Vera C. Teschow

I am thankful.  It is not the kind of thankfulness that we try to embed into our daily lives after we read some self help book or article, the kind that is more grounded in logic (I know I ought to be grateful for…) rather than unbridled passion (Wow!  This is incredible, I am soooo lucky!)

Nope, I am filled with the kind of gratitude one sings about in the lyrics of the 

The magic of Kindergarten is alive and well at my school.  In the chaos of the school day, one of my favourite parts is when I take my students down to the library to meet with our Kindergarten reading buddies. It is always such a delight to see my “big Grade 3” students taking one or two 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds under their wing, leading or being led by them to a comfortable corner of the library and settling down with a few good books to read together.  Some of them cozy up together in the reading tent, others snuggle up on the couch, a few crawl into a "cave" under a table to read, and several scatter themselves on the carpet or next to a bookcase along the perimeter of the room.

Yesterday was EQAO, so the school library was closed.  Those of use who were finished early decided to go to the Kindergarten room anyway to visit our little friends.. and, oh! What magic met us there!

Butterflies in caterpiller form, beginning to spin their cocoons, were neatly labeled at a table next to a basket of small notebooks where little scientists could write their observations – as one JK student informed me, “the caterpillars are labled by letter, so that Ms. Webster knows which one we’re writing about!”

In another corner, a half-built (or half demolished?) "skyscraper" of wooden blocks poked us in the eye -- several of my students were desperate to roll up their sleeves and get in on the construction action!

A word wall included student names as well as words (such as "the Avengers" under "A")  that had clearly been generated by the students over the course of the year.  Things to make, count and explore were everywhere, and evidence of an evolving classroom surrounded us.  The Kindergarten buddies were eager to take their Grade 3 friends on a tour of their learning lab.

Although an hour in the Kindergarten classroom confirms for me my own inability/ unwillingness to teach at that level, I am awe-inspired when I observe the enchanting world the students and their teachers have created together!

My second year of teaching was, I believe, the second year of EQAO. 

At that time, the test was considerably longer than it is now, and it was not uncommon for teachers to review the booklets a few days prior to see what was coming, and to arrange their day plans accordingly (the teacher guide included copious notes, scripts for what to say to students and when to say it, and so on, so there was a lot of prep work to be done).

Trevor and I were teaching Grade 6.  It was his first year.  I remember taking a

It occurred to me the other day, as I was getting ready to go to a professional learning session, that setting up for such workshops is kind of like doing a sound check for a gig – you do the sound check earlier in the day, then go have lunch or dinner before you play. 

Similarly, a good presenter/facilitator sets up the learning space well before her session begins, so that she has time to grab a snack or a tea, and chat with participants as they arrive.

Everything is ready so she is not stressed about how the sound will come across in the music of her “performance”!

Is it really over already? 
GORGEOUS weather, good food, family and friends and lots of fun at the beach, as you will see in the ppt below (I plan to share this with my Grade 3s, who have recently completed a study of Urban and Rural Communities in Social Studies, and will soon begin a Science unit on Soils). 

Feast your eyes as you join us on a weekend in PEI...
(The ppt comes in two parts -- lots of photos, so the files are kinda' big, sorry!)

After spending the morning cleaning out my office, and the afternoon teaching the TCs to play Hot Cross Buns on the recorder, spent the evening celebrating w/ students and colleagues at the banquet!

A common ESL strategy in the classroom has been to have students do lots of talking to encourage them to "think aloud" before they begin a written task.  But sometimes, the other way can be just as valuable, especially for the introverted learner in your class.

In my quest to help students be more “on-task” during carpet time, I have been reading a Ministry of Ed Monograph entitled “Grand Conversations in Primary Classrooms”.  In order to prepare students for rich group dialogue, it is suggested that – in addition to time for thinking first – students are also encouraged to draw or write about texts they are reflecting on, in order to give them an opportunity to consolidate their thinking before they engage in grand conversations.

I can't help but wonder... What would the students write about, if they haven’t had time to chat with a neighbour, first?  On the other hand, what would they talk about, if they didn’t first have a chance to “ink their thinking”?  It’s a bit of a chicken/egg dilemma, it would seem.

I suppose – like so many “good” classroom strategies, flexibility and balance is the key.  Different learners will strive under both configurations, so in order to ensure the needs of all are met, a differentiated approach much be taken.

Myself, I’ve done the “talk first and then write” approach… I think I will try to integrate more of the other now, and see what happens with my verbose but often unfocused students!

It is absolutely amazing to me that with all the data we have about gender and sexual identity issues, people are still arguing against “positive spaces”  (also “Gay-Straight- Alliances”, or GSAs) in schools.

How ironic that this week, when Obama gently but publicly concluded, in well thought out tones, that committed same sex couples ought to have the right to marry, our provincial conservative politicians voted against  a Liberal government bill requiring school boards to back student requests for GSA support groups. 
What message are these leaders sending our already-disenfranchised youth? 

         Your bullies and tormentors are right, you ARE a freak,
   and not even school -- especially not school -- is a safe haven!

Interestingly, as part of some ministry training about a teacher leadership and learning project I am involved in for next year, I had an opportunity to hear a participant from previous years speak on her team’s project, OPSTA.com. This passionate, articulate and incredibly dedicated teacher shared with us a very poignent story of an auto shop teacher who set aside his intended lesson one afternoon to deal with a “that’s so gay” comment uttered in his class. 

Within hours of the end of class, he found a handwritten note from one of his students on his desk.  It read:

I am overwhelmed with the conviction that we in publically funded schools in Ontario must create safe and positive space for ALL our students and staff, including those who fall into the gender identity and/or sexual orientation minority. 

GSAs allow for the formation of a fellowship where LGBTQ and straight youth can build bridges and alliances with one another, seeking to learn from the other, and working together to create safe, positive spaces where all students can learn and grow, rather than feel threatened by homophobic and/or transphobic bullying.  The issue is not “let’s talk about sex”, the issue is “let’s talk about how we can solve our problems, and make the school a better place”.  (As a side note for my Christian friends, isn't this what Jesus modelled?  Talking with and loving those whom others cast aside?)

Alas, it seems Martin Regg Cohen, in his recent Toronto Star coverage of the PC’s unfriendliness, has a firm grasp on the opposition’s perspective:

Again I am reminded of people’s general misunderstanding of sexual orientation and gender identity issues. 

Of course these people have sex (just as do straight folks, imagine!), but to think that sex is the very essence of who they are is as prejudicial as stereotyping  young black men as drug dealers and rapists.  I know some gay people… they do laundry sometimes, write blogs, volunteer at the food bank, get their cars fixed, go grocery shopping, and even pick up their kids from school!

Well, at least the ones who weren’t harassed and bullied and tortured to the point of suicide before they had a chance to grow up into loving, contributing adult members of society.

Education Minister Laurel Broten spoke with us today before lunch.  As she put it, “it’s an uneviable position to be in, a politician between a room full of teachers and their lunch”!  But we humoured her, and only a few brave souls walked out.

She brought the prerequisite greetings from the Province, congratulated us on our hard work, wished us well with our projects.  She noted that “decades and decades of research confirms teacher effectiveness is the single most important factor in student learning”…

I can’t help by wonder – if she truly believes this research – why her government has lately launched a surprising attack on public educators in this province? 

Until recently, the Liberals and the various teacher unions in this province have worked in relative harmony; as Broten referred put it, “we’ve achieved much for students through strong partnerships between the ministry and federation”. These partnerships have resulted in considerable reduction of labour unrest over the past two terms.

Why, then, the recent attack on the collective bargaining process, and the use of media to fuel public distain for teachers? 

For example, the minister apparently called a press conference on Easter Monday, beginning said meeting by noting that she was calling the media together to talk about education, on a day when teachers were at home relaxing while other Ontarians were hard at work!!!  (Interestingly, as a federation colleague who shared this tale with me pointed out, one was unable to hit the LCBO that day for a much-needed bottle to get one through the launch of this attack, nor was one able to visit one’s bank, if one had wanted to withdraw all one’s money and flee such a province; both were closed across the province!)

To her credit, Broten did acknowledge the difficult time we are currently in, that challenges the strong partnerships forged over the past 8 years, however, she only superficially addressed the issues that so deeply frustrate teachers, focussing on wage freezes rather than the proposed class size increases and 70% cut in sick days on the table, or the unwillingness to lay out ground rules at the “extra-curricular-to-legal-collective-bagaining-process” provincial discussion table, or PDT.  (As an interesting side note, "discussion" implies decision making -- if the government were really interested in seeking to understand, the whole thing would be labled a "dialogue" table, not a "discussion" table!)

If you are a non-teacher member of the public, I encourage you to speak with teachers in your community to better understand what the government is imposing, and what it will mean for children (future voters and drivers!) who attend public schools in Ontario.  Better yet, spend a few days in various classrooms at different schools – if time permits – volunteering with teachers and children so that you can see how much more complex and education has become since you were in Grade 3.

Anne Lieberman spoke to us today about job-embedded learning.  As discovered in the 80s already, teachers create knowledge "on the job".  Similar to Gladwell's ten thousand hours, it is well documented that teachers in classrooms -- not researchers researching teaching in classrooms -- become the experts on classroom teaching!  One of the reasons the TLLP is so successful is that it honours the knowledge construction already happening in teachers’ professional lives, and builds in time to make it explicit.

As Lieberman spoke about the challenges of schools in meeting the increasingly complex needs of students in an age of globablization, I was struck by a thought I had just recently had while reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (Richard P. Feynman)

The author writes of being a university student and observing his peers using a tool in another class, and not applying their allegedly already-existent mathematical knowledge in that context:

This passage totally drives home the absolute necessity for teachers to move from rote memorization to teaching for understanding!  It’s not a new concept, this need to ensure deep learning; we’ve known for years that we need to do this, but how?  HOW?