Improvements for Teachers Teaching On Call in new agreement

This agreement has some significant improvements for Teachers Teaching On Call.

The first is a big one. Improvements to union leaves, including leaves for TTOCs.

TOCs who are released for union leave will not have this considered as a break in service for purposes of on-scale pay.

As most TTOCs know, youa re paid a base daily rate each day you work. If you work three consecutive days you then get paid "on scale" until a break in service/work. Unfortunately, in the past, if you worked your consecutive days but one of those days was doing union business, not in the classroom, it would break your "consecutive days" and move you back to your base daily rate.

Now, you can stay on-scale pay, as union leaves or work is NOT an interuption - very exciting, especially for TTOCsx who are active in their union!

The other, less publicized change is that TTOCs will now, officially and universally, be called TTOCs (Teachers-Teaching-On-Call)

Currently, Collective Agreement language varies from local to local. Some are TOCs (Teachers-On-Call) or EOCs (Employees-On-Call) or the old-school "substitutes".

The reason for the name "Teachers-Teaching-On-Call" was to put the focus on the fact that TTOCs are indeed, qualified, trained and able teachers.

The other improvements will benefit most teachersin B.C.

There are other improvements to benefits, leaves, and the concessions surrounding "suitability" and "seniority" are off the table.

It does not address class size and compisition or salary but it does agree to discuss the split of issues (Post & Fill and Layoff & Recall moved to local bargaining) in return for some agreement on Professional Growth and Evaluation language. We will see how this goes in the Fall.

Additionally, in 8 months BCTF and BCPSEA will begin to negotiate once more. This agreement is until June 2013. It is NOT a legislated contract, and there are no concessions, so this is good news for everyone.

To read more about the pros/cons and reasons for coting yes/no to ratify the agreement read here.

Magic Tree House

I first learned about Magic Treehouse several years ago when a student I tutored was reading them. I read them with him and found them to be fun, short novels for kids. My daughter now reads them and loves them.

What I like about Magic treehouse is how the story incorporates so many different topics, keeping up the fun plot of a brother and sister Jack and Annie, on adventures through time and space. Author Mary Pope Osborne then wrote some non-fiction companion books to provide further information on some of the topics her stories explore.

The series of books has 28, then moves on to a harder reading level, longer with smaller print at #29 when the series is called 'Merlin Missions"

Check out The Magic Treehouse Website here. There is a teacher page with resources, some games for kids and

There is a free lesson plan for some of the books available here.

A new book (#48) comes out this July with another 2 planned in the next year.

Wikipedia lists book names and summaries here.

Circle Writing activitiy

Sentence Circles - Split your students into groups of 5. Give each group a piece of sentence strip paper and a pencil. On your signal, the first person in the group writes one word on the strip and then passes it to the left. The second person then writes the second word of the burgeoning sentence. The writing continues in this pattern around the circle - with no talking!
When the sentences are complete, the students share their creations with the class. Do this a few times and have them notice how their collective sentences improve each time around.

I have also done this as Story Circles, where they have time to write then pass. Sometimes they have to fold the paper so they can only read the last sentence the previous person wrote and must elaborate. They usually get goofy, but are fun to share at the end of a class.

Not Only in Wisconsin....

Sadly,' this is not only in Wisconsin' as a colleague pointed out when I re-posted this on facebook.

I recall last year when Scott Walker was governor and tried to destroy unions, strip bargaining rights and eventually was recalled after a major march of public workers to the legislature.  Sounds oddly familiar doesn't it?

It seems a trend lately that governments do not wish to fund puclic sectors and prioritize tax money to other areas, claiming 'net zero' for anything else they do not deem important. It is an obvious move to privatize public sectors to make more money and to have more control over the monies.

I still do not understand how the rich can get richer and the rest of us suffer. Change needs to happen. We have allowed little by little the erosion of our rights, and now government threatens to take them all away in one massive scoop.

Here in B.C. we are in a "cooling off period" which has allowed the government to introduce more bills and laws while forcing us to sit back and "just cool off"

This summer, bargaining will re-open and while we are in mediation currently with the (not so qualified or experienced) Mr. Jago, one wonders what September will look like for our students?

So no, not only in Wisconsin can these things happen... and that worries me. I love my job, I am passionate about education, but the looming unpredictability of public education scares me and I believe in speaking out and taking action to ensure our students are protected and don't lose out in the future because of major losses today.

Staffroom Confidential writes:

We do not need to become partners in backwards reform movements, we need to be principled critics to attacks on union rights and public services. Rather than stating, for example, that yes, perhaps union members should pay some of their health insurance benefits but not too much, we should be arguing that these benefits are part of an overall compensation package that was negotiated and to claw back is equivalent to a pay cut. We need to point out that pensions are simply deferred salary that has been earned, and to claw back pension benefits is to steal that deferred income. We need to remind the public that seniority rights are to protect against discrimination, nepotism and favoritism.

We also need a principled public defense of public services in the public interest. "Reform" has become a euphemism for privatization and it is important to call a spade a spade. Every so-called reform of public services being pushed right now really aims to reduce public spending, curtain service delivery and quality, and to increase the private delivery and control of public services. Think charter schools, for example.

The lesson from Wisconsin is that we need to reform our organizations to ensure that we speak out for what is truly in the public interest, not simply try to lesson the damage. The slogans should not be "These cuts are too deep" but rather "Tax the rich".

Read more here

LRB Ruling on Extra Curriculars

Teachers win significant legal victory on extra-curricular activities

The Labour Relations Board today has affirmed that BC teachers do indeed have the right to withdraw their participation in voluntary extra-curricular activities.

In a ruling issued today, LRB Vice-Chair Ritu Mahil found that “the Union has not declared or authorized an unlawful strike by directing its members to refrain from participating in activities which occur outside of class time/instructional hours and are truly voluntary and extra-curricular.”

BCTF President Susan Lambert welcomed the decision saying: “This is a significant legal victory for teachers because it clarifies the distinction between voluntary and non-voluntary work, and it reaffirms that the countless hours that teachers devote to extra-curricular activities with students truly are voluntary. We’ve always known that, but it’s excellent to have it confirmed by the Labour Relations Board.”

Lambert added, however, that the decision will offer cold comfort to teachers, who feel disrespected by the needlessly provocative actions of the BC Public School Employers’ Association.

“Public education in BC has become over-reliant on the goodwill of teachers and, despite a decade of underfunding and attacks on our rights, we have kept on digging deeper and giving more in order to hold the system together,” Lambert said. “Now the employer has taken us to the LRB in an attempt to compel goodwill and force volunteerism. It’s as if they are intentionally trying to shred the relationship.”

Instead of engaging in such damaging legal battles, Lambert called on the BCPSEA and government to work with the BCTF to reach a fair compromise and resolve the outstanding issues in the labour dispute.

Mahil also found that the BC Teachers’ Federation has not engaged in an unlawful strike by directing its members to minimally participate in meetings with school administrators. However, she did find that the BCTF must direct members to participate in meetings and activities which are part of their work duties even though they occur outside of instructional hours. The BCTF will promptly inform its members of the ruling.

For the full text of the LRB decision, go to: http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/BargainingContracts/LRB/LRB63467-12.pdf

Macbeth Rap

My friend and colleague did Macbeth with her English class and as a final project a group of students presented this video.... It is amazing!

Love and Logic Approach to Classroom Management

Classroom Management is often a struggle for Teachers-Teaching-On-Call. Most classroom management workshops, books, and ideas focus on "developing a rapport over time" with students. TTOCs don't have time for that (or at least they don't have time to develop meaningful rapport, especially if it is a one day gig) but there are some things TTOCs can use to assist with classroom management.

Obviously choices is a big one, problem solving, choosing your battles, being respectful and being respected.... but I recently saw some cool strategies from Jim Fay's Book http://www.loveandlogic.com/

I discovered this information at The Sub Hub and wondered how some of these ideas could be used for TTOCs:

As a sub, one of the hardest parts of the job is classroom management. No matter who the student is, each one acts at least a little differently when a sub is in the room. The district I work for encourages the Love and Logic^® approach, a system that is all about using empathy and empowering students to take responsibility and solve their own problems

The Sub Hub Website had some great ideas, some I mentioned above, but one that I really liked was wording "rules" as if they are for you, the teacher, not them.

For example:

1.  I listen to one person at a time
2. I listen to students who raise their hands
3. I teach when there are no disruptions.

Another part I liked was how to deal with students who argue. I encountered this recently in my contract class and instead of engage in a power struggle I let the student know we could continue the discussion/debate after school, but not during class time. I really like this idea for next time:

Neutralizing Arguing. Anyone who has tried to argue and reason with an angry student knows how useless it is, so use the techniques of staying calm, “going brain dead,” using (and continuing to use) a one-liner like “I respect you too much to argue” or “I know it feels that way,” and if the arguing continues, responding with “I argue at 12:00 or 3:00 each day. Which would be best for you?”

I really love hearing new strategies to try in different classrooms. I wonder what strategies you have used that worked or that didn't work? Why? Why not?

You can read more about this idea on the website: http://www.loveandlogic.com/