My Adventures in Education

Some days teaching feels amazing - the students are making the connections on their own, and you feel awesome  about the lesson or activity that you did that day. And then, there are days where you just aren't sure about anything - the students aren't engaged, you feel like you are pulling teeth to get an answer or discussion going, and it is just so forced. This week has been a mix of those extremes, and man is it exhausting! In my ESL C class, we started our book study unit. There are three different novels (each of a different level of difficulty). At first the students seemed excited to start reading a book all in English. As a class we read "The Paper Bag Princess" to learn the skills that they will then be using in their own novels - and they loved it! It was so easy for them - they created an awesome list of adjectives, they could find examples of direct and indirect characterization in the story, and they were so excited to take that knowledge and find tho...

This year has been spectacular in terms of Professional Development. I won't lie, I'm not one that enjoys the forced PD, so I attempt to find learning opportunities that interest me and that I feel are important to helping me develop. Well, this year I have been successful in finding PD opportunities that fit! Rather than relying on traditional PD, I reached out and got involved based on areas of need/want in my own teaching practice. One of those areas: Guided Reading. My interest in this area began a few years ago when teaching ESL C. For those that don't know what course that is, English as a Second Language courses are broken up into levels A-E, where A are beginning learners, and E are approaching grade level. I teach the students that are smack dab in the middle in terms of English acquisition. That being said, it's important to understand that ESL courses are credit-bearing courses, so as long as students can achieve 50% of the curriculum, they are abl...

Now that the dust has settled, and I'm back into the weekly routine, I am trying to process everything that I have learned, and figure out how to move forward. I wish there was a way to freeze time so that I could really sit down and figure out my next steps for implementation, get more comfortable with some of the new apps (like Blogger!), and find meaningful ways to integrate them into my upcoming lessons. But alas, I will have to forge ahead as best as possible and do what I can. Perhaps over the summer I will be able to find the time to really organize and integrate my new learning. In the spirit of continuing on my journey of discomfort, I will be a guest on a podcast! "Que Sera Sarah?" is a podcast by an Ontario educator-to-be, Sarah Lalonde, who was at the Google Summit last weekend! Sarah was actually the amazing educator I mentioned that told us all to take the plunge. I also had the opportunity to attend her session on podcasting, as I want to integra...

08/April/18 I am sitting here at the Ontario Google Summit in Cambridge, Ontario, digesting all of the new technology apps/sites, etc. that I have learned so far this weekend. I am always amazed at how much I learn at the Google Summit, not because I think I know more than most, but because it seems like so much information is jammed into a short period of time. The facilitators are always phenomenal, and they really make you think about your teaching practices and the why  behind the choices you make in your classroom. I suppose that leads into blogging, and how I have arrived at where I am now. I have been toying with the idea of blogging for a little while now, but never really seem to get the courage to just do it. I tend to lean back on this idea of being shy - I still get nervous putting myself out there, especially in front of colleagues. Well, this morning I listened to a fellow educator explain how we just need to jump, to take the plunge and try something new. If ...