BCTF New Teachers' Conference 2014

This weekend I attended the BCTF New Teachers' workshop with hundreds of new teachers, TTOCs and student teachers from across BC. I was presenting two workshops over the weekend and had the opportunity to connect in person with teachers I know through social media. It was also a chance to check out some amazing workshops and chat with new and soon-to-be colleagues as well as touch base with teacher friends I only see a few times a year at such events.






I am very much looking forward to the BCTF AGM in a few weeks where a number of these teachers and more will come together for our annual general meeting.

You can also check out some tweets from the New Teachers' Conference.

I compiled a few here.

The importance of mentorship for early career teachers

Miami teacher, David Cutler, writes about the importance of mentorship for early career teachers:

Today, my success as a teacher -- not to mention the lives of all the students I hope I have inspired and changed in my seven years in the classroom -- is directly related to the caring, high-quality mentorship I received during my first year of teaching. Without it, I would have become another statistic, quitting after my first few years on the job.

David talks about a mentor as confidant, observer, and confidence builder. I am part of our district mentorship program and enjoy hearing about other programs and how mentors have positively helped new teachers.

Read More Here

Fab Five Writing

A nice visual rubric for primary and early writers with 5 cues to help with writing:




Mrs. Lirette has more great resouces for 'Fab Five' - - - See it all here!

Advice for New Teachers

Earlier this year I participated in in a twitter chat (#cdnedchat) discussing 'Advice for New Teachers'

You can read some of the highlights from that chat on this Storify Board:
http://storify.com/MsAmandaLong/advice-for-new-teachers

Here are some other basic tips:




Via: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/180636635027203901/

Presenting to Student Teachers: Perks of TTOCing

This week I am doing two presentations to student teacher groups. I love the energy and enthusiasm student teachers have coming out of their practicums, ready and eager to find jobs! The reality is, that many get hired, first, as a TTOC (Teacher-Teaching-On-Call) and my workshop looks at what life is like as a TTOC.

I also do workshops for the BCTF on Classroom Management for TTOCs, Work-Life Balance, Stress Management, Reality 101, and a few others. It is always a pleasure to present and today was no different!

Today's group had a lot of previous classroom experience as EAs or such and had some awesome ideas and knowledge to share. They just finished their SFU 405 practicum (Long practicum) and I spent the afternoon with them.

One part of my workshop looks at the benefits of being a TTOC.

We brainstormed some of the perks of being a TTOC and here are some of the things we came up with:

• Flexibility 
• Set schedule
• Variety (grades, subjects, areas)
• experiment with different instructional strategies
• develop professional connections, network
• no report cards
• minimal marking
• less "out of school day" work (prep, plan, mark, etc.)
• Gather ideas, resources, etc.
• try things out repeatedly

While teaching on call is often a stepping stone to contract teaching, many choose to teach on call because of the many perks it offers. Although sometimes unpredictable, many teachers enjoy the benefits of being a teacher-teaching-on-call.

What other perks are there to being a TTOC?