Miss Art of Teaching

It was POURING today after work so I decided to stay for a few more hours. On a normal day, I prefer taking work home. I still have a list of things to do before tomorrow! I used the time at work today to call home to parents/carers. I am sending home five letter of concerns and decided to call parents to let them know that they will be receiving it shortly by mail. I also decided to choose respectful, engaged active learners from each class and call home to give them the recognition.  Calling parents/carers take up a lot of time as I try to engage in a conversation with them rather than just treating them as an item to tick off my list. I find that it is important to talk to parents/carers as it gives you an insight into the home life and shows the parents/carers that you do care about their child. It is good to get support (when possible) from parents as well. One of the best phone calls this afternoon was when I called home to a parent whose child was having a hard time an...

A few years ago, during Valentine's day, I made a 'speed dating' activity for my Year 11 Community and Family Studies class (I was on a contract block). I left a trail of cut out hearts from the classroom door to the long tables in the classroom (I am the corny teacher!). I instructed students to seat on either side. At that time, I was teaching them about wellbeing factors. Each student received a character card and they were required to role play. A list of questions was given and it helped assist students with the conversations.  Students enjoyed the activities and there were A LOT of giggles.   Photo from 2014 'Speed Dating' activity: I decided to revisit the concept of speed dating. The idea of speed dating is to meet as many potential partners in a short frame of time. Using this concept, I built a lesson for my Year 11 Visual Arts class. I will be asking students to critique each other's artwork(s) in 5 minute increments. They must follow ...

I love how I can have honest conversations with students. I've been wearing this shirt forever and must have gained some weight. My button decided today that it will undo itself while I was teaching in front of a class of Year 7 students. I spent the start of the lesson explaining to students what they need to do. When I finished, I happened to look down and was horrified to find it had un-button itself. Then I had to spend the next five minutes explaining why it might be nice to tell the teacher when something isn't right i.e. fly undone, button popping off. This brought back memories of my history teacher who had his zip undone and none of the students in my class was brave enough to mention it to the teacher. It was also amusing to find a note in my suggestions jar. It recommended to me to 'check your shirt when coming into the classroom'. Note taken! Above: When sticky tape is a life saviour.