Professional Learning

French teachers on itinerant  assignments often feel somewhat isolated and disconnected from colleagues.

What could be more important in an increasingly global community than to be able to communicate effectively with as many people as possible?

The grade 6 students settle down as the lesson begins. A few scan the room, intrigued by the novel presence of three teachers and one administrator,  clipboards  in their hands. I begin the lesson; the topic is note taking and summarizing from informational text.

In the spring of 2005, I read Teaching for Deep Understanding: Towards the Ontario Curriculum that We Need. By the time I had finished the book, I was inspired to write and facilitate a professional book study for the Junior staff at Armitage Village Public School in Newmarket, where I am the divisional lead teacher and literacy special education resource teacher.

Junior kindergarten is a different world from any other grade. When I first started teaching at the junior kindergarten level nine years ago, I was shocked both by the demands of welcoming all these children attending school for the first time and by my own personal reactions to this new level.

ETFO’s Summer Academy workshops are a great learning and networking opportunity for both presenters and participants. Our workshops highlight the wealth of knowledge that we stand to gain from our interactions with one another.

Like learning to skate, becoming a successful teacher is easier with a helping hand, according to Annamari Pouti-Fletcher. The Windsor area teacher has reaped a lot of benefit from ETFO’s new teacher workshops.