Educators are powerful, important people. You do make a difference to your students. All children pass through the hands of educators. What educators do and say (and how they do and say it) becomes the foundation on which many children will build their lives.1
"Use your Bingo Voice," the teacher said, as the child tried to tell her story. We were in a kindergarten room doing a Telling Bee, and the five-year-old, eyes downcast, was shyly whispering her story to the class.
Considering its recent assault upon educators and public schools in Ontario, it’s not surprising that the provincial government has been slow to publicize the findings of a report it commissioned in 1998.
We teach a unique class of intensive ESL junior and senior kindergarten students. We have a minimum of 10 different first languages in our morning and afternoon classes - a total of 80 students from a variety of backgrounds.
Each child in your kindergarten classroom has different abilities, interests and experiences that shape and influence his or her learning.
Last August, ETFO announced a contest to find the largest elementary public school class in Ontario. Bill 160 sets average class size limits per board of 25 in elementary and 22 in secondary ETFO's contest was designed to show the public that the use of the word "average" does not mean elementary students would be in classes of 25 or fewer.