Thanks for the information.

tomesawayfromhome:

How many preps do teachers usually have at your school? What’s your class schedule like? What’re the hours of your school day?

At my school, we start at 7:25 and go till 2:20 everyday except Wednesday, when the kids get out at 1:20 (I think this allows for professional development). We have a 7…

I teach grade 6 in a JK - 8 school. Our school day starts at 8:55, and goes until 3:15. We have 3 blocks of 100 minutes of instructional time. Each block is separated by a 20 minute nutrition break, during which the students eat in their room at their desks, and a 20 minutes fitness break (recess). 

Four out of five days I teach 250 minutes and have 50 minutes planning time while my students have French. I also do a 20 minute duty each day, either supervising several classrooms while they eat, or outside on yard duty. On one day out of five, I only have a 30 minute planning time, although next year it would be 40 minutes.

I teach reading, writing, oral language, media studies, math, science, social studies, physical education, health, visual arts, drama, dance and music.

tomesawayfromhome:

Dear colleagues who’re both moms/dads and teachers:

Did teaching make you want to be a parent more or less than you’d have imagined?

If you have kids, do you think your classroom management skills made you a better parent?

After being with other people’s kids all day, what made the idea of having one to go home to appealing?

It’s been one of those pondering evenings, so your insights would be appreciated.

I am a parent to 4 children. My oldest has special needs. He is Deaf, legally blind and severely cognitively disabled. He is 32. My youngest is 14. I became a teacher when he was 7. I believe being a parent has guided my classroom management skills, because I treat my students they way I want others to treat my own children - with respect, kindness and the understanding that kids make mistakes. That’s part of growing up. I try to be the teacher who uses the mistakes, or poor behaviour, or bad behaviour, as an opportunity to help kids become better people.

At the end of tough day, nothing is better than coming home to my kids. 

booksdirect:

“How are you writing today?”

I want to make this into a poster.

lhuddles:

Because there seems to be a call for more lesson plans on Tumblr, I thought I’d post the one I wrote for my final in my culturally relevant teaching class.

Context: Next year I will be teaching in a diverse school that has over 50 countries and 17 states represented within the student body….

Thanks for posting that. I can see how it would apply nicely to a variety of texts.

williamrodick:

Conferences and Workshops

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Edmodo for Summer Professional Development - Certificate
Online June 6 or June 13, 2012
“This Edmodo certification is for the gurus who have already gained proficiency for personal use and who would like to help others use Edmodo as a professional…

Wincherella, thought you might be interested in this.

misseducation:

everyfiredies:

When you were a new teacher, did you solicit help from teachers at your school? Did you randomly pop into rooms asking for help or did you go to the teachers who reached out to you first? Do you feel like it’s the responsibility of a new teacher to go…

When I was a new teacher, I absolutely went to others for help and advice. If the first response was negative, or I got a cold shoulder, I got the message and didn’t go back. But if the person was open and helpful, I was thankful, and we often established great working relationships.

I am a mentor to new teachers, and I check in regularly with them to see how it is going. I offer support, and don’t wait for them to come to me. Sometimes they don’t know what they don’t know. I also send out emails with resources when I run across them. If a new teacher refuses help, that’s okay, and I just let them know that I’m always available. Jobs are hard to come by in my area, and some new teachers are afraid to show weakness, in case it affects their chances of getting a contract.

Like GWALP said, one area I specifically check up on is math. Elementary teachers often struggle with teaching math, and since that is my specialty, I make a point of offering resources, advice on lesson planning and unit planning. I’m pretty passionate about teaching math effectively.

http://www.katemessner.com/announcing-teachers-write-a-virtual-summer-writing-camp-for-teachers-librarians/

I’ve never considered myself to be a fiction writer. I think I am a very strong non-fiction writer, genres like essays, reports, letters, explanations, procedures. And I’ve always loved writing poetry and songs, although I rarely share those.

In the last few years I have been pushing myself to write more. I started with small moments and memoirs, but have branched out into short stories. My thought was that if I was teaching my students about writing, I needed to understand what it felt like to struggle as a writer. I think it has improved my teaching practice, and I see the difference in my students when I share my unpolished attempts.

I have learned alot from the two writing teachers  http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/ , as well as a book called Real Revision by Kate Messner.  The Virtual Summer Writing Camp in the top link is set up by one of those mentors, Kate Messner.  I know I will join and drop in as I can over the summer months.

What will you be doing, what resources will you use to improve your writing practice?

wincherella:

teachingtoday:

classroomcollective:

Nice way to store anchor charts

Oh my god.  This is beautiful.

I will try this.

A teacher at my school does this. But I rarely keep anchor charts from year to year. The students and I build them together, they go up, and then come down when we don’t need them anymore. Not sure what I could keep.