Best Teachers Ever

Positive Behaviour Support

School Experience - Reflection 5

The most transformative lesson I learned this week is that I need to stay who I am, and teach with my heart to become an effective teacher.

Goal # 3: Classroom Management and Goal # 14: School Culture:

Today, I truly learned the power of the PBS program, and how valuable it is for students to feel rewarded for doing something right. I told my students beforehand that I was looking for students who were Responsible by being on task during silent reading, who were Respectful during a transition from desk to circle, and who were Relational with their peers. Then I observed and gave some “Positives” to the students who were doing it right (I kept track of names in order to reward all students at some point, because every student is able to do something right! I was truly amazed at the smoothness of my morning transition. Thanks to the "Positive"!!!

Goal # 6: Clear observable vision and Goal # 10: Effective Teaching Practice:

The most transformative lesson I learned over the last five weeks at Raven Kingdom and mostly this week because I taught all day today (and will tomorrow) is that I need to stay who I am, and stay close to my values and beliefs (while reflecting on successes and mistakes). I am different than my TM or the teacher next door. They are fantastic teachers and I am learning from them all the time. A wide diversity of effective teachers is wonderful for students, and it is OK to do things differently because there is never a perfect right way (there are a few wrong ways). Owning my presence as a teacher and teaching the way that feels right to me is what I take away from my school experience.

Goal #11: Valid and reliable assessment practices:

This week, I wrote and marked a science test to assess the end of my mini-unit, and I marked a math test. It really opened my eyes to the need to have a “philosophy” of assessment. Some students really understood the concept but made silly mistakes and lost marks (or missed questions)… Some students really did not get it and I had to put very discouraging marks on their paper… I need to explore what assessment means and how to optimize its validity to reflect student’s knowledge (good we have a class about that coming up at UFV).  

School Experience - Reflection 4

The most transformative lesson I learned this week is that I need to plan lesson with the purpose of fully engaging as many students as possible (Goal #10).

Goal # 3: Classroom Management:

This week, to reinforce my visual about “no talking when the teacher talks” (traffic light), I decided to develop a point system. When I want to achieve silence in the classroom, I give the students a signal (hand up with a finger on my mouth / clapping / hand on head, nose, chin, show me good listening). Once the signal is given, the students have five seconds to be silent: under 5 s, they win a point, over 5 s, I win a point. I created a visual (thermometer) where the students’ points are added everyday toward a prize (50 points = movie / 75 points = movie and treats / 100 points = movie, treats and goodie bags). The party will be on Friday and I am giving lots of chance to the group to earn points and be successful because I believe that a reward system only works if the students earn the reward in a timely manner.

So far, my point system is working well, and the group holds ownership for it. One student asked if some “unquiet” students will not have a party. I answered that the whole class needs to work together. Some chatty students are now being reminded kindly to be quiet by their peers.

This week, I had an incident with a student who is a “justice fighter”. He felt that I was not picking him enough, and that I was giving other students extra attention when asking for volunteers. This made me realize that I was not totally fair to my students, and I was not giving everyone a chance to participate equally. I therefore decided to use the Popsicle stick system to call for volunteers (with an option to say “no” or ask a friend for help). This was great and it increased the participation of students who rarely put their hand up. It also increased attention because anybody could be asked to answer a question. I will not use the Popsicle sticks all the time, and I will have to find a system to avoid calling out the same students (using a check list might help).  

Goal # 10: Effective Teaching Practice:

My most transformative moment relates to the importance of planning lessons with the purpose of fully engaging students. I taught two math lessons last week on T-tables. During the first lesson, I mostly lectured and asked volunteers to come up to the main board and to share their answers. While it worked for a while and helped scaffold the learning, it became counterproductive in the second half of my lesson, and students lost focus and became confused. At the end of my lesson, about half the students did not fully understand the concept of T-table.

For my second lesson on T-table, I followed my Teacher Mentor’s advice and used individual white board and A/B partners to maximize students’ engagement. I still asked for volunteers to come up to the main white board and share their answers, but I also asked every student to answer on their own board. I also incorporated movement to maintain focus and optimize the attention of my students. 

The second lesson went well and after reviewing the final worksheet filled by students, I was pleased to see that most students had understood the concept of T-table. This truly opened my mind to the need of generating movement and planning lessons with the goal to have every single student thinks as much as possible (either alone or in a small group).

Goal # 14: School Culture and Community (and Professionalism)

Central School hosted a family gathering after school with a focus on Aboriginal and Métis People. I enjoyed listening to the Aboriginal stories and dancing traditional Métis steps with staff members and families from the school community. This reinforced my understanding that the impact of a school goes beyond the walls of a single classroom, and that Central is an important keystone in the neighbourhood where families feel supported, valuable and welcome.

Remembrance Day

Last Thursday was our Remembrance Day assembly. I was in charge of making the wreath with my students. I choose to make a wreath based on the kids hand-prints and flags from around the world.

I first read The Peace Book by Todd Parr to my class to introduce the activity. I prefer to focus on peace with my students as a personal belief.  

I printed the flags without colors and the kids colored them, then traced their hand and cut. The flags symbolize the brave soldiers from all over the world who lost their lives to maintain freedom and harmony in our world. They also create a colorful medley and remind us that accepting others and embracing diversity are pillars of a peaceful society.

While I could possibly include every single flag of the world, I made sure to have a fair representation from all continents and from the Stó:lō and Metis population.

Inclusive classroom: some of my students have difficulties with fine motors skills, so I made sure I had easier flag for them to color. I also had more complicated flags to challenge my grade 4 students (I teach a grade 3/4 split).

The Hockey Sweater

During my school experience, I taught a lesson based on Adrienne Gear's Reading Power.

I first read a part of the book The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier and I encouraged my students to write a connection on a sticky note (Connect is the "first" power).

Then the students and I shared our connections as a group. This not only encourages public speaking but also helps students who do not have a connection yet.

Finally, the students are encouraged to use the "connect" graphic organizer (see sample of student work: in the part of the book I read, the little boy gets very mad and break his hockey stick).

At the end of the lesson, I discussed the various connection that a reader can make (Text-to-Self / Text-to-Text / Text-to-World). I read The Grumpy Bird to illustrate Text-to-Text connection and we discussed the Vancouver riot after a Hockey game a couple of year ago to  illustrate Text-to-World connection.

School Experience - Reflection 3

The most transformative lesson I learned this week is that:

Creating successful learning experiences for students is fundamental to build students’ self-esteem and a love of learning.

Goal # 3: Classroom Management:

Last week, my learning related to classroom management was connected to the importance of building relationships with my students to begin to develop a feeling of mutual respect. This week, I learned about the need to implement clear expectations with my students and the importance of wait time (wait until ALL students are quiet before talking). 

At the beginning of the week, I got annoyed by the level of noise and the amount of chatting during my teaching part of the lesson. I had to talk louder and louder to get my students attention, and I felt frustrated because I did not observe that problem with my teacher mentor. After some reflective time, I realized that I never discussed my expectations with my students, and that it could be why I was being challenged. I created a visual reminder on cardboard following the model of a traffic light (red – no talking / yellow – whispering / green – normal talking) and I shared it with my students before every lesson. Clearly stating my expectations of no talking while I talk has truly decreased the level of noise in the classroom, and has improved the attention of my students. 

Another key tip I learned this week is the importance of wait time. Once my expectations are known, I MUST follow up and wait until the classroom is silent before talking. In other words, my actions need to reinforce my expectations or I will lose my credibility as a teacher. While I did not have to wait too long to achieve quietness, I know that students will push the limit, and I must stay close to my beliefs and wait for everybody to be quiet before I start teaching (prior signal could be clapping / give me five / hand on your head, nose, chin, show me good listening). 

Goal # 7: Knowledge of Students:

My most transformative moment is unfortunately linked to a very exciting science experiment I have planned and taught, and the lack of success experienced by one of my students. My lesson was about structural adaptation in animals, and the experiment was to use three different tools (chopstick / spoon / cloth pin) and three kind of food (pasta / chickpeas / toothpick) to mimic bird beaks and feeding habits. While the activity was fun, and all students had a positive learning experience, one student was discouraged and sad. He was assigned chopsticks as his tool and he could not catch any food because he has limited fine motor skills. I felt heavy-hearted because my philosophy is based on nurturing a love of learning, and one key component is feeling successful. Afterwards, I had a private discussion with that student; I congratulated his perseverance and gave him a “sockeye” for being responsible in order to restore some self-esteem. 

This incident clearly emphasizes the importance of knowing the academic strengths and weaknesses of my students in order to implement individualized teaching.  Creating an inclusive environment is a pillar of my teaching philosophy, and adapting some tasks for students who are struggling will support my values. In the future, I will adapt my lesson to support the needs of that student. 

Goal # 14: School Culture and Community (and Professionalism)

This week, I had to ask for help a few times to various staff members of our school community (custodian for a desk and a chair / EA for extra photocopies / secretary for a class list / teachers for tips on classroom management / volunteer for finishing a bulletin board). I believe that I have established positive relationships with these individuals because I received great support and awesome ideas. .

I have true respect for every member of Central community and I am slowly becoming part of the team. While the school faces many challenges, it feels good to be surrounded by people who truly care about the students and their well-being.