Category Archives: Uncategorized

Laughter and Pain

Posted on April 29, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”
Erma Bombeck

Today I narrowly escaped serious injury….well maybe not serious injury but I am thankful that I only have a bruise rather than a broken ankle. One of our young athletes slapshotted (that’s what I call it ) my ankle while I was on yard duty.

Why the above quote? A couple of reasons:
(1) the humour in the fact that I don’t play sports because I’m too afraid to get hurt
(2) the pain was worth the laughter and fun I witnessed as I was sandwiched between two groups of boys. I watched (too closely) a group from grades six to eight play hockey and another group from mixed grades play basketball. There is something so neat about watching mixed ages play together – there seems to be less competitiveness and a lot more laughter due to the acceptance of different skill levels.

I feel that the risk the school takes letting boys play hockey at recess is rewarded with laughter and humour. I guess I will continue to watch closely (though not as closely) so as to try and avoid the pain and hurt.

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Provinces of Canada Mneumonic

Posted on April 19, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

Okay. I think I outdid (is that a word?) myself. I thought of a mneumonic for the provinces from left to right with not just the first letter of each province but (insert drum roll here), the first two letters of each province! I am geographically challenged so these types of things are handy for me.

Yucky, no nuts!
Bring all sad matters onto Quebec.
Never print notes neatly.

You’ll have to figure out the provinces yourself. I’m sure you can do it now!

20130419-202014.jpg photo from kidzone.ws

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Description Direction

Posted on April 3, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

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I often hear, “I don’t know what to write.” This is my attempt at a visual to direct descriptive writing. (Don’t judge – this was a quick pic I put on the white board.) Students were given small pictures of different aliens and then asked to write a description. This lesson worked well – the visual gave a direction and the fact that they were describing a fictional character meant the description could not be judged as wrong.

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Another Thought

Posted on April 2, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

20130402-233136.jpgI had another thought about my last post….

Mainstreaming is managing, while inclusion is investing.
Investing is more work, and does not always give the return we hoped for, but it is worth the time. If we stick with it for the long haul, and take some risks, we will see gains.

(Can you tell that we are studying metaphors in my classroom and that I had a meeting with our accountant today?)

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Inclusion or Mainstreaming?

Posted on March 29, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

Lat20130329-180358.jpgely I have been driven by circumstances to be more reflective. What really happens in classrooms? Are our ideals met by practice?

Inclusion and mainstreaming have been used interchangeably but according to Katy Arnett in CAP Journal, 2013, the philosophies are very different. Inclusion should socially and academically benefit all children in a classroom even if they have different abilities and needs. Mainstreaming gives students with special needs access to the general ed classroom but the “different” abilities are not viewed as the teacher’s responsibility and peers work beside each other rather than with each other.

research showed that inclusive teaching practice was facilitated through the use of questioning that helped to build students towards more complex and challenging ideas, rather than take for granted that the students immediately and clearly understood the concepts under study before moving onto more complex questions
(Jordan et al., 1997, as cited in Arnett, 2013, p. 16)

the concept of ‘differentiation’ has also been heralded as a way to support inclusive teaching practice.
(Tomlinson 1999; 2001; Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, as cited in Arnett, 2013, p. 16)

So the challenge is to turn ideals into reality. Do our practices reflect what we believe to be most beneficial to all? Can we start with becoming more aware and move towards becoming more proactive?  I realize the issues are complex but the ideal is worth the ongoing discussion.

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From the Mouths of Kids in the Resource Room

Posted on March 20, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

I asked some of my students what they would like me to tell teachers about what frustrates them. I got some very insightful replies:

It’s really hard to take a ton of notes. I try to keep up but my notes are all over the place.

When I have to read in a group I wish other kids didn’t jump in so fast to give me the words. They don’t even give me a chance to try and figure it out.

When I work in a group, kids don’t let me do anything. They think I can’t.

It’s frustrating when the teacher explains a question and I’m not there yet. When I get to the question I ask for help and the teacher says, “Weren’t you listening?”

It’s frustrating when the teacher does not explain things because she thinks we already know.

Some positive things were mentioned. Trusted, nonjudgmental peers and teachers that take some extra time, definitely do not go unnoticed.

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Apps I Regularly Use

Posted on March 19, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

I should have called this “Apps I Currently Like” because the fun of the iPad is always finding more.  (Speaking of finding more…  I found an unused iTunes card in one of my bags!!  Yay me!!)  A colleague asked me to compile a list so I thought I would share it here.  I am sure the list will change as time goes on.  I would love to hear about apps you love.

Apps That I Regularly Use

 

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The Big Picture

Posted on March 19, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

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I got this from Pinterest – love it.

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Making the Worksheet the Anchor

Posted on March 5, 2013 by resourcefulresourceteacher

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This week I tried something. I put an abbreviated version of my anchor chart onto a template for fraction operations. It was quite successful. One more step towards independent work for my students.

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Through The Eyes Of Gratefulness

Posted on December 23, 2012 by resourcefulresourceteacher

Every once in a while I ask my students how things are going with their classmates. I ask them if anyone teases them about coming to the resource room. The last time I asked, a student said, “Why do you always ask us this?” I said, “I love you guys. It is my job to protect you as much as I can.”
I thought about that in the midst of all the heart wrenching stories coming from Connecticut. Teachers that hid students, teachers that read to students to calm them, teachers that told their students that they loved them.
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Some teachers will react to the news in fear and extreme cautiousness. But as I look at our six year olds singing the Hallelujah chorus for our Christmas program, I just feel so grateful. Grateful to play a part in their lives. Grateful to be entrusted with these special gifts.

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