But I will always be left with this momento... he's such a good sport for the students.
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Our Community Reads!
I was given an idea to take my class out and take pictures of members in our community "reading". I thought this was awesome. But, it was actually really awkward! We went to the band office (I did call ahead!) and one other place and it felt like all of the adults felt strange about having their picture taken with students. Plus it was kind of time consuming. I scrapped that idea. It was good for a nature walk to the band office.
But I will always be left with this momento... he's such a good sport for the students.
But I will always be left with this momento... he's such a good sport for the students.
Jump Rope for Heart
I organized the Jump Rope for Heart at the school last week. You have probably participated in one, or heard of it before....students pledge to jump rope for however long and they raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
We have an incredibly diverse group of learners and age groups from K-12, so we needed to have a diverse group of activities! We didn't just jump rope! We measured how far we could jump, how high we could jump, how fast we could make it through a hopscotch, and we played double-dutch!
It was a great afternoon. Parents and staff participated, we had a lunch, and we raised some money for the Foundation!
We have an incredibly diverse group of learners and age groups from K-12, so we needed to have a diverse group of activities! We didn't just jump rope! We measured how far we could jump, how high we could jump, how fast we could make it through a hopscotch, and we played double-dutch!
It was a great afternoon. Parents and staff participated, we had a lunch, and we raised some money for the Foundation!
Bargaining Struggle
I won't speak much about bargaining because it is a hot button topic. However, I would like to say that I am the BCTF. It is individuals like me who make up the whole Teacher's Federation, not some invisible businessmen in suits. I feel like we are portrayed in the media to be this buisnesslike-striking-angry-mob. We're not. We're just workers like you! Some days we love our job, some days we don't, and we are looking to make it better in the only ways we have available to us.
Thrills of the Outside World
During the week it is near impossible to get out of Zeballos. On the weekends it is hours to get anywhere. When we go out we try savour our time. Mitch goes back to school in a week and then I will have to travel to Campbell River on the weekends if I want to see him! We always do something fun when we get out of town!
Here I am eating at a restaurant!
Here I am enjoying the tourist attractions with my lovely teacher room mate!
Here I am eating at a restaurant!
Chinese New Year!
For Chinese New Year we looked up our Chinese horoscopes. I have monkeys, roosters, and dogs in my class. We also made lanterns to decorate the room. That weekend I was visiting Victoria and I felt inspired to go to Chinatown! I did some other sight seeing as well, as you may see from my pictures!
Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the lanterns!
Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the lanterns!
January!
I wish I took more pictures! We did so much stuff! My favourite thing was having the students create personal goals that they could work on by themselves. Most of the boys made goals to run 300 laps around the school by the end of the month. They didn't make it, but they sure tried! Every chance they got, they were running! It was awesome. One student made a goal to read 100 books and she did make it! We celebrated by going to each class and getting the teachers and EAs to dance and cheer for her. It was hilarious.
We also adopted trees across the street from the school. Each student chose a tree that they liked, named it and found out some information on it. We have been visiting the trees periodically when the weather is nice to clean up garbage in the area, look for insects, and check for differences. The students especially like comparing whose tree has more Old Man's Beard hanging from it. The last time we were outside I showed the students how to count the rings on a log to see how old the tree was and how you could pull off the bark to use it to make things. They thought this was so interesting... now I have a bunch of logs and bark in the corner of my classroom. I need to think of a lesson to go with it...
We also started collecting recyclable materials to make recycled monsters. * Pictures in the next post!
We also adopted trees across the street from the school. Each student chose a tree that they liked, named it and found out some information on it. We have been visiting the trees periodically when the weather is nice to clean up garbage in the area, look for insects, and check for differences. The students especially like comparing whose tree has more Old Man's Beard hanging from it. The last time we were outside I showed the students how to count the rings on a log to see how old the tree was and how you could pull off the bark to use it to make things. They thought this was so interesting... now I have a bunch of logs and bark in the corner of my classroom. I need to think of a lesson to go with it...
We also started collecting recyclable materials to make recycled monsters. * Pictures in the next post!
Winter Break
Winter Break was much needed. I felt exhausted and I was looking forward to seeing my family. I was sick for most of the break (*of course), but it was kind of nice because I was able to justify lying around and watching tv. We did at lot of driving and had a lot of fun. I didn't want to go back to work! However, I came back to school in January feeling like a million bucks and ready to jump back into teaching with my new class!
Our beautiful view from our hotel room in Vancouver when we stayed with Mitch's family.
*I learned in university (so it must be true) that you are more likely to get sick when you go on holidays. This is because when you are stressed your immune system is fighting overtime to keep you healthy (this can only last so long) and when you finally take the chance to relax, your immune system takes the chance to relax too... and so you get sick easier.
You have learned something today. You're welcome :P
*I learned in university (so it must be true) that you are more likely to get sick when you go on holidays. This is because when you are stressed your immune system is fighting overtime to keep you healthy (this can only last so long) and when you finally take the chance to relax, your immune system takes the chance to relax too... and so you get sick easier.
You have learned something today. You're welcome :P
Things are looking up!
At the end of November a couple of great things happened.
1) We got rid of our apartment in Coquitlam (finally) and Mitch planned on coming to stay with me in Zeballos for the month of December!
2) The teacher who I was job-sharing with came back with more hours and so shuffled my position around. This meant that instead of teaching almost every class in the school and living out of the library, I would get to teach ONLY the 3-4-5 class starting immediately! I was so happy! This was the class that I felt I was making the most progress with and it meant I got to have my very own classroom! Finally! It's hard to explain why it happened that way...just know that from this point forward I am a full time teacher of a grade 3-5 class! The future started to look a lot brighter and I was feeling much better about being a teacher. The next month of teaching was a whirlwind. It was like I was starting in September all over again. I was creating lesson plans (and they were working...finally), I was decorating my class, I got rid of a bunch of junk and I fill my class full of books and posters. I was starting to feel like I could make it through the year!
1) We got rid of our apartment in Coquitlam (finally) and Mitch planned on coming to stay with me in Zeballos for the month of December!
2) The teacher who I was job-sharing with came back with more hours and so shuffled my position around. This meant that instead of teaching almost every class in the school and living out of the library, I would get to teach ONLY the 3-4-5 class starting immediately! I was so happy! This was the class that I felt I was making the most progress with and it meant I got to have my very own classroom! Finally! It's hard to explain why it happened that way...just know that from this point forward I am a full time teacher of a grade 3-5 class! The future started to look a lot brighter and I was feeling much better about being a teacher. The next month of teaching was a whirlwind. It was like I was starting in September all over again. I was creating lesson plans (and they were working...finally), I was decorating my class, I got rid of a bunch of junk and I fill my class full of books and posters. I was starting to feel like I could make it through the year!
Protect Our Coastline!
In November I was invited to a "Save Our Coastline" anti-oil tanker protest down at the harbour. I can understand both sides of the argument (my boyfriend is becoming a pipe welder and so a pipeline would mean money for him), but really Zeballos has nothing to directly gain from the pipeline and everything to lose. This is a picturesque fishing village. If it doesn't have it's ocean to rely on, it has nothing. Without exaggeration, I can tell you that in ONE day I personally saw multiple bears catching salmon in the river, eagles flying overhead, and humpback whales in the inlet. I can understand why the locals are upset. It was a fun rally!
Okay, Okay, There Was Some Good Stuff
After I wrote that last post I thought, "Wow, I'm a Debbie Downer!" So I looked through my photos and remembered some of the cool things that happened in October.
In my 3-4-5 class we made patterns in math class. The students were really creative!
We also walked to the bridge so that we could see wild salmon spawning. There were lots!
In my 3-4-5 class we made patterns in math class. The students were really creative!
We also went to the fish hatchery! I got to go twice because I took my 3-4-5 class and my 6-7 class! I had help from the outdoor education teacher. I love doing activities with her!
Friday, 7 February 2014
October Blues
October seemed to drag on. I was worried that I wasn't cut out to be a teacher and that I had made a mistake in moving to Zeballos. The 6/7 class was a major struggle and I didn't seem to be making any progress with them. I hadn't been able to get any assignments completed by every single student. Behaviour seemed to be getting worse from September and the days were getting shorter. After my pro-d conference in Vancouver I ended up having to put down my family dog that I had had since I was in grade 6 myself! It was really hard on me coming back to Zeballos without her and Bruce (my other dog). I truly didn't think I would make it through the entire year and contemplated quitting at Christmas and finding another job. I knew that I should be happy to even have a full time job. Most new teachers on the mainland are struggling. I was feeling really low living without friends and family.
On the bright side, in October I moved in with my very awesome room mate! Yay! I finally had company! She had a cat to play with and between the two of us we were able to scrape together some kitchen supplies. I thought, I'll just make it to December and then I'll decide what to do...
On the bright side, in October I moved in with my very awesome room mate! Yay! I finally had company! She had a cat to play with and between the two of us we were able to scrape together some kitchen supplies. I thought, I'll just make it to December and then I'll decide what to do...
Vulnerable Readers Conference- Vancouver
In October my principal signed me and another teacher up for a professional development conference in Vancouver. It was a two-day conference aimed at teaching strategies and theories on readers; particularly young and vulnerable readers. I learned from the conference that in general, if a student isn't reading at grade level by grade 3, they probably never will. That's a really harsh reality. It is crucially important that we are catching readers early and giving them as much support as possible so that they do not get stuck trying to catch up in their later years. There were a lot of very interesting speakers at the conference I picked up some neat teaching strategies for younger students.
My favourite one for teaching students the alphabet is to get them to make the letters with their bodies or in partners. They can also go on a hunt throughout the school grounds to find letters of the alphabet hidden in the architecture! Sounds cool!
My favourite one for teaching students the alphabet is to get them to make the letters with their bodies or in partners. They can also go on a hunt throughout the school grounds to find letters of the alphabet hidden in the architecture! Sounds cool!
Terry Fox Run
At the end of September I organized the Terry Fox Run for our school. This was the first time I had ever organized one. It went really well! I'm proud of myself because I heard that it's not often that the school has one. Most of the students didn't even know who Terry Fox was. The older students watched a movie about Terry Fox the day before the run and the teachers told me that they were really interested in the story!
There aren't many places to run to in the town, so we ran to the dock and back. I would guess it's about a 15 minute run for myself. The students had a lot of fun and I was happy to see that even the youngest in the school made it all the way without complaining! I hope the run continues next year!
There aren't many places to run to in the town, so we ran to the dock and back. I would guess it's about a 15 minute run for myself. The students had a lot of fun and I was happy to see that even the youngest in the school made it all the way without complaining! I hope the run continues next year!
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