Who am I? What am I saying?

Thanks for visiting. I am Ms. Long, a teacher in Coquitlam, B.C. Canada. After seven years of teaching on call (as a substitute/TTOC) I "converted" to a continuing part time Middle School teacher. I love Middle School! I did my practicum in a grade 6/7 class and have worked much of my contract time in Middle School.

Right now I TTOC part time and teach Middle School part time. After so many years as a TTOC, I have become a strong advocate for new teachers and TTOCs and work with our local union and school district to promote engagement and support for teachers early in their career.  I am chair of the local and provincial TTOC committee, a facilitator for new teachers and TTOCs in our school district and help plan Professional Development in our local as well.

I am a bit of a technology geek, and spend my time "unwinding" after a long day on pinterest and blogging educational resources, articles and ideas to share with other educators. Thank-you for visiting my blog.



I recognize that some terms I use frequently aren't necessarily common terms so I wanted to have this post as reference.

TTOC - Teachers-Teaching-On-Call.
In many school districts this is also known as a "substitute teacher" however, in British Columbia, Canada, where I teach, we are known as TEACHERS, teaching-on-call. We are equally trained and certified as classroom teachers and either make the choice to teach on call or are waiting for a temporary or continuing contract to become classroom teachers part or full time.

Bag of Tricks
This is the tool box teachers have. It can be an actual bag of supplies, but I also use it in reference to what you have in your back pocket (or in your head) for any situation you encounter. TTOCs in B.C. frequently get called into a variety of grade level and subject levels so having a "Bag of Tricks" helps a teacher-on-call be adaptable to any situation. This is also good for contract teachers when you have fast-finishers, or some flex time to fill with educational activities.

Fast-Finishers, Early-Finishers, Sponge, Flex Time
The time between lessons or activities where students can get disruptive if they don't have something to focus on. I like to have a lot of activities for this time because I recognize students work at different paces and as a TTOC sometimes the classroom teachers lesson goes faster than planned for some or all students.

I will add to this as needed. I have had some people asking about terms I use.