Attributes-Based Approach

October 8, 2012October 9, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Resources, Social Justice

Social Justice Begins With Me!

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead

As we ease into another school year our class has begun to live the truth of this quote by Margaret Mead. We started by becoming involved in learning a dance for a flashmob that we performed to fundraise for the Scarborough Hospital’s campaign to purchase a new MRI machine. The students felt the opportunity was very meaningful and powerful. It prompted read-alouds, class discussions, and journal entries on the topics of giving back to our community through simple acts of kindness and the power of believing that we can all make a difference in the world we live in.

This experience was a perfect segway to our Me to We Day. The group of students who had the privilege of attending the celebration at the Air Canada Centre came back to school in awe and full of motivation to continue learning about how we can create a life where we are aware of how each decision, belief, and act impacts not only those around us but potentially people around the world.

Feeling that the students were ready to embark on a year dedicated to social justice issues, I decided to use the resource “Social Justice Begins With Me! created by ETFO. Our first activity centred around reading the picture book “Yanni Rubbish” by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim. The activity proved to be one of the students’ favourites so far. We discussed how certain jobs and professions are viewed as more prestigious or important than others and why that is. Amazingly, the students needed absolutely no guidance with respect to understanding that all professions and jobs are important and necessary in their own way. As a cumulative task, each student created a Thank You card for someone in the community that had an important but unappreciated job. This Thanksgiving weekend, they gave their cards and took pictures with the recipients.

I cannot begin to express how satisfying it was to see the pictures of my students bringing such positivity to their community!

This email I received from a student says it all:

Hi Mrs. Oliveira!I gave the thank you card to the librarian(s)!!!! They were so thankful and grateful. The librarian that I gave the card to said she will make sure that she shows the other librarians!! When I left, I felt so good and so helpful! I couldnt bring a camera because they were all not available. I feel so happy!

: Students create their Thank You cards

A student gives her card to a TTC driver

September 19, 2012September 19, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Wellness

Lifeclass Begins

“The difference between school and life is that in school you learn the lessons and then get a test, but in life you get a test and then learn the lessons.”

This year I have decided to dedicate a substantial amount of time and effort to learning about and teaching life lessons that can be integrated into my program. Having spent the last few weeks really getting to know my students, I feel that they are a group of kids that can benefit from deep and meaningful lessons because they are both ready to explore them and in need of that support in their life. I looked into integrating each lesson into our Literacy, Social Justice, Financial Literacy, and Healthy Living aspects of the curriculum. So far, the students have really enjoyed their experience so I thought I’d share what we’ve done.

At the start of each week, I post a quote (linked to a life lesson I believe they need to explore) with questions to guide the students’ thinking. They glue the prompt into their Journals and then have a week to complete the Journal entry. The entries have written components and can also be expressed in artwork and various media (cartoons, posters, etc.). The prompt is also posted on our website so students can share it with their families and hopefully discuss it together.

The responses I have received have been such a pleasure to read and I find that the students are working to try and incorporate the lesson into their way of thinking and acting. They understand life so much more than we sometimes give them credit for! At the end of the week, we share our thoughts, how we will use the lesson in our lives, and how some of us have already tried. This week, the first thing out of their mouths as they walked in on Monday was, “Mrs. Oliveira, what’s the life lesson quote this week?”

If you’d like to take a look at some examples, you can find them in our classroom website. Click “More” and scroll down to “Lifeclass”- it’s a simple idea that has my students learning about life in a way they’re ready to explore.

www.oliveiraclassroom.webs.com

August 30, 2012August 30, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Before School Starts, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Getting Ready for the Art of Teaching and Learning

If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others. –Tryon Edwards

As I headed into my classroom today to set up our learning environment for this year, I stood in the middle and looked around at the space which, in a few days, will be filled with curious faces wondering what this year will be like. A teacher candidate who was helping me mentioned that any advice I could give her would be appreciated because right now, it all seemed a bit overwhelming. I told her that there are a few things I have come to know for sure about teaching and learning and proceeded to share them with her. At the end of our conversation she had a big smile on her face and looked so much more at ease! The truth is, my advice was simple. Everyone knows it, but it’s sometimes forgotten as we go through our busy teacher lives! Here are a few things I shared with her:

1. Connect! Life and learning are about connections, to each other and to the world around us. If you put in the effort to really connect with your students and create learning opportunities where they explore the connections within the world around them through cross-curricular activities, the learning environment will be charged with an energy that keeps students engaged and willing to take risks as their learning progresses.

2. Start small. The journey to becoming a great teacher begins with mastering one aspect, topic, or subject at a time. Choose one (or if you’re very courageous, two) areas to focus on this year to really explore, practice, and begin to master. Become the best possible teacher in your chosen area of focus. Celebrate your learning and success!

3. Become resourceful. No one who has become great at what they do reached their peak without some guidance and support from mentors. Network and reach out to teachers, administrators, support staff and anyone else who may help you on your path of professional development. Contact the bloggers on our site! A useful resource is the “Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” to get you started this year.

Teaching isn’t always easy. That’s a fact. But the journey is well worth it when you realize the potential you have to inspire students, parents, staff, and the community around you.

Below you will find a few items that may be useful for the start of the year (some of which appear in the “Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning” resource.

BT Building effective Classrooms

curriculum night information newsletter

september wanted poster

my t-shirt and summer shorts

In a Million Words or Less…

if math were

grade 6 student intro letter

grade 6 math introductory letter

grade 6 homework newsletter

grade 6 first week newsletter

June 19, 2012June 19, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Celebrating Success, Communication Tools, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Report Cards, Year End Activities

My Report Card

As I mentioned in my last post, I feel that not only is it important for our students to receive feedback on their progress but I too like to get a sense of how my year went in terms of what I feel are the essential foundations to a successful classroom: lesson delivery, classroom culture, assessment and evaluation, and communication. My students get extremely excited to write my report card and after all the jokes about what my mom and dad will do if I end up receiving less than favourable results, they always share very meaningful feedback about what I did well and what I can improve on. I read my report cards carefully, reflect on the ideas and suggestions, and just before the end of the year I sit with the class and go over my results as well as my plan to address the areas I need to improve on.

I honestly feel this is a powerful exercise in modelling what I expect from my students. I like to walk the walk and this is a great way to demonstrate to them that I am a lifelong learner and continuously use feedback to reflect on my practice in order to make the necessary adjustments so I can reach the goal of becoming not only a great teacher but hopefully one of the inspirations in their lives.

For next year I need to work on providing descriptive feedback that is more specific and provides a clearer focus with respect to how the students can improve. I also have to be more mindful of bullying behaviour that may be occurring outside my classroom but can impact students’ learning inside the class. I plan to work on how we co-construct success criteria in order to simplify it while at the same time making it effective. Just a few things to keep in mind…

I’m quite satisfied with my progress and look forward to continuing on my path to living the art of teaching and learning!

Below I share with you a few report card comments. I’d like to note that I did receive a few Level 3 marks but they were difficult to read and spoke to the same topics mentioned below.

: Mrs. Oliveira was able to create entertaining lessons that had; an effective impact on my learning. She was able to effectively; communicate to me in many different ways. Mrs. Oliveira has; also provided many opportunities for me to show information; (eg. poster, Prezi, essay, etc.)

Mrs. Oliveira is encouraged to continue doing whatever she's doing that teaches kids effectively. She may want to observe kids more carefully as kids tend to still get bullied. She is also encouraged to try and write more descriptive feedback on students' work.

Mrs. Oliveira, you are very supportive, you accepted everyone for who they are. You try to push us to our limits. I loved the Smartboard lessons (even though the "smart" board ain't that smart), they were very engaging. I had a lot of fun during your interactive lessons and activities. Wonderful job!

Whenever we do a writing unit (opinion piece, explanatory, etc.) we always have success criteria. I find it takes a lot of time filling in the comment boxes. We should try to use the time for publishing or conferences with you.

I think for next year we could do success criteria only sometimes. I find that it takes up time filling it in.

The email was a fantastic way to communicate. When we have trouble we just email you the question.

I like how you give everyone a chance to show their learning the way that they want to.

The learning environment was comfortable and everyone's ideas were valued by classmates.

June 8, 2012June 19, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Assessment, Celebrating Success, Report Cards, Year End Activities

Reflections of the School Year – Student Written Reports

As the end of the school year approaches, with teachers busy with final assessments and report card writing, and students anxious to enjoy the nice weather and their last month with their class mates, it is a great time for self-reflection, self-assessment and community building in the classroom.

Similar to the awesome self-reflection activities that Carmen has done with her students, an activity that my students have really enjoyed was writing a report card for a friend and presenting it to the class, as sort of an ‘exit speech’ that reflects the events, learning and memories during the school year:

1. Have the students select their own partner, groups of 2 or 3, and give them a list of curriculum and subject areas to brainstorm ideas about the partner that is being interviewed. (*Click here to see an example)

2. Give the students some free time to interview each other and record the ideas and memories for the ‘report card’. (I connected this with the interviews that the students did at the beginning of the school year to learn about each other).

3. Later, send the students to individually write a short ‘report card’ about their friend, using the brainstormed ideas.

4. The partners are also in charge of creating an ‘award’ for their classmate. (In my class, they were given free rein to create a ‘statuette’ or a symbol using whichever materials they could find along with a an explanation for why the student was getting that ‘award’) . The results were creative and the sentiments were funny, personal and touching.

5. Hold a ‘graduation ceremony’ in the classroom, where the students present their partner with the report card (read aloud) and their ‘award’. If the students are not in grade 5 or 8 (and changing schools), the ‘graduation ceremony’ could just mean that the students are ‘graduating’ to the next grade in school, or graduating from your class. Either way, it is a fun spin on an end of year celebration, and its individualized for each student.

The students really seem to enjoy this activity- it allows them to reflect on their relationships and highlights of the school year and they have fun sharing about what was unique to them or their own experiences. The students laugh as they recall events that happened during the year, and also being reminded of their certain tendencies. The classroom vibe is light, fun, creative, reflective and honest.

Carmen’s idea of a report card for the teacher, by the students is a great follow up to this activity, and something I will try in the future.

For me, when listening to the ‘report card’ presentations, I am able to learn about the things that stood out to the students about their school year- their successes, strengths, social growth and even pet-peeves. Not only is it a reflective piece for the children, it serves as a reflective piece for me as well -learning what the students loved, didn’t love, and what learning they would remember and carry on after the final school bell at the end of June. This opportunity of self-reflection is a fun activity for the students and provides me with another opportunity to hone my own art of teaching and learning as well!

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Occasional Teaching, Professional Learning and Growth

My Continuum of Professional Growth – An Attitude of Gratitude

Over the past couple of months, I have had the privilege of teaching in numerous schools and classrooms throughout the TDSB as a daily occasional teacher. I have been the ‘new kid at school’ so to speak, meeting new principals, other teachers and more students than I can count. The greatest benefit to meeting these new people and working in different classrooms has been being able to witness and learn from the great practices that are going on in the classrooms throughout the board, and taking these ideas with me as something that I might later implement in my own classroom.

In my conversations with other teachers, I am reminded of how lucky I am to be doing this. Some teachers were hired straight from pre-service, and developed their programs using the knowledge that they gained in pre-service and through the support of the school and board. One thing that I (and many new teachers that are navigating daily occasional teaching and LTO’s) have, that many experienced teachers did not have, is the opportunity to see and practice the other great ideas, lessons and systems that are going on in other classrooms. Some of the teachers that I have met in my day-to-day encounters expressed that feel that they ‘missed out’ on daily occasional teaching and getting to see great ideas from other classrooms that they could later experiment and make it ‘their own’. I have been fortunate to learn from so many of the great teachers and classrooms that I have taught in as an occasional teacher.

Referring to the ‘Continuum of Professional Learning and Growth’ in Chapter 8 of The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning (ETFO, 2011), I have reflected on how I have evolved through the stages of the Continuum of Professional Learning and Growth. The stages of Orientation and Beginning Practice in my first year of teaching as a full-year LTO were challenging and rich in new learning. Taking in a multitude of information and making sense of how it applied to myself as a teacher was an intense and rapid learning curve- one that has resulted in a steadfast commitment to my own learning and improvement as a teacher.

Over the last couple of years in my continued work as an LTO, I have journeyed through the examination of my own practice, working to find the right fit of strategies that can be used for planning, managing my time, establishing an organizational structure, developing lessons, developing community in my classroom, utilizing school and professional supports, and the list goes on. For me, the Examination of Practice is the ongoing reflection that I do to help me identify how I can best serve and lead my students, and improve my practice. I feel that this is something I will never, and should never, stop doing for as long as I am an educator because it plays a large part in my commitment to being a better and more effective teacher. I have worked alongside great experienced teachers who make this a part of their daily and weekly practice, so that they can make improvements and adjustments daily and yearly. This is probably one of the things that contributes to how great they really are! I have taken note and learned so much from them.

Now, as a daily occasional teacher, teaching in other teacher’s classrooms, I get to observe, practice, and execute the great ideas that I haven’t yet learned or seen over the course of my teaching journey. It is inspiring to see the creative approaches to classroom management, community building, collaboration and so forth, seeing the things that I can later experiment with. Having such exposure, and the opportunities to Experiment and Apply are helping to inform my teaching identity and style (on a course to establishing my Embedded Practice), and I am grateful for having these opportunities.

There are many ways in which a teacher can arrive at opportunities for new learning, experimentation and application. We can collaborate with one another, attend workshops, take courses, read books, follow online blogs and we can also poke our heads into each other’s classrooms and find out what is going on ‘in there’. I have been fortunate that my teaching journey has led me to poking my head into many people’s classrooms, and learning from other teachers through my occasional teaching.

I am also thankful for the opportunity to write for this blog, where I can intentionally share my knowledge and practices with other beginning, experienced and occasional teachers. Intentional Sharing of Knowledge and Practice is located on the end of the Professional and Learning and Growth continuum (p. 122); I am able to do this now through this forum. This is just the beginning for me in the early stages of my career, but sharing knowledge is embedded in my practices as a teacher and as a colleague and it will continue to be a large part my approach in wherever my teaching career takes me. The other loggers have also broadened my perspectives, I have been mentored by their posts and they have helped me to identify other learning opportunities and priorities that will inform my embedded practices. Thank you! This year has been another vast learning opportunity, and I feel it is only just the beginning as I continue to navigate the challenging, rich and rewarding path of teaching.

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Celebrating Success, Learning in a Real Life Context

Students as Teachers: the Power of Modelling

Our school organized the annual “Jump Rope for Heart” play day to raise funds and awareness of the importance of heart health. Since our Grade 5/6 classes are quite responsible, it was decided that the Grade 6s run the events, the Grade 5s act as team leaders and teachers simply supervise to make sure things ran smoothly. What I witnessed that afternoon was nothing short of pure pride and astonishment at watching “mini” teachers at their best!

Team leaders would arrive at the stations and immediately count to make sure they had every child (JK-Gr4) accounted for. They would then make sure that the children were sitting and paying attention to the station supervisors. I was thoroughly impressed as I listened to the way they spoke with the younger children. “You’ll get to have fun right after we find out how to play this game. Remember that listening carefully makes it easier to understand what you need to do. We’ll be asking you to repeat the instructions so make sure you listen.” Wow. I took out a camera to film and photograph these meaningful moments. The team leaders then proceeded to explain and model each step. They divided the children into those who felt comfortable with the activity and those that needed extra help. As each group worked on their skipping skills, a leader continued to support them and modify steps so each child was successful! “It seems like this may be challenging for you and that’s ok because you’re just starting to learn this. You’re doing really well. I’ll modify it for you to make it easier, then we can try going faster.” Did she just say “modify?” One of my favourite moments was watching them celebrate each students’ success. High-fives were shared, cheers were abundant, and positive encouragement such as, “You did it! You’re amazing! I knew you could do it!” was given to everyone. I simply sat back with a huge smile across my face as other teachers noticed the same thing.

Afterward, I showed them the video and let them know how amazed I was at what I saw that afternoon. My students were proud, of course, but they reminded me that in our classroom that’s how we talk and act (most of the time). “We’re doing what you do Mrs. O!”

The truth is that our actions are much more powerful than our words and if we want to teach children how to behave, learn, think critically, etc. the best way to do so is to model it in our daily classroom experiences. I cannot stress enough the power of good modelling, self-reflection, and the celebration of success as we try to teach our students to become independent, motivated, self-confident individuals.

May 1, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Occasional Teaching

Using Positive Reinforcement for Persistent Misbehaviours

Recently I taught as a daily occasional teacher in a special education, mostly behavioural classroom. This was my first experience with the kind of group of students where correcting misbehaviours and classroom management was critical to getting through the day safely and working to complete the regular teacher’s goals for the day. As a daily occasional teacher, I felt some apprehension knowing that an already challenging class could be even more challenging for a new teacher that is out of their familiar routine, but was prepared to face the challenge to the best of my abilities.

One thing that I noticed upon entering the classroom, was that the teacher had laid out a daily behaviour log for each student. It was broken down into time blocks (corresponding with entry, class periods, recess, lunch and exit) and it included a rubric consisting of levels 1-4 (which corresponded with expected behaviours for each level). When going over this student information, I recalled reading in Chapter 4 in the Heart and Art of teaching about positive consequences – reinforcing positive behaviour that is consistent with creating a learning focused classroom environment. I decided that I would begin with this approach to set a positive tone to the day.

When the students entered in a less than orderly fashion, I commended two students for their ‘Level 3 ½’ entry, and mentioned that their classroom teacher would be pleased to learn of this when I make my notes at the end of the day. I saw a smile as one student was particularly pleased that I had noticed. The other students overheard, and while some students chose to continue with their off-task behaviour, a few others took their cue and directed their behaviour towards positive praise. In commending those two students, I also gained two helpers who were inclined to assist me in the classroom routines (i.e., getting out the nametags, advising me who should not be taking washroom trips together etc.).

If you take look at the Venn Diagram on page 59 of Heart and Art (Students Who Rock, Students Who Are Deciding, Students Presenting Challenges) , I would say that the class demographic was made up of ‘students who are deciding (on their behaviour), and students who ‘presented challenges’. With positive reinforcement, I think I was able to encourage a few of the ‘students who were deciding’ to be a little more helpful and focussed, and in this I feel that I averted some additional behavioural challenges that could have existed.

While it was a challenging day, I found that approaching the students initially with kindness and praise sent them a message that I knew what was expected of them, and that I would follow through with the regular classroom culture of behaviour tracking, reward and consequences. While not all students in the class ‘bought in’, I do feel that using a positive-reinforcement approach increased the potential of the students wanting to be successful, and decreased the ‘us Vs. supply teacher’ mentality that some students can develop. This is an approach that I think many teachers already use in their classrooms, but I hope that it serves as encouragement for occasional teachers to employ in any challenging classroom environment.

April 18, 2012 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs

Response to Tina’s Idea of Stations – a Great Teaching Tool

I was really excited to see Tina’s blog on using stations as a teaching tool. I echo that when I’ve used them, the students have been engaged, on-task and really enjoyed the variety of learning experiences offered to them. I also agree that they are a lot of work to set up but the end result is definitely rewarding.

Stations are valuable because they can be used for all levels of assessment – diagnostic, formative and summative and also are ideal for differentiated instruction. Depending on how often you use them, it can definitely be worth the investment of time and money.

In Core French, it would be interesting to have a listening station and related activities especially if you had access to a wireless portable lab. Even reading stations could be a really creative way to focus on different types of texts and useful strategies. In fact, as long as you have gone to the trouble of setting them up, stations don’t have to just be used for one day but could even last for a week-long investigation/activity.

I could also see them being used as a way to keep the rest of the class productively occupied while affording you the chance to work with a small group of students (that in itself could be one of your stations) and a golden opportunity for differentiated instruction/assessment. I think that if you were to use them on a regular basis, it would also be beneficial and efficient to practice each activity with the whole class beforehand so that, on the chosen day(s), they would know exactly what to do and no long-winded explanation would be necessary.

As a final inspired thought, you could also chose selected students who were trained in advance to run and supervise each station as a leadership opportunity which would free you up to kick back and relax – enjoy an extra large cappuccino and the front section of your morning paper while the class virtually runs itself like a well-oiled machine;).

March 29, 2012March 30, 2012 Sangeeta.McAuley Building Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Social Justice, Use of Technology

Themes As the Driving Force

While there are some conflicting opinions about the use of themes in teaching, I have found that they are extremely powerful tools we can use to help our students connect their world to curriculum subjects.

I began my school year with the theme of Identity, so my Grade 4 students could know more about who they are as individuals. We examined factors like religion, gender, family, and media and how they play a role in shaping our identities. I was particularly excited to zero in on gender, in an attempt to work on one of the UN Millennium goals:

Goal #3 – Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/)

This led us to discuss stereotypes that can exist for males and females and through drama, visual arts and writing, my students reflected on their experiences and how stereotypes can lead to exclusion. We read personal stories and viewed clips from the site, “Because I Am A Girl” (http://becauseiamagirl.ca/) and they mapped places in the world where these stories came from and looked for patterns. At the end, students wrote about themselves and their learning in a blown-up version of their individual fingerprints.

Over the course of working within this theme, I began to see the challenges my students had with the concept of Choice and realized I had found my next theme to explore with them.

Goal #1 – End Poverty and Hunger

Goal #2 – Achieve Universal Education

My students made puppet shows on iPads to illustrate a time when they had to make a difficult choice and we studied persuasive writing and how their voices can have an impact on the choices others make. Closer to the holiday season, we planned a fundraiser and I shared Unicef’s website and the survival gifts program (www.unicef.ca/). They convinced me that we should raise money to send a child to school because that would decrease the chances of this child living in poverty. So, we sold popcorn throughout our school, in the hopes of raising $75 to send a child to school. My students designed posters, they went to each class in the school and shared our idea, they counted and tracked the money that came in with the orders and to our surprise, we raised $300 and were able to send 4 children to school. Their one condition before I made the donation: can you please make sure that it is 2 boys and 2 girls?

Over the holidays, I contemplated how relatively quiet my mind was because I wasn’t hearing the daily concerns: he’s not sharing the soccer ball, I can’t find a teacher to help me outside, no one will play with me. In order to help my students with some of these issues, I needed to move to Power and its role in relationships and specifically on the playground. My students took post-its notes outside to record when they heard power being used and we studied about power in science through light and sound. They wrote articles for a class newspaper that outlined powerful people in our school and my personal favourite, we discussed imbalance in power, which led to yoga during our gym periods.

As I move into my last theme of the year, Agents of Change, Mission Impossible music plays in the background while my students are designing badges and creating surveys which will provide them with the data they need to make changes within our school.

Goal #7 – Ensure Environmental Sustainability

When my colleagues ask me how I find time to teach the curriculum, I say: The themes are my curriculum, they are what drive me to make connections for my students.