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About Me

I'm an elementary school teacher with 16 years of experience in the classroom. I have taught a variety of grades in a variety of combinations, including split level and multi-age groupings. I am a mother of two: one girl, one boy. I recently decided to begin blogging because our family made a big move across the country from Manitoba to British Columbia, and in updating my resume, I discovered that so little of my personality was apparent in this tiny 2-page document about the past 16 years of my life. I am sort of starting from scratch in a district where no one knows me yet and so, I decided to build a blog so that other educators could get to know me. Here goes...

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A Career in Reverse

  It has literally been so long since I wrote a blog post that I forgot how to log in here! Oops. I apologize to my 5 readers. The wheels have been spinning, but I have been very busy and very tired. For a while now I have been mulling the idea for this entry: I am currently experiencing a career in reverse.   As you know, if you have read my other posts, I left my permanent contract of 16-plus years in Manitoba and moved across the country to British Columbia. As a brand new grad in Winnipeg, I did very little substitute teaching. I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time six months after I graduated, when a lady at the school where I student-taught had a baby and went on maternity leave. Her leave was for one year, beginning on the last day of school before the winter break. I was hired to teach from December to December.   It was a Grade 6 class, and the first six months was something of a trial-by-fire. My university courses had not at all prep...
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Ten Things I Learned from my First Two Weeks in Gr 1-2

10) These tiny humans need direct instruction and continuous feedback about self-control. They may need to be reminded every day before every transition that you expect them to respect personal space. They may need you to control the “traffic” flow in the classroom. They may need you to scaffold their routines such as classroom clean-up so that not so many tiny humans are moving chairs, or brooms, or materials at once. 9) Teach them to ask you if they want a hug, otherwise, you will have little hands and clingy bodies in your personal space all the time. They can say, “Excuse me, I need a hug please.” 8) Tiny humans have big feelings. And they often do not know how to cope with them. This manifests in tears, outrage, raucous laughter, and pushing/shoving/grabbing, etcetera – sometimes all at once. What can you do about this? Well, just like your own children, they are entitled to their feelings. Let them have their feelings, but teach them some strategies for coping appropri...
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I am Thankful for my Children

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