Monday, February 27, 2017 | Sunny

Dear Diary,

Today, the teacher made us go outside again. Yuck. The last time she made us go outside was because she said “the weather was nice and we should get some fresh air instead of being on the computer all the time.” Funny, because she was the one who makes us type up all these dumb assignments on the computer even though it’s a lot faster for some of us to just write it down on paper. Typing is too hard. Anyways, we went outside today and it was the same boring, old thing – going through the forest behind the school and taking a “short hike” through the woods. It’s so boring. I hate it.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017 | Cloudy

Dear Diary,

Can you believe it? The teacher made us go outside again today! What did we ever do to deserve this type of punishment?? We just played some boring, old games in the forest, like “Camouflage” and “Red Light, Green Light.” Come on, we’re not kindergarteners anymore! Just let us play in the gym instead! It’s so cold outside too!

Friday, March 3, 2017 | Cloudy

Dear Diary,

I finally complained to the teacher that the computer is making things slower for me when I noticed that all the other kids were beginning to finish their projects, but I was still midway. She offered to have someone help me, but I didn’t want that because it’s my work. Then she suggested I try using the iPad instead to record my story instead of typing it on the keyboard. She showed me how to do it and it was really easy! You can also put in your own pictures! I think I’m going to try to get my moms to take some pictures when we go to the aquarium this weekend so I can talk about them on this cool new journaling app! I can’t wait to see how it turns out! Everyone is going to be so envious!

Monday, March 6, 2017 | Sunny

Dear Diary,

I think something broke in our teacher. Today, she took us out again, but instead of doing the same, old boring thing again, she divided us into groups and gave us some paint chip colours. We had to find things in the forest that matched the colours we have and take a picture of it on our iPad. We then used these pictures to create a story. Our story was about an acorn that got lost from its family and had to get help from a leaf. It was really funny. Everyone laughed when we presented our story.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 | Cloudy

In our class, Eve is my best friend. I like Eve because she is really kind and always shares her things with me. Sometimes, I help Eve by opening doors and pulling her chair out for her. Eve needs a lot of help because it hurts when she tries to move her body. Mr. A is Eve’s helper and he’s always near her in case she needs any help. Mr. A is really nice, but he doesn’t know how to help Eve write stories because he’s not very creative. Trust me, I’ve heard some of his stories and they’re about as fun as watching paint dry (as one of my moms likes to say). So today, I showed Eve the app on the iPad that the teacher showed me to record my journal, and Eve really liked it! She wanted to try it out right away and I taught her everything I know! Mr. A said I would be a great teacher one day! Right after recess, we played around with it and created a really good story together! She said the story and I added the pictures. Mr. A said that we had great teamwork and we said we know. That’s why we’re best friends!

Thursday, March 9, 2017 | Rainy

Today Eve had to go to the dentist so I played with someone else at recess. Recess was an inside day because of the rain, but that’s okay, I like inside days anyways. We could use our iPads during recess and I played with Ava. I showed Ava how to play with Scratch Jr. on the iPad. It’s really fun because we can make the cat move wherever we want by choosing the right buttons. If we want the cat to keep moving to the right, then we keep choosing the button with the right arrow. It’s my third time playing with Ava. It’s hard to play with her because her English isn’t very good, but we were able to have a lot of fun on Scratch Jr. because there are hardly any words and lots of pictures! I hope tomorrow will be another inside day so me, Ava, and Eve can all play on Scratch Jr. together!

Friday, March 10, 2017 | Cloudy

The Internet can be a scary place. We had someone come in to talk to us about the World Wide Web (that’s another name for the Internet), and it’s scary how once you’ve put something on the Internet, you can never, ever take it back down again even if you delete it! The person said that we need to be very careful about what we put on the Internet, and that it’s always better safe than sorry. That’s what my moms says all the time when I don’t want to put the ugly looking helmet on my head when I’m biking. Anyways, after the person finished talking, our teacher gave us a sheet of paper with lots of big words on it. She said it was for our parents and guardians to get approval for the school to take pictures of us when we go on our field trip next week to the zoo. They said that it was really important that we give this to our guardians because the school wants to respect our decisions.

Once upon a time, there was a little Chinese girl who went to TELL Elementary School in Raincouver. She was a bright and kind grade two student who really enjoyed learning about history. She had a fascination with the past and learning about different groups of people. Because of her vast knowledge about the past, she was often called upon to answer tough questions that the teacher asked in class. Some students admired her for it and would crowd around her whenever there was a partner activity. However, there was this group of girls who did not like the fact that she was the teacher’s favourite.

The group of girls came up with a mean plan. They decided to turn every student in the class against the little, kind girl so she would not have any friends. They threatened people, they ostracized them until they agreed, and they even resorted to physical force sometimes! They were awfully determined. They used every method they could to make sure that no one would come close to the little girl… and it worked! In no time at all, no one wanted to be seen talking with the little girl. They avoided her as much as they could.

The little girl did not know why her friends stopped speaking to her. She was finally getting the confidence to start speaking more English when her friends suddenly started ignoring her. She was very confused and sad. Then she remembered that her teacher always told her that words are magical, and that sometimes it is easier to write than to speak. So the little girl took out a piece of paper and started writing as neatly as she could a letter for her friends.

In the letter, she had to use some Chinese characters as placeholders for the English words because she did not know how to write them. But, she was determined to get her thoughts and feelings across to her friends, so she made sure to search up the words in a dictionary and write down their English counterparts – just like how her teacher showed her.

Within a few days, she was able to complete her letter after many revisions and a final edit. She had written a very heartfelt letter, and when she showed it to her friends, they apologized and explained what happened and how they were too scared of the mean group of girls to do anything. However, they realized that it wasn’t right nor fair for the little girl to suffer all alone, so they decided to tell the teacher so something like this will not happen again to another innocent, little, and kind girl.

After hearing the story, the teacher took action and a class meeting was held. Everyone was very respectful and reflected on their actions. The group of girls apologized for their behaviour and action, and decided to form an Anti-Bullying Task Force with the little girl and her friends. They decided to use this Task Force to help other students who are getting bullied and teach them what to do.

The Anti-Bullying Task Force was so successful that they had to advertise for more people to help them! Everyone in the Task Force got involved and some made posters using a software program on the computer. Other students asked help from the computer teacher and they created a website together where students can submit ideas and pictures of kindness, acceptance, and respect.

The End.

TELL

(January 2017)

For this month’s issue of TELL, we offer advice to teachers and parents on their concerns. For this month, we focus on grades 3 and 4 students.

Dear TELL,

I am a teacher at an inner-city elementary school, and I have noticed that some of my students often arrive to school late without eating breakfast. I have started to see a trend where on the days they do not have breakfast, their behaviour turns problematic throughout the day. However, for days where they do have breakfast, they are like little angels. There is a breakfast program set up at the school, but some of these students do not participate in this free program! What can I do?

From, Flabbergasted

Dear Flabbergasted,

Children need food for energy, and when they do not have a healthy meal to start their day, it will affect their behaviour and their learning abilities. For the free breakfast program that is offered at your school, it may cause families stress as they may find it shameful or difficult to accept. A way that you can step around this is to have an emergency supply of snacks that you can offer discreetly to these students. Nevertheless, you should communicate with the students’ caregivers to find out more on why they are missing breakfast, and let them know how missing meals can affect their child’s academic performance and social behaviours. If it is a matter of finance, try to arrange something with the school discreetly for them. By communicating with caregivers, you can also find out some valuable information, such as why the child may be arriving late on some days and how the school can help.

From, TELL

Dear TELL,

Our school recently accepted a group of refugee students, and some of them have been placed in my classroom. In the beginning, they were shy – which is understandable – but there was still excitement in their movements. However, it has been a bit more than a month, and I have noticed that there is one particular student who is having trouble adjusting and often displays their frustration through physical means. I am at a loss for what to do! Please help!

From, At A Loss

Dear At A Loss,

This type of behaviour is typical for refugee students as they are still adapting to their new environment and trying to resettle in a new country. They are going through different stages of adjustments, and there are ways that you can help as a teacher. The stages are Honeymoon, Hostility, Humour, and Home, and you can learn more about them from the BC Ministry of Education. It seems that the student in question is going through the Hostility Stage, which is where they experience language challenges, culture shock, frustration, and confusion. How you can help as a teacher is to set goals with them, help boost their self esteem, and show compassion and understanding. Don’t forget that there are also resources available for you at the school. Remember that you are not a counsellor or a social worker, so refer to your school team for additional support!

Dear TELL,

My child is a grade 4 student and I recently received her report card without a letter grade on it! I spoke with her teacher and was able to obtain a grade upon request. I am a very busy parent and I don’t understand why teachers just don’t give letter grades the first time around and have to make us busy parents trying to earn a living and feed our families come in the school to get it!

From, Confused and Annoyed Parent

Dear Confused and Annoyed Parent,

This is actually a very common topic of interest within our parent and caregiver readers. Your child’s teacher is more than likely simply following the school’s protocol on giving report cards and letter grades, and not because they are out to get you. Unfortunately, letter grades are not a good indicator of your child’s progress. Research has shown that it takes the motivation out of learning; Students tend to see the content they are learning as a means to an end where the end is the grade and not the retention of knowledge. Schools have slowly begun to pick up on this fact and are using different forms of reporting a student’s progress, such as informal conferences with caregivers or descriptive summary on reports. These are better indicators of how students are doing in schools than a somewhat subjective letter grade that does not explain much.

From, TELL

Dear TELL,

I have a student in my art class who likes to throw paint at their peers whenever we are using them for a lesson. This student is on the spectrum, but is high functioning. I have tried taking the paint away from her until it is time to use them, supervise her while she is painting, and have even done the work for her while she guided me! I want her to have fun while in art class, but her behaviour makes it really difficult for me to not supervise her. What should I do?

From, Messy Apron

Dear Messy Apron,

More often than not, physical action or consequences is not the best method to respond back to neurotypical students. Instead, a more helpful, effective, and less stressful method is to use a social story. A social story helps explain a problematic situation through pictures. Each of these pictures represent something related to the situation: 1) what is happening, 2) why, 3) how people think and feel in the situation, and 4) what to do. These are essentially flowcharts in visual form that helps neurotypical students learn to self-regulate. It describes the problematic situation, why it is problematic or how it came to be, how other people may think and feel about this problematic situation, and what the child can and should do. If the child has an EA with them, communicate and collaborate with them to find out the best strategies to support this student.

From, TELL

Dear TELL,

When I ask my child what he did in school today, all he says is that they danced and played during reading time! I spoke with his teacher and found out that they have been doing some drama in literacy. I do not see the point of this as physical activity should remain in the gym, and not in the classroom – especially not during reading time! Can you explain the reasoning behind this as it seems like my child is in acting school instead of receiving a proper education?

From, Not Overdramatic Parent

Dear Not Overdramatic Parent,

I understand your concerns that you fear your child is learning nothing but how to perform using crocodile tears in school, but I believe his teacher is using this drama method as a means of developing the class’ literacy level! Drama is a very effective way of learning text, and the kinetic movements actually help students retain information better! In addition, when students step into the shoes of a character in the story, they are able to empathize with them and understand from their perspective, which leads to greater writing skills. I have just named a few things, but there are actually a lot more benefits that drama in literacy offers for children!

From, TELL

(Note: All pictures taken from Freepik.com)

Dear Diary,

As the days grow colder and wetter, I want to be able to utilize as much sun and the outdoors as possible before the weather turns worse, so I have been staging some activities for outside the classroom. However, I came to a roadblock because the situation turns hectic as soon as I take my eyes off the students, and I found it extremely difficult to re-direct their attention back onto the lesson at hand. Hence, I decided to go to this conference during my Professional Development Day that was being held at a rural community, and boy, am I glad I went! I learnt about place-based learning, environmentalism in the classroom, and so much more that I was not expecting (such as English as a Second Dialect and how to engage these students in the classroom and to benefit their own learning, balanced literacy, and gifted students), but are all interrelated in one way or another!

Some key things that I took away from this conference is that there is no one way of doing things; Not all children are the same as they do not come from the same cookie cutter, hence there is no cookie cutter solution. Each and every child is different, and their needs need to be catered to them differently and individually.

For example, gifted students may excel in one area (which may or may not be academics, but can also be in a creative medium), or may excel in multiple areas. Just because the student may be gifted, does not imply that

1. They are talented in all areas
2. They want to be recognized as gifted
3. They are perfect in each and every way

Students who are identified as gifted need to have our support to help develop and further nurture these skills. Teachers need to put in additional work to enhance lesson plans to make it more challenging to these students, as well as to cater it to their own interests, while simultaneously engaging them with the other students. Furthermore, teachers need to create a safer classroom environment such that students who are gifted will not feel threatened or intimidated (or even shameful!) because of their talents. In the conference, the presenter said that it is a lot easier to work with identified gifted students – it is those students who are the “hidden gifted” that are more difficult to find and encourage. However, the main takeaway is that all gifted students are different (just like how all children are different), and that they cannot easily be categorized into classifications.

Another key thing that I learnt was in how to create a balanced literacy program in my classroom, specifically on some of the tools that can help guide and encourage students’ participation in reading and writing. I find that many students in the classroom like to read, but are not strong writers, and likewise, vice versa for other students.

I am hoping to use some of the tools that I learnt in this conference to better equip myself to assist my students. Some of the tools that were presented shared this similarity: they are all multimodal. Like what I said previously about how no child is the same, this also applies to their learning styles. I have to use a combination of different strategies to help each student, and some of the strategies that I took away from this conference are

1. Incorporating students’ own experiences into the activity
2. Presenting lessons using the five senses
3. Using hands-on activities
4. Setting up literacy centres that students have easy access to (e.g. computers, book club)
5. Deviant from the traditional method of assessing (which is written examinations), and use visual, oral, or written tests instead

One other thing I need to watch out for is to encourage my ESD (English as a Second Dialect) students to continue to use their language/dialect in the classroom. I also need to speak with the teacher in charge of ELL on some of the research that suggests ESD should not be in an ELL program because their English comprehension is a lot more advanced than some of our ELL students, so they could feel discouraged of themselves and their language, and that’s the last thing we, as teachers, should do – breaking a students’ confidence.

Anyways, back to the main reason why I went to the conference in the first place! They offered a session on incorporating environmentalism in the classroom, and I feel that they could have combined the presentation with the place-based one since they feature very similar strategies, but under a different theme.

For instance, it helps students connect with the community and their own place of being by being in nature. It also allows them to begin to inquire where and how their food comes from. I overheard some of my students discussing about the origin of oranges, and they all concluded that oranges came from the grocery store – just like the bananas and the apples!

This is very concerning for me because I want students to recognize and acknowledge the hard work that goes into just one orange, and the impact it has on the environment. So, I think by implementing a school garden program, I can directly show and involve the students this concept. Moreover, this will incorporate the environmental aspect of it as it will show the process from beginning to end, as well as ignite their curiosity and higher thinking on some of the effects that the transport of oranges can have on the earth. And the best part is? All the students will probably (hopefully!) all be engaged in the lesson-that-does-not-seem-like-a-lesson lesson!

I sure learnt a lot from this Pro-D Day conference and I cannot wait to try out some of these tools in my classroom with the students!

06:00 AM – Another alarm signalling another day. Why is it so difficult to get out of bed every morning?

06:05 AM – I am washing my face and brushing my teeth while thinking about what I have to accomplish today after a hectic day yesterday; I found out that a student in the class had trouble reading independently, but they’re able to follow along great when I read to them. There’s also a few other students who finds math frustrating, and I have a lot to prepare for for the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences that’s happening in less than a week! Oh boy!

06:30 AM – I am preparing breakfast, lunch, and some snacks to bring with me to school now. I’m also looking up some research packages on Connect that could possibly help me with my current dilemmas.

06:32 AM – I forgot my password to get into Connect. This is frustrating.

Why is Connect so hard to navigate? Why must they constantly update this thing instead of keeping it plain and simple to make it easier for everyone?

Arg, technology.

06:40 AM – I’m in. Finally.

(And, honestly, that took way too long than it should have.)

06:45 AM – I found the research package on reading. Guess I’ll be tackling this one first. Oh boy.

06:55 AM – This research package is very useful. There are a lot of tools in here that I can utilize with my student who is having issues reading independently. I know that they are able to follow along when I read aloud to them, now the next step is to check where they are at with their reading skills. According to this package, I can try to build their confidence up by pairing them up with another student so that they can read together. Maybe I can introduce this today during Reading Time after checking out the large book section in the school library.

Awesome. Next.

07:30 AM – I just discovered from another package that there is this amazing math teacher who makes math so fun and exciting that I wish my math teachers were all like him! Incorporating technology with math – that’s ingenious!

I’m going to bookmark his blog and look at some of his things as soon as I get home today. Perhaps I can introduce the new unit on Finance using this 3 Acts of a Mathematical Story method! I bet the kids will love it!

07:42 AM – Got distracted exploring some of the things on there. Oops. Back to research.

07:44 AM – Oh wait. I just realized that this math thing depends a lot on group work. Uh oh. I don’t think some of my students are ready for that leap into collaborative learning. Time to search up some strategies to incorporate this into our classroom.

08:00 AM – Ah ha! I found a research package on building a collaborative classroom community. Jackpot.

8:02 AM – Just had a quick scroll through this and there seems to be a lot of information. I will go over this once I’m back from school today.

5:05 PM – School went well today, I think! The student that had issues with reading independently loved the shared reading idea; They asked a friend to read together, and they read one of their all-time favourite superhero books together! It was great! I’ve never seen them both so engaged in their reading! This is amazing! I guess we’ll be doing this for a while and after their confidence in reading has built up a bit, I’ll try introducing independent reading again. One step at a time.

5:10 PM – I’m hungry and my stomach is singing the song of its people. I’m going to grab a quick snack. Shall it be dried mangoes today or some fresh fruits with yogurt? Maybe I can make some honey lemon tea too. I think I deserve it – it’s been a tough, but good day.

5:17 PM – Alright. Time to get researching again.

First up, math.

5:20 PM – I’m going to bookmark the Money Duck (maybe I can simplify it for my grade 4/5 class). It’s a pretty funny video.

5:22 PM – Coin Counting also sounds interesting. I might be able to use this as a Quest of the Day or an introductory question and have the students guess the amount.

5:23 PM – This dried mango is too sweet. I should have bought the ones without additional sugar in them. Do they even sell that anymore?

Collaboration. Right. I need to find some strategies that I can employ tomorrow in class.

5:30 PM – Okay. So, I’ve found quite a few helpful strategies that I think will work in my class:

• Small groups (less than five – maybe three? Either way, don’t put friends together since they can be easily distracted.)
• Mixed group composition (mix students with different academic skills – can help develop and reinforce their interpersonal and group skills, and peers teaching peers helps them retain new information better)
• Think-Pair-Share might be a nice way to start off
• SUMMER might also be another good way to begin

5:40 PM – Oh, now that I’m thinking more about this collaborative learning approach, maybe I should introduce and shift my teaching into this method instead? Or would it be too late? Nah, I already have a great teacher-student relationship with the children and they know that I care about their learning. They also trust me a lot. I think it will work!

5:45 PM – Hmm, all this researching, thinking, and planning is making me hungry.

Oh my! Will you look at the time! It’s almost time for dinner! How time flies. I think I’ll whip up some delicious instant noodles.

6:30 PM – That was a nice break. I also fed the dog. So, dog’s full, human’s full, now to fill up my brain again.

6:32 PM – Parent-Teacher Conferences. Oh boy.

6:35 PM – This research package seems to be very comprehensive on dealing with parent-teacher conferences! Yes. This is excellent!

6:50 PM – The big idea after a scroll through this package is that I should always make myself accessible by having an open-door classroom, and that those short chit-chats in the mornings with parents are great ways to get quick snippets of updates on their children’s progress and development at home. Who knew? I should utilize this time better and more strategically!

6:55 PM – Oh, the research package talks about having an on-going communication with the caregivers. I should look into starting a Facebook group for all the caregivers of the children. I’m going to double check that I can do this with the principal tomorrow.

6:57 PM – Oh, or maybe a blog might be useful too! I can keep a daily or weekly blog and keep caregivers updated that way! Moreover, since there are some caregivers whose first language is not English, they can translate the blog to their first language using Google Translate!

I am a genius. I love technology.

I’m going to look into setting up the blog right now.

7:02 PM – So many pretty designs. Oh my goodness. The possibilities are endless! I cannot wait to get started on this creative platform for on-going conversation with caregivers! I should write up a newsletter for the children to bring home so they can give it to their caregivers about the new blog! Better get some bilingual teachers to help translate it!

I should have taken up more languages while in school. Darn. Good thing I’m always encouraging my ELL students to use their L1 if it helps them learn so they won’t forget it!

7:20 PM – It has been a busy, but extremely productive day if I do say so myself.

Pat on the back, Ms. Milly. You did good.

Note: All pictures retrieved from Pixabay.

Everyday, I learn something new, and today, I learnt quite a few things! Last week, Dot mentioned that we can use books to teach mathematics to young children, and this week, I learnt that many books can be a great tool to teach mathematics – even Goldilocks and the Three Bears! I also learnt that it is not productive nor the most practical and reflective to “test” students’ understanding by using exams, rather, it is better to assess students by using task based learning; Students learn and function differently based on the environment, the time of the day, their emotions at that moment, and a whole lot of other internal and external variables. Hence, testing itself is not a practical way of assessing students. This leads me to touch on the subject of ways of teaching.

There are many different ways to teach – through technology, literature, oral stories, field trips, just to name a few. However, it is also important about what we teach children – it is not just the subjects like Mathematics and Social Studies that we have to teach, but the more important things like how to be a responsible global citizen in the 21st century. It is imperative that we teach children about the importance of empathy, acceptance, and how to be a good person overall. This begins with social justice education. There are a variety of ways that I can incorporate social justice into the students’ learning, but at the root of it all, it does not amount to much if there is a lack of class community. It is important to get all the kids involved constantly and on a daily basis from a young age, and not to just address it when the situation arrive; It is always better to prevent pre-emptively rather than to resolve after as damage will already have been done.

In order to achieve this, some of my peers have suggested the following:

• Asking key questions when trying to incorporate technology into the classroom, such as whether or not it will benefit young users’ learning
• Everyday, on-going conversations are important when teaching children about social justice (eg. everyone is unique – not different; language is important)
• Inviting Indigenous speakers to begin a conversation with the students, and double checking before using Indigenous materials for permission
• Incorporating literature while teaching math, such as reading books or singing songs (eg. Feist sings 1234 on Sesame Street) to make it more fun and playful
• Using manipulatives during play sessions, but also making sure that the children are having fun
• Assessing students based on their own developmental progress, not by their grade level or age as each child learns differently

Nevertheless, all of this will be difficult to achieve without assistance from others. It is vital to have an ongoing communication with the community (be it school, other teachers and staff, caregivers, and the community at large) for the benefit of the students’ learning and wellbeing. It does take a whole village to raise one child as the saying goes.

In order to engage with the whole community, some preparation and background knowledge must be gathered in my tool belt. What I learnt today in interacting with my fellow peers is that we are always learning on our feet and adapting to the culture of the school community.

Nonetheless, despite all the informative things I have learnt today, I still wish to gather more tools in my toolbox so I can best prepare myself in as many situations as possible. Some of the things that I am left wondering are:

• To what extent can we use play in a classroom? Is there a golden ratio of play and directed teaching?
• How do we get children to start teaching each other about social justice?
• How can we help parents become more involved in their children’s learning? Is it a feasible idea to provide “assignments” to the parents for those that want it? How effective will this be?
• What is the best way to utilize manipulatives? Just leaving it there for the children to find and discover, or to teach it to them through a quick lesson?

Note: All pictures retrieved from Pixabay.