First…
ETFO
Happy Valentine’s Day to ETFO members who are striking in:
- Kawartha Pine Ridge
- Near North
- Rainy River School Boards.
No comment is necessary about the current situation in Ontario. If you’re a teacher in any publicly funded school, you know.
How about some great blogging from Ontario Edubloggers instead?
Only an English teacher could be excited and motivated to use all caps.
THEY ALL HAVE PENS OR PENCILS. Every. Single. One.
What a great start to a new semester for Amanda Potts and her Grade 12 English students.
If you’re a secondary school teacher, you’ll absolutely appreciate Amanda’s observations about the difference between the enthusiasm of her Grade 12 students and those of her Grade 10s.
Her words speak to her professionalism. Only a teacher could immediately make observations about reluctant or even fake readers. The sooner this can be observed, the sooner something can be done about it.
From Day 1, she had them reading and she’s excited about that. She notes that the books are in “no discernible order”. Maybe that adds to the excitement of finding something interesting to read. You have to find it first.
Oh, and I was kidding about the pens and pencils. All teachers appreciate that. My method of encouragement to bring them was a box of golf pencils that I had on hand to lend those who forgot their own.
The Education Reform Most Needed for the New Decade
Before you click through and read this post from Anne-Marie Kee, think about what your personal answer would be to that statement.
Anne-Marie makes it clear that she is a supporter of technology and its use in her school but that wasn’t her answer.
Her answer came as a realization of the power of music and community that originated from a New Year’s concert celebration.
Her description of the service took me back to my youth at St. Paul’s Anglican Church and the big ol’ pipe organ. There’s just something special about being among the community with that one single instrument filling the church with music.
Teachers: Cuts hurt kids
Government: It’s all about money
If only it was that simple.
If you do nothing else, head to the bottom of Zoe Branigan-Pipe’s blog post where she gives a bit of a history of gains made by unions dealing with teacher working and student learning conditions.
Throughout the post, Zoe chronicles her various activities as a social activist.
I know that it’s easy to wax philosophy about the good ol’ days when we were in school. But, put yourself in the shoes of your old teachers and society as it was. The good ol’ days really weren’t that good. The job has evolved; society has evolved; the conditions under which teachers must work and students learn need to evolve as well.
Teacher Performance Appraisal: Advice for New Teachers
Speaking of the good ol’ days. Those of us who are long in the tooth can reflect back now about the process that we went through as we were being evaluated for the first time as really being a crap shoot. It truly was that and the TPA of today doesn’t come close to my experience.
I didn’t know what “they” would be looking for. I hoped that it was the teaching and learning that went on in the class. My Computer Science classroom was hardly a lecture hall. With limited resources, students were at various points of turning their inspiration into programs that worked. As it turned out, one of the superintendents wanted to actually see a lecture. Fortunately, I was able to turn a “history of computers” into a sit ‘n git instead of a research activity.
In this post, Laura Bottrell summarizes what is appraised during these sessions and clearly points out that it’s not a one shot, winner take all process.
Hopefully, new teachers are well schooled in the process before the it begins through their Faculty of Education, Program Departments, local administrators, and local federations.
I really did some thinking about whether or not to include this post from Patti Henderson. Sadly, her mother passed away recently and this is a celebration of her life and the eulogy that she and her sister wrote and delivered.
Beyond their words, it’s the presentation in this blog post that is so powerful here.
Patti manages to weave a story in words and pictures of a life and story that is a tribute to her mother. It’s very well done and the collection of artifacts is amazing.
I find myself a little envious; my own mother didn’t like to have her picture taken so the few that we do have are so precious.
My condolences, Patti.
Here’s what I know about class sizes
I’m taking a lot of liberties with this one from Beth Lyons. It doesn’t appear on her blog. Rather, it’s more of an insight that she posted on Facebook. So, you’ll have to be a friend of Beth’s to read it.
I thought that, throughout this entry, she really showed some deep insights about what class numbers mean to good planning, good teaching, and good contacts. Keep in mind that Beth is a teacher-librarian so she reaches out and touches every student in the school. In the process of this post, she bounces between that and her previous life as a classroom teacher.
About determining reading level per child
Remember the class of 23 kids? Right. I’m only working with one of them. For 20 minutes. That means I need to have an interesting and compelling enough activity that the other 22 can do on their own. For 20 minutes.
A new student
Also, there’s a new student moving in on Monday. Better find a desk. And a chair. Don’t forget to buy supplies because your budget is already used up.
Concerns about well-being
Did that student you were keeping an eye on bring a lunch today? You haven’t seen them eat in a few days.
What about the other student that always wears their “favourite” sweater. Every day. And their pants are too short. And their toes are sticking out of their shoes. I wonder if they’ll have boots or mitts this winter.
And much more. Beth’s community really chimed in nicely with support and comments about this. Hopefully, we can convince her to move it to her blog so that more can enjoy and share it.
Friday Two Cents: I Fought The Good Fight
This post, from Paul Gauchi, is a little different than a story of a typical teacher striking for better working conditions in their classroom.
As readers know, Paul is an Occasional Teacher so he doesn’t have his own classroom or a permanent school. Potentially, he has every classroom in the district! Since he’s not assigned to one particular school, he has his choice as to where he would like to go and support colleagues. He makes an interesting and well-reasoned choice.
And yet, there was a nagging in his mind of another issue in another time and place where he wasn’t supported by colleagues.
It’s actually quite a sad story that he shares. Ever positive though, he recognizes that he can’t change the past but does have at least a partial say in his future.
Please take the time to click through and read all of these posts. They’ll inspire and give you some thoughts as you start your day.
And, follow them on Twitter.
- Amanda Potts – @Ahpotts
- Anne-Marie Kee – @AMKeeLCS
- Zoe Branigan-Pipe – @zbpipe
- Laurel Bottrell – @L_Bottrell
- Patti Henderson – @GingerPatti
- Beth Lyons – @mrslyonslibrary
- Paul Gauchi – @PCMalteseFalcon
This post originates on:
https://dougpete.wordpress.com
If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.