Time to reflect.

I go away every term with a group of colleagues and I reflect. Do we have fun as well? Why yes we do! They challenge my thinking and they make me look at myself. They challenge me to do my job better! What did learn this time? Well I had it reinforced in my thinking of how important those relationships we have with the students are. You have to make a connection, you cant go through the day and not show a student in some way that you understand where they are coming from.

Bully!

Its a title that no one wants but will earn at some stage in their lives. Okay that may be an exaggeration but so kids through assertiveness or clever words or just playground antics will be labeled a bully at some stage. It might be from their peers,but most likely it will be from the parent who wasn't there or didn't see and is only getting one side of the story. All schools will have a degree of bullying physical or verbal. I would never trust a principal who said "We don't have bullying at our school!" There have been a few who have used this line. Before you, the concerned parent,label a child on hearsay, or put the word out in the community take time to reflect on your own actions. What does that action make you!

As I wait for another meeting with the MOE it gives me a chance to think. I recently have spoken to a number of parents and the question they always ask me is what is going on in my child's class. Well were do you wish to start. There's reading, now that normally takes shape in groups and the groups are ability grouped. The groups have a reading book that that they work on,a number of tasks are worked on that relate to the book.These task are normally comprehension related or give the students to take a different path with their thinking. Writing is involved as it is a huge part of the literacy process.Every so often the students will be tested to ascertain where their reading needs work.Its not about constantly climbing up the levels.The measuring is to assist the teacher it has however it seems to have become a competition for families and their kids and versus other families. Why?