May 31, 2018May 31, 2018 Michelle Fenn Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Resilience, wellness

Teacher Guilt

I have felt guilty about my job since the first year that I started teaching. I have always felt that I did not do enough, didn’t contact parents enough, didn’t make it fun enough, didn’t write down observations or assessments enough, didn’t do enough intervention with those struggling readers, writers, mathematicians, didn’t do all of the wonderful Pinterest extras, didn’t go above and beyond enough, didn’t volunteer for enough extra curricular activities, didn’t give enough timely critical feedback, didn’t document behaviour enough, didn’t post enough on Seesaw and the big one is not feeling like I get enough work done on the weekend. When I told a colleague about this recently he said, “If you were only doing half of the things that you do, you would still be working harder than me and a whole bunch of your colleagues!” I thought to myself, “Really? I thought everyone else was working harder and doing more than I was and seemed to have it all together.” The truth of it is though, most of us feel like I do and we feel the same way about our colleagues. Rationally, I know that we can’t “do” it all. However, I somehow feel that I might if I just keep trying! Crazy, right?

I lamented to a friend recently that I don’t get enough done on a weekend and always feel guilty on Sunday night. “I have 48 hours every weekend. You’d think I’d be able to get something done! I manage to watch Netflix and read my book. Why do I feel like such a lazy teacher every Sunday night?” Her wise answer was this, “You think you have 48 hours to do work? I suggest you write down what you do in a weekend, write everything down from sleeping to eating to doing the laundry and driving your son around. You’ll see you don’t have 48 hours to do work. You also need to balance with family time and self care. Reading your book or watching Netflix is not being a lazy teacher. It is practicing self care.” So, I did it. I wrote down everything I did in a weekend. Guess what? I had precisely 3-4 hours to do some teacher type work which is on average the amount of work I do practically every weekend.

Social media keeps me connected with friends and family all over the world. Sometimes, however, it also becomes a land mine for guilt. I find myself thinking, “I should be doing that or what a great idea!” I used to send home a hand painted pumpkin at Halloween and hand painted Christmas decorations for every student every year. When I stopped doing it, no one said a word. That is not what the students remember me for years later. They remember the connection and the relationship. They remember my quirky sense of humour and the hand puppet named Butch who is a little irreverent and likes to use the word underwear in whatever song it will fit. I have discovered that I’m not the Pinterest teacher and I have to be okay with that.

After20+ years of teaching I still struggle in thinking that I haven’t done enough but I’m trying to look at all of the things that we have accomplished this year rather than all of the “great ideas” on the many lists that I didn’t accomplish. I will cut myself some slack. I will look at self care as a positive and necessary thing and not a lazy one. On the lists I make now I will put family time first, accompanied by good sleeping habits and good eating habits. Keeping me healthy makes me a better teacher and a better person. So if you struggle like I do, here is a video that a friend suggested to me to help me get through those negative self-talk times when I feel that I am not enough.

Stop It.

You won’t regret watching it. I promise it will make you smile.

April 29, 2018May 4, 2018 Will Gourley Challenging Topics, General, Resilience

Defy-ns

https://pixabay.com/en/one-way-street-decisions-opportunity-1991865/ CC0

no
nah
nope
never
not yet
not today
no thank you
not acceptable

I’ve used all of the above.

Postive and negative language flows like freeways in education.
Yet, many of us drive like we are on one way streets?

Consider the interactions below that evoked the responses above;

S: Do we have to hand our tests in if we need more time to complete it?
T: No. Extra time can be added to help you finish without feeling rushed.

S: Do we need to work with the same people on this project?
T: Nah. Work with who works best with you on this one.

S: Do we have any homework over the March Break?
T: Nope. Take some time to enjoy a rest.

S: Why do I always struggle to understand Math? I will never get it.
T: Not yet. Your struggle does not mean you won’t ever understand Math. Keep asking questions and practising problem solving. You will make progress.

S: Can we do a worksheet?
T: Not today.

S1: Thank you for letting us discuss what happened outside.
S2: Thank you for letting us do our presentations over again.
T: No. Thank you. I appreciate your honesty and kind words.

T: Is this your best work?
S: No. I think I’d like to change a couple of things, but I need to hand it in or it will be late.
T: Sorry, not acceptable. Take an extra period/recess/evening to work on it so you will be one hundred percent happy with your work. It will be worth the wait.
S: Thank you.
T: No. Thank you.

For many of our students the kindest words they will hear all day will come at school. The power to alter the expectations and narratives of our learners is at the tip of our tongues.

I hope that you will all have a chance to be defiant in the way you use traditionally negative language in your classrooms. Please take the time to share your thoughts in the comment section. Thank you for reading.

April 22, 2018April 22, 2018 Will Gourley Assessment, Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Feedback, General, Modern Learning, Resilience, wellness

Do-over day

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42931449@N07/5263539723

Have you ever wished that you could do something over again to make it better?
In education, this could be everyday, every week, every month, and every year in our classrooms. If we let it.

Have you ever taught a lesson more than once in order to ensure your students understood and could master the concept(s)? What, you’ve done this over and over!? You don’t say?

This happens more often than all of us think and that’s okay. I learnt very quickly in my career that last year’s grand slam lessons do not always guarantee success when used in the years to come. Hence the need for the do-over, or reinvention in order to revive or re-invigorate what we teach.

What about a retest? A few years ago, I completely misread my students’ progress on a Math strand and the results were glaringly obvious that I failed them. After an open discussion about the daunting unit, I had students take their tests, crumple them up, and throw them around the classroom. It was like a giant breath of fresh air had blown into the room as everyone exhaled.

We restarted the unit from ground zero and had a “do-over day” a couple of weeks later with much improved results. As a result, our class grew closer as a learning community. Students knew that I had their best interests at heart and that learning in our class did not come with an expiry date as laid out in dusty long range plans. After all the curriculum says, “by the end of each grade…” and not immediately after an assessment of learning.

Recently, my students were preparing to share a series of movie trailers they created about the book Loser by Jerry Spinelli. Each group, of 2 or 3, was asked to pull key elements from the text and to present them in the form of a live drama or digital version.

After much planning, production, and practice, the big day arrived for everyone to share their work. Not surprisingly, there were a number of interpretations of the text being shared and the trailers were being presented and screened. And then it happened.

Whether it was nerves or a case of over-preparation(I think it’s a thing), the majority of presentations shared were not the shiniest outputs from this group. Cue the do-overs. When I suggested this, the students seemed generally wary about it, but I was serious. With some descriptive class feedback, we started over again with much more positive results.

Now think about your classroom? Is there room for the do-over within your walls and halls? Imagine the opportunity to reinforce the idea that failure can still be a positive result when it is used as a stop along the way rather than the final destination to success. I believe that the more we build this into our pedagogy, the more our students will be willing to take chances, make mistakes, and move forward.

Thank you for reading. Please share your “do-over” stories in the comments section below.

April 2, 2018 Michelle Fenn Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Math, Modern Learning, Questioning, Resilience, Resources, Technology in school, The Global Competencies

Deep Learning in Inquiry (Part 2)

In reading part one of my inquiry blog, one might think, “That’s all lots of fun, but building a bee house isn’t exactly something that I can write on the report card.” You would be absolutely right. The learning is imbedded in the exciting things. It is intentional and it is authentic. Connecting with a local expert, using technology for research and having hands on activities with students engaged scratches the surface of inquiry. Our deep learning with this unit began with the types of questions that we were asking. I noticed that when the students began asking questions on Padlet that Siri could have easily answered many of their questions with one or two word answers. This lead to a series of lessons on “THICK” vs. “Thin” questions. We added better questioning to our goals.

The students also noticed that I had included a lot of infographics on the Padlet. Infographics are seen everywhere in social media to communicate information efficiently and visually. However, students need to know how to use this information, how to synthesize it, how to put it into their own words and how to source it. We spent a significant amount of our language periods on reading and interpreting infographics.

Source:Visual.ly

Our learning goals and success criteria went way beyond making houses for bees and honey tasting. Students wanted to DO something to help bees. We created our learning goals and criteria together:

Early on in the inquiry we watched an informative YouTube video called, We Can Save the Bees Together. Sarah Red-Laird, bee enthusiast and scientist, gave us a number of ideas of actions that we could take. The students decided that one of the things that they wanted to do was to call for stronger legislation about mono cropping and pesticide use in farming. They wanted to write letters to politicians and change makers. In addition, when Susan Chan, local bee researcher visited, she “planted the seed” about creating a non-stinging bee friendly garden in our school yard. This prompted students to write letters to local school officials to solicit assistance and guidance. One of our students from Curve Lake First Nation decided to write the Chief and Band Council to ask them to consider building a bee friendly garden in their community. The desire for letter writing lead to a series of lessons on how to write a professional letter, how to proofread and how to edit in a meaningful and authentic learning context for students. The students also felt that educating others about conservation of bees was important so they are now working on developing presentations that they can take to other classes as well as media advertising to share their learning and call others to action.

In math, we had been focusing on data management. It fit in perfectly to what we were doing with our inquiry! There is an incredible amount of data about bees on the Statistics Canada website. We read real graphs with information that the students cared about, we labelled the important parts of the graphs and we will be creating our own surveys and graphing the information from different areas of our inquiry.

Statistics Canada

Honestly, the best part of inquiry is when the students start to direct their own learning. I guide them. I provide thought provoking questions and “what if” scenarios. They make choices and feel good about doing something that is affecting real change. Inquiry is empowerment for students. This students aren’t done with this inquiry yet-they have many more plans ahead! Stay tuned.

February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 Deb Weston Challenging Topics, General, Health & Safety, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Resilience, wellness

Building Self Care and Resiliency for Educators

Road rerouted to preserve 250 year old Bronte White Oak Tree

“The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It is the one that stands in the open, where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.” Napoleon Hill (1883–1970)

Building Self Care and Resiliency for Educators

As educators, we deal with students and colleague who are under stress. As educators, we are at risk of being physically, mentally, and/or emotionally worn out due to our role as caregivers to our students. This feeling of being worn out can be referred to as compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress (Figley, 1995). Charles Figley states that “there is a cost to caring.”

The best way to deal with and limit compassion fatigue is through early recognition and self awareness.

A. Tips for Educators

(adapted from Charles Figley, 1995)

1. Be aware of the signs of compassion fatigue

increased irritability or impatience with students
difficulty planning classroom activities and lessons, decreased concentration
feeling numb or detached from students’ challenges
increased feelings and intrusive thoughts about school or dreams about challenges in school

2. Reach out for support – Don’t go it alone

isolation can impact ability to cope
get support from colleagues or your school teams
ask for support from administration

3. Recognize compassion fatigue as an occupational hazard

when educators open their hearts and ears to students’ trauma, compassion fatigue can occur
having a strong reaction to student trauma is not a sign of weakness or incompetence but instead it is means you care … it is the cost of caring

4. Seek help with your own trauma by seeking support for self

educators’ unresolved issues can put them at more risk of compassion fatigue or stress
seeking support for self can help educators deal with limiting compassion fatigue or stress

5. Attend to self care

self care is an effective way to guard against burn out from compassion fatigue or stress
self care helps educators deal with challenging workplace stress
key self care strategies include eating well, sleeping well, exercising, taking a break during the workday, taking time to self-reflect, making time to de-stress
know your triggers for stress

B. Stress management: Know your triggers/stressors

In order to manage stress better, you need to know your stressors or triggers. (Adapted from Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.)

Main types of stress: Stress is your body’s reaction to the demands of work and life. Stressors are events or conditions in your surroundings that may trigger stress. Your body responds to stressors differently depending on whether the stressor is new or short term (Acute stress) or whether the stressor has been around for a longer time (Chronic stress).

Acute stress: Also known as the fight-or-flight response, acute stress is your body’s immediate reaction to a perceived threat, challenge or scare. The acute-stress response is immediate and intense, and in certain circumstances it can be thrilling. Examples of acute stressors include having a job interview or getting a speeding ticket.
A single episode of acute stress generally doesn’t cause problems for healthy people. However, severe acute stress can cause mental health problems — such as post-traumatic stress disorder. It can also cause physical difficulties such as tension headaches, stomach problems or serious health issues — such as a heart attack.

Chronic stress: Mild acute stress can actually be beneficial — it can spur you into action, motivate and energize you. The problem occurs when stressors pile up and stick around. This persistent stress can lead to health problems, such as headaches and insomnia. The chronic-stress response is more subtle than is the acute-stress response, but the effects may be longer lasting and more problematic.

Effective stress management involves identifying and managing both acute and chronic stress. Check out developing a self care plan below!

C. Build Resiliency

(Adapted from CAMH Resiliency & Short Term Self Care, n.d. )

Resilience is frequently described as the capacity to thrive and fulfill one’s potential despite (or perhaps because of) stressful circumstances. All of us are resilient in one way or another, but some people seem to be more resilient. These people are inclined to see challenges as learning opportunities which can result in healthy emotional growth and development.

Factors that are characteristic of resilient people include:

a sense of closeness and connectedness to others
strong, dependable support from at least one significant other in their lives
attention to their own personal health and well-being
high self-esteem, a strong sense of personal identity
a sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected and smile through the unbearable.
a realistic and balanced awareness of their strengths and limitations
the ability to be assertive and emotionally tough when necessary, but also sensitive and compassionate
a playful, lighthearted approach to life
a sense of direction and purpose in life
the ability to turn difficult experiences into valuable learning opportunities
the capacity to pick themselves up, shake themselves off and keep moving forward after traumatic and upsetting situations
the ability to adapt to and live comfortably with uncertainty and unpredictability
the ability to laugh at themselves. Resilient people do not “sweat the small stuff.”

D. Short-term Strategies: Putting on the brakes to relieve stress

Short-term strategies that help ease anxiety are unique to each person. List the quick wins that might be most helpful for you, and add to your list when something comes up that you find pleasant or re-energizing.

Here are some simple ways to relieve stress that I use:

Tweet more at #EdStressReliever

eat your lunch away from your classroom or workspace
talk to a colleague
help a colleague
tell a joke
take a walk
ask for help
ask for advice
stretch
4-7-8 breathing 4 in-7 hold-8 out
bake something and share it with colleagues
make jam
practice kindness for colleagues – do something kind for a colleague to make their day better

E. Making it Personal

Here are some quizzes you can do to help you know yourself and how you deal with stress!

Self Assessment for Stress and Burnout

“How Resilient Are You?” by A. Siebert (resiliencycenter.com)

“The Resiliency Quiz” by N. Henderson (resiliency.com/htm/resiliencyquiz.htm)

Making a self care plan that works for me

Write down strategies you use to relieve stress in your life. Self care is not just about the self, self care means looking out for other people who work with educators.

F. Connecting self care and Resiliency …

Ontario College of Teacher (OCT) Standards of Practice and Ontario Institute for Education Leadership (OLF)

Connect to OCT Standards of Practice and OLF

As educators we do more than “just teach”, we care for our students and our colleagues. Teaching is about relationships and caring. I became a teacher to make the world a better place one student at a time and one day at a time.

Be good to yourself so you can be there for your students. Be an oak tree!

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

References

Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Secondary traumatic stress disorders from treating the traumatized. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 7.

Mayo Clinic Staff, (n.d.) Stress management: Know your triggers http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-management/art-20044151

O’Grady, C. P., & Skinner, J. W., (2007) MSCAMH A Family Guide to Concurrent Disorders (CAMH Resiliency & Short Term Self Care) Downloaded from http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/health_information/a_z_mental_health_and_addiction_information/concurrent_disorders/a_family_guide_to_concurrent_disorders/selfcare/Pages/shortterm_selfcare.aspx

Stress Cat (n.d.) http://www.lessons4living.com/stresscat.htm

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Literacy, Modern Learning, Questioning, Resilience, Technology in school, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology

The Virtues of Non Fiction Reading and Writing – Part 2

Our Journey

We began by identifying the books in our book bags as fiction or nonfiction. The students justified how they knew if a book was fiction or nonfiction. In small groups the students compiled lists of nonfiction text features that they noticed in their stack of chosen books. As a class we went through the Scholastic Book order and they decided which books were fiction or nonfiction and explained their choice. The students discussed whether there was a realistic photo, the title and if there was a synopsis about the book. We explored the “Explain Everything” app and played with it for a short period before getting into the project. I find that a “romance period” with a new tool helps to keep them on task when they begin their work. The app was fairly new to me but the students found it to be mostly intuitive. They were really stoked to use the feature that points to the words using a “light sabre”. There were a few glitches with accessing text edits but eventually they got the hang of it. We have the free trial version. The actual app is quite expensive.

Establishing a Purpose

I explained to the students that our younger “buddies” were going to be learning about nonfiction and their teacher was looking for an engaging presentation about nonfiction text features for her students. By setting up an authentic purpose and audience for writing, the students were engaged immediately.

These are the learning goals, success criteria, project checklist and anchor charts that we developed over a period or two. We added and changed some things as time went on as well.

The students really had to think about the information that a nonfiction text feature gave them as a reader. The learning was much deeper by creating a teaching video than if they had just identified the features in texts. Students referred to the success criteria and checklists throughout the project. Before they came to me they had to have some peer feedback. They put their first draft on Seesaw and I provided some feedback online. The students edited and adjusted from peer and teacher feedback and then posted for parents to see on Seesaw. Below the blog, I have included three different examples of projects from both grade four and five.

Assessment and Evaluation

The integration of technology with a presentation provides an opportunity to assess many different curriculum expectations in language:

-ability to critically analyze the purposes for nonfiction text features

-ability to create a piece of media for a specific purpose and audience

-ability to oral communicate coherently and expressively

-ability to write clearly using appropriate conventions and their ability to edit their work

-ability to use success criteria, anchor charts and feedback in the creative process

In the area of learning skills:

Independent Work

-adhere to timelines and guidelines

-use class time appropriately to complete a task

-monitor, assess and revise plans to meet goals

Responsibility

-provide appropriate feedback to peers; being considerate of the feelings of others

-have their materials ready

Initiative

-find answers to questions and materials they need on their own

-find ways to make their work better

Organization

-set up their work so that the ideas are communicated and the audience understands their thinking

-prioritize what needs to be done

Collaboration

-uses politeness and kindness when providing feedback

-shares resources, information and expertise

Self Regulation

-asks for clarification about feedback

-uses mistakes as a learning opportunity

-provides evidence that they think about their thinking

December 12, 2017December 12, 2017 Deb Weston Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Math, Resilience

Math Instruction for Struggling Readers

$42d13283546edcd4684f24d2297a9257--math-books-reading-books$

As a learner, have you ever felt really frustrated because you know you can do the work but you just have a barrier that prevent you from moving forward?

This is how struggling readers feel when they try to complete their math assignments and assessments but cannot read the words. Did you know that most content area text, including social studies, science, and math, are written several reading levels higher than where the students are at in reading? Did you know that most students are introduced to 1000 to 2000 new vocabulary words per each year? (Harmon et. al., 2005).

The reality is that in order to do math, students need to be relatively good readers.

In order to put you, the reader of this blog, into the perspective of a struggling learner, I’ve included some simulations below.

Try them and experience what your struggling student readers experience when doing their math work!

Reading Issues Simulation

Experiencing Math Issues

Experiencing Attention Issues

Experiencing Organization Issues

Experiencing Writing Issues

So, as a teacher, how do you support students with struggling readers in math? In order to support struggling readers, teachers need to understand their students’ deficits and strengths!

Math challenges faced by students with reading disabilities

Understanding the math questions due to weak phonemic awareness and decoding strategies
Dealing with math vocabulary
Movement and/or reversals of text & numbers
Remembering dates, names, numbers, list that lack context (i.e. random)
Processing during tests & assessments
Limited executive function due to brain function being used to read text
Challenges with rote learning such as math facts

Strengths of students with reading disabilities

Curiosity, gets new concepts linked to meaning
Enjoys puzzles & building models
Excellent thinking skills in comprehension, reasoning, & abstraction
Excellent listening memory
High success with practicing reading in subject-area vocabulary
Often excels in subjects not linked to reading such as math, computers, visual arts, science, and other conceptual subjects

By understanding students’ deficits and strengths, teachers can build on this understanding to help struggling readers excel in math.

Supporting students with reading disabilities

Use decodable, easy to read, text and sight words in math problems
Engage students curiosity so they can explore the meaning of new concepts
Use puzzles & show models to solve math problems
Teach math through discussions and group work to take advantage of excellent listening memory
Explicitly teach and support math vocabulary with a visual math wall and math dictionary
Extra processing time during class work and assessments
Take advantage of students’ excellent thinking skills in comprehension, reasoning, and abstraction
Support learning with assistive technology (e.g. Google Read/Write & Open Dyslexic font)

As I am a teacher with a reading disability (i.e. dyslexia), colleagues have often asked what it it like to be dyslexic … well, I found a website that simulates dyslexia. After showing colleagues my world of reading, I explain that I have developed strategies to read like reading words as pictures and reading conceptually. Students will develop their own strategies through hard work and resilience.

Check Out the Dyslexic Reality Here!

Using an adaptive font can significantly help students to deal with word and letter reversals. I use an Open Dyslexic font on my web browsers and in my word documents.

OpenSource Dyslexic Font

As a teacher, I ask you to be patient with your students who are struggling readers because with work and effort, one day they will become strong readers …. because not all students are good readers … yet!

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

References

Harmon, J. M., Hedrick, W. B., & Wood, K. D. (2005). Research on vocabulary instruction in the content areas: Implications for struggling readers. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 21(3), 261-280.

What it’s really like to read with dyslexia

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 Michelle Fenn Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Mindfulness, Professional Judgement, Resilience, self reflection

The Conundrum of Parent Communication

4 years ago I discovered the app Seesaw which is a digital portfolio for students but way more. Recently it also added a direct parent communication piece which I absolutely love and I can also post announcements all at once to parents or just to a few by the click of a button. The best thing about the app for me is that the students can upload their own work and comment on it and I can provide feedback. I approve everything before it goes on the site. Parents LOVE it. For me, it does everything that I need a communication app to do. So what’s the issue?

3 years ago our school board got a contract with Edsby. I understand that as a school board it is accessible in many ways for all teachers. There is system information that is on the site that can be accessed from anywhere. There is a platform for staff room chat and places to post things on calendar etc., However I do not find that it is friendly for teachers nor students to use. The mobile app is glitchy and I get frustrated at the stream of conversations that don’t seem to match up. I have been told by our administration that we have to use it to communicate with parents. All but two of my parents have signed up for Seesaw (internet access issues) and only a quarter have signed up for Edsby. I don’t know why exactly, but I can only assume that they don’t find it as friendly to use. I do paper copies for major announcements to ensure that everyone gets those in one way or another. I use Edsby to comply to my school board’s request and I’m doubling my work in the meantime.

When I first began teaching it was a big deal to have a “monthly” newsletter and calendar of events go home to parents. Principals wanted to see copies and approve them before they went home. Now we are in constant communication with parents and we are being told exactly what platform we are supposed to be using in order to do it. There is a huge workload issue in parent communication and it creeps up on us daily. With an increase in high needs students that deal with behavioural or mental health issues teachers are expected to communicate on a daily basis in a communication book with their families. While I understand the need for documentation for myself and for the parents, the expectation is overwhelming. I am fortunate this year that I have my preparation time at the end of the day and I can take the time to communicate with parents. However, I don’t get to use my prep time for lesson preparation. I don’t know what the answer is here. I’m going to continue to use my professional judgement about how I communicate with parents however, hopefully this post will begin a discussion about communication overload. I’m open for suggestions on how others are able to manage!

September 3, 2017 Michelle Fenn Classroom Management, Resilience, Wellness

“Portable” Teaching

So…you found out your classroom is in a portable.

In my fourth year of teaching I was assigned planning time coverage to primary classes and had a portable to deliver the physical education program, which was an interesting challenge, particularly in the winter. Getting kindergarten students dressed, out to a portable with winter gear, out of winter gear and into indoor shoes before even beginning a class was not the best use of instructional time, but it was the task I was given. On the upside, I didn’t have to spend a whole lot of time planning to fill our gym periods.

This year for the first time in 20 years of teaching, my classroom is in a portable. I am choosing to embrace the life of the portable classroom and focus on the positive aspects. Before I even see the inside of the building, I decided that it would become our “cabin/cottage” retreat space. My classroom is next to the parking lot, which is great for lugging my teaching items in and out and it will be handy when I forget my morning tea in my car. We will not hear students as they travel between classrooms. We will be able to engage in inquiry and play our musical instruments without worrying about disrupting the learning in other classrooms. We will be close to our playground for quick entry after the bell and quick exit at the end of the day.

Of course, there are serious logistic challenges of working in a portable classroom that I cannot ignore. I talked to some of my colleagues who are veteran “portable” classroom teachers to find out some tricks of the trade. Here is the advice that I have been given in order to keep our “cabin” in good working order.

Keep only the basics that you need in your classroom. (Good tip! My portable came outfitted with one bookshelf only deep enough for paperback books. My closets at home are now filled with labelled boxes of teaching resources.)
Endeavour to keep clutter from your classroom. (No issue. No storage=minimalist teaching.)
Have a sweater and a fan in your classroom at all times to combat the change in temperature. (In my experience this is good in any classroom.)
Have a job available for a student (perhaps one that needs to move a lot) to be a messenger to the office or other classrooms.
Have a class set of clipboards to take work outside on a hot or beautiful day.
No sink in your classroom to paint with your students? Bring three buckets to your classroom. One filled with water, one for dirty water to be dumped and one for things that need to be cleaned later.

August 9, 2017September 28, 2017 Deb Weston agency, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, General, Inspiring Teachers, Making a Difference Through Education, Mentorship, Professional Judgement, Professional Learning and Growth, Resilience, self reflection, wellness

Getting Past “The 5 Year Wall”

As a new elementary teacher, I believed I would really know what I was doing after 5 years of practice. After 5 years in my previous careers, I could handle just about anything. I had 8 years experience as a student in elementary school. And, yes, I had watched my elementary teachers teach. I thought, “How hard can it be?” I figured after 5 years of teaching, working long hours after and on weekends, I’d be able to relax a bit.

But back then, I was very naive.

There was a lot about teaching I did not know or even consider. I did not count on having to switch grade levels every year for the first 5 years of my practice. I thought I’d have readily available teacher resources. I did not know that teachers spent a great deal of their own money to stock their classrooms with supplies and books. Nor did I realize I would be expected to implement waves of educational initiatives within a year of introduction. Further, I had not considered having students functioning at grade levels below the grade I was teaching or dealing with special education needs with little or no support. In addition, I did not know how to deal with students who had behaviour issues – in my first week of teaching grade 8, a student threw a chair at me. I also was hoping to get support and mentorship from my teacher colleagues, which at the time was not always forthcoming. My teacher education had not prepared me for all of this.

So I pushed forward by working hard and doing the best for my students. I took courses that I thought would fill in some gaps, which helped a bit. I solicited curriculum support from my colleagues and spent a great deal of time talking to my peers about my classroom challenges. My colleagues were very helpful and I absorbed as much wisdom as I could from my tenured peers.

Then it happened. I hit “The 5 Year Wall”. After 5 years of teaching, I thought I’d know more and feel more effective in my practice. I thought my lesson plans should be going the way I planned them. I thought that my classroom management would be awesome by this time. Instead, I was left with feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction in myself as a teacher. I thought, maybe if I worked harder, I would feel more effective; I was so disappointed in myself.

But because I was very committed and dedicated to becoming a great teacher, I moved forward facing many challenges. I continued to seek support and mentorship from my colleagues. My collaborative collegial support proved to have the biggest impact on my practice. My colleagues saved me from my professional dissolution.

Then something else happened. Around my 7th and 8th year of teaching, I started to feel my levels of self-efficacy and self-confidence rising. I started to finally feel like I knew what I was doing … most of the time. At 7+ years of teaching, I still faced challenges with switching grades. I realized that educational initiatives did not always stick. Lack of continued resource support or the introduction of a “new” initiative, often meant the end to last year’s latest innovation. Having students with multiple functioning levels and needs was a classroom norm. My teacher skin grew thicker when dealing with student and parent issues. I realized that lesson plans were made to be adapted to address the students’ needs, not the teachers. After 8 years of practice, I really started to enjoy teaching.

While researching, I discovered that my experience of building professional confidence and self-efficacy was supported in the literature. In the British VITAE study of 300 teachers in 100 schools, authors Day, Sammons, Stobart, Kingston, and Gu (2007) showed that teachers’ levels of confidence and self-efficacy continue to grow until around the 7 year mark. After 8 years, teachers reached a significant turning point in their professional development (Day et al., 2007).

I thought about what made this 7 year mark so significant. Then a friend mentioned that in the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell stated that in order to master any skill it takes “to a large extent, a matter of practicing … for a total of around 10,000 hours” (Gladwell, 2008). I did the calculations and the 7 year mark correlated with about 10,000 hours of teaching practice. This made sense because teaching is a complex and challenging profession and as a result it takes over 7 years to develop high levels of professional efficacy. Further to this, as teachers’ professional knowledge grows, so does their professional judgement.

Well into my 8th year of teaching I noticed several new teachers experiencing high levels of professional frustration. Some of these teachers were so distressed they regretted becoming teachers. Some were thinking of leaving the profession. Remembering my own frustration, I reached out to my novice colleagues. I told them about The 5 Year Wall. In my following years of teaching, I have talked many novice teachers off the ledge of The 5 Year Wall. Sometimes there were tears. Sometimes there were daily pep talks. Sometimes there were weekly meetings at a well known coffee shop. After my years of collegial mentorship and support, my colleagues have become excellent teachers.

So if a new teacher talks to you about their professional frustration, tell them about The 5 Year Wall. Tell them to hang in for the next few years so they can reach their professional turning point in year 8. Support them with your mentorship and listen to their concerns. Because in isolation, there are no colleagues to inspire novice teachers with ideas or to suggest resources/strategies or to support them when it’s really needed. And even as an 18 year plus teacher, I thank my colleagues for all the mentorship, collaboration, and support they continue to give me, every day.

I believe that when working collaboratively, teachers are better together.

Collaboratively Yours,

Deb Weston

References

Day, C., Sammons, P., Stobart, G., Kingston, A., & Gu, Q. (2007). Teachers matter: Connecting lives, work and effectiveness. Maidenhead, UK: Open University

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. Hachette UK.