Working Part-time and Sharing a Class

Since my return to work at the end of 2011, I have been working part-time - initially three days, and then four days. Today I want to reflect on my experiences as the fill-in person, and also sharing responsibility of a class.

Filling-in
When I worked three days I was the fill-in person for a Year 3 class, a Year 5/6 class and a Kindergarten class. By "fill-in" I mean the main teacher of the class had them four days in the week and then I did their fifth days either because they worked part-time or because they were acting in a higher duties role. I wasn't required to do much planning for these lessons, but rather just taught and marked book work. For the most part I was given the desired outcomes and sometimes a whole lesson plan. It was a good way to ease back into teaching and to regain confidence in my ability to teach. (I can't believe how much confidence I lost in my ability to do anything but mother - and after only one year!) On the downside, I didn't really build relationships with the kids and I didn't feel excited about what I was teaching - essentially it was someone else's idea.

Key things that help when filling-in

• speak to the teacher in advance to assist with planning lessons (and thus not over-planning)
• find ways to present the lesson in a way that is meaningful and enjoyable to you
• make sure you mark all the work students complete - it is not fair to leave this for their usual teacher
• use strong behaviour management techniques to avoid students taking advantage of you
• get to know the students' names quickly and forge relationships where possible

Sharing a Class
In 2012 I worked three days on a Year 4 class sharing with a great teacher and one day on Preschool (2 classes for a half-day each). The shared responsibility on the Year 4 class was such that we split the role as fairly and sensibly as possible. I taught the Maths, ICT and Integrated Inquiry lessons on my days and my co-teacher taught spelling, handwriting, music and art on her days. We both taught reading groups. Splitting the subject areas made it easier for assessing and reporting as well. One thing that made communication easier for us was that my co-teacher was working full time in the school, so I could catch up with her on my days to keep up with what was going on. Something I struggled with, was that I often felt that I wasn't pulling my weight. When I'm the one responsible for completing everything, I get it done - sometimes right before the deadline. My co-teacher however, likes to keep ahead of the game and thus if I hadn't done it yet, she would. I have issues with other people doing my work for me, so I found it hard! I don't like to burden others with my procrastination!

Key things that help when sharing a class:

• divide up the administrative workload so each knows what is expected and when
• communicate - in person where possible, through email, or in a communication book
• try to avoid teaching the other teacher's follow up lesson or leaving the follow-up for the other teacher 
• be prepared to compromise - neither of you can run the classroom entirely they way you would on your own
• leave the desk/classroom tidy at the end of the day - perhaps have just one pile on the desk for books/papers that are being used regularly, share shelf space for resources.
• mark and assess on the work you teach
• meet with parents together as much as possible so that each knows what has been discussed and can contribute own perspective

So for 2013 I have been given four days on the one class, with another teacher doing my fifth day. I'm really looking forward to being the main teacher responsible for the class including full reports, parent contact etc. I'm planning to leave the "fill-in" teacher with journal, handwriting, and other subjects that require minimal assessment/reporting. I'm really looking forward to diving back into it all.

What experiences have others had when working part time or sharing a class?

The Year That Was - 2012

Waiting for a train

I realise I've missed the boat a little on this one, but I had it half-written at the end of the year and just needed to return to it to add the finishing touches (photos, links etc)

January - Enjoyed the summer holidays and my flourishing veggie patch. Had a great bunch of basil, sweet juicy corn and more beans than I could keep up with. My tomatoes struggled because we had too much rain and the plants were infected with fungal disease. Took a simple family trip to Sydney to show the little guy some new sights and experiences!


Term One - Returned to work for a new school year teaching a Year 4 class three days a week and Preschool one day a week. Revisited the Rowan of Rin unit of work I taught previously and enjoyed the greater availability of both video cameras and laptop computers this time around. Also began using CARS for assessing and teaching comprehension strategies.

Struggled a little initially as I tried to determine what "Penny the preschool teacher" entailed. As it turned out, I was trying to squeeze too much into the day and over thinking things. Came up with a plan to simplify in Term 2.

My professional development focus was on the Quality Teaching model. I was a little disappointed to miss out on some other PD opportunities due to working part time or lack of available time in the evenings due to being a mum of a toddler. I have the passion and desire, but no time!

Holidays - prepped my veggie patch for my first winter crop which resulted in great garlic and onions come summer - but spinach and Asian greens were unsuccessful. It felt like the garden just froze until spring! Enjoyed Easter and had our first egg hunt with the little guy in the backyard.

Term 2 - Taught a Year 4 geology unit of work and, towards the end of term, started an Australian History unit. As we were using the new Australian curriculum, much of the content was new to me and I needed to do a bit of research in order to understand and explain how volcanoes/mountains etc are formed. In ICT lessons we began to explore responsible digital citizenship within our system's online learning community. Students began designing their homepage and wrote a blog entry.

At the Preschool I taught fundamental motor skills - catching, kicking, balancing, running, jumping. This meant I no longer had to organize table activities for the students and gather the materials. It made for a more relaxed day. The morning group also partnered up with their Year 4 buddies for activities on a fortnightly basis.

Holidays - Spent time preparing for our big trip to the USA.

Term 3 - We finished the Australian History unit and began a Technology unit involving textiles - my favourite Year 4 unit. Students learned new skills in sewing, knitting, crochet, macrame etc. For their main assessment task, they designed and made a gardening pouch.

The Preschool fundamental motor skills program continued as did the buddies program.

Holidays - I took long service leave for the last week of term and my family travelled to the USA to see friends on the West Coast. During this time we visited San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma, Portland, and Seattle.

Term 4 - This term got a little messed around with sickness. There were some weeks where we bounced from Matthew being sick, to me being sick, and back to Matthew being sick again. Despite being vaccinated, he managed to catch a mild dose of chicken pox, during which time I decided to toilet train him! It was time well spent!

When I did manage to get back to class, we were very focused on getting assessment and moderation completed and reports written. We finished off our Technology unit and saw the year out with a range of craft activities.

At the Preschool, I ran an ICT program to introduce students to the basics of using the computer lab. They logged onto the network and brought up the Maths Circus program from a Maths Activities folder. The key fine motor skills they learnt were coordinating ctrl + alt + del and double-clicking with a mouse. They enjoyed playing the Maths Circus games, modifying the difficulty level and sharing their achievements with their friends. At the end of the lesson they closed down the program and logged off the computer. Basic skills - but essential. I was really proud to see how far they came over the term and to know that their Kindergarten teacher has no excuse for not taking them to the lab now!

It was a good year all 'round, and I'm looking forward to what the next one has in store. Happy New Year all!

Tech Tips Tuesday

iPad for Preschoolers #2 Alphabet apps

I was a little nervous about putting my iPad into the sticky hands of a two year old, particularly one who seems to hack into things with natural ability! I bought a Fisher Price cover which has proven goop resistant so far and the hard plastic case seems to have done the trick in protection from everyday kid use. While not cheap, it has made me a lot more relaxed and so has been worth the investment. There are far too many things for mothers to stress over when living with a two year old!

I also adjusted the restrictions settings to prevent in app purchases and to request a password every time for new purchases. I have put all my apps (email etc) into folders for Mummy on the last page of apps. There is enough of interest to my little one that he doesn't bother with mine.

So today I thought I would share some of the Alphabet apps that are available and which I have found useful and worthwhile. It is worth noting here, however, that my little one has been more interested in numbers than the alphabet so far, so I am yet to see how his enthusiasm for these will develop.

Elmo Loves ABCs
This app is very large with great content for each letter of the alphabet and thus takes up quite a bit of space on the iPad. Activities are provided to support children with letter id, letter sounds and letter tracing. Children are rewarded with more content. My little guy loves the videos with the ABC songs that are included in this app. Parents can also track their child's progress.

Bugsy Pre-K
This app covers numbers, colours, shapes and the alphabet. The nice thing with this one is that it includes both the text and the audio for the questions, so my little one has some clues to help him answer the questions! He loves the Bugsy games and I am able to see his progress in this and other Peapod lab apps with an account. If you are interested further, you could check out the other ABC apps Peapod lab produces as they are similar to topic dictionaries and may enhance vocabulary and letter id.

Alien Buddies
This is another general preschool app that builds learning around colours, shapes, letters and numbers. The cute alien characters add to the appeal of this app, and the matching game is attractive to littlies. I got it for free when it came on sale recently, and my little guy was enjoying it today. There is an info page for parents, but no customizable features or progress reports.

AlphaTots
This app includes an interactive activity for each letter of the alphabet. My little guy enjoys this app, and has his favourite activities. It is a good introduction to the alphabet and sure beats the alphabet frieze or basic ABC book of yesteryear!

Goodnight ABC
This is one of my little guy's favourites. He frequently comes back to it and enjoys the music on the panda page in particular. It is VERY interactive and each page has loads of learning opportunities for children. To extend further, they can change to vocabulary mode and the label for each picture comes up so that they can hear and see the name of the item. My only gripe with this app is that, unlike Animalia, the pages include items beginning with different letters of the alphabet.

Animalia
This beautiful book is the work of Graeme Base, made interactive for iPad. Each page contains objects beginning with the relevant letter of the alphabet. Children search each page for the hidden items and can discuss the many other items starting with that letter/sound. My little one hasn't explored this yet, but I feel it will be more relevant to him as he gains a greater understanding of the alphabet - particularly for extending his vocabulary. I have only purchased the iPhone version so far and upsized it to fit the iPad, as I am waiting for the iPad HD version to come on sale.

rEd Writing
We only purchased this app in the last week, but so far it has been a big hit with my little one. We have the iPhone version, upsized on the iPad, but he has mainly played it on my phone. This is an Australian app, complete with accent and appropriate fonts for Australian schools. Children are rewarded stickers for tracing letters and numbers correctly. The monsters make it very cute! I was amazed by how interested my little guy was in this one given his usual disinterest in the alphabet.

Little Writer
This is another cute app for writing letters, numbers, shapes and words. I'm not sure of the font for this words, but if that's not a concern for you, than it's definitely worth looking into (and free at time of writing). I like the way that it shows the order of the pencil strokes and that it includes some words. I haven't looked into it much yet, but there are customizable options as well. My gripe: it is not very forgiving when you go off the pathway - which is good when you are trying to promote neat letter formation, but not great for very little ones just starting out.

Other posts that might interest you:
Tech Tips Tuesday - iPad for Preschoolers #1 Mathematics Concepts

Tech Tips Tuesday

iPad for Preschoolers #1 Mathematics Concepts

We went on a trip to the USA this year. It was the first time we had really done the west coast and we had a great time. We flew into San Francisco and then drove up the coast seeing Napa/Sonoma, the Redwoods, Portland and Seattle. Needless to say, the trip involved a lot of travel - both in the plane and on the road.

In preparation for this journey, we bought an iPad and loaded it up with games for our almost two year old. There were many times that we were VERY grateful for having done so. Had it not been for this trip, I doubt I would have seen the value in buying and 'sharing' an iPad with a toddler. He would have missed out on a huge range of learning experiences that are available and easily accessible. We continue to use the iPad when going on a long drive, and also at home. I use AppShopper to watch the price drops of apps and to watch items on my wish list. this way I don't have to pay the full price unless I want an app immediately. While I still look for quality free apps, I've learnt the value in paying for good apps. I am not a fan of in-app advertisements or lite versions when it comes to apps for kids. I would rather pay for the whole service up-front than have to buy additions to make it enjoyable.

So, over the next few weeks I thought I would share some of our favorite apps. This week we start with apps to build early Maths concepts including number and shape.

Bugs and Bubbles
I love the beautiful graphics in this game. It is great for building vocabulary (more/less, size, colour, etc) for practicing counting and number recognition, and for identifying simple patterns. It's not free, but I waited until it came on sale, and will do the same for the partner app - Bugs and Buttons.

Bugsy K Math
My little guy keeps coming back to this one. I'm not sure what the appeal is for him, but he seems to like the hamster! This app has counting, adding and number tracing as well as subitising ( seeing a number of items as they flash by - like knowing the amount shown on dice.) If I got my act together I could set up an account and track his progress with this and other Peabody apps, but at this stage, he seems to be taking delight in showing me how wrong he can be! That or he likes the way the hamster says huh-uh when he gets the answer wrong!

Team Umizoomi Math
This one appealed to us because we had previously watched the television program. We haven't got past the first two levels yet, which consist of touching objects to 'count' them and matching numerals 1-6. This one is more costly as it is part of the Nickelodeon family, but it has more appeal as such. I like that this is one that will grow with us over the years.

Tally Tots
This app has not been the huge success I'd hoped for yet, but I'm still waiting to see if it becomes more enjoyable for the little guy. I like that it works with numbers 1-20 and that it has an activity for each number.

I'm sure there are many that I have missed. Please let me know the great ones you have found.

Update 17/12/2012
After not playing with it for a while, my little guy returned to Counting with the Very Hungry Caterpillar yesterday. It held his interest and he busied himself following the instructions on level 5. While not his favourite, it was great to see him trying it out and being successful.

We also came across Hickory Dickory Dock which both my husband and I struggled to figure out, but sure enough my son was on top of within 10 minutes! This is a clock game that also reinforces number recognition and familiarity with an analogue clock face. Just be warned, the first time you play, you are hit with an ad straight away - ugh! I hate the ads!

Other posts that might interest you:
Tech Tips Tuesday - iPad for Preschoolers #2 Alphabet Apps 

Those Tricky Conversations

As a parent, I now realise more than ever before, how much a parent wants to hear that their child is doing well with their education. And also, how very much they fear hearing that their child is NOT doing well. Parents generally don't know what is considered 'normal' for their child's age, and thus rely on their child's educator to inform them of any concerns. While I'm sure we all recognise our children's individuality, we still want to ensure that we are providing them with a good start to life and the opportunities that will lead to their success. 

I have been aware of this with my own little boy. He has now turned two and seems to be doing fairly well for his age. How do I know this? Through comparisons! I look at other children of a similar age to gauge his development and I monitor his progress by looking at Early Childhood Development resources such as these:

• Raising Children Network - Toddler Development Articles
• Zero to Three
• Baby Zone - Toddler Week by Week

That said, however, I'm still thrown when my Family Day Care Provider mentions that my little one confused sinking and floating when talking about some objects during water play. My logical side tells me: "She is telling me this as it is an area that she has discovered that he is interested in, and that she can work on with him. Besides, sinking and floating is something that will come up continually through both life experience and education. There is no need to be concerned." But my not-so-logical side tells me: "Aaaah! There's something my little boy doesn't already know that has come to his educator's attention. She must think he should know this already! What else have I failed to teach him." RIDICULOUS!

Which brings me back to the title for this post - those tricky conversations. Unfortunately, part of a teacher's responsibility is to inform parents of the areas their child is struggling with, and to provide some suggestions for how to improve. And, whilst we try to do this throughout the year, as the issues come to light, the bulk of this information becomes evident when we collate the assessment results for the term/semester to write reports and allocate grades. 

At my school, Semester 2 reports go home during the last week of the school year. Given the process, it would be difficult to send them out any earlier. Final assessments are made in the first five weeks of term. Reports are then written and proof-read a number of times before printing and signing by the class teacher and principal. This then allows parents to read through the reports and contact the school about any questions they may have. In order to prevent issues after the reports have been sent out, teachers are encouraged to contact parents in advance so that there are 'no surprises'. This generally translates to: Contact any parent whose child will be receiving a D grade. But this year I also included students who had dropped a grade in two or more subjects. I dread these phone calls. 

This year I have worked quite closely with the students receiving D grades, and I know that they have been trying really hard, and also that they have made progress. But then, when I look at the whole year cohort, it is quite clear that they are not all performing at the same level. How do you explain to a parent, that despite their child's best efforts, they still don't understand the concepts well enough? They still struggle to perform at the standard for their grade level. What is worse is that for some of these students, their lag is such that they may be chasing the tail of the rest of the cohort for the whole of their schooling. And then, how do you explain that holding them back a year may not actually be in their best interest either. Parents just want to know the answers. They blame themselves for their child's struggles and just want to make it right. But there are no easy answers. I hate those tricky conversations.