I Remember When....

The BTA Blog
Jennifer Heighton
May 21, 2012

I remember when:

• The counsellor had enough time to come into our rooms and lead lessons on anti-bullying or class meetings or whatever issue needed addressing as a group, plus enough time to see kids individually.
• We had a school nurse, even for one day per week.
• We had a teacher’s assistant to help with photocopying, preparing for art projects (cutting 100 stocking shapes from fabric!), making booklets, laminating…the list goes on.
• We had clean classrooms on days that the custodian was absent, because replacement custodians were sent in.
• There was enough learning support time to get regular support for grey area kids too.
• If you had three designated kids in intermediate, your maximum class size would be 27 (30 minus three), so you could end up with 25 (to allow room for new kids). And this did happen – seriously.
• We did not have a TOC shortage problem.
• Cost-of-TOC for discretionary days was about $180 (prior to 2005), not $312 that it is today.
• Librarians could work at one school, instead of having to take on two or more schools for full-time work.
• There was a gifted program at each school where a teacher would provide enrichment to gifted students, once or twice per week.
• Paperwork for learning support (ex. IEPs) did not require a time-consuming, crash-prone program like BCeSIS. Instead, hand-printed or simple word-processing would do fine.
• Teachers were not as stressed, because the needs of their classes were not as great, since many kids were getting the extra emotional or academic help they needed. Maybe it is not our ‘demographic’ changing. Maybe what we are seeing today is the result of ten years of cuts?

To view the rest of the blog posting, click here.

Cooling Off?

I thought this was a great post... I don't see how any cooling off is happening... it feels more like a "hold teacher's unable to take any action while we hit them with bill after bill after rule to get our way"

Cooling off Period??? Following the passage of Bill 22...

The Christy Clarke Liberal Government ordered a 'cooling off period' for teachers after they passed Bill 22 that ended our Phase 1 job action. However, the following actions from the government indicates that they have not cooled off very much! First, there were two Ministerial Orders:

Learning Improvement Fund (LIF) - pitting teacher against teacher for scarce resources rather than restore struck language.

Class Size and Compensation Regulation - the 'cash for kids' program that excludes entire groups of teachers and then places a price tag on student's head teachers forced to enrol them in their program.

Then...

Based on Bill 22's narrow language, a mediator chosen by the BC Christy Clarke Liberals - Dr. Charles Jago is chosen as the mediator even though he has no experience as a mediator and no experience with K-12 education in BC. The BCTF has concerns about a 2006 report on public education in BC done by Dr. Jago on commission to former Premier Gordon Campbell’s Progress Board. The report’s findings clearly foreshadow positions taken by the BC Public School Employers’ Association at the bargaining table and also reflect policy directions laid out in Bill 22.

Bill 36 - 2012 - School Amendment Act - Promotes online courses for students as young as four, puts sweeping powers in the hands of the Minister of Education - school calendars, hours of instruction, and allows for fees for 'costly' programs.

LRB Ruling - Report cards and Struck Work - BCPSEA ensures that teachers must do Term 2 reports and our Board demands specialists reports to accompany them.

Bill 25 - Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act - attempts to limit third party activity from 60 days to 40 days and allows for a minimum window of three weeks after the legislature rises in which there is no limit on advertising - another attack on our Charter Rights to freedom of speech and expressions.

LRB Hearing - Extra Curricular/Voluntary - BCPSEA is attempting to dictate what we must do in addition to teaching, on our own time.

The BC Christy Clark Liberals Cooperative Gains Mandate - It equates to no money or benefits offered by the government, but if teachers wanted, they could sacrifice their own hard won benefits to get modest salary increases.

Feeling 'cooled off' yet? Neither do we!

 

 

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Jasper Johns Art Numbers

May 15 is artist Jasper Johns birthday.

Jasper Johns was born in America, on May 15, 1930 in Augusta, Georgia to be exact. As a boy, he knew he would be an artist one day. So when he grew up, he moved to New York and studied art. Jasper Johns became famous for painting ordinary things that people sometimes take for granted...

Flags, targets, maps and most famously, numbers. In this art project, students can decorate and design their age or any number they choose using Jasper Johns art as inspiration.

I have done this paper and paint or pastels or even just crayons if you are in as a TTOC for a one day class. The example I found online used canvas and painting for amulti-day project. But the idea is still the same. For the art I did with a Grade 4/5 class, we used Charles Demuth's 'The Figure 5 in Gold' as inspiration, but again, the idea of numbers and using white space is the same.

Here are some basic instructions:

1. Each student gets an 11x17 piece of paper or stretched canvas.
2. Show examples of projects (from online) and from the artists of inspiration (Demuth or Johns) or even just different fonts of different numbers (you can type and print off word)
3. Talk about the shapes and curves and lines of each number.
4. Demonstrate ways to design numbers, using as much of the page as possible, paying attention to white space, shape, size and composition.
5. "Make the numerals big so that the negative spaces around the image of your age/number are really interesting to look at."
6. Talk about color, mizing, blending (if using paint or pastels especially) You may use the colour wheel to discuss if you wish.
7. Be sure to lay our news paper or plastic if you are painting!

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Happy Mother's Day

Cute craft from my kiddo - - -

Some more that I saw online:

History of Mother's Day"

Today, mothers across the country will be treated to family brunches, bouquets of flowers, and, of course, gifts. A nice day, to be sure, but the historical journey behind the holiday has been a long one. Back in 1870, Julia Ward Howe — after bearing witness to the damage of the Civil War — penned the Mother’s Day Proclamation, as a call to mothers to rally for peace. In it, Howe wrote, “Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn / All that we have been able to teach them of / charity, mercy and patience.” While Howe planted a seed, it wasn’t until decades later that the idea came to reality. Anna Jarvis vowed to create a day of recognition when her mother passed away in 1905. Her efforts picked up in 1908, and in 1912, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution declaring Mother’s Day the second Sunday in May. Times have changed since then, of course, but sentiment behind the holiday remains. We’ll surely be talking about mothers on cable news today, and reading 140-character thoughts online — and, for a change, it won’t be because of a snarky comment from a politician or outrage over a “war on stay-at-home moms.” Happy Mother’s Day!

Silent ABC Game

Sometimes, as a TTOC you just need a quiet, but educational game to play with the young ones.

I prefer circle games, ABC games, brain teasers, but this game helps elementary school students learn how to alphabetize words, is engaging and interactive as they move around. The challenge is the "silent" part, but with reminders, it can be done!

You can use spelling words or words from other subject areas, just make sure they are age/level appropriate.

Each student receives a piece of paper or card with one word on it.

When the teacher rings a bell, the students silently arrange themselves into alphabetical order based on the words on their cards.

Once in order, the students work together to determine if they have accomplished their goal and are indeed in the correct order.

For more of a challenege have multiple words with the same first letter, so they must look at second letter and so on.


Source: Quiet Classroom Games | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6072197_quiet-classroom-games.html#ixzz1uUZwHxoy

When did volunteering become mandatory?

Victoria Times Colonist - Letter to the Editor
Shannon Toronitz
May 11, 2011

First teachers are legislated to volunteer their time. Next, doctors will be mandated to lead support groups after their surgical shifts. Then police will be mandated to do extra investigations off duty. Soon it will be bus drivers mandated to do extra runs after their shift because they love driving so much.

What about our B.C. Liberal members voluntarily leading community meetings to enlighten our province about fair, democratic and responsible governance?

Or how about allowing Canadian citizens to choose how, where and when they want to volunteer their time irrespective of what job they do? Does that need to be legislated by the Liberals, too?

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Jeopardy Unit Review

Name of Activity: Jeopardy (Test Review)

Purpose of Activity: To Studey/review unit or lesson
Suggested Grade Level: 6-12
Materials Needed: Bowl filled with water and a sponge, or a magnet,
Optional: Tape of "Jeopardy" theme music, tape player, overhead projector, and two blank overhead sheets.

Before the students get to class, draw a jeopardy board on the chalk or dry erase board. Each column on the board can represent a topic from the unit /  chapter being reviewed. Make five squares in each column and number these squares one through five starting at the top.

The students will be divided up into two teams. The first person will come up and stand 5 feet away from the board. If you are using a chalk board then use the damp sponge if you are using a dry erase board then use a magnet, both work great!

The student will toss the object at the board, and depending on where it lands, that student must answer a question from that category. The difficulty of the question will be determined by which number is hit, 1 being easy to 5 being difficult.

If the student answers the question correctly he/she will receive those points for their team. If the question is missed then someone on the other team may quietly raise their hand and answer the question for half the points.

Once everyone on both teams have gone or when all the numbers have been hit then final jeopardy will conclude the game. Both teams will get into a huddle and on the blank overhead sheet / paper they will write down their wager of points. The final question is then given, and the students write their answer on the sheet. While they are thinking of the answer, to make things even more fun play the theme music to Jeopardy. Once the music stops, collect each teams sheet. Put the team who is trailing in points on the overhead projector. Show their wager and reveal their answer, then do the same for the other team. Once both answers have been shown, reveal the answer to the question and declare the winning team.

Assessment Ideas:
Write down how many questions from the chapter the students actually got correct. This will show their grasp of the content that was taught.

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