Another busy week of filling my teacher brain...

I spent a couple days in Williams Lake to present the New Teachers' SURT (School Union Rep Training) workshop to a group of new teachers' and TTOCs from Cariboo Chilcotin teachers.

It was awesome to talk about Professional Development, the History of the BCTF, Professional Relationships including the code of ethics and boundaries, Professional Autonomy, and the Collective Agreement. I found it so educational as the facilitator to learn some of the local language and how it differs from other locals I have presented in or my own local I work in.

Thank-you to the teachers' in Williams Lake as well as the BCTF and the CCTA for having me!

When I returned from Williams Lake I had a mentoring session with our district mentor team, where we went through some strategies and protocols to try with our own "mentees" or "prtoege" groups. I find these sessions so valuable as a mentor and hope to bring some of the strategies we practiced into our next TTOC Mentorship meeting.

Finally, on Friday, I joined the BCCLA PSA (BC Co-Operative Learning Provincial Specialist Association) at their annual conference. I am part of the new District Leadership Series and was excited to get a sampling of what we will be focusing on this year. We also had our CTA 1st VP, Chris King, as a keynote. Although I work with him often, it was incredible to listen to him speak on Safe Schools and SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and how important it is to have those connections and a safe environment so that students CAN learn.

Overall, this week was busy, but so educational! My brain felt so full at the end of each day, I am so glad I have my notebook to reflect in and return to, so that all these fabulous revelations do not get forgotten!

Special Chair in Class

The idea of a special chair in class is not new. As a TTOC I have seen the aithour's chair, L'aime Speciale chaise, the reader's chair, the calendar "leader" chair and so on and so forth.

I saw this post and really loved the creativity of the chair decor.

 

 

 

See many more amazing chairs at Source: http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.ca/2013/08/authors-chair-share-chair.html

Two years later, teachers are still seeking redress for rights’ violations

Today marks two years since the BC Supreme Court’s landmark decision ruling that legislation the BC Liberals enacted in 2002 violated teachers’ Charter rights, and therefore is unconstitutional and invalid.

On April 13, 2011 the BC Teachers’ Federation won a major victory in its decade-long court battle to overturn legislation which stripped teachers’ collective agreements of protections for class sizes, as well as guarantees of support for students with special needs. The bills had disastrous consequences for teaching and learning conditions across the province because they enabled government to make severe cuts to the public education budget. Government documents introduced as evidence in court calculated those cuts to be more than $275 million per year in 2001 dollars, an estimated $330 million annually in current dollars.
The Supreme Court gave government one year to deal with the repercussions of its ruling but now—two years later—the BC Liberals have still done nothing to redress the breach. As a result, the BCTF has been compelled to go back to court seeking a fair remedy.
“The Supreme Court affirmed our collective bargaining rights and gave us hope that a decade of struggling to meet our students’ needs might be coming to an end,” said BCTF President Susan Lambert. “Two years later, we are still urging the government to act on this important ruling and restore the services our students need and deserve.”
Then-Education Minister Christy Clark brought in the unconstitutional bills in 2002. During her tenure as premier, the BCTF has repeatedly appealed to her not to make students wait yet another year in underfunded schools and overcrowded classes.

Read more at: http://www.bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx

Our Students Deserve Better....