#teacher lady

[misskoleslaw]

So my friend gets a car...

And being the nice person I am...:

😇

[just-mbti-things]

ISFJ is Trying to be Organized

ISFJ: Once school starts, will you guys please yell at me if I start writing notes in the wrong places or start shoving things in my backpack randomly? INTP: sure

*first day of school*

Teacher Lady: So, for homework, I want you to go home and watch this video… ISFJ: *starts writing a reminder on the back of their note book* INTP: *leans over and whispers* I’m supposed to yell at you now ISFJ: Oh my God, first day and I’ve already failed ISFJ: Thank you for yelling at me INTP: I literally just whispered “I’m supposed to yell at you” ISFJ: Yeah, but that’s good enough

[lovecatkel]

I was wrong and it made me happy :)

I had a Socratic seminar during first period and I didn't think it went as well as I had hoped it would.

I was under a cloud and bummed all day because of it.

Fast forward to tonight - I'm at home grading their reflections and the students raved about how well they thought it went!!! They compared it to all the crappy Socratic seminars they had in middle school and how they felt prepared and challenged to think differently/deeper. They liked how I ran it in rounds with debriefs between. They liked how after the debriefs I challenged them to fix something from the previous round.

So, apparently it went a lot better than I thought it did. I feel a little upset with myself for letting my perception of it bug me ALL day, but I'm also really glad that I was wrong :)

Most of the time I'm glad that I'm reflective and tough on myself because it makes me improve. But sometimes, sheesh, I need to give myself a break.

Bedtime now! Adios!

[kuriquinn]

Putting it out in the universe...

Hi Everyone!

As most of you know, when I’m not sitting down to write copious amounts of SasuSaku fanfiction, most of my time is taken up in my IRL job – teaching history and law. I also happen to be placed at a school where there are a lot of students with learning difficulties who require extra help and different study methods, as well as a huge population of English Language Learners. Most of these students are from China, but there are a fair number of Koreans and Arabic-speaking kids as well.

One of the difficulties in my province when it comes to history is that the course is very limited – it focusses only on the History of Quebec, and after about 1867, it ignores the existence of the Rest of Canada (there’s a petition going around to change that, but until that happens, I’m stuck teaching it). As such, there are very few materials available online or even in books, which are specifically tailored to the course. Myself and my other colleagues who teach the subject tend to create resources ourselves and share them amongst ourselves. In the past this has worked great, but as the years go by, our population of ELLs increases and the materials we’ve tailored to English speaking students with LDs are insufficient to help them succeed.

Despite the fact these students do not speak the language, the province of Quebec expects them to pass the provincial history exam at the end of Grade 10 (of Grade 11, if they fail it). Students who fail this exam do not receive a high school leaving certificate and can have their entire future affected by this failure. They basically have to take adult education courses until they pass the exam.

These students are falling through the cracks. While they may excel in other subjects, they struggle with this course and it is one in which exemptions are very, VERY rare.

As such, I’ve been trying to tailor my resources to the ELL students in my class, using visuals, videos, transcripts of my lessons…anything that can help them get enough of an understanding of the concepts that they need to pass this very important exam. This works well for the ELL students who have been here for a while, but we tend to have students joining us throughout the entire year, some of them without ANY basic language functionality in the course. The government appears to think that all they need is an e-translator/paper dictionary to help them through the course and pass the exam, which anyone who has ever used Google translate knows is utter rubbish.

In an effort to help these students get a better understanding of the course content, I am trying to make up flashcards with important terminology and notes in English and the students’ native languages. My hope is that if they have quick and ready access to a precise translation of concepts we’ve talked about in class, they won’t spend their time typing everything into an e-translator and missing large chunks of information in the process. 

My problem is, I do not speak Chinese (Mandarin), Korean or Arabic. Is there anyone out there who is fluently bilingual (English and one of the above languages -  especially Chinese) who would be willing/interested in translating some flashcards? I pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, so I don’t have much in the way of money, but perhaps you are a translator-in-training looking for references to pad your resume with? I can also throw in writing a fic for you if you want.

I realise this is a longshot, but I figured I might as well ask, since I know those of you who follow me are from so many different places in the world.

Anyhow, that is my one serious note for today. Thanks for reading, even if you can’t help. 😊

[lovecatkel]

Working at one of my favorite cafes! No inservice today at school, but decided to finish the week strong with some planning for my new class. Kids come back next week! Eek!

[librarianpirate]

We've been watching Between - the other new Netflix show. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet but, like, nobody opens their mouth enough. Almost every actor is mumbling their way through their lines and is driving me crazy.