I have the most interesting house guests staying with me this weekend… A group of Polish engineering students has descended on my apartment; they are attending the 65th IAC this week in Toronto.

Although they're not astronauts, they are working on the Mars probe project, pretty exciting stuff!

When I came back from running some errands with a friend this afternoon there they all were, huddled around their computers in the living room -- one day when we're all in living in Martian colonies, I'll be able to say, "hey I knew those guys when…"!

As part of this year's Culture Days in Mimico, Lakeshore Arts put on an event in the Square outside our building:  A Cardboard Village invited all who wanted to, to join in and build a structure out of cardboard to add to the "village" in the square.  The boys got on Board, initially planning to build a "life sized castle", which went through various evolutions, and ended up a "coffin", in which they took turns lying and giggling while the other boy put the "lid" on top! ;-P

The research on helmet laws is clear: large-scale health benefits of cycling in any given society "far outweigh the smaller risks involved". And studies have demonstrated time and again that the "net public health outcome of helmet promotion or laws is negative."

The research on whether helmets actually save lives for bicyclists is nebulous at best; in some places medical practitioners are actually opposed to cycle helmet laws and won't endorse them at all.

And yet, over and over again, complete strangers feel compelled to lecture me about my choice to cycle without a helmet, which is my legal right in this province. My choice to ride helmet-free is an informed one; their lecture, on the other hand is not.

Case in point: while riding along Dundas on route home from school today, a woman waiting at a bus stop reached out and literally grabbed my arm while I was stopped at a traffic light. She proceeded to attempt to cajole me into wearing a bike helmet. As the light was red, I humored her, and engaged in what I hoped would be an informative dialogue; I encouraged her to visit cycle helmets.org and familiarize herself with the actual research on bike helmets.

She got right up in my face then -- her hand still gripping my arm, she gazed into my eyes, and spoke in a very serious tone: "I feel something bigger than the two of us here", she said, "I can feel it in my heart.  And it's just telling me to tell you to wear a bike helmet!"

I'll say "bigger"; It's called.............. "MARKETING," lady!!!!! (You were expecting "God", maybe?)

The subliminal power of helmet promotion, even in places where wearing a helmet is not the law, is profound: think about every ad or public notice you see with someone riding a bike in it… They're always wearing helmets! That's no accident… governments like helmet laws, it makes them look like the good guy, as though they care about your head and your health. And helmet laws are far easier "solutions" in their mind than actually committing to public education classes and city cycling programs, dedicated bike paths and other viable solutions for cyclists and those who don't want to make the car their primary source of transportation. Throw the old helmet law on the table, and the government comes off looking like they're actually doing something about safety.

Not to mention, bike shops, Canadian Tire and Walmart love an opportunity to sell you yet another accessory… Who wouldn't be convinced by "safety"?

And yet, as a teacher, if I'm trying to teach my students to be critical thinkers, then I, too, need to examine the "safety" data with a critical lens and make an informed decision, rather than one I've been brainwashed into believing is the "right" one by marketers eager to sell me something I don't necessarily need or want.

After tonight's bus stop harassment incident, I revisited one of my "go to" sites for cycle helmet research.

I am more convinced than ever that adults should have the right to choose whether or not to wear a helmet when cycling.

And for goodness sake's, people, if you're going to attack strangers about their personal choices, do us all a favor and read the research before you grab us in the street to tell us about your "higher source"!

FINALLY got to go flying in Toronto again; a chum from ground school has his IFR rating, and wanted to practise an approach to Hamilton.  So he took lucky me along as co-pilot and to be his eyes.

As it turned out, it was a pretty busy evening at CYTZ, with both company and commercial traffic coming and going like crazy.

Nevertheless, we finally got airborne, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset enroute to Hamilton.

Just when we finally solve the mystery of my malfunctioning overhead projector (turns out my LCD projector is so ancient, it won't to project the resolution optimized for my by-comparison  modern computer monitor; a simple resolution change in the "settings" menu solved the problem... sort of... now everything projects, but in a very compressed manner: According to the image on the screen today, tangrams come together to form a skinny rectangle rather than a square!!!), another, age-old problem arises, namely that of supplies: Eager to teach robust math lessons and use resources from  the ministry, I have been researching and attempting to use TIPS4M. Alas, it would appear that a Grade 8 math lesson from such a source requires more set up than a university science lab!

Why just this morning on the bus, I excitedly read about a rich, engaging Fermi problem involving -- wait for it – a bag of bird seed!!! Now where, pray tell, am I going to get a bag of bird seed, and, who's paying for  said bag?

After already spending nearly $1000 of my own money on classroom set up and supplies again this year, and sleeping an average of five hours a night since school started, I have neither the time/energy nor the funds to procure a bag of bird seed so that my grade 8 students can estimate and develop a plan for measuring the volume, weight and number of seeds in one cup of bird seed or the whole bag, sorry people.  I'm trying here, I really am, but... !!?!

After developing an anchor chart on encouraging others in my class today, I plan on inviting some of my grade eights tomorrow to donate a bag of bird seed to the cause… We shall see what transpires.  Should a bag of birdseed arrive on my desk sometime in the next few days, we'll do a great, hands-on estimation and calculation problem.  Otherwise, I'm afeared it's back to worksheets and textbooks for a while until Ms. Teschow catches up on her sleep (and pays off some of her debt!!)

Halfway through Week Two, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This is due largely to the fact that one of our school office administrators very kindly ordered some organizational materials for my desk! :)

After spending my lunch hour today rearranging and sorting the piles on my "desk" (the counter at the front of the room), I am filled with renewed optimism about my program.

In celebration, I offer the photo above, and the explanation below...

1. Class Organizers

Six magazine holders, labeled for the six classes (yes, that's right, SIX!  Believe it, folks!) I teach.  Inside each magazine holder sits a folder of lessons and/or handouts, and a clipboard with a class list.  The seating plan for that class is also housed there; student sit in numbered groups, and at each group people are labeled A-B-C-D to make life a little easier. ("Person D, please go and get two pairs of scissors and a glue stick for your group; Person B, please get your group's white bin", etc.)

2. Restorative Justice Book

A professional resource given to me by my VP, and which I have begun reading on days when I take the bus.  I was most impressed by the illustration offered by the turkey prank incident therein, and am keen to learn more about  a practical approach in the intermediate rotary context.

3. Estimation Jar

Having battled a pharoah ant infestation in part by putting ALL our dry goods at home into airtight glass jars, I happened to have several extra class containers on hand.  I brought such an one into my room the other day, and filled it with cubelinks, thinking I would cook up a math lesson of some sort... then I got distracted with something else, and it remained idly on my desk/counter.

Today, out of the blue, a grade 8 kid wanders over, paper, pencil and calculator in hand, and hums and haws at the jar while his peers are finishing putting together their math folders.

"What are you doing?", I inquire, while peeling a mis-cut and over-glued problem solving checklist off the bottom of my shoe (someone had discarded it on the floor earlier, I guess.)

Turns out dude is estimating how many cubes are in the jar, lol!

Tomorrow I am going to bring in a second jar of the same size, and fill it part way full with smaller cubes.  I'll post a little sticky note on it addressed to him, inviting him to consider "which has more?" (Intentionally open-ended to encourage thinking about how "more" might be defined).

4. Timer

Primarily for Ms. Teschow, the timer is set to count down the period once students arrive, so that I can train myself with pacing during my teaching, something I am notoriously bad at (the pacing, I mean, not teaching in general!)

5. Yerbamate

I've been successfully making and drinking mate approximately 3-4 days a week since the school year began.  Days when I manage to pull it off, I am definitely more alert!  (As an aside, my principal wandered into my classroom this afternoon, noticed the mate gourd on my desk, and... MOVED THE BOMBILLA!  Argh!)

6. Little Paper Stars

"For you, Ms Teschow!" chirped some lovely, sweet student as she deposited a fistful of stars, handcrafted from the paper scraps leftover from the problem solving math folders experiment, on my desk.  Awwww, so cute! :))))

7. Problem Solving Folder

Undeterred from the messy chaos earlier in the week, when I first attempted to have one of my classes construct their folders with little guidance or structure from me ("Oh, come on," I foolishly thought, "they're grade 7s and 8s, they can do this no problem".  Haha.), I set forth today and had three classes assemble their folders. 

Each class took two full 40-minute periods, but by the end of it, most of the folders looked pretty great and were fairly functional.

To celebrate our collective success, one class solved a follow-up problem to the one presented earlier; this time students had to determine which of two options was the better deal by calculating unit rate. 

I had left the question sufficiently open-ended to see if anyone would consider options beyond basic end-consumer cost.   So far, no one has taken the bait.  (If I were a really good teacher, I'd come back to this question in the spring, when we look more at data, and give the class statistics on worker benefits and production human rights records of the two companies in question, have them analyze said data, and ask if that would change their answer from September, hehe.)

Those of you with a keen eye will notice the absence of a supply teacher folder.  It's on my list, folks, it's on my list... hopefully during re-org next week!!!

In an attempt to launch my math centres/balanced/guided math program, I had my grade 7s make their math problem solving folders today... sort of.

You see, it turns out that 12-year-olds need considerably more guidance with stick and paste than I had anticipated.

I figured I'd just show them my brilliant sample, give them the necessary materials, and away they'd go...

Behold above, Ms. Teschow's brilliant sample: a 4-pocket folder (constructed of two folders), including an overview of the 4-part model, some space for listing strategies and collecting vocab, work and scrap paper, and even some pre-determined success criteria to get them started on self reflection as they work.

Alas... instead we got this:

Even as the end-of-period bell was ringing, students scrambled to glue the last bits of paper onto the incorrect places in their folders, and scraps were strewn everywhere (they mostly ended up on the floor). 

As I leafed through the allegedly finished products after they left, I beheld pieces glued on the wrong sections, clearly marked tables not cut out, but rather simply pasted on with all kinds of corners sticking out...

The biggest challenge, actually, was taping the two folders together.  Many of the students couldn't seem to wrap their heads around how to do it.  The result was that several of the folders simply didn't fold.

The name tags were a whole other problem.  I wanted the students to write their last name first, then their first name in caps (the former so that I could alphabetize them come report card time, the latter so that they were easily found in a stack), followed by their home form.

One could create a ratio table on the number of correct:incorrect labels that resulted from Ms. Teschow's apparently not so clear instructions.

Ahhh, but I am learning the benefits of rotary already -- tomorrow's class will get MUCH clearer instructions, lol!

You know it's back to school in earnest when the annual pre-German School Muddy Duck breakfast happens!!! 

Every year the boys take a photo with the duck, and they couldn't wait to snap this year's shot before heading inside to the buffet.

German school began with tears, but ended in reasonably contented resignation as they discovered that in fact their new teacher was pretty okay.  She even played a game with them!  (Turns out, actually, that she is the former choir director -- I used to sing when *I* went to German School a hundred years ago or more, lol!)

They also saw some old chums from previous years, so in the end, everything was good.

After German School, we chanced upon a Street Fair, which ate up most of our Saturday.

Sunday morning Simon headed off to church with his Dad, and Alex and I TTC'd it to my church in the east end of town.  Since we had a day pass, we elected to run a few errands downtown afterwards, and ended up in the midst of the TIFF buzz, which was kind of exciting...

It felt a little like being out and about in BsAs... after all, it was sunny and bright, and we were surrounded by people.  But the people mostly spoke English rather than Spanish, and instead of one bus that takes you everywhere, we spent most of the day navigating various streetcar re-routings and short turns, as is the better way's way here in TO, lol!

No, no, not your parents, parents... I mean your "parents".  As in, the families of your students!  If not, why not?  Do it!  Seriously, people!  It's the end of the first week of school -- make contact already!!

Almost no one is "in trouble" the first few days of school, and now is the ideal time to call and introduce yourself to the families in your class on nice, neutral terms, and share something interesting or positive you've observed about their child this week.  It's a great way to start connecting with families.  Also puts a little something in the emotional bank account in case you have to call later when the $#!% hits the fan!  (No one likes to have bad news on their first call from their child's teacher!!)

A first phone call is quick and easy:  "Hi, I'm Ms. So and So, Johnny's teacher from Such and Such school.  I'm just calling to say hello and introduce myself."

Sadly, this will usually be met with a surprised and almost anxious or shocked response.  It would seem that making contact with student families is a lost art.  But it's an important one, and it allows teachers and families to connect early in the year to begin developing that all-important relationship to support the whole child.

Teaching rotary this year?  I, too!

At least call your "home room" or "advisor" families.  I just finished the last of my 28 home room phone calls.  (Among other things, I learned from my short chats with 12 moms, 11 dads, 2 grandmothers and 3 answering machines that there is one other "twins" family in my class, and it also turns out I have the sister of a former student from another school in my class this year!! And yes, I jotted all that down in point form on the back of my "parent contact page" for each student; it will provide a refresher the next time I make contact with the home.)  

Monday I plan to call the other Grade 7 Class I have for Math and Science this year.  

If I am feeling particularly ambitious, I may try to squeeze in my Grade 8 FI Math class later in the week.  Maybe.

Last time I taught in an Intermediate classroom, laptops were coveted items owned by a few families and sought after via reams of paperwork with Spec Ed teams for a few select students.  Neither tablets nor smart phones had been invented.

Now we have "BYOD", or "Bring Your Own Device" policies in place in most schools, in order to maximize the number of internet-connected devices in classrooms so that teachers can more readily integrate learning technology into their programs.

With such changes comes new territory in terms of ethics, responsibility and classroom management.

In an attempt to set the stage and begin as I mean to go on, I've developed a series of lessons and activities to complete with my classes before allowing/encouraging students to bring their devices -- if they have any -- to class.  Below are two powerpoints, a digital compass reference graphic, and a "digital citizenship quiz".  All materials were borrowed and/or adapted from various other educators, and customized for my particular teaching and learning situation. 

If you find them useful, feel free to modify and use them with your own students!