Features

Every year students and staff look forward to watching the atrium at Alma School come alive with green as several varieties of trees sprout from seeds planted by students.

With a provincial election scheduled for October 2007, ETFO members across Ontario will soon be planning how to support their chosen political party or how to campaign on issues. Is political involvement  important  for teachers?

As a classroom teacher, I was encouraged to use the “before-during-after” model in planning my reading lessons. Now as a resource consultant,  I promote this model in math instruction  also.

This activity was born out of our desire – the Grade 4 teacher and mine– to create a partnership that will blend drama and research skills, writing skills and a love of literature, art appreciation and their social studies unit on medieval times.

As a primary teacher and former literacy  teacher on special assignment, I know the importance of making connections in reading – text to text, text to self and text to world. We need to find ways to engage learners, using multiple intelligences.

Throughout the early 1800s the government attempted to establish publicly funded education in Upper Canada but made only marginal inroads.

In the next few pages you will find stories written by ETFO members who are using the arts to provide their students with rich learning experiences, experiences that not only improve their understanding of and appreciation for artistic endeavour, but also improve their literacy.

Literacy has become a priority in Ontario schools: uninterrupted literacy blocks are now part of the daily timetable in many primary and junior classrooms.

This is the first of a four-part history of Ontario public elementary teachers and their federations. We will learn about ETFO and its predecessor organizations, the challenges they faced and the victories they achieved.