How to Keep Confident as a Teacher

A few easy ways to keep your confidence up as a teacher who is new to the position.

1. Dress the Part- You are not dressing up as a good as say a mob boss, but you can still look good, at the very least a tie and black polish-able shoes. Remember, comfort is crucial! As for pants, go for dress-however in smaller schools it is not uncommon to see coloured "denims"-for ladies, you are well expected not to show off breasts, cleavage, toes, or bellies. With that in mind yoga pants may be common in some working environments-for your own personal image it is highly recommended to avoid where them as a teacher.

Really for young professionals it is generally the same in most places. If you don't feel comfortable wearing it-you probably shouldn't be (even if it does look right, it will mess up your vibe for the entire day). Invest something that looks nice and feels good.

  

2. Be prepared for class-  It is not unheard that a teacher leaves something important in their office and needs to run back to claim it. It is also true that different working environments have different norms due to the fact that understandably people make mistakes when "multi-tasking" (not a thing by the way). It is important that teachers remember to bring everything needed to the office, classroom etc. however some teachers are constantly moving copious amounts of things from "A" to "B". This means that there is a higher possibility of leaving "something" behind. 

TIP: Take what you need, avoid carrying extra stuff between class and office.

Investment Opportunity: Laptop bag or professional looking school bag.

3. Genuine Listening Skills- As a new teacher you SURELY had "genuine listener" on your resume and cover letter as a marketable skill! If not, you certainly should consider it. But aside from having that skill written down-make sure you "got it down". Listen more than you speak. Take advice, ask questions-don't demand you are right because in reality-you just arrived. More to see than do at this point in your career.

4. Keep it Simple at First- I'll be honest this is the hardest one for me. Choose your volunteered tasks wisely and set goals. Know what you want out of this first experience and then create a plan of how you are going to grow. My first year yielded a marking time till about  9 PM most nights and I would be the first one in the office (sometimes even the school at 6 AM). It worked out, but I certainly felt the relief of difference when I finally got to vacation.

5. Pay Attention to Your Success- Don't get bogged down by a mistake, learn from it and feel proud of what you do well. For every mistake you make, someone else will also make one. You may feel like "I was the last one to mess up and no one will ever forget" until someone else does make a mistake.Not the best way to look at it but in reality the way the human brain works, usually that is how people feel. The best thing to do is reflect on your possible opportunities for improvement in the future. Don't go and frame or create a situation for anyone (making enemies and "framing" are forms of workplace bullying and possibly even discrimination-don't engage in conflicting personalities). 

6. Seek Support From Your Colleagues- Help is good, it doesn't make you inferior. You are teacher for goodness sake. Is this not what we tell the students?

7. Set Professional Goals for Yourself- 21 Days of Teacher fashion on social media; 21 days of home made lunches; 21 days of different books read-these may seem like goals and sure to extent they say something about your character. A professional goal should look something along the lines of long term. If you are not that far into your life where you are thinking that you are interested in promotional opportunities in the near future, start off small. Delivery of timely feedback, saying hello to most people that pass you in the hallways, etc.

8. Stay Organized-This is most certainly the hardest for me. Hands down though it makes a difference, especially when you need to role model.

9. Control- Even in the most chaotic of times, you need to remember you are the one who is in charge of roughly 30 people at any given time. Do not snap, lose your cool or break. When you feel a meltdown coming on. Sometimes it is a good time to have an energizing moment with your class or plan some more relaxed activities for the class rather than content heavy materials.

10. See Opportunities Instead of Disasters- As mentioned earlier before, stay positive and look at what you do well; reflecting on failures for the sake of self-improvement is important, but don't dwell on mistakes.

NAC1O/NAC2O: The Prophecy of "The Seven Fires"

The Seven Fires, as told by Mr. Bono

Turtle Island is the comprehension of the place in which the Annishnaabe had of the place they lived which was present day North America. The maps and scrolls collected over the years of archaeological expeditions in North America have been found on various materials. Birch-bark is the most common and recognizable of the different mediums used by the Annishnaabe.

This tale is of the seven prophets who warned the Annishnaabe people of great changes throughout their lineages for as long as they lived on Turtle Island. The prophecy predates the arrival of foreigners within North American history and is really a vehicle meant to foster harmony between cultures.

The first fire was long before colonialism. At this time, the culture and life of the people was flourishing and in harmony. However the people were told there would be seven stops throughout their journey as a people. The first was the trip into present day Ontario. The people were instructed to enjoy their life but they would also need to migrate later as this is not the end of their journey yet.

The second fire describes the time when the ways of the the people were originally separated. Their journey had led them to seek refuge in present day Michigan but could not find the turtle island around there. Later the people found that a dream of a boy had led a group of the many separated to where they needed to go-Lake Michigan.

The third fire describes a time when the people began to migrate further to find the place where the food grows on water. People traveled to Manitoulin islands, then Ste St. Marie-ending up along the shores of Lake Superior.

The fourth fire describes a prophecy from two prophets, the coming of another race, a negative impact is prophesied as well as positive one. Without knowing what to believe or exactly what a light skinned race might look like when bearing the face of brotherhood or war. Nonetheless, in the end it turned out that the the French were the kinder parties of those who interacted with the nation, through mercantilism-French commerce and trading was the kindness shown by light skinned races. Whereas the colonialism and brutality of the British was some of the negative that came from the light skinned races.

The fifth fire is one of struggle, a promise may be made to the nation of people and the folly of the people will be the abandonment of tradition. In forgetting the tradition and culture-the people will find struggles throughout the generations.

The sixth fire is when the apparent reality of the promise from the fifth fire reveals itself-the lie will destroy the trust the nations have in the elders. When all seems lost, it will get worse. Not only with the traditional way of the people fall apart but a disease will pester the people (whether it be physical or spiritual-it is not clear).

The seventh fire can lead to the eight (final fire), which is characterized by eternal harmony. If and only if the people (light skinned race) can make a decision to travel through life recognizing that there were things that weren't done that could have been and things that were done, which should not have been. If and only if the light skinned races can understand the decisions they make will the first nations and their new found neighbours be truly at peace. Once at peace the Annishnaabe peoples' will rekindle the lost sacred fire and rebuild what has been lost.

The New Curriculum and First Nations Teachings

The content in the New Curriculum is expected to be sharing the information that first nations of Canada and China have experienced and connected to the students as well as the world.

The importance of the integration of First Nations is simply the idea of understanding and respecting the difference in perspective and opinion regarding important national discussions and personal understandings of the way the world/society works.

This offers students an opportunity to develop empathy and sympathy not only for the first peoples of a place but for themselves-this is the epitome of social emotional learning.

Authors I have used in the Past:
1. Pauline E. Johnson
2. Writers of Sandy Lake
3. "Chinese Folktales"
4. "The Hidden One"

Films worth visiting:
1. We Were Children
2. Tragically Hip's Music Video/Short Film "Traintracks"

Notable Resources:

https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/

Ex-Planning 10; NEW-Career life Education Learning Activities

Sample/Demo Lesson

--> This is created to help inspire and introduce the ideas of myself and the other teacher who are building the Career Life Education Course and Course Workbook. This is a Demo intended to be used with the context of the New Curriculum Rather than say, "credit cards".

Credit Cards LP (Financial Lit Unit)

Curricular Competencies-”Considering financial implications”

Core Competencies- #2;#4

BIG IDEAS-Global Economy….; Career planning

Content: "Personal Finance"

Implementation/Procedure:

(5 minutes) Hook-->Tally Sheet “Doubling Activity”

Teacher: "You can bribe the teacher with one kuai each day to not do your homework; how long can you do this without running out of money?” (each student is given a different number amount), after the students make their guesses/calculations, the class would be able to share their answers with a partner or group the teacher discloses the secondary piece of information “fine print” “everyday you didn’t do the homework, you will need to make it up later, altogether” *this would be revealed at the end of the class*

Station packages include tally chart, credit card example, keywords, guided notes 5 min (pros and cons; fill in the blank)

--> Key vocabulary- Compound interest; interest rate; balance; balance due; credit; credit card; debt; annual fee; minimum payment; introductory rate; annual percentage rate; finance rates

During the lesson:

STATION SESSION (2 WORKING STATIONS, 1 REFLECTION STATION)

Out the door cost vs. Actual cost “the real cost versus the initial cost with financing”/“Used for short term borrowing to pay for purchased items"

Introductory rate activity? What happens when the introductory rate jumps

Benefits of credit cards “why they exist” ex: short term credit, credit score; travel purposes, etc. *Reflection Board Piece*

Credit Card Statement “highlight the vocabulary words and define on the page”

END OF LESSON-Reflection questions for each of the activities (White Board)

-->Tie in the hook/provocation activity “how does the activity at the beginning of the class compare to the habits of credit cards as we discussed afterwards?”

-When might using a credit card be beneficial?

-Why do you think credit card companies only require a “minimal amount”?

-What are the tricks of the credit card companies to get people to sign up for the credit cards?

Completed introduction to the lesson, students are sharing information and discussing the implications of paying the teacher back; “in North America we have credit cards, this is what they sometimes do.”

HOMEWORK- AAL Formative assessment Activity 

“What would you purchase with a credit card 1000$ spending limit?”How long would it take you to pay it off if you had “X” amount of RMB

-Video reflection piece (put on my blueprint) 

-->Name one danger of using credit? (ELL ACCESS: Why are credit cards dangerous?)

-->where is it that money is made by credit card companies throughout this model? (EEL ACCESS: How do credit card companies make money from people?)

Teacher Note:

ESSENTIAL MUST!

-Formative

-->resources

-->activity building

-Eliminate Marking (Student self assessments)

-video Reflection

-Try to keep activities fun, light, role playing based, verbal based and “Drawing”

-Answer Keys

TEACHER REFLECTION: Does this lesson promote student understanding of oneself and

-we need to remember that this is not making students remember it is not about who is the fastest learner but who understands the text on a deeper or creative level

-core competency development meeting content in class?

We Are all ELL Teachers!

As we are taking part in our second day of training for the coursebook writers and curriculum writers Pro-D, we are looking at the facts and talking about how the New Curriculum of BC requires teachers to accommodate the learning styles and needs of our base clientele.

We are happy to welcome our well known presenter, Wendy Goodall who is going to be representing the special needs and ELL needs area of the education in our system.

We need to teach to where our students start, because as we begin our courses with where the students begin-we can scaffold to success. Making sure the material is coherent and relevant to the students we teach, otherwise we have lost them.

We need to remember it takes the average person 7-9 years to acquire academic language levels. Most of the students in our school have only really.

Current challenges in our current model and systems are, students with no content background knowledge; incapable of deducing slang; weak oral and writing skills.
.
What can we do when we have a wide range of students (in regards to abilities) within the classroom?

What can we do to accommodate the different range of learners?

The challenge of trying to encourage the personal usage of English is crucial and approached in many ways outside of the classroom-writers have an opportunity to embed learning of English into the curriculum to emphasize personal usage of English in and outside of the classroom.

A great thing to incorporate into the classroom as supporting activities are the 5 stages of a second language learner. Taking a look at stage 1 and stage 5 there are some connections to Vocabulary induction via "PWIM"; as well as connections to scaffolding for learning.

Let's Talk About the New BC Curriculum...Pt.1

We are having discussions about how to implement the new BC curriculum in our school here in China. I am particularly working on the Career Life Education Course Workbook in cooperation with the course writer.

Our first meeting was an introduction to the core competencies and the purpose of them in BC.

Core Competency-The sets of intellectual, social, emotional, and personal expectations that students are striving to master or utilize to engage in deeper learning.

Core Competencies:
1 . Communication--> The manner in which students can communicate with others and the world in their explorations as learners

2.;3. Thinking; Creative Thinking/Critical Thinking--> An understanding and awareness that a student has about their own cognition; this also encompasses abilities and that can demonstrate intellectual development; most importantly though students need to transfer the skills from area to another area of life or the curriculum.

4.;5.;6. Personal and Social; Positive Personal & Cultural Identity/Personal Awareness and  Responsibility/Social Responsibility-->how students relate to society and their understanding of themselves; student's understanding of themselves and society in a way that allows them to devise a plan for or even find their purpose in the world.

This is a brief and summarized understanding of the core competencies. The next bit of discussion to come will be the Goals of the Competencies, etc.

CB

FN 12 @ DMLIS-Trip to 101 Pizza