Post London

Last weekend, Amanda and I traveled to London, England for an international teaching job fair.  We have enjoyed our time in Kuwait and the Middle East, but the time has come for us to move onto a new school and a new country.

Going into the job fair we were both pretty nervous.  We had already declined to renew our contracts with our current school, and we were dealing with the anxiety of not having lined up anything for next year.  Add to that our lack of experience (only 2 years, and no IB) we weren't sure if we would be competitive.  We were, though, and we had a wonderful experience.

The process is a bit insane, but well worth it.  We arrived to the fair on Friday, and we immediately began going to a few presentations. They were from the fair organizers, and,  later, the recruiting schools themselves.  These were great, because they afforded us the opportunity to see what the schools and countries were like.  We came out pleasantly surprised by quite a few of them.

While the interviews are happening, candidates and recruiters can place messages (CVs and notes in the case of candidates) for each other in the designated mail boxes.  Amanda and I each had a mail folder, and we were asked to interview with several schools through this process.  In turn, we put our CVs and a visual cover letter in the mail folders of several of our top choice schools.

The visual cover letter is something we created in PowerPoint   We initially created it for the interview sign-up session (see below), but we decided to include a few in the packages we were submitting to our top choice schools.

At 4:00pm on Friday the interview sign-up started.  This is a mad house period of 2.5 hours where candidates shuffle around a couple of rooms asking to have interviews with schools for positions they have posted. You don't have a lot of time to speak with each school, so you have to make it count.  In all but one case the recruiters were very friendly when we approached.  If they didn't think we would be a good fit (no IB, for instance) they told us and we moved on.

Several schools offered to look through our packages and contact us later about interviews (and all of them did, it turns out).  The schools that we pre-applied to remembered us even if they hadn't scoured our CVs yet, because of our visual cover letters.  They stood out and seem to make a difference.  Once you go to all of the schools you want to and line up your interviews for the next few days you are done for the night.  We were beat, but we decided to go to the restaurant/bar for a snack/drink before heading back to our hotel.  Interestingly enough, we were approached by a recruiter from a very, very good school while we were there.  His school only had a position for myself, but they happened to have seen our CVs and visual cover letter (with another recruiter, I think) and they were impressed.  We ended up meeting the next day for an informal interview.  It was a great contact to say the list!

Anyway, the first day of interviews is slightly nerve-wracking.  While the interviews are happening in hotel rooms, more school presentations are going on.  Also, each interview requires a fair bit of research.  It is a bit of a nightmare trying to fit everything in, as we were lucky enough to have lined up 5 interviews on the Saturday and two on Sunday with great schools.  All of the interviews were pretty informal, but all of the interviewers asked great questions.  On Sunday, we decided to cancel our two interviews because we had a couple of offers and one still pending.  By the end of the day on Sunday we finally got the offer we had been hoping for!

We are moving to Manila this summer to begin our adventure at the International School of Manila.  We have been researching this school for a while, so we were both ecstatic to be offered positions.  Amanda will be teaching Grade 3 and I will be teaching Grade 6 English and Social Studies.  We were both anxious going into the fair, but it was well worth it in the end.

Whoa.  It is late.  Time to go to sleep, so I can get up and watch the Ottawa Senators beat the Carolina Hurricanes.

Badges and Recongition

Our second semester starts shortly, and I am eager to start working in some new programs.  I have behaviour and recognition programs in place, but I want to alter them to add some interest.  I have more research and planning to do, but I think that I'll focus on using Edmodo as mode of transmission for the rewards.  I'll put something up in class too, but Edmodo badges have an alluring effect on my students.  Having said that, I need to focus more on giving out badges for day-to-day and weekly things.  My students love them, and I want to give them more opportunities to earn them.

Just some things I have been thinking on.

Classroom Management

Reflection is a key component of an effective teacher.  This is a statement that has been bantered around for a while, and in my experience it is every bit the truth.  Moving to Kuwait last year, I had a difficult time always managing my students.  I struggled, but it wasn't a complete disaster.  Still, when I had some time over the summer I thought long and hard about it.  This year I have implemented many systems, but the systems are only as good as the person using them.  I had to enforce them and I had to get the kids behind them.

Hand signals is one of the best systems I have in place.  The older students have some difficulty getting behind this totally (I still have some rebels), but for the most part my students like this system.  In fact, I have had other teachers come to me and ask about it.  The students I teach had ask their other teachers to implement a similar system.  The signals themselves are pretty self explanatory.  The biggest hurdle involves practicing and reminding students about the expectations.  I have far fewer students yelling out in class, or wasting time while I am with another student.  If they need to use the washroom they will simply hold up their hand with two fingers crossed.  When I see their hand, I can give them a head shake for yes and off they go.  It is simple and effective.  You can download the PDF I made here and the header here.  The designs for the hands can be found on this site.

I also use an assertive discipline tactic where I write names on the white board for warnings and other actions. On the right you will see my white board.  Since we are a bilingual school, I have to get my students to use English as much as possible.  I will allow Arabic in certain cases, but usually when they come into my room they speak only in English.  This is easier said than done, but I strive to work on monitoring this everyday.  Under the Warnings header I write names of students who choose not to listen.  This is the key with this system: the students have auditory, proximity, and visual reminders for behaviour expectations.  The first warning is verbal, the second gets their name on the board, third a check and a time out, fourth another check and a lunch detention, and after that they get after school detentions and so on. 

This is a school policy at my school, but the key is following through with each step.  Kids are kids, and if they can convince you not to give them a lunch detention for their poor choices they will.  It is a system that allows some flexibility, though.  Students can earn back checks if their behaviour improves (if they haven't worked themselves to a detention).

Reflecting on the last semester, I can safely say that I feel a lot more comfortable with how my classroom works.  I can still improve, but I feel as though my students and I have a great environment where we can tackle the questions of the day in a safe, structured, and positive manner.

Dropbox - AKA The Keeper

I have finally made a full conversion to using Dropbox.  If you aren't familiar with the website, I'll give a brief synopses.  Dropbox is a storage service that allows you to digitally house files.  You can access and sync these files through your PC/Mac, iOS or other portable device, and from an internet browser.  You can share the files with others for easy collaboration, or you can lock everything up tight.  It is a cloud-based service, meaning that the files are stored somewhere...out there.  In the ether, so to speak. 

I have been using the service for a while now, but only for odds and ends.  I wanted an easy way to see my wedding photos despite the disc being at my mom's house and Amanda and I being in Kuwait.  My mom's partner uploaded them to dropbox and shared the link so that we could see the finished products.  It worked very well!

How is it useful for teaching?  I began the year using a USB thumb drive for all of my school files.  I dragged that sucker to and from school everyday, and I had more than my share of "WHERE IS IT?" moments.  Well, I finally lost it a while back.  I erroneously kept it on the half-wall between our kitchen and our living room, and I think it fell into the garbage at some point.  I was never able to find it.  After some swearing and panicking, I was able to find most of what I lost.  Anything that had been created in the previous couple of weeks was gone, but a lot of stuff was still on our home laptop. 

And that's how I quickly became a Dropbox afficiando.  I use it constantly now, and I will never look back.  Dropbox automatically syncs all of my files with all of my devices, and it is a painless process.   Over the holidays I wanted to mark some student presentations, so I threw them into my Dropbox folder.  I was able to open them up on the plane ride, back in Canada, or wherever and start marking away.  It is a must-have product for teachers, or, well, anyone.  Plus, it's free!

Back at it

I haven't posted in a while, because, well, I don't really have an excuse.  Busy?  Yes.  Too busy?  Probably not.  If Amanda can post consistently, I should be able to manage it too.  So, I'll try my best.

We are in the middle of exams here, but thankfully mine are almost all written.  I have been diligent in trying to get things done ahead of time.  I have started into some deep (as in a while away) planning.

This past semester has seen a lot of changes.  I started the year gung-ho with gamifying elements of my courses, but I soon realized I had bitten off more than I could chew.  I took on too much, really, and it was difficult to keep up with.  I have pared down that side of the program.  I realized that creating a classroom narrative was a lot of work, and, really, too much for the amount of planning time I have (including hours at home).  Some kids were very interested in that side of it, though, so hopefully a better mind than me can come up with a system in which that works.

Something many of my students loved: Crafting!  A lot of them are very interested in the idea of crafting. Crafting, as I mean it, is a program where kids who are finished early can continue developing skills for badges awarded on Edmodo. I generally make it related to a topic in grammar that we have studied previously. This gives the kids a chance to reinforce their skills, and it is completely optional. One of my most avid crafters has seen significant improvement this year!

A Teachable Moment for Them and One For Me.

Today (September 21) is my birthday.  This year I am lucky, because it falls on a weekend day (school week in Kuwait runs Sunday-Thursday).  Amanda has some things planned for the day, but, mostly, I just want to relax.  I still have some work I want to get to, or September 22 will be terribly busy.

Yesterday, I came outside to greet my grade eights as I do every day.  We are still practicing routines and fulfilling expectations.  One of my expectations is that before class begins they line up outside my door in a single-file line and they are quiet.  This helps to calm down the noise before the enter the room, and it helps to start the class on the right foot.  This group was a much talked about group last year, because of the many behaviour and discipline issues that came up.  I only had them for homeroom, so I never really saw much of that.  I'll be honest, before this year began I figured they would still be a tough group.

I was wrong.  They are great kids, and they crave structure and routine.  To that effect, we had to practice entering the classroom a couple of times yesterday.  In both instances one or more students were far too chatty.  I was getting in a huff by the time I had everyone seated.  I lectured them on the importance of our routines, and then I had them take out their books to start on the bell work.  Many stared at me dumbfounded, and I felt like I had accidently brought the wrong class inside.  I asked again, and they slowly started to take out their materials.

I turned to the Smart Board and I drew the screen shade down, so that they could read the instructions.  We were going to do a rapid writing assignment.  I turned around to explain this, and I was met with every single student standing and facing me.  It was like something from Children of the Corn.  And then they sang.  "Happy birthday," came at me in force.

I felt low.  I just berated them for not following rules and expectations, and now they are happily wishing me a happy birthday.  They are kids, they do get excited, and I need to remember that.  I even got a sweet card from one student, and a bottle of cologne from another.  Unfortunately, I don't wear cologne and it is a staple for teacher gifts in Kuwait.  I have five or so bottles stashed somewhere.

As an aside: My grade 8s love the crafting folders.  I already have one student who is a Master Noun Navigator, and several others who are close.  The image is the badge that they receive on Edmodo.

Rolling with the punches

An odd event happened at the school today.  Truthfully, it happened yesterday, but we only discovered it today.  The air conditioner (from what I understand) in a grade 3 classroom caught fire.  No one was hurt, but the damage looks to be fairly extensive.  All in all about five classrooms have been effected.  So, the students were sent home early in order to make sure everything was safe.  Sadly, teachers were expected to stay.  An odd choice by the non-academic side of our school, but we have to roll with the punches. 

Despite not teaching today, I feel like I haven't sat still.  I have got a pile of things accomplished that weren't even really on my to-do list yet.  I probably still would have got these done at home in my Ottawa Senators jersey and shorts, but we roll with the punches.  Nevertheless, I was able to create my second set of skill crafting worksheets.  I haven't even introduced the crafting section of my classroom to the students yet (I was going to do that today, actually), so I am ahead of the game.  If the students complete the first set they will be awarded the Noun Navigator badge on Edmodo.  Completing the second set will earn them the Sentence Builder badge.

Other than that, I was able to copy things that needed copied, I finished the introductory stories for my classes (I'll post these later), and I got myself organized.  With all this productivity, I decided to write up a quick blog post.  Amanda is telling me that the bus is waiting for me.  Out we go.