Does Teachers Pay Teachers Pay?

Is it worthwhile posting to TeachersPayTeachers?

I have used resources from the wonderfully talented and creative contributors to Teacherspayteachers.com site off and on for a few years.  My first foray was the result of needing something for my 'unknown' substitute teacher to do with my junior high students.

I am not a believer in 'putting a movie on' or 'playing games on computers' when I have a substitute.  I have found over the (many) years that my students think of puzzles, mazes, code-breaker or colour by number activities as fun rather than 'learning' or review.

Teacherspayteachers certainly made life a bit easier in creating my sub plans as I found a fun resource (Engaging) that connected to the current unit of study (Curriculum related); and came in a variety of levels (Differentiated).

My Turn?

Time is always an issue but over the years I have received requests to share (highest form of praise in my books) tasks that I have created.

Dabble time!   

I started my TeachersPayTeachers journey just two months ago.  Before a month was up I received my first Congratulations SOLD! email.  Here is a link to my store!

Sales are trickling in, I am not making much money after the commissions etc but it is rewarding when someone purchases my creation. 

Teacher Workload Challenges!

I love being a teacher making a difference in a student's learning!  I have fun teaching!  I recently read an article:  Let Teachers Teach: the dangers of expanding teacher workloads that resonated.  This post was originally going to be focussed on report card comments however the "Let Teachers Teach" struck home.   The cartoon below came from that article.  It aptly depicts the daily challenges of the job! While not all challenges apply in every teaching situation I very much feel for members of my profession who experience all daily.

As a Junior High Math Teacher teaching 3 - Grade 7  and 3 - Grade 8 math classes a day I’m averaging 50 to 55 hours a week.  Even still with this much time I don't feel that I am meeting the needs of all my students.

My biggest issue is the complexity and composition of my classes.  I have 30 plus students in each class whose abilities range from grade 2 to grade 10 level.   A span of two years below and two years above grade level is manageable through differentiated tasks and personalization of learning.  There are too many students with major gaps in their learning, too many with high needs (coded and uncoded) for me to be able to regularly get to all students every day in my 51 minute classes.  

I teach in a mixed socio-economic school which increases the complexity of the classroom due to poverty, English as a Second Language, and the impacts of drugs, alcohol and trauma.  I see/teach 187 students every day if all are present.  Usually there will be 1 or 2 students from each class who are habitually absent.  

Three of the Challenges depicted in the cartoon above add much to my day taking  away from time available to create lessons and tasks to engage students that do not involve the relying on regularly using worksheets and text work.   

Truant Kids 

• This challenge is two-fold.  Truant/habitually absent students require parent contact, follow up and documentation.  When you are able to get them to class AWESOME however now they have learning gaps that need to be addressed and in many or most cases the gaps in learning are two or more years below current grade-level.  Students with learning gaps often become behavioural issues in the classroom.

Reporting Back on Behaviour

• Behaviour issues in the classroom!  Frustrating!  Daily occurrence.  Some people might say that it is not the students but a Classroom Management issue!  There are many factors that influence behaviour other than absenteeism and learning gaps including family situation, special needs students.  Being diagnosed with special needs or learning disability does not always solve the situation as some parents choose not to medicate their child when recommended or the resources are not available to appropriate support the student's learning needs.

Kids with Learning Difficulties          

• The complexity of a class of 30+ students that include high needs, low functioning and learning gaps students can negatively impact the learning of 'other' students.
• I agree that differentiated instruction increases engagement but there is a vicious circle in play as many student with learning difficulties or gaps are resistant to doing anything different from those without learning difficulties.
• Using a variety of modalities (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) is recommended but who has the time after making parent contact regarding absenteeism, missing assignments, behaviour etc?
• Academic and Learning Supports - There are recommendations to create a responsible learning environment that supports students with learning difficulties with flexible grouping and pacing, literacy and numeracy specialists and tutoring.  In theory wonderful!  In reality a teacher sometime has a Classroom assistant.
• Behavioural Supports - ???????? 
 

https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2017/10/05/let-teachers-teach-the-dangers-of-expanding-teacher-workloads/

   I wonder if I am going to make it to retirement?

What does a teacher do?

Lesson Planning and Preparation

If one wants to engage students in the curriculum and not 'stand and deliver' is is necessary to create engaging, interesting fun lessons that meet the curriculum requirements and most importantly are personalized and differentiated to meet the learning needs of all students.  

Teaching Lessons

Administrative tasks such as  attendance, checking homework, collecting assignments and returning marked student work cut into each period.  The time remaining is spent on the lesson and answering questions/helping students as they work on the class lesson.

Grading Student Work

Assessing student work unfortunately has an administrative component.  After assignments are graded the scores are entered into a mark book.  As much as I love technology I do not trust it so I always have a paper copy on a class list from which I transfer each grade into the digital web based mark program.

Meetings

Grade Team, Subject Department, Professional Learning Community, Staff, Student Learning Team , Outside Agency and Parent Meetings are just some of the meetings that teachers are required to participate in on a regular basis

Extra Curricular

Contributing to the whole school community is a time consuming requirement and teachers need to be involved in a variety of students extracurricular activities coaching sport teams, or art, drama, music, math, science clubs.  Increasingly schools encourage students to get involved in leadership, charitable and community service activities.  Once again teachers are called on to set up and lead these out of school activities.

Parent Contact

In addition to parent teacher interviews which occur two or three times a year teachers are also required to attend a variety of after school or evening events.  Parent teacher interviews, meet the teacher, School open houses, concerts, drama productions, awards ceremonies, recognition ceremonies, school dances, sporting events are just some events where teachers interact with parents and guardians.  Parent support is vital to a teacher especially with 'challenging' behavioural students.  Teacher instigated parent contact/communication is made to discuss learning, behaviour, and social concerns as well as students on an individualized education plan (IEP).

Exhausted Teacher in September!

🏫  OMG!  Our school changed from a 6 period day to a 7 period this year!  This was to ensure equality of teaching time for each instructional group but I am so so so very tired.  Can't think straight by the end of the day!

🍎  Teaching assignment include 3 grade 7 Math classes and 3 grade 8 Math classes.  Initially I was hoping that I would have three consecutive Grade 7 classes followed by three consecutive Grade 8 classes.  I am so glad that this is not the case 😃  instead the order is mixed (8A, 8B, 7C, 8C, 7A, 7B)

😃  I find that I have a tendency to go through the lesson faster and faster the more often I teach the concepts in the same day.  Having a different grade mixed in has allowed me to refocus on the grade, curriculum and students.


🎒  I teach 6 of 7 periods in the day.  Given 30+ students per class I am seeing about 190 students per day.  Thankful that I also teach my homeroom otherwise the number would be even higher lol

🍎  190 faces to match with names on the attendance list.  I am going to create 6 seating plans tonight as students did not sit in the same place on day 2 as day 1.  Confusing for me.

Brain Research & Doodle Notes

Minds In Bloom

🍎  I am always looking for new and different ways to engage my students in the Math curriculum.  Brain based research and Growth Mind Set has been a focus of my professional development in the past couple years.

Making Math Lessons More Engaging lists five ways to engage students in lessons.  

1. Tell a Story
2. Open with a Hook
3. Emphasize Your Main Points
4. Choose Images over Words
5. Address the “Why”

Two great sites Brain-Based Doodle Notes and Math Giraffe have an incredible amount of research and resources for using Doodle Notes in the classroom.

Doodle Notes meet all five points listed in Knewton's blog.  Doodle Notes enable students to understand the "why" of the lesson hooking the students while telling a story about the concept, emphasizing main points and include student created or teacher provided images.

Last year I used a couple of the resources from Math Giraffe modifying the content to meet my curricular needs.  My students loved them.  This year I plan to incorporate Doodle Notes into every unit as I create (and post) my own Doodle Notes that are specific to my curriculum.

Beginning of School Year 2017

It has been a incredibly busy three days (August 30, 31 & Sept 1) getting ready to start a new school year.  It is amazing the tremendous amount of work involved at the System, School and Classroom levels.  

Meetings - system & school focused meetings
I feel very fortunate 💜 that our school leaders acknowledge teachers need time to meet, organize and set up their classrooms in preparation for students arriving.  

System and school focused meetings are informational providing updates to policies and procedures necessary for the day to day operation of our school.  It is amazing how a seemingly minor change in mandate can have a far reaching impact on the school, staff and the reason we do what we do the 🠞 STUDENTS!

At the end of our first morning of meetings we were advised to come the next morning dressed comfortably for a "team building" exercise.  To be totally honest I was dreading it.  Prior experiences have left a bad taste in my mouth for such activities.

Well any and all misgivings went out the window!  Our amazing principal organized an "Escape Room" activity.  We divided into our six Teaching Pods and rotated through three activities created Mobile Escape.  Everyone raved about the activity.  It seems that many were as apprehensive as I was.

Pod Meetings

Each Core subject Pod consists of a English Language Arts teacher, Mathematics teacher (Me), Science and Social Studies teacher.  Pod 1  teaches 3-Grade 8 and 3-Grade 7 classes every day except Fridays where we teach 3 each Friday.  

My pod, Pod 1 (we have to come up with a name for our Pod) gathered to participate in the Escape Room team building activity and another time to discuss and share knowledge about the special needs students.

Department Meetings

Maternity leaves, teaching assignment changes and teachers moving schools has decimated our school's Math Department.  This year the other members of the Math Department's teaching experience ranges form 1st year to experienced.  We had productive meetings where we discussed long range plans, Course Syllabus, order of math units and assessments.   A positive to being the sole remaining member of the department going forward is that I get to say "how we do things".  

 Classroom Preparation  


   🍏  3 Staff Meetings  ✔

   🍎  2 Department Meetings  ✔

   🍏  1 Pod Meeting  ✔

   🍎  Clean & Organize Classroom desks ✔

   🍏  Organize 1st day activities & lockers, handouts ✔

   🍎  Create and print Math course outline ✔

   🍏  Organize teacher & student supplies ✔

   🍎  Create Bulletin Boards ✔

• How to Learn Math        
• Changing Words Changing Mindset 
• Class Expectations 
• Borders on Student word bulletin boards 

🍏 To Do List (working at school on Saturday September 2nd)

1. Math games - check that all games are complete
2. Cards - check that all decks are complete (24 decks)
3. Update Marks & Attendance binder dividers
4. print Homeroom & Class lists
5. Print Year Plans at a Glance & Detailed Long Range Plan
6. Create Teacher Day Book Plan sheets (changed to a 7-period day from a 6)
7. Print class lists

Math Class Agenda - First Day

Survived the first day with my students!

I am teaching 2-Grade 7 Math classes, 3-Grade 8 Math Classes and 1-Grade 9 Math Class

Today's plan was very simple but repetitive

1. Greet and Welcome the students
2. Attendance
3. Introduce myself
4. Course Outline
5. Expectations
6. Routines & Behaviour
7. Attendance
8. Supplies

Activity:

Students were asked to write the answers to the following questions on a slip of paper.  This activity was used as an 'Exit Slip' giving them practice in the classroom routines of getting supplies and handing something in.

1. Where they prefer to sit (Front, Back, Middle, Sides etc)
2. Anything I should know about them such as hearing or visions issues
3. The first word that comes to mind when they hear the word 'Math'
4. What they like or dislike about Math class

I have used Question #3 to create a Word Cloud to represent their thoughts and feelings about Math Class.