As the temps in Toronto plummet to extreme cold once again, we are en route back down south for the second leg of our Argentina adventure.  An email from a friend in Buenos Aires this morning indicates the temperatures down there are currently in the mid 30s (Celsius)!

While we await our delayed plane to Atlanta here in YYZ's terminal 3, Simon takes the opportunity to charge up the iPads.  Alex is working on Rainbow Loom, and Mommy is working on her online Spec Ed course!



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"If people like you and me and Jane and others, whose work takes them into strange places, put our personal safety first we would never get any work done at all."  (Louis Leakey)

I tried to take a differentiated approach that would allow students to have multiple entry points into the problem, and that would provide extensions for those students who might benefit from them.

The Question(s):
How many cans would the can man need to collect in order to save for a winter coat?

BONUS: If the Can Man collects about 50 cans a day, how long would it take him to collect enough cans to buy each coat?  Which coat do you think he will buy?  Why?

Students worked with a partner to solve one or more of the problems.  Since -- earlier in the week -- we had been talking about what constitutes an effectively communicated solution to a problem, I asked them to check the criteria we had co-created before claiming, "we're done!" :D  They did so, and we also had a class conversation about one possible solution (the 10-cent cans/$12 coat scenario),  discussing how we might use shortcuts to calculate the number of cans needed, and how we could use a picture to effectively illustrate the math involved.

Reflections for the Reader/Teacher:   If you were doing this lesson with YOUR students, what might you do next? How could you extend the learning, and draw in a practical component in terms of social justice, using math, language or other subject areas?

Although the countdown to Argentina (we head back there on the 20th) is also on, that's not the "one week" the title of this post refers to.  Nopes, the week I'm writing about today is the one week I've spent here in Mississauga, doing some supply teaching, at one of the schools I used to support in my Resource days.

Spending a week in the same school has allowed me to take notice of more than where the washrooms are and what time duty begins.  I thought I'd share some of my reflections below...

1. Good Colleagues Transcend Time and Space
One of the things about home schooling is that it can be a lonely experience, especially if you're just doing it temporarily, and not really part of a "home schooling community", per say.  It was so nice to reconnect with teachers and other ed workers whom I knew from the "old days" at the school.  I even ran into some folks I have met at other schools over the past 17 years, who were now working at this school.  It didn't take long to get comfortable with my "colleagues for a week", and lunch time chats in the staff room were great fun.

2. Teaching expository text begins in Grade One
Part of my gig was teaching Grade 1 and 2 Phys. Ed. and so I had the opportunity to be in a Grade One classroom several days when I went to pick up the kids.  I was amazed and impressed with the scope and sequence of the teacher's oral language program, in particular, the strong foundation she was setting with persuasive text... each day she asked the students to think about how they felt about a particular issue, for example, whether Rainbow Loom, the popular new craze, was a distraction at school as some teachers complained,  or a good thing, a tool to encourage fine motor skills, as parents countered.

The class engaged in academic debate (as academic as Grade ones can be!) about their stance, using specific reasons to back up their position.

I could only imagine the success their Grade 2 and 3 teachers would have with teaching expository writing, after a full year of being forced to think and communicate like this.

3.  There are Cats in every school.
One of the things I'm always surprised at is the array of allegedly unique students we find in our classes.  In my most recent school, we've had children who meow like cats, scratch like tigers, hoot like monkeys, pee their pants, and lie down on the floor and throw temper tantrums at random. And no, they weren't all in Kindergarten or participating in a Drama class!  We were so convinced that "there was something in the water", that our school was "unique" in the kinds of strange creatures who lived there from Monday to Friday... and yet, within two days of being here at the school where I supplied this week, I met a gal in Grade 3 who is notorious for meowing. 

What do you know?  Every school has its cats! 

4. Grade 8s sure are big and chatty.
I had the opportunity, one morning, to cover a Grade 8 Science class.  Although I've taught intermediate students in the past, and have even been a VP at a K-8 school, it's been a few years since I've worked with students older than 10.  

As they settled into their seats and began to "work" on the assignment the teacher had left, I was amazed at how tall and how chatty these big kids were, but spending a few periods with them reminded me of how much I want to work with Intermediate students again. They have so much to contribute, so much to talk about, so much drama to be sorted through... 

I immediately began to visualize the Grand Conversations we would have, the guided reading groups we would meet in, the academic controversy we would engage in, the social justice we would integrate into our math lessons, the writing they would produce... :)))

5. Sexism is alive and well in Grade 2!
After several days of teaching a variety of organized games and warm up activities, I handed out materials to groups of kids in one of my phys. ed. classes today, and invited them to create their own physical activity with rules and procedures.  Within minutes, I had a little boy at my feet, pulling at my pant leg, complaining that he and his chum wanted to play a "boy" game, while the girl in his group insisted on creating a "girl" game.  Seriously?!!

6. I am a Rockstar!
Or, at least, I look like one, according to a little friend in the same class, who also wanted to know whether I was a boy or a girl.

Well, this Rockstar has to get ready for her final day as "the supply teacher" here:  I'm off to wrap up a literature-based math problem about cartonaros in Argentina with a Grade 3/4 class this morning, and then it's off to the library, to read Silver Birch contenders to various Kindergarten classes.  

Despite the early mornings, cold walks and long bus rides, I'm grateful for this week of learning, of collegiality and of fun, and although I am looking forward to home schooling Alex and Simon for the rest of this year, I'll be eager to get back to the school "system" next year!

Big plans to bike to work were trumped by yet another ice storm--snow I can do, ice not so much! So I plotted my route online (Mississauga Transit, or MiWay, as it's called, has a website and an app, but the latter costs $2 and is by all accounts horribly out pf date!)

My first attempt at using MiWay did not impress. I missed the first bus by 37 seconds; fortuitously, a fellow pulling out of the nearby gas station must have seen the look of dismay on my face, for he offered me a ride to my next transfer, which I gratefully accepted (the ride, not the transfer).

The helpful stranger caused me to arrive at my next stop 3 minutes early. Alas, *this* bus was 7 minutes late!

Eventually the bus arrived, I got on and rode as far as I could, leaving me with a 19-minute walk to my final destination.

My first day as a non-car-owner in Toronto was a COLD one!  The icy, snow-covered city did not deter me, however, and I wrapped myself in my winter garb, and set out on my bike to face a full day of errands.

My trusty, two-wheeled steed carried me through parts of east-end Mississauga and into Toronto, as far as Roncesvalles.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the looks of disbelief I got from various people I saw in my travels today, when they discovered I had biked in such weather.  Though I will also confess that my smugness with that did little to warm my chilled bones (I was good for about two thirds of my journey, but by evening, my knees were aching, and even my warm, winter boots were starting to betray me, and my toes were getting chilled).

There were some challenges to overcome with the bike itself, too: Although I had tried to pump up my tires before I left "home" (a colleague's house in Mississauga, this week), by the time I got to Roncesvalles, it was clear that my back tire was badly in need of air. Happily, I found a bike shop which was open, and in which worked a kind fellow who blew me up.  With some more air in my tires, my speed improved considerably, though I was tired, and had the additional weight of two full paniers... and yes, I walked the bike up a hill!!!  (Oh, the shame!)

I've been a car-owner since I inherited my Mother's Honda Civic when she died 20 years ago.  But increasingly, I've become intrigued with the idea -- both financially and from an environmental perspective -- of becoming car-less.  

This year, I decided to put my money where my mouth is.  I signed the car over to Alex and Simon's dad, and we unscrewed the infamous "drrums" plates (they will live in the music cabin, in PEI, for now...) and replaced them with shiny new generic ones.

Now I have to walk, bike or use public transit.  The latter option seemed like an attractive and manageable prospect, after using bus and subway almost exclusively in Buenos Aires for three months.  Alas, I had forgotten how utterly incomplete the Toronto and Mississauga public transit systems are. :(  Nevertheless, I am determined to make this work for a minimum of one year.

At the very least, I have to make it work for another 36 minutes, in order to get home tonight!!!