Heart Picture
Samantha.Perrin Occasional Teaching, Professional Learning and Growth

Staying on Top of Your Professional Profile

It’s that time of year again.  Its report card and parent-teacher interview time, but also for eligible to hire teachers without permanent contracts, long-term occasional teachers, and occasional teachers it’s about the time to re-apply to boards for hiring for the next year. It’s an important process because if we don’t do it properly and on time, our livelihood as teachers could be compromised the following year.

While the process of re-applying is not new to me, I still find it a little bit stressful because of the timing of it (coming off of the holidays, assessment/reporting) and the importance of being able to stand out and be up to date, and reflective of my accomplishments as an educator.  After teaching all day, taking courses in the evenings, report writing during evenings and weekends, the gathering of materials for applying to boards ( which includes cover letters, resumes, references, OCT information, teacher-appraisals from pre-service teaching) it is a big undertaking, as is updating the information and properly uploading it as per the board’s format.

I understand the challenges that a lot of beginning (not-permanent) teachers go through this time of year, because I experience it myself.  This is the time of year that I need to be acutely attuned to my students’ learning (their assessments, class room lessons, report-card writing, preparation for parent teacher interviews) and I also have to be concern myself with my own learning/accomplishments and securing future and more permanent (or at least, predictable) employment.  Having been through this a few times, I am learning how to be smarter about keeping my professional portfolio up to date so that I am able to focus on my work in the classroom and my other commitments. I have gotten into the habit of updating my resume every couple of months, including more recent workshop experience, teaching experiences and taking away information that may be redundant or outdated so that I don’t have to sit and stare blankly at last year’s resume contemplating what to add.  I also make it a point to contact my  references to ask their permission and briefly discuss the work that they can comment on. I keep scanned copies of important teaching related information and cover letters for easy access and easy uploading.

While I don’t love the process and the timing of having to reapply to boards annually, I understand its function for being up to date and retaining people who are committed to becoming teachers. As a result of my learning how to manage and keep up to date with my professional profile, I have enjoyed the varied experiences of teaching in different grades and different classrooms, and I hope that other ‘new teachers’  find my tips helpful in making the hiring process a little less difficult.

Photo of Alison Board
Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Professional Learning and Growth

By the way, what is self-regulation?

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Director’s Leadership Series – Early Years Strategy launch. The highlights included an address from Dr. Chris Spence about the importance of intentional inquiry and a presentation by Prof. Shanker on self-regulation in the early years.  I feel the need to share this as it struck me how timely his presentation was, as we were all assessing students on their “self-regulation” for report cards. Although we are provided with some examples of what self-regulation is, such as “Sets own goals and monitors progress towards achieving them,” it may be difficult to apply this statement to a 6 or 7 year old and their opportunities for self-regulation in the classroom.

“Self-regulation is not self-control,” said Dr. Shanker during his animated and engaging presentation. However, he suggests that many of us see the child that does as he/she is told as the one that is most able to self-regulate. Instead, it is the child that uses less energy to deal with external stressors and is able to be calm but alert – the optimal state for learning. By stressors, he is referring to auditory and visual stimulation that children may be sensitive to. They become focused on the stressors, use energy, zone out, and then aren’t able to follow what they should be doing. It also begs the question for us as teachers, how to provide an environment with less stressors for the children and how can we help our students find strategies to deal with their emotions and support them in self-regulation? This ties in with many of our early discussions on our blog about Tribes and inclusiveness, since creating positive energy supports the students ability to learn, whereas a negative energy drains them. It also ties in with our discussions about the importance of the classroom set up, as Dr. Shanker suggests we consider what type of a classroom environment will enhance energy (a calm energy for learning).

I found this professional development opportunity connected well with what teachers are grappling with right now. Dr. Shanker touched on behaviour, anxiety, as well as  ADHD and Autism and their relationships with self-regulation. My class is currently discussing the big idea, “What is Well-Being” so we are explicitly discussing what distractions there are, what helps us to be calm and alert, and what can we do to self-regulate throughout the day. This afternoon after coming in from the yard at recess, on of my students asked, “Can we do the rainstick thing?” ~ a little mindfulness for a minute seems to be working for us as a first step to discovering how to self-regulate.

 

 

iDirector’s Leadership Series – Early Years Strategy.

  • An address from our Director, Dr. Chris Spence
  • Presentation by distinguished Professor Dr. Stuart Shanker on self-regulation in the early years

 

Last

Photo of Roz Geridis
Roz.Geridis Assessment, Building Inclusion, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Engaging students in Visual Arts

Over the last 2 weeks, my class have been working on this wonderful visual art activity which is also connected to grade 6 aboriginal studies. We began by studying the art work of Norval Morrisseau, an Aboriginal Canadian artist (books are available at the public library). Morrisseau’s style is characterized by thick black outlines and bright colors. I shared with the boys the plan for this project was for everyone to complete their own version, then we would do body images of 1/3 of the class which will end up being painted on the Junior Stairway walls.

The boys were very excited about this project and I really tried to encourage their interest and ownership of the art work. As a class, we moved along for the boys to use an overhead and trace their head, hands, or feet to complete their own versions of Morrisseau themed pictures. The boys then had a lesson on drawing the shapes inside their images (guiding them to leave enough room for their black line). Primary colours were used to colour the inside of the shapes and the background was in secondary colours. Using only 2 overheads for the whole class, this stage of project took a little longer than a whole afternoon.

At the end of the first day, we had a discussion as to what the images of the boys would portray. The next day, the boys were asked to bring in items which reflect them in a sport type of way; for example, scooters, hockey equipment, soccer balls, swimming goggles. The boys selected the images to represent themselves as a class. They selected swimming, cart wheel, hockey, soccer, mountain climbing, and baseball. We were planning on adding someone reading and a second image but time was an issue which didn’t allow our plan to fully work out. Using the overhead, in groups of three, the boys then traced their image on life size paper. As others were tracing, the first group would then cut out their image. After lunch, we were able to finish off full body tracing for the rest of the groups and began (the groups completed the cutting)  adding the shapes within their image. This aspect of the project needed to be reviewed with the class a few times. The first lesson was on the personal image, the second mini lesson was to remind them of what to do to begin on the larger image, the third mini lesson was to go through their larger image and fine tune their shapes. This took us a full day.

The next day, we taped up all body images on the stairwell walls. Looking to see which image should go where. This was an adult only decision. Once image placement was decided, the boys then traced their image on the wall. After every image was traced on the wall, some boys began painting the background colours while on the opposite side of the wall other boys were tracing their shapes in their image. This process took another full day. Each wall needed two coats and a day to dry between coats.

The fourth and fifth day, the boys were painting the shapes in each image (in groups of three) and then the black line last. We also needed time for touch ups. At the end of it, the boys were able to add their own signature to a wall which will be there for years to come. We are also painting some thank yous on a wall as all the paint used was donated by a local paint store.

The project took a total of five days and I really would recommend to get it completed in a chunk of time. The interest was there and interruption to your regular programming is not much. It was a week of limited program which was a great time to get to know and have some fun with your students. Remember, this is a visual arts project and it is connected to aboriginal studies. I have assessments for both curriculum areas. To adjust it for any grade, if your school walls are already colourful, you can do something very similiar and use the life size paper to paint and hang on the hallway walls. Also, use visual art as your first curriculum area and find a second curriculum area to connect it to, whether it is social studies or math.

Included are some pictures to help you visualize the project. It was a project completed with a parent (who is also an artist). While she was working in the stairway with the boys, I was in class keeping them on track. The first few days, there was plenty of work to keep the boys busy but by mid day on the fourth day on, the boys had less to do on the art project. That being said, behaviour was amazing!!!! I guess the boys thought if they didn’t manage in class, I couldn’t send them in the hall. Which is a pattern in our class. I definitely had support for this project (administration, artist, and Educational Assistant in the afternoon). I also sent out a letter to the parents informing them of the pending project, the boys working with Latex paint, and dirty clothes coming home (with a tear off signature return). I also asked for volunteers to come in a week later to help paint the final protective coating. I have many teacher and parent volunteers. The boys feel a sense of pride, ownership, and community to their school!

Photo of Carmen Oliveira
Carmen.Oliveira Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Let’s Reflect, Read, and Regroup!

Just like Alison, I too enjoy taking some time during my breaks to reflect on the teaching and learning during the previous months in our classroom.  I agree with the fact that it’s a wonderful opportunity to take a closer look at our work, experiences, progress, etc.  in order to celebrate what we did well while at the same time tweaking aspects that may lead to greater benefits for the students and overall learning in the classroom.

I have taken some time during my break to look at and read some professional resources that had come to my attention during the first term.  Below I’ll include them with a brief overview.  I also made time to read a new “young adult” series which was recommended to me by my students and, I have to say, they have very good taste because I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Book List:

Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry – Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Wilhelm shows that it’s easy to teach with inquiry no matter what the subject area.  The book includes: examples of guiding questions for every content area; planning guidelines and sample inquiry units; prompts, walkarounds, and dozens of activities to deepen thinking about topics; engaging examples of questioning schemes that promote inquiry-oriented reading; and much more.

Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action – Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels

This book is a guide for teachers who want to realize the benefits of well-structured, engaging, cross-curricular projects.  It is an excellent resource for teachers to join with students to explore rich content inside and beyond the curriculum- to wonder, question, build knowledge, care, and take action in the world.  I engaged my students in a unit about hunger (which I described in my blog entry entitled: When Teaching Comes Full Circle) which was structured around the strategies shared in this fantastic resource.

Matched and Crossed – Ally Condie

My students recommended this series stating, “If you liked The Hunger Games then you’ll love this series.”  They were right! A futuristic fable of love and struggle against an oppressive society, it asks the question: Can there be freedom without choice? A very easy read that had me hooked right from the first page.  Well worth it for junior/intermediate  teachers especially.

As you can tell, having the first week of the year off was a great way for me to reflect, read, and regroup 🙂

Happy New Year to everyone and all the best for the continuation of the school year!

Photo of Carmen Oliveira
Carmen.Oliveira Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel- Use Your Resources!

I recently shared a Financial Literacy unit I did with my Grade 5/6 class last year where we explored the topic of “needs and wants” and integrated the inquiry with Literacy, Math, and the Arts.  Our class was filmed and the lessons, along with the videos, are now available on Edugains, the Ministry of Education website.

The teachers at the workshop were not aware that Edugains now has an entire section dedicated to Financial Literacy with lessons and videos to support teachers.  I was asked to share the resource in case others are interested in implementing and integrating Financial Literacy into their teaching.

Go to:

http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/index.html

Click: Financial Literacy and go to Resources

You can then search based on Grade levels and topics.  Our exploration is under Elementary- Grade 5/6 Literacy and the Arts

There are so many amazing lessons and activities.  It definitely goes to show that we do not need to reinvent the wheel to try something new.

 

Photo of Alison Board
Alison.Board Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth, Wellness

Relationships

Reading through the previous posts, I see a common thread; the value of relationships. Building relationships are an integral part of our success as teachers and require initiative, consistency, and care. I often feel drained at the end of a school day, and need a quiet space and time to recharge (usually this is limited to my car and the time it takes to drive home!). When you think of how many children, parents, teachers, and support staff that you engage with in a day, it is understandable that teaching can take a lot out of you. On the flip side, it is also stimulating and energizing. It is the rewarding relationships with students and colleagues that motivate us and support us as professionals to keep doing what we do.

A new teacher has many things to keep in mind, but building positive relationships with a network of people will have lasting effects. A mentor may be a teacher that you are paired with based on a commonality recognized by administration, or simply by the willingness of the mentor to take on the role. It is an excellent opportunity to have a “go-to” person for your questions throughout the year. Often, there are other teachers that you meet that become unofficial mentors or supporters. In my first year of teaching I got to know the teacher that was the closest in physical proximity (the classroom next to mine) and although she taught a different grade and left the school a year later, she continues today to be an unofficial mentor for me, always receptive as a sounding board for my concerns and offers thoughtful guidance. Exchanging ideas with a colleague is another way to support your practice in a less formal way. There is a teacher at the other end of the hall at my school that I have connected with and we often cover an array of topics from instructional practices to field trip ideas to incorporating technology, all within a five or 10 minute conversation. It has become a routine that we walk to the parking lot (it’s a long walk) together once or twice a week as an opportunity for exchanging ideas and sharing information.

Build relationships and build a network to sustain your growth as a teacher. Be willing to ask questions and be willing to share your knowledge and experiences with others.

Photo of Roz Geridis
Roz.Geridis Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Combined Grade Planning

Like Alison’s Blog on Meaningful Connections, I too have a combined grade (5/6) and have to find common curriculum connections within both grades. I recently have been able to attend a multi day board workshop on planning Science and Social Studies for a combined grade classrooms. After one session, I volunteered to take on the challenge of becoming a Demo Classroom to discuss my planning process with a group of colleagues and have my class lesson as a demo to allow the opportunity for my colleagues to see how the planning is implemented.

Although I was a little nervous to find the connections, the experience to have one on one time with a board instructional leader was very valuable to my professional learning. I also was able to take the new skills learned and implement them to other areas of the curriculum. The main idea is to find connections between the each grade’s curriculum. Sometimes it is a research skill or an investigation, I also have found connections in the big ideas or concepts in the overall expectations. Remembering Science and Social Studies curriculum are related to topics, you look to find ways to teach the skills and tools needed in combined lessons to allow students to complete some individual or grade group work related to each student’s grade topic.

I also look for ways to combine expectations within my lessons. For example, one lesson I took the kids out for a community walk. While the grade 5s looked for (and took pictures of) areas of concern within the community, the grade 6s went into a Sobey’s, looked for imported food and recorded the data on a chart (country of export and what the product was). The grade 6 students were encouraged to find products from a variety of countries. We then took the information gathered for both grades; the grade 5s selected one area of concern and wrote a letter to City Hall describing the location, what the concern was, and how to fix the concern. The grade 6s completed a research project (in pairs) of a country from the list developed in Sobey’s which Canada imports products from.

Another combined lesson was looking at Immigration and how it affects Canadian Trade. I used the Frayer Model defining immigration, what it looks like, what it doesn’t look like, and examples of how it affects Canada’s trade. I need to highlight, I am just short of 2/3 of the class having an IEP with the range from gifted to learning disabilities. All the students did great on all of these activities and one reason was the activities were connected to their community and their families. Giving the students real life context really does help to engage and make the connections for their learning.

With the many needs in my class and teaching lessons combined, I was worried the students might not have understood the concepts. When I used an exit card for assessment (or assess in any other way) the students have shown me their understanding of the new knowledge and their ability to learn and apply new concepts in a very busy classroom. There are many ways to connect combined curriculum but you do have to think outside the box and sometimes away from the resources provided by your school. I do still look at the resources and team plan with my colleagues. But when I team plan, I take the time to find connections ahead of time so I am ready to expand the team planning ideas into both grades.

Photo of Sangeeta McCauley
Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Professional Learning and Growth, Wellness

Are We Open?

Reading Samantha’s post about interviews and Tina’s post about co-teaching brings to mind a recurring theme I feel I’m living: teaching is about being open to partnerships.

There are many different ways we can show we are open and they may be as simple as:

-keeping our classroom door open to welcome others

-walking our students outside at the end of the day and talking with parents

-trying a new idea that someone shares with us

-taking time to listen to stories from our students, their family members, or our colleagues

-letting our students take the lead by sharing their ideas and insights

-asking questions when we are unsure

Through these examples and more, we can gain so much information about our students, our school community and most of all, ourselves.

It may be that my perspective is different, given that I haven’t had my own class for the last 6 years, but I like to think that being “new” allows me to see things in another light and I, for one, am glad to be in this position!

 

Photo of Tina Ginglo
Tina.Ginglo Learning in a Real Life Context, Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth

The Power of Co Teaching

I have heard about the power of co teaching for some time now, but I have only had the opportunity to experience co teaching first hand in recent weeks.  I am sold!  Co teaching mathematics with my teaching partner and Family of Schools Math Coach challenges me and engages me in authentic context based professional learning.   For those who are not familiar with co teaching, co teaching is not synonymous with team teaching. In team teaching, the students basically have two teachers teaching them a lesson.  Each teacher takes a turn leading a specific part of the lesson.  When co teaching, one teacher is the Lead Teacher and the other is the Co-teacher.  The Lead Teacher teaches all parts of the lesson and the co-teacher is the “kid watcher” as well as “teacher watcher”.  For example, today I was the co teacher for a third grade number sense lesson.  In addition to paying close attention to the strategies my students were using to solve an addition word problem that required them to add two large numbers, I was also paying close attention to the probing questions the Lead Teacher asked the students.

Valuable learning occurs at a number of levels.  First, I value the opportunity to observe my students closely, recording every noteworthy observation, what challenged them, student “aha” moments, and evidence of understanding or confusion.  I am free to concentrate fully on my formative assessment.  On another level, I am also gathering data on the questions and instructional strategies the Lead Teacher used while teaching the lesson.  During the debrief (which usually occurs during lunch or a common planning time) we first focus on what the students were doing.  We assess the problem we presented to students, analyze the different types of responses students provided and we determine where we are going to go next.  For example today, we concluded that our students are ready to move on to adding and subtracting larger numbers.  We also noticed that many students use place value algorithms to solve addition math problems, but they don’t understand why they are “carrying a 1 over.”  We decide that we need to review grouping and tens and ones with my class.

After we have decided on our next instructional steps.  We then reflect on the Lead Teacher’s instruction.  How were the questions?   Is there a different way we could ask students a particular question?  How might we phrase questions in our next lesson?  On the days that I am part of a co teaching experience, I leave for home feeling confident about where I am headed in my math instruction and committed to following through on the next steps that were collaboratively planned.  For the next co teaching lesson, teaching roles will be reversed and I will be the Lead Teacher.

My teaching partner and I both value this professional learning and instructional strategy.  We are now looking for creative timetabling ways to make co teaching part of our literacy program as well. If you have an opportunity to participate in a co teaching experience, I strongly encourage you to go for it!

 

Heart Picture
Samantha.Perrin Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth, Wellness

Using Release Time….

In my last blog post ‘ The Power of Partnership’, I discussed the powerful impact that partnering with a grade team member/mentor has had on my teaching.  I related that my mentor and I have been using common planning time and regular check-ins  to align what is going on in both our classrooms and share our resources and reflections.

Mentorship and co-planning  has been wonderful for me, however  for some teachers, establishing a common planning time with a colleague can be challenging for many reasons such as differences in scheduling or teachers’ responsibilities. There can also be school or board-wide initiatives that might require more of a teacher than time that they set aside for classroom planning.   Fortunately the New Teacher Induction Program enables Ontario school boards to provide beginning teachers (and their mentor teachers) release time that allows for such planning.   The school board that I teach in has a Job Embedded Learning Initiative that allows beginning teachers and newly hired Long Term Occasional teachers release time for activities such as attending workshops,  visiting  a model classroom or working with a mentor, and I have found it to be helpful in the past and intend to use it again this year.

In my case, our school is adopting some new initiatives that are intended to improve upon the  way we have been typically teaching in the past. My mentor and I feel that we could use some time for long-range planning and to effectively wrap our heads around what these initiatives look like in our classrooms ( with respect to the materials that we already have and the curriculum). We are going to utilize my board allocated release time for planning and we  plan to find ways to combine the resources and materials that we already have with the school’s learning goals.  We hope to try out our new ideas and then share our successes and strategies with the other teachers in our division.

For beginning  teachers that don’t have a close mentoring relationship or someone to take planning time with, there are options to visit other classrooms in the board or attend workshops.  In the past, I have found that using release time has really allowed me to spend a block of focused time on classroom planning. It has also been beneficial to visit other schools and look at the best practices of other teachers.    I am thankful that my school board recognizes the huge learning curve that beginning teachers face and provides opportunities and choice for how teachers can best use their time for learning.

So, if you haven’t thought of it already, mentors and beginning teachers, consider looking into what kind of support your board is able to provide you with, and consider the many options that will enhance your teaching!