This post is part of the Reflective Teaching Blogging Challenge hosted by Terry at Te@ch Thought. While the original challenge is a year-old already I thought it would be the perfect thing to keep me on track over the next little while.DAY 5 – Post a picture of your classroom and describe what you see — and what you don’t see that you’d like to. When I initially started this post I went back to my previous classroom reveal posts from 2014 and 2013; thinking that I would critique the classrooms that I helped create for my students in the past.… Read More
Student Council Is On “Insta” and Other Successes
I am still co-supervising our school’s student council with one of my colleagues and, while it is hard not being at the school for all of the day-to-day interactions and activities, I am able to make it to our weekly meetings at noon hour and some of our larger school events. I couldn’t be more proud of our student council this year. We have an amazing group of students who take charge and work well together. Despite being in school for only 11 days they have already: – cleaned out and organized the student council room… Read More
Why Aren’t We All On The Same Page?
As we gear up to go back to school I’ve seen a lot of blog posts and Twitter conversations about assessment at schools. Specifically, how do you organize your assessment vs. your colleagues/another school/another district/etc. I’ve read a lot of posts in this topic before and it always made me think about my own personal views of assessment and, as a result, I’ve changed aspects to better represent my understanding of fair and appropriate assessment. Unknown Title. (Accessed 2015). Uploaded by Vera Teschow. Available online at: http://www.verateschow.ca/assessment.html Lately, however, these posts have not been making me think… Read More
Charlie Appelstein: No Such Thing As A Bad Kid
On Friday all of “T-Division’s” teaching staff and EAs had the opportunity to attend a PD session with Charlie Appelstein; a youth-care specialist, author, and father. Being that we are now into December, and only have a short ten days until the Christmas break, I was apprehensive about attending a PD session when there is so much to do in so little time left. On the other hand, classroom energy is always high at this time of year so it was nice to have a day away to think and recharge! Mr. Appelstein was an incredibly entertaining presenter… Read More
First Steps in Math – Day 1
Today I began the First Steps in Math program with four other educators from our division. Several years ago our division sent one of our colleagues to the First Steps in Math training program and he has now spent time each year educating other teachers in our division and was actually trained by David McKillop, who I saw last year in Brandon. My new books (provided by our division): the First Steps in Math Number Sense course book & work book. First Steps in Math was developed in Australia in the early 1990’s as a means… Read More
Welcoming a New Set of Grade 8's to the Blogging World!!
Today my Grade 8 Science class joined the blogging world with the official 2014-2015 launch of Mrs. T’s Classroom! This blog is one that I actually started last year with my Grade 8 homeroom, who ended up blogging regularly for their science class as well as featuring a weekly “Mathlete Friday” post. This year we are maintaining our online presence at Mrs. T’s Classroom as opposed to starting all over again with a new domain. Some of my students have already been checking out last year’s posts and are excited about the potential of competing for page-view statistics! We… Read More
Classroom Reveal!
During the last week of school in June our school began major renovations which included redoing the exterior walls of an entire wing of our building, some roofing restructuring, and a brand-new science lab/classroom. While everyone in our building was (and still is) excited about these upgrades, the construction may continue all the way until January. Understandably, this is creating a lot of inconveniences as we all adjust to new classrooms, half-finished classrooms, unavailable resources, loud noises, etc. Amidst all of the craziness, however, I was surprisingly able to keep my classroom! I am so thankful… Read More
Aboriginal Education & Universal Design for Learning – Chapter 7 of U.D.L
To help us work towards our school goal of purposefully implementing the Universal Design for Learning approach to our formal planning (sometimes referred to as “Backwards by Design”, “Understanding by Design”, or “Planning With The End in Mind), my principal has provided our staff with a copy of Dr. Jennifer Katz‘s book, Teaching to Diversity: The Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning. As I make my way through the book, I will be summarizing my learning as a means of organizing my thoughts and getting clarification on particular ideas. Teaching to Diversity Cover. (Accessed 2014). Uploaded to Amazon; Portage& Main Press. Available online… Read More
Leadership, Policy, and Practice: Block 3: Systems & Structures – Chapter 6 of U.D.L
To help us work towards our school goal of purposefully implementing the Universal Design for Learning approach to our formal planning (sometimes referred to as “Backwards by Design”, “Understanding by Design”, or “Planning With The End in Mind), my principal has provided our staff with a copy of Dr. Jennifer Katz‘s book, Teaching to Diversity: The Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning. As I make my way through the book, I will be summarizing my learning as a means of organizing my thoughts and getting clarification on particular ideas. Teaching to Diversity Cover. (Accessed 2014). Uploaded to Amazon; Portage& Main Press. Available… Read More
How Much Time Is Enough?
In Manitoba students will be back in the classroom in approximately three weeks… three seemingly-short weeks… and I am beginning to plan out how those crucial first few hours, days, and then weeks, will play out in my classroom. When I look back at the beginning of last year, my first year in the classroom, I strongly feel like everything went as smooth as it could have been. I had over planned to compensate for my lack of experience, nervousness, and excitement… the students were reserved while they got used to the new setting and were pretty accommodating… Read More