Extended TOCing

Since I last blogged, I have had coffee a couple of times with some fabulous TOCs in my district. Last week we were talking about how the jobs seem settled, and the only way we would be getting more work/temporary contracts would be if unfortunate circumstances befell someone.

About two days after that I got called into the Vice-Principal's Office (yes, I was a bit nervous) and found out that (happily for me) I was not in trouble for sending a kid to the office. Instead, the VP asked if I would be available to come in for a week and a bit for a teacher who had to leave the country for family reasons.

My first extended TOC job. The VP asked, "how is your French?" I said "not fantastic." Then he booked me to teach French 7, 8, 9, 11, and Planning 10 for the next 7 days.

I've taught French a few times at HSS, but I'm definitely NOT a French teacher. I did it to grade 12, but admittedly, I am rusty. But two days into my TOC job I'm realizing that my high school French teacher was amazing and my French is still better than my students'. Yay!

So far having an extended TOC job is really nice. I like knowing where I am working each day, and I get to do a bit of planning which helps me build my skills.

The first two days have been smooth, here's hoping the next 5 are the same!

Back in the Saddle at HSS

Today was my first day back at HSS for this year. It was an interesting experience walking down the halls and seeing some new faces (grade 8s) and missing some old faces (the grade 12s from last year).

I was called in for a half day (AM), but in the chaos that has been my life for the past few days I completely forgot and was counting on staying for the whole day. Needless today say, I had a mild panic attack when I got to the school, couldn't find a lesson plan, and only had enough handouts for two classes. After running around like a fool, I opened the teacher's  laptop as a last-ditch effort, and there was the lesson plan, with very detailed instructions. The video clips were pre-loaded, the powerpoint was open. It was fantastic. Too bad I didn't realize that before my mini meltdown.

First up was Science 9. After my sometimes turbulent relationship with some of the grade 8s at the end of last year, I was a bit nervous, but things actually went very smoothly! We talked about the expanding nature of our universe and we did a cool mini-experiment where we drew dots on a balloon and then blew it up to see how they moved. Really easy, really effective.

Next was Biology 11. These guys are right into the heart of their "bug projects" (aka. catch spiders, kill them with nail polish remover, identify them, then mount them on a board). How well I remember that from my own Bio 11 days! They were really chatty right off the bat (and it was a big, 28 person class) and I was worried about classroom management. Things settled down though, and after a short quiz we did some very brief notes, then headed outside to collect items for a dichotomous key assignment. It was interesting to say the least! After our outside time where I got to chat with the students, find out how their summers had been, and get back "in touch" with them, the classroom management was a lot better. It is amazing what a difference that personal connection makes!

I was all prepared to leave at lunchtime, but I got halted in the office by my former mentor teacher who wasn't feeling too well and asked if I was able to cover her classes for the afternoon. We got the paperwork all signed, and then I headed off for an afternoon of Resource Room and Comparative Civilizations.

Resource was a nice easy block. There were about 5 students I was working with on a variety of things including math, planning, science, and social studies. The block went quickly, and aside from some confusion (mine) about how to do one of the math questions (ugh trigonometry) everything went smoothly.

Comparative Civilizations is a fabulous course and my mentor teacher does an amazing job of engaging the students. Today they were starting Ancient Egypt, so they had a "team challenge" to complete a map of the world. There were 25 countries numbered on the map and the teams had to use their collective brainpower to name as many as they could. I was pretty impressed with some groups, and a bit horrified when one group thought Spain was Egypt! After the challenge, the students worked on a map of Ancient Egypt for the rest of the block.

Overall the day was a lovely welcome back to HSS and I felt really positive about the classes I taught. There were a few false starts and rocky points, but I think that was more getting back into the swing of things than anything else. I'm back in tomorrow for more Science 9 and Biology 11 (repeats of today) and I'm looking forward to trying out the same lesson plans with different groups of students. I always find it fascinating how classroom dynamics can totally change how a lesson unfolds!

Twitter Networking

This past week I had my first, fabulous experience at Kent Elementary. I didn't get any calls there last year, but then again I wasn't really expecting I would for a variety of reasons. 1) I am high school trained 2) I didn't know anyone (or at least I didn't know that I knew anyone), and 3) I worked basically full time at HSS. All completely valid reasons for 6 months of TOCing and 0 Kent calls. But all that changed after the summer Pro-D.

The Summer "Teach Meet" was one of the coolest things I have done in a long time. Tons of teachers from SD78 got together and (mostly) shared about the technology they are using/embracing/experimenting with in their classrooms. I got pretty stoked on my former worst nightmare...TWITTER! Don't laugh, I'm serious.

I had to get Twitter for a technology class during my BEd and I swore that I would never go back. I just don't care what Justin Bieber had for breakfast... But then it came to the Teach Meet. I went to Lenora's "Blogging for Professional Grown" (if you are reading this, you can tell how that ended), and then I went to Chris's session on Twitter. I started realizing that Twitter is so much more than celebrities sharing what colour their shoes are. In fact, there are cool people on Twitter. Twitter is a great way to network. Then I realized that if SD78 is getting all "Tweet-y," I probably should too.

So I lurked around on Twitter, I observed some great conversations on #kinderchat, and then I started tweeting what I was doing. I tweeted photos of my TOC days, I tweeted quotes from articles I am reading for my Special Education class, and I started actually connecting with people in my district in a meaningful way. I twitter conversed (is there a twitter lingo word for that?) with principals at different schools, with other TOCs (in fact, I have now had two one-on-one debriefs with other TOCs in the district talking about what is happening in their classes and what their TOC experiences are like), with contract teachers, and even with the superintendent of my district. That's pretty cool for a new teacher.

Then I got called to TOC at Kent.I am still not an elementary teacher (even though it turns out that I L-O-V-E elementary!) but now, thanks to Twitter, I have a connection with at least two people on staff at Kent and as a TOC, that is valuable. Twitter gives me an opportunity to get my name out there, show what I am all about, and make an impression based on the information that I am providing.

I am 95% sure that I got called to Kent based largely on my Twitter interactions (Twitter-actions?) and now I have had the opportunity to demonstrate my teaching style, classroom management, and chemistry with a class that may have a posting in the future.What could be better than that?

K/1 @ Silver Creek

Welcome to a new year! At just a week into the new school year, I have been very fortunate to already work 2.5 days at a Teacher on Call (TOC). I love my TOC experiences because I get to teach all different grade levels, meet tons of kids, and see some really wonderful classroom environments created by amazing teachers. Here's what I have been up to so far this year in my 1.5 days teaching K/1 at Silver Creek!

September 7 - Kindergarten/Grade One at Silver Creek Elementary School

I got called to come in to this K/1 class because the teacher was doing Kindergarten interviews. It was a really small group of grade ones (who I taught several times last year when they were kindies) and it was so neat to see how much they matured over the summer!

The teacher had a fantastic day plan (LOVE IT!) and the kids were great! We did tons of fun activities, some great team building things (can you say giant marble works tower), and generally had a great day.

For me the biggest thing was the huge change in maturity. I read them a pretty lengthy story (something that would not have worked at all when I was in for them in K last year) and they were ALL paying attention! The story had some tough words, but they were right there with me. It was such a cool experience. It was a great way to kick off the school year!

September 11 - Kindergarten/Grade One at Silver Creek Elementary School

On September 11 I was back in the K/1 class at Silver Creek, but just for the afternoon. The teacher is pregnant, and I have several days upcoming when she has various appointments. This day was different in that I had the regular batch of Grade 1s, but I also had three new Ks.

The school has a gradual entry program where 6 Ks came Monday/Wednesday, and 3 Ks came Tuesday/Thursday. I had the Tuesday group, and it was FASCINATING how the classroom dynamics changed. It was a more challenging day than what I had on Friday, and the 1s were not quite as mature as they had been just four days before. I think it must be the adjustment period!

It was another great day, and while it tested my classroom management a bit more, it gave me good experience with students who were brand new to school (it was, after all, the very first afternoon of full day kindergarten for three of the students).

My next booked day in the K/1 class is not until October 1, so it will be really interesting to see how the students have grown and changed once again!