Thank you.
This month's Work Habits and French Evaluations were done today in class. This month, I signed the student's French Self-Evaluations. My signature simply means that I have seen their self-evaluation. I have completed my own, Teacher Evaluation. Those will be sent home with your child for your signatures, as well.
Thank you.
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"I hope it doesn't happen," she said Wednesday. "I hope that the parties decide to get to the negotiating table, and bargain hard until they get an agreement. This has been terrible for parents. It has been terrible for students. And I don't just believe it's okay for adults to put kids in the centre of the problem." - Vancouver Sun, May 28, 2014. "The parties," says Christy Clark, need to "bargain hard." "The parties"? She is ONE of "the parties!!!!!!" Despite this, she does not get involved, allowing a third party to negotiate for her. She continues to try and act innocent, yet she is the Leader of the Liberal Party of B.C., and, thus, the leader of one of the parties involved. "And I don't just believe it is okay for adults to put kids in the centre of the problem." She speaks as though she is not one of the adults involved! She is the most-involved adult of any in the province! She violated our constitutional rights by unilaterally removing language from our contract language, which was about class size and composition, and has twice refused to accept a Supreme Court of B.C.'s ruling to reinstate said language! She continues to severely underfund education, negotiates in bad faith and provokes strike action, and yet she claims that some 'other' adults are putting kids in the centre of this?!! Class size and composition is so very important because it places limits on how many students will be in any given class and how many students with special or extra needs there will be. Christy Clark is, and always has been, the lead adult putting children in the centre of the problem!!!! We would ALL rather be HELPING students! (Please note, no teacher is doing work, as per the BCPSEA lockout. Those papers are related to STA business.) May 20, 2014 Vancouver, BC – On the heels of Food Allergy Awareness Week, Vancouver’s Zajac Ranch for Children is thrilled to announce they will be holding a summer sleep-away camp geared toward children with severe food allergies from August 25-29, 2014. Zajac Ranch, located at Stave Lake near Mission, BC, has been running summer camps for children with disabilities and life-threatening conditions since 2004. For more information about the camp, or to register your child, please email [email protected]. Or visit www.zajacranch.com. The camp welcomes children aged 7-17, and can also accommodate non-allergic siblings and friends. Individuals with severe food allergies must practice strict avoidance of allergic foods, making eating cafeteria meals at a remote camp location difficult, if not impossible, especially when multiple foods must be avoided. In consultation with Dr. Edmond Chan, BC Children’s Hospital pediatric allergist, Zajac Ranch’s chefs will carefully plan meals and snacks that are free of the top 10 allergens, and will also be able to accommodate children with celiac disease, a condition necessitating strict avoidance of gluten. Allergic children will be able to eat freely at mealtime, a welcome change from constantly asking questions about ingredients and food labels. In addition, camp staff will be specially trained to deal with any allergic reactions that might occur. Over the past 10 years, Zajac Ranch has been providing enriching camp experiences to children and youth with conditions such as autism, diabetes, epilepsy, visual impairment, and Down’s syndrome. Utilizing specialized staff, facilities and equipment, the camp allows children to participate in rock climbing, canoeing, and archery, among many other activities, developing their social skills and self-confidence in a group of like-minded peers. The Metro Vancouver Anaphylaxis Group, a support group for people living with life-threatening food allergies, is helping to promote the camp. One group member who has already registered her daughter, commented on how excited she was about a camp where her eight year old would be able to eat anything on the menu without needing to ask questions. “It’s amazing to think that for once, she will feel totally included when it comes to food,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for her, as well as for me, because of the peace of mind that comes with knowing that all the food will be allergy-safe.” Zajac Ranch’s mission is to develop and operate an accessible, innovative and full-service facility that welcomes children and young adults facing chronic, life-threatening or debilitating conditions. For more information, please visit www.ZajacRanch.com, or email [email protected]. The Metro Vancouver Anaphylaxis Group, created in 2009, is a volunteer parent-run group whose focus is to provide support for those at risk of anaphylaxis through building understanding, educating others and providing information and resources to its members. Everyone who is at risk of anaphylaxis or looks after someone at risk of anaphylaxis is encouraged to become a member. For more information, please visit www.VancouverAnaphylaxis.com, www.Facebook.com/groups/vancouveranaphylaxis, or email [email protected]. The following letter penned to B.C. Premier Christy Clark has gone viral on social media. It's written by Christine Adams, a Grade 7 teacher: Ok, Christy Clark, I'm going to need some help understanding this one. Starting Monday, you will not let me help my students at recess and lunch? It is rare that a day goes by that I don’t have students in during that time who desperately need help. With all the cutbacks with student support and with no regard to my class composition and the needs of the students in my class, how will they learn if I can’t go over concepts with them during my break? And if I do help them, I will be disciplined? In fact, starting Monday, you insist that we all leave the school property at recess and lunch? Do you have any idea what happens in a school when that bell goes? You want the building to be free of teachers while hundreds of children are transitioning in the hallway? Have you considered the safety factor in that one? So I’m not allowed to use the washroom on my breaks? If I can’t leave my students during class, and I’m not allowed to be in the building during my breaks, are you suggesting that I must go the entire day without using the washroom? Starting Monday, you’re also telling me that I am only allowed to work 45 minutes prior to the bell and 45 minutes after. I can’t take my work home, I can’t mark at home, I can’t do my report cards at home and I can’t prepare my lessons at home yet you still insist that I do all of these things? Does that mean you will be giving us money finally to buy resources so I don’t have to build all my units from scratch? For every hour in my class, I’m putting in an hour outside of it developing lessons, making resources, planning units and writing report cards. I have no idea how I am supposed to do all of that in 90 minutes a day outside of direct teaching time. Perhaps you want me to do that while the students are in my class? I just can’t, Christy. I want them to learn. Starting Monday, you will not let me help organize students into classes for next year? So if I know that a child is intimidated by another in my class, or does not work well with someone, I am not able to do anything about that? Have you been in a classroom? There’s a very fine art to separating children who simply are unable to get along, and yet another art to finding children to put together to build new friendships and find a sense of belonging. At my school alone, our teachers invested at least 15 hours last year fine tuning the classrooms, making sure we could make the best of our situation of kids with learning disabilities, with behaviour problems, with IEPs, with social difficulties. I know our school administrators are capable individuals, but they simply do not know how best to place my students, and are not aware of the specifics of the 11 students I have this year who have higher needs. And, Christy, I’m absolutely crushed that you won’t let me go to my daughter’s grade 7 leaving ceremony at her school. I don’t even work at her school, but you refuse to let me on public school property. Funny thing is, the teacher that is spending countless hours organizing that ‘grad’ also has a child in that class, and she won’t be able to attend it either. I expect we will both be standing outside of school grounds trying to maintain composure. Right now, not that you care, I’m not maintaining composure. I didn’t very well in class today when I told my own grade 7s that I wasn’t allowed to attend their grade 7 leaving. They saw the tears in my eyes. I know that you will tell me BC teachers started this strike business. We could argue about the logistics of that for quite some time. Do you realize that we chose rotating strikes so we could still volunteer our time on the other days of the week? We were still going on field trips, organizing grad ceremonies, doing extra-curricular, and giving whatever we could to the students in our schools. And now you won’t let us? I look forward to my year end activities with my students. I am not looking forward to telling them that you won’t let me take them. Do I need a raise? Yes, I truly do. I believe I deserve the 18% you gave your administration, but I’d be happy with keeping up with the cost of living. 4 straight years of 0% is catching up with me. 2 more years of 0% just might break me. Everything is going up, and my paycheque is actually getting smaller. That just doesn’t seem right to me. I just don't understand why I don't deserve the cost of living. Oh and as long as I’m trying to understand all of this, why is privatization so important to you? You are starving education and healthcare. It seems your plan is to continue to do this so you can say to the public, “Look. The school system is not working! We need to do something different!” At that point, I expect you’ll push your two-tiered education system a little harder, and your next course of business will be a two-tiered health care system. That might work well for you and your well-paid staff, but not for the majority of us. What will most of us do in a two-tiered health care system? Do you just not care because it just does not affect you? By the way, we DO need to do something different; we need you to start funding education again. I was thinking that in my children’s neighbourhood high school, if you funded just to the national average, they would have $1 000 000 more each year. My own children and I had fun mentally spending that for their school. It was kind of like going through the Sears Wishbook when we were kids, but, like the Wishbook, when someone else is holding the chequebook, it’s all just a dream. By the way, why is your chequebook out for the private school system? I’m a little confused why you were able to increase funding for those schools but not public schools. Is that because your son attends a private school? On your Facebook page, you recently said that you are “acknowledging historical wrongs,” but do you realize you’re creating one right now? And you’re right, we can’t undo the past. Take some time to do some research in what investing in our children now will do for our future. And look into what happens if we don’t. It will cost us all a great deal more in the generations to come. I also know you are aware that BC has the highest child poverty rate in Canada, and yet you still have no plan for those children either. All of this is so incomprehensible to me. You broke the law. Twice. You’ve been told that your tactics with BC Teachers are unconstitutional. To me, that’s not much different than your predecessor who thought it okay to drink and drive and that saying sorry made it all better. I have so many more questions, Christy, but I expect you’ve long stopped reading. Just on another note, I have to tell you that my 16 year old said to me today that he thought maybe people had to be hurt in some way to be able to really empathize with others. How profound. On that wisdom, I assume you’ve had a brilliant life, as you have no empathy for those you perceive to be below you. I wish all of our citizens of BC could have the same opportunity. I have never been afraid of a politician before, Christy, but I am afraid of you. I love my province. I’m proud of my province. But I’m afraid there won’t be much left of it when you’re done. If you are participating in the Talent Show and have music that you require, please bring in a copy of your music Tuesday.
Merci!! To watch Jim Iker's press conference detailing the problems that will be associated with this government-imposed lockout on teachers, please visit: http://new.livestream.com/BCTF/May222014
The government is locking teachers out of schools until 45 minutes before the start of class and 45 minutes after the end of class. We are being forced to not work at lunch or recess, meaning that we will be unable to provide extra help or support to students during these periods. We are not allowed to take work home, even. We are not allowed to mark, plan lessons, do reports or help students except during class hours and the 45 minute book-ends before and after the day. With a mere hour and a half allotted for work before/after school, it will be very difficult to plan lessons, mark work and prepare report cards. Teachers normally spend hours a day doing these essential things. Even in the middle of summer, we work. We are constantly thinking of our kids and thinking of new ideas and lessons. This is certainly the case for me and I know many of my colleagues agree. Phase 1 Job Action did not affect student learning in any way. We continued to act as coaches and give freely and willingly of our time to help make students' school experience the best it can be. Unfortunately, rotating strikes were the next step in trying to make the government understand how essential our role is. By withdrawing for one day a week, we hope to demonstrate just how much we do for our kids and our communities by highlighting the difference between our passion for teaching and what happens when we are not there. The government has responded by partially locking us out. They are denying us the ability to help our students to our fullest abilities. This is NOT teacher directed. I believe I can speak for our staff, at least, when I say we are hurt, angry and very frustrated. We are also confused, as this partial lockout means the government recognizes just how much we do outside of class hours, yet they still insist on underfunding education and demonstrating a complete lack of respect for our profession. The government continues to defy two supreme court rulings about class size and composition. Mere common sense tells us that smaller classes are better. I have had the privilege in my time as a teacher to teach a class of 10 (yes, it's true. It's why the program I used to teach at Colebrook Elementary was cut), 14, 19, 24 and, of course, 30. I can say from experience that kids do learn much better in smaller class settings, because they obviously get more teacher time. The government complains that it will cost millions of dollars to return class size and composition to 2002 levels, but they are the ones who made that mistake by taking it away in 2002! I have never worked in pre-2002 levels. I cannot imagine what it must be like for all my students who need help to actually get the extra help they need. It would be a marvelous thing if our kids could get the true support they need. It is NOT rhetoric to say that there is a whole generation of students that have suffered due to these cuts. BCPSEA has the legal right to do this. Once again, I stress that our inability to work with students at lunch and recess and the severe time crunch is government-imposed and NOT supported by teachers. We watched the second episode of Mars Rising. Unfortunately, the VASIMR video was not working. Students should try to watch it at home. The link can be found in my 'sciences' section as well as some updated notes. Students were asking intelligent and meaningful questions and were really engaged in this fascinating topic! They had very creative new ideas! It was brilliant! :)
Today in class, we watched Mars Rising: Journey to the Red Planet (link on my 'sciences' page).
See notes and questions on my 'sciences' page. I have now taken copies for student files, and the checklist that you completed with your child for student-led conferences will now be going home. :)
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