DPA: Switch / “Teacher is Coming”

A quick and easy DPA game is called “Switch”.  In groups of 5, four students stand in a square and one in the middle.  When the person in the middle says “switch”, everyone has to find a new spot. Whomever is left out, goes in the middle. It’s a quick, fast-paced game. It goes great with music.

The bigger version of this game is called “Teacher is Coming” or “Code Word”. Instead of standing in the middle, there is one person who stands at the front of the room. This person tells a story, such as, “It was Friday the 13th and I was at school and the whole class was there, except the teacher.  A few students were about the escape out the window, when Jennifer noticed that the “teacher is coming”.  As soon as “teacher is coming” is said, the students have to find a new desk.   However, you can choose any “code word” as a cue to switch desks.Whomever doesn’t have a desk must go to the front of the room. If you move before the whole phrase is complete, then you must do “5 push-ups” or some other activity as “punishment” for your mistake.

Using Cards in the Classroom

If you have a deck of cards, you have a wonderful tool for organizing and grouping your classroom.

Organized Seating/Groupings

You can assign students a card (students keep it in their desk or tape it to the top of their desk) and use this for choosing a seating plan. I like to give girls either HEARTS or DIAMONDS and boys CLUBS or SPADES.  In fact, you can be even more selective and assign “easy” girls hearts and “easy” boys spades – by easy, I mean low behavioral issues.

This works well for seating in twos:

• hearts (easy girls) and diamonds (girl)
• hearts (easy girls)  and clubs (boy)
• spades (easy boy) and diamonds (girl)
• spades (easy boy) and clubs (boy)
• but never clubs + clubs, diamonds + diamonds, or clubs + diamonds

Or in groups of fours, you can now let them pick their own foursomes by saying, “You must have 1 of each suit in your group”.

When behaviour is less of an issue, you can spin a wheel on your whiteboard to see which to suits get paired up for an activity, or which suit gets to go first for an activity.

Random Groupings

You can start your day off by picking a card. Use this card for:

• order of lining up at the door (Ace to King)
• presenting projects
• use of the computer lab
• exchanging home reading
• etc…

Math

There are tons of ways to use cards in math, but one quick game is for integers in the intermediate grades (7/8).  Students get in pairs, each person gets 10 cards.  Red cards are negative integers and black cards are positive integers. Students flip the cards over at the same time and either add or multiply the numbers together.

• win = +1
• tie = 0
• loss = -1

When time runs out, students will calculate their sum using integers. For example, 7 wins and 3 losses: (+7) + (- 3) = (+4)

Daily Physical Activity (DPA)

There are many ways to use cards for DPA. One way is:

1. Select an activity for each suit: Hearts = Jumping Jacks, Diamonds =skipping, Spades = lunges, Clubs = Side bends (you can switch up the activities each day).
2. Students are in 4 groups (each corner of the room).One person from each group will take turns grabbing a card.  The group will do the activity of the card. For example, Jack of Hearts, the group would do 10 jumping jacks.
3. The groups try to collect as many points as possible. The group that does the most exercises in allotted time frame, wins!
4. BONUS:
   • 2 bonus points for a pair
   • 3 bonus points for triplets
   • 5 points for a flush or a straight.
   • 10 points for a full house
   • 20 points for a straight flush

First year supply teaching or “occasional teaching”

I was hired by the WRDSB, or Waterloo Region District School Board in October 2010 and began my first year as an “Occasional Teacher” – covering for full-time teachers.  I wish I had blogged throughout the school year, but was too busy calling Subfinder for jobs! I ended up working a fair amount this year, and as I am expecting baby #2 in October, I will be doing more of the same this year. However, it was very hard watching some very interesting LTO opportunities pass me by. Looking forward to applying next year.

I have taken several workshops during this time and hope to update this blog with the latest research and resources throughout the year, including interview tips, assessment, junior math, and technical resources!

Is The Shepherd’s Grandaughter okay to read to Jewish students?

I’m wondering, would you read this book to your class if you had Jewish students? The book has won several awards and is highly recommended by Gregory Bryan in his book review:

One of the values of Carter’s book is that it presents events from the Palestinian perspective. What little is told in the Western World of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tends most often to carry a bias toward the Israeli perspective, coloured with the guise of Biblical Promised Lands. Young readers should be reminded that this book presents just one side of what is a complex, bloody story. The ills of the world will not be solved through the mere reading of books, but I think that Carter’s work provides an opportunity for middle and high school readers to gain further information about their world, helping to make them more knowledgeable, understanding (and, I suspect, compassionate) people.

Gregory Bryan teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, MB
www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol15/no3/theshepherdsgranddaughter.html

If you have read this book, please post an opinion below!

Media that Matters

I was introduced to this great resource, Media that Matters, in Steve Sider’s Teaching for Equity and Diversity class (EU 403).  It hosts wonderful videos about important subjects that don’t get enough attention from mainstream media.

One video that we watched today was called, “A Girl Like Me” by Kiri Davis, which explores the standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls and how this affects their self-image. One particularly poignant moment occurs when young black girls are are given their choice of dolls: a black one and a white one. Fifteen out of twenty-one girls chose the white one. What was worse, when asked to identify the “bad” baby, the girls picked up the black one. 

How does this relate to teaching?  It is important to be aware of the issues that are affecting our students and address them in the classroom.  Ensuring that your course material accurately reflects and appreciates the diversity in your classroom, and the diversity in the world, is an important first step to ensuring our children grow up equipped to live in our global society.

Recommended Author: Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis

Are you looking for a good book to add to you classroom? I can highly recommend any book by Canadian author, Deborah Ellis. Her stories tackle the most amazing topics, that single-handedly break down stereotypes and myths about cultures that many North Americans are unfamiliar with, or misinformed about. She bravely and sensitivley addresses topics on AIDS, the homeless, Middle Eastern cultures, orphans, child labour, drug dealing, the disabled, and more!

Photograph is from: www.ourcanadiangirl.ca/author_ellis.php

My Coaching Philosophy

Tammy Gaudun’s  Coaching Philosophy

(written in November, 2009 and is still evolving)

Why I decided to enter the teaching profession

The desire to be involved in sports and to coach was a big factor in my decision to become a teacher. I wanted to come home each day from work and feel that I’ve done something important – something with meaning, like improving a child’s self-esteem and building a brighter future for them. This is something I did not experience that in my previous career. 

Originally, I thought that as a teacher, I would value effort above all else in phys-ed class.  And while effort is hugely important, it does not reflect any sort of learning or development. You’re not doing the students any favours if you do not provide them with challenges in which they can improve and feel good about their efforts and their bodies. Realizing that you’re capable of so much more than you thought is empowering, and I want every one of my students to feel more empowered when they leave my class.  

Phys-ed: Grade 7 Healthy Living Unit Overview

Health & Physical Education

Healthy Living Unit

Grade 7

Why is the content of this unit important to teach?

The healthy living unit is one of the rare units that is directly relatable to the students personal lives. In grade 7, students are beginning a long and difficult journey into adulthood. This process is often one the students are ill-equipped to face. Some students don’t have parents who address the topics at home, with others only getting the clinical version. Also, some teachers are uncomfortable with this topic as well, leaving students feeling confused, embarrassed without effective coping strategies.

Motivating Grade 6 Students

M. Lisa Enright Cornish, Beth Gallagher, Tammy Gaudun, and Kevin O’Neill 

WLU EU 401: Approaches to Motivation    

Case Study: Grade 6 Science & Technology – Biodiversity

Identify and describe the distinguishing characteristics of different groups of plants and animals (e.g., invertebrates have no spinal column; insects have three basic body parts; flowering plants produce flowers and fruits), and use these characteristics to further classify various kinds of plants and animals (e.g., invertebrates – arthropods – insects; vertebrates – mammals – primates; seed plants – flowering plants – grasses).     

Grade 5 Social Studies: WebQuest – 3 Days in Ancient Egypt

By Alma Kentel, Laruen Bourdages & Tammy Gaudun

You woke up this morning in a sweat, light blinding your eyes and sand in your mouth.  As you wipe the sleep of your eyes  you are totally bewildered by your surroundings.  It appears you are in some desert land, but you recognize the objects on the horizon background – pyramids!  Just then a young boy rides past you on a camel and stops right beside you.    

“My name is Baruti and I’ve been expecting you,” he says.