Cards, Student Ownership

Setting Learning Goals

One thing I really try to teach my students is a sense of ownership with regards to their education. All too often, I find students are content to just sit back, be told what to do and where to improve, and never think too hard about their own strengths and needs as learners. It isn’t ever as simple as just asking them what they think they did well and how they could improve next time, though – you have to start small and work up from there. Overall, I’ve found it a really rewarding experience to work with them to create goals, monitor their progress, and reflect on their learning.

I start on the very first day of school, where I ask them (among other things) what some of their goals are for the year ahead. Often my students’ goals are related to learning French, as I teach Middle French Immersion and it’s their first year in the program. I’ll ask them for a bit of detail – so instead of just saying “I want to get better at math,” I ask them what specifically they think they could be doing better in Math. It’s a good starting point to see what they think about themselves as learners. Sometimes it even highlights anxiety right from the start, as I have had students in the past give me a very long paragraph about how “bad” they are at reading, writing, multiplication, etc. It’s also usually very good insight into which students are highly motivated to learn and/or improve their French skills.

In mid-October, after we have gotten a few larger tasks finished and I have had time to see their learning skills and work habits in action, we have a discussion about the six different learning skills on the report card and what those mean for them in practice. I have them complete a self-evaluation using criteria that we develop as a class, giving themselves N, S, G, or E for each learning skill and answering two questions: What do you think you are doing really well? and What do you think you could be doing better? I limit them to only one area to improve, in order to focus their attention; otherwise, some students would put “everything” down for what they could improve.

This first self-evaluation often has students being WAY too hard on themselves. It’s why I always give them my own evaluation of their progress immediately afterwards, so they can see the comparison. Sometimes our opinions line up, sometimes our opinions are wildly different, but it’s an opportunity to have a dialogue with each student individually about what they think of themselves as learners and what I see as their teacher. We discuss both evaluations – mine and theirs – and then decide on a course of action. What will he/she be working towards improving? (Responsibility – managing time effectively and getting work done on or before the deadline.) How will he/she get there? (Break tasks down into steps and check in with the teacher regularly to ensure that he/she is on track.) How will we know that he/she has been successful? (If most work has been handed in on time, it’s probably an improvement!)

I send the student’s self-evaluation and our plan of action home with them when I send the Progress Report in November. It helps students be accountable to their parents about how they are doing in school. If a student is going to give him/herself an S for Collaboration, and I agreed, then the parent knows that it isn’t just me that sees it this way – the student is admitting that they need to work on this area. It allows an opportunity for students to speak with their parents about their strengths and needs, too, and vastly reduces the amount of explaining parents need ME to do come interview time.

By the time first term report cards come up, students have generally had a lot of time to work towards their goals and we can sit down and assess where they are, whether they feel good about their progress or not, etc. We do another self-evaluation following the same format as the first, and I again show them my own evaluation afterwards. We repeat the process: sit down and chat, compare evaluations, decide on a course of action, send both evaluations home with the report card. Sometimes students keep the same goal, if they and I feel that they have more work to do, but others have made good progress by this point and want to tackle another area of need instead.

For the last report card, I still have students do a self-evaluation, but I don’t help them plan the course of action that time. They’re expected to be able to reflect, think critically, and come up with their own plan of attack for how they will work towards their goal over the summer and/or as they enter the next school year. Overall, my students have been very successful with this kind of self-reflection and I have seen a tremendous amount of benefit in having them be accountable for their learning skills and work habits. It sends the message that I feel that the first page of the report card is every bit as important as the academics on the subsequent two pages, and I find that my students take their work habits MUCH more seriously in class knowing that we talk about them so often.

Sometimes I have students who honestly deserve an Excellent in all six skills and don’t have much space for “improvement,” so to speak. For these students, we try to find ways to encourage them to take on more of a leadership role in the classroom so that other students can benefit from their skills and confidence. This, too, has been highly beneficial, especially in a second language classroom. It lets them know that their work isn’t finished when they get their E and that there is always somewhere to go from there.

I would strongly encourage all teachers to talk to their students about that first page of their report card, break the language down to criteria they will understand (because honestly, some of those criteria on the report card are HARD to understand!), and get them to think critically about their strengths and needs as learners.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt Assessment, General

Creating Criteria With Students

Allowing students to have input on criteria for an assignment helps them gain a clearer picture in their mind of what they need to do in order to be successful at a task. Although creating criteria together for every task would be ideal, time usually plays a large factor in making this difficult, especially for planning time teachers. As a planning time teacher, you often see the students for around 30-40 minutes at a time once or twice a week.

Today I want to show you a very quick way (under five minutes) to create criteria with students.

My grade four classes are currently studying the recorder. They are about three weeks into learning this instrument and are now learning a few songs to present next month. In preparation for the assessment and evaluation for their upcoming songs, I wanted them to help create the criteria. I handed out a sticky note to every student when they entered the class. Their job was to write down one thing that they think a person would need to do to be successful at playing a song on the recorder. After about two minutes, I had some students start to share their ideas with the class and we started to listen for some patterns and began to categorize their ideas. Students had active discussions and came up with eight different criteria that they should be assessed on at this point in their learning. The criteria will change as we learn new pieces of music and gain confidence with our basic skills.

The students will all have a copy of the criteria in their duo tangs and I will give them feedback regularly on this sheet as we are working towards improving our skills.

Taking five minutes to create some assessment categories not only gave them a set of very specific skills required to be successful, but also gave me a lot of information. As you can see from the picture below, the amount of students who wrote “cover the holes”, “blow less”, “finger or play the pitches correctly”, “put the left hand on top” far outweighed tonguing or correct rhythm. I can use this information for planning my upcoming mini lessons.

In addition, over the next couple of weeks, I will also be using two or three minutes per class where one student gets to be the teacher and we will practice assessing each other using the criteria. I will play some pieces on the recorder and have the pretend teacher give me some very specific feedback according to the criteria. In just a few classes, the students’ ability to give feedback to each other will drastically improve and this will create an environment where there are multiple experts in the class and everyone can help each other.

Overheard in my Ontario Classroom…

As my family comes from the province of Prince Edward Island, I grew up participating in kitchen parties. I have been inviting my grade five students to participate in kitchen parties with me including some very rowdy versions of I’se the B’y. To demonstrate a true kitchen party, I have been using spoons, foot stomping, piano, pots and pans and basically anything I can to make the songs lively. I was singing joyfully the other day and instead of singing “I’se the B’y that builds the boat”. I sang “I’se the B’y that kills the boat.” Some of the students paused what they were doing with confused looks on their faces and finally one boy raised his hand and asked “Miss. Gallant, do you have something against this boat?” I had no idea I had even sang those lyrics.
Sometimes students are paying closer attention than you are.

Photo of Samantha Perrin
Beverly Papove Assessment, General, Literacy

Feedback in the Shape of a Tree

     Providing effective and timely feedback to students is a constant goal for a teacher, particularly when there seems to be so little time during the day. With a crew of 20+ students, it can be a challenge to find the time to sit down with each student and explain spelling and various goals targeted in writing. Often, we get really good at correcting the same errors over and over again without very much evidence of growth or improvement on the students’ part.
     For my grade 3 students, I like to use a quick and effective feedback tool someone shared with me long ago. It is fast, effective and easy for primary students to recognize and utilize.
     Here’s what I do on written work which has been either hand written or typed on the computer; as I read, I underline or circle common spelling errors or errors in syntax such as forgotten capital letters or periods. When I have finished reading the text, I choose a few spelling mistakes or goals that may be missing and write them, correctly, in a list on a corner of the student’s work. Any more than 2 – 4 items in the list can be overwhelming for a student, so I keep it short. Then, I draw a tree around the words so these corrections represent the area of growth for the student. On the page beside the tree, I make sure to write a response or a positive comment such as; “Good details!” or “great ideas!”, etc. When students write the next time, they can conveniently flip through preceeding pages in their journal to check the words in the trees.

Using this feedback strategy, students have a concrete example of how they can improve the content and syntax of their written work, and each time they write in their journal, they have a mini dictionary of some of the words or tips they can easily refer to. A tree is a simple, friendly image to use to offer student-specific feedback. I have found that this strategy encourages students to proofread their work before they submit it, helps  the ‘unlearning’ of some fossilized errors, and sets small, attainable goals for students to improve their writing.

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Lisa.Taylor Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General

Communication with Parents – Part 1

Communication with parents/guardians is not just a courtesy, it is a legal requirement as part of being a teacher. How you communicate with parents/guardians depends a lot on the content of the message.

Sometimes information is for all parents. This can go out in a newsletter format. Be careful about setting up unreasonable expectations of yourself around how often your newsletters come out. If you start the year sending them every Monday, parents will start to depend on seeing them on Mondays and you will preset that expectation that they will continue to come weekly, even on weeks when there isn’t a lot to share. Don’t make work for yourself, try to make your newsletters (should you choose to send them home) more sporadic so you don’t set yourself up with these expectations that you are sometimes unable to maintain.

If you choose to go digital, make sure you provide a non-digital option for families who do not have access. If you have families who do not speak English at home, you may want to speak with your admin about resources available to you in your board for translating some of the essential information to ensure all families are getting information equitably.

Deciding on a digital format can be challenging. Many teachers choose to set up a classroom website or blog, which allows them to post information. Be careful about allowing 2-way communication happen on the page without moderation. The last thing you want is your page to become a place for parents to start complaining or chatting about unrelated items. In my experience, using the Blog format (Blogger through Google was the format I used) is a great way to share resources and activities. There is a moderate option in setting so students and parents can comment but they come to you first and you can decide if they get posted. Sometimes a comment might not need to be posted (i.e., “can you please call me tomorrow to discuss the report card?”), whereas, others add to the value of the resources and information shared.

This link (http://taylor2s.blogspot.ca/2014/03/it-is-certain-you-will-love-these-games.html) is to my classroom blog that I used last year. I shared the link on every paper newsletter I sent home, tweeted it, wrote it in agendas, had the students start there at the beginning of each session on the computers in the class – we used it all the time! My class was used to the site and they would go home and share it with their family. I could then use it share information with the families. (I went on leave at the end of the year and was even able to invite my LTO onto the site as a guest blogger to post while I was away!).

If you choose to email your newsletter, send it as a PDF and CC your principal. This adds an extra level of transparency. Be advised however, that when it is sent as an email, it is easy for a parent to hit reply and ask a question, make a comment, etc (i.e., should we send extra mittens that day just in case? – something that they can figure out on their own, or put in the agenda if it is really a burning question). Make sure you send it during normal school hours (8-5 is a good general rule of thumb) and be careful not to engage in casual conversation over email. You need to maintain professional boundaries when dealing with parents at all times. With email, it is easy to get casual.

Communication is an essential part of teaching. When you are communicating with all of the parents in your class, you can be more general in your approach. Next week, I will look at more specific communication tools for when you want to contact individual parents.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt General, Professional Learning and Growth

Building Support Without a Team

There are many challenges associated with being a planning time teacher. Your group of students is constantly changing, you often teach a variety of grades and subjects, and you have a very limited time to teach the students what they need to learn. I feel the biggest challenge for many planning time teachers, however, is the fact that they don’t belong to a grade level or division team at school. This requires planning time teachers to be quite creative when building communities to continue their professional learning and growth.

Over the past week or so, I went around to all the planning time teachers at my school (Music, French, Gym, Drama/Dance) and asked what they do to build a professional community.

Music
In Peel, we have a teaching and learning community of music teachers called JEMMS (Junior Elementary Music Makers). This group of teachers sets up mentorships and offers workshop, but primarily they are just an email distribution list to which you can ask any question. Every day in Peel, some music teacher who is at a school by themselves has a group of people that they can ask about resources, special education in music, management, performance groups or any other question that they might have. Check to see if your board has one, or start a list yourself!

Gym
In speaking with our gym teacher, I discovered that she feels that tournaments are a great way to start building a community of gym teachers to consult with. She also feels that networking at the annual gym conference gives her a community of teachers she can rely on.

French
Our French teacher is not a new teacher, but fairly new to teaching core French. With a new curriculum and a new assignment, she has headed to Facebook to build that community of teachers to help with lesson ideas, selecting resources and getting French savvy. The Facebook group that she belongs to is “Ontario Core French Teachers”. In addition to working collaboratively together, one of the members of this group also leads a live question and answer period for French teachers once a week.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other social networking sites have sections for Music, French, Drama, Gym and Dance teachers. It is a great way to build connections provincially or even globally.

Drama/Dance
Our drama/dance teacher sits on the executive of the Peel Elementary Dance and Drama Association. Associations can be an amazing way to get some access to new resources and incredibly knowledgeable teachers. If you feel like you are too inexperienced, volunteer to be the secretary treasurer or a member at large. I guarantee you that the time you volunteer will be given back to you through new ideas, resources and great professional dialogue.

Overheard in my Ontario Classroom…
Last week one of my grade one students informed me that he was having a horrible morning and that it was truly the worst day ever. When I stopped, bent down to his level and asked him why, he informed me that his sister had cut her finger at the breakfast table this morning and he felt very sad for her. Can you imagine what our world would be like if everyone had that much empathy for each other?

Photo of Samantha Perrin
Beverly Papove General, Wellness

Extra-Curricular Involvement – All in Good Time

Your school is a community and a good way to enrich your year as a teacher is to participate in this community. Some good reasons for getting involved include, opportunities to share your expertise or vision for the school, getting to interact and connect with students and parents in a supportive but more informal way, and being part of the spirit of the school. This year, someone may ask you to get involved by organizing extra-curricular sports and clubs for students, or by taking on administrative roles such as a Parent Council, Union, or Safe and Caring Schools Representative.  Here are some things you may want to consider before you make a decision.

Anything you do outside the classroom means you have to be able to take time to do whatever you decide to take on. Make sure that you do not overdo it! I have seen new teachers sign up for as many extra-curricular activities as possible because they think they should, only to have to bow out of many due to a lack of time. Being too stretched time wise can also affect your enthusiasm for the activity and you may begin to look forward to it less and less. Remembering to balance time for your job and your life outside of work is of the utmost importance. Do not feel bad if you have to decline a request to start a club or help coach a team. It is best to become involved only when you have the time and energy! You may lose lunch hours, have to come in extra early some mornings, or stay later after school to make it happen. Some years may be better than others. Do it when you are ready.

And not everyone is able to give more of their time. There may be childcare or family obligations, lack of proximity to the school, or health concerns which may present challenges for someone wishing to coach Girls’ Soccer, for example. Also, taking Additional Qualifications or going back to school to complete a Masters’ degree may not be the best time for you to engage directly in extra-curricular activities at your school. Your studies will ultimately benefit your school community and so while you are studying, your job as a classroom teacher and your life as a student are already big responsibilities and commitments.

If you are looking for ways to become involved, breaking the school community into 3 parts may help organize how you want to participate and budget your time. Firstly, consider your academic obligations towards your own students. Secondly, you may be interested in working with colleagues and parents in the administration of the school. And thirdly, you may be ready to offer your time to run a club or sport involving students in the whole school.

Using this guide, I have always been able to manage time to run a math club or homework help all year long for my students.  And in the last 10 years, I find I have become more interested in taking on administrative roles and enjoy being part of the Safe and Caring Schools initiative – going to workshops and promoting social justice resources and issues at school. And lastly, if I can, I take on a sports or arts club once a week before or after school for part of the year. For example, coaching Track and Field in May and June, or organizing International Dance Day for one day in April. I used to have much more energy and was very happy to run a couple of clubs and teams at the same time. Now, I realize I am able to be useful in more administrative areas of the school community and so I happily leave the running of the teams and clubs I used to enjoy to the younger (more energetic) teachers.

Photo of Samantha Perrin
Beverly Papove General, Wellness

Getting Sick in September

Three weeks into the school year, and it happens. One day, my throat gets a little sore and then the next day, my voice is completely gone. Laryngitis. Professional hazard. Communication chakra shut down. And what is a teacher to do without a voice?

This cold was a humdinger – in my entire teaching career, I have rarely taken 2 days off in succession because it is usually too much trouble to plan ahead. But with this cold, there was absolutely no way I could teach. Even with 2 days off to rest, I struggled for the rest of the week when I did go back and if it weren’t for the help of fellow teachers, some good preplanning, and the cooperation of my students, I never would have managed.

You may have already received some good council about the importance of seeking a life/work balance. Teachers are so susceptible to germs in our day-to-day jobs because of the age group and the volume of people we come in contact with. So if we can’t avoid coming in to contact with children, how on earth can we find balance so we can protect our health? It is not easy, but it is possible.

Here are some suggestions;

– Try to keep in good health and avoid getting run down. I know it is sometimes hard, but you will be so much happier and effective in the classroom if you are feeling good. To that end, I reckon that the most important factor to maintaining good health as a teacher is getting enough sleep. Second to that is my personal favourite; getting outside for as much time as possible each day – before, during, and after work. Germs spread easily indoors – avoid coming into contact with them if you can. Oh, and drink lots of water (not coffee) to give you energy!

– If you do get sick – and as new teachers and teachers transferring to a new school, it is inevitable as our systems get used to new environments and the stresses of a new assignment –take the time to recuperate. You will not be in top shape to teach and you may be contagious, as well. However, it can be a challenge to make adequately detailed plans for your guest teacher while you are away, so it is a good idea to have some routines set up with your students, lesson plan templates to easily fill in or emergency day plans already drawn up, a sheet with background information on special needs of your students, and the names of a few student helpers who could be called upon to show the guest teacher where the math textbooks are, or explain a class routine. Do this when you are feeling healthy! It will offer you some care-free time to get better.

– When you return to the classroom, be honest about how you are feeling with your students. Your honesty will be appreciated when you say that you are recuperating and may need some helpers throughout the day. As it was a challenge for me to speak and be heard, I relied on the help of students with strong, clear voices to broadcast any messages I had for the class, such as, “Please get your shoes on for gym and quietly line up at the door.” There are always plenty of volunteers for this job!

– Lastly, benefit from the help and support of coworkers.  This cannot be overemphasized, as simple acts of kindness from, taking the time to do some photocopying for you, watching your students while on his or her preparation time to give you a few extra minutes to yourself, inviting your class to participate in a group activity, or sharing a lesson, complete with the necessary resources, that could be easily taught without too much preparation on your part. The best way to make sure that someone will be there for you is to pay it forward and be there for someone when they may need a little support. Good to remember when you are feeling better.

Here’s hoping you have a healthy start to the year. If you have any other tips regarding staying in good form throughout the school year, please feel free to share them!

Shawna Rothgeb-Bird General, Planning

Sharing Expertise; AKA, How I Got Out of Teaching Dance

First, a brief introduction: I am a Grade 4 Middle French Immersion teacher in Ottawa. This is my fourth year as a homeroom teacher, third year as a permanent teacher. My entire (short) career has been spent at one lovely school in the heart of Westboro. I’ve never actually taught the same assignment two years in a row, but one thing has been constant since my first year at my school: I have never taught dance.

I started at this school in November of 2011. At the time, I was covering for another teacher who had taken parental leave. That year, dance had already been taught before I arrived, which suited me fine. I am not, you see, what one would call coordinated. At school dances, I was the type to stand around at the wall and pretend I was too “goth” for the dance and was only there to be snippy in the dark corner. At my wedding, I danced twice: once with my husband, then once again with family and friends.

Twice in my life, I’ve shown what I would consider minor, and I stress minor, proficiency in dance: Irish hard-shoe step dance (AKA have some rhythm and stomp your feet, no grace required) and Dance Dance Revolution (AKA understand video games and timing).

At the end of my first year of teaching, my principal revealed to the teachers at my school that she had purchased a class set of ukuleles for use in our (admittedly lacking) music program. None of us had the slightest clue how to play ukulele, but we were all pretty excited about the prospect of listening to a class full of miniature guitars (note: ukuleles are not, in fact, miniature guitars in any way) instead of a class full of recorders.

I took one home for the summer, watched a bunch of Youtube videos, more or less figured out how to play the ukulele, and was determined to have a successful second year.

Going into my second year of teaching, I was just so excited to have a contract, my own classroom, and a bunch of new kids that I didn’t stop to think about how I would, at some point, have to figure out how to teach dance to 27 Grade 5 students. It didn’t hit me, in fact, until I was sitting in the staff room one day at lunch listening to someone else talk about starting dance with their class that I realized (aloud, because that’s my style): “Oh god, I have to teach dance.”

Fortunately for me, I have a Grade 5 colleague who LOVES teaching dance. He has a knack for getting kids to buy into dancing – boys and girls, coordinated and uncoordinated, trained and untrained. It’s amazing! He happened to be in the staff room. He happened to hear the dread in my voice as I came to my realization only moments before. Without hesitation, he said, “I could teach your class dance.”

Wait, what? Can– can we DO that? Are we allowed? How does it work? All of these thoughts ran through my head, but the one that actually came out was, “YES, PLEASE.”

He explained, politely ignoring my desperation in favour of professionalism, that he had noticed my students playing ukulele in the hallways and would be interested in doing a class exchange so that I could teach his students how to play the ukulele.

Thus began our yearly autumn tradition of swapping classes one hour a week so that we could fill the hallways with awkward dancing and fumbling ukulele strumming without stressing either of ourselves out. He teaches my class dance, I teach his class ukulele, we report on these subjects for one another on the first report card, and the world continues turning. As an added bonus, I sleep better at night knowing that a bunch of ten year olds aren’t laughing at my remarkable lack of coordination.

I have since explored many other opportunities to trade classes with other colleagues so that we can benefit from one another’s expertise. It doesn’t always amount to reporting on another class full of students; sometimes we trade places just for a 40 minute block so that we can run an activity with a fresh group of faces and share some of our passion with them. What I’ve found, over four years, is that my students benefit from being exposed not only to other teachers and their unique teaching styles, but also from being taught a new skill by someone who really, honestly enjoys it.

I would strongly urge you to reach out to your colleagues and find opportunities to co-teach, trade places, or even swap classes regularly so that you can share some of your passions with them. There is room in the curriculum to connect your hobbies – and your life – with the students in your school, even if they aren’t “your” students. Their lives are richer for it, and so is yours!