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Erin.Grewar Learning in a Real Life Context, Professional Learning and Growth

Communicating (OMG) in French – A New Approach

I know that it can be a real struggle to get your students to communicate in French. Although initially enthusiastic in grade 4, by the time they hit grades 7 and 8, they are reluctant at best. I recently went to a workshop regarding the communicative approach which made me evaluate (apart from being forced to during the course of the session with those reflection activities) my current teaching practices. It’s always rewarding and energizing to be presented with a challenge and new ideas to try out. For those of you who might not have had the chance to attend any PD on the new philosophy rocking the world of FSL, I thought I’d sum up a few things to take into consideration when planning your next oral activity.

  • choose a reasonable task that reflects student interests and abilities
  • prepare students thoroughly by planning a progression of short activities that incorporate increasing degrees of communication
  • with your students, establish a list of expressions that they will need to use during the activity and have it displayed for reference
  • MAKE them communicate in French but in a way that is meaningful and authentic

Now that you hopefully have some food for thought, I’ll update you in my future blogs as to which activities I’ve created and tried out. In the meantime, loosen up, collaborate with your students for some ideas, be creative and have fun!

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Samantha.Perrin Occasional Teaching, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Colleague Collaboration and Leaving a Teaching Assignment

In just over a week, my LTO (long term occasional teaching) teaching assignment will be over, I will say good bye to my lovely Grade 1 students and surrender myself to new students and the world of unpredictable daily occasional teaching once again.  Leaving a classroom, just like starting up a classroom, is a process that requires planning, communication, organization, and it is a process that is seriously benefitted by collaboration.

In my school year start-up planning, I was mindful of the kind of student-information that I would need to have on-hand to transfer over to the returning teacher. In my planning I made sure that information on students, timetables, assessments and the like were all clear, concise and put together in such a way that anyone could make sense of the information.  I started this when I created learner background forms back in September (with parent information, information on allergies, caregivers etc.), which were placed in a divided binder where the students’ progress report, report card, IEP’s and parent communication records would later be added).  This process of having to later transfer student information was also in mind when I created student files with examples of student work and diagnostic testing for an informative ‘at a glance’ of each student, that could easily be passed on to a new teacher.

In the month leading up to the ‘transfer’, I took inventory of the classroom supplies that the new teacher would need for the upcoming months and made sure to place my order so that the class was short on things that might come in handy (fresh glue, markers, erasers, pencils). I also made sure not to over-order knowing that the teacher might want to order supplies in June for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. I made sure to return books to the library and return any borrowed resources to other teachers in the school. As a child I was always told to ‘leave a place in the same, or better,  state as which you found it’, good advice for any teacher, whether they are changing classrooms, leaving from a leave, leaving after a day of supply teaching or leaving a long term occasional assignment.

I have also been in touch with the returning teacher, and we plan to meet next week, when she will observe the classroom routines, meet the students and we will also have a chance to go over some of the planning and she will get a sense of where I will be leaving off. I have also emailed her my day-plans template, week at a glance timetable and class list, so that she does not have to re-invent the wheel, and so that she can focus on other priorities such as getting to know her new class.  She also knows that she can contact me with questions once she returns to work.

I know that a lot of what I am doing isn’t actually required of long-term occasional teachers, or of contract teachers who are going on leave, but I believe that teamwork and collaboration are positive and essential practices for any teacher. We teachers  are not required to meet, or to share our personal ‘creations’, to share our units, resources, ideas, or hand over our ‘intellectual property’, but we put so much of ourselves into our work to benefit our students, why wouldn’t we share if someone could add to it and make it better? Why wouldn’t  we divide the labour so that more attention can be given to an area that needs it? Or Why wouldn’t  we lean on one another and be a team so that we restore ourselves from time to time and take turns leading the charge?

I have been in teaching situations where I was given little, or any information on how to program my classroom, which resources to use, how to order supplies, establish systems or routines (teaching under these circumstances can be quite challenging, a trial-by-fire learning experience that is never forgotten), and I have also been in teaching situations where harmonious team work, sharing and planning was the norm (which had an even more positive impact on my experiences as a teacher, my learning and on the kind of things the students and I were able to accomplish in the classroom). Perpetuating a practice that supports teachers, inexperienced and experienced, that allows them to succeed and in turn assist the students succeeded is just another reason why we teachers should do our best to help each other out.  Whether we are moving classrooms, going on leave, leaving an LTO behind, or leaving a classroom after supply teaching for a day, I hope this post helps us all be a little more mindful of other ways we can be more positively collaborative and communicative with our colleagues.

Learning Goals: Today we are learning...This will help me...Question of the day,.. Reflection Question
Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth

Success Criteria: Let’s Accomplish Our Learning Goal

I remember sitting in a workshop last year where we were challenged to look deeper at the learning goals we set for our students and how we should co-create the success criteria in order to ensure that students understand how to achieve the goal or expectations set out for a particular unit/strand.  I also remember wondering whether it would be worth it to put in the time and effort to fully implement this latest strategy/tool in my own classroom with all the additional initiatives I was taking on with respect to my professional learning.  I decided to learn as much as possible about using learning goals and success criteria in my teaching and assessment practices.

Today, I can honestly say it is one of the best learning experiences I’ve had in my career thus far.  In many respects, it has changed the way my students understand what they are learning, why they are learning specific concepts/skills, and how they can demonstrate what they know.

Everyday I share a learning goal with my class and how that concept/skill will help them in a real life context.  Within each unit of study or topic we focus on, I create the learning goal by using the curriculum expectations and, together with my students, we co-create the success criteria to achieve the learning goal by using mentor texts, level 3 and 4 responses, etc.  Students know the importance of using the success criteria to edit, revise, and share their knowledge and understanding in a clear and concise way.

We have a saying I took from Maya Angelou: “When you know better, you do better.”  When students know what is expected and how they can achieve the learning goal, they have a better chance of succeeding and progressing further.

How I share learning goals and reflection questions with students each day
Students know what they are learning each day
A student uses the success criteria to revise and edit his writing
Students use success criteria to peer edit by adding descriptive feedback
Students use the descriptive feedback from their peers to work on their final draft
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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.

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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

 

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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!

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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.

 

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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.