Hi!
Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many posts on Split Glue. A little bit about myself and then song goals for the blog follow. I am a recent university graduate from the University of Alberta. I have degrees in Philosophy and Elementary Education. I have had two short temporary teaching contracts since graduating and I am currently on the supply list for two school boards.
I also have a part time job on the side in a customer service position. Like my PC though I may purchase an iPad in the near future to go with my iPod.
On a side note, I enjoy the outdoors as often as possible through camping and gold panning, and many other activities.
Goals for this blog include writing about education as I see it. Writing about interesting apps for the iPod/iPad along with other cool tech things to be found. I hope I can help others out there and give a little back. Finally I hope you the reader will help me out and respond to the questions I may pose once in a while and here is the first: As a supply teacher, I can't write about the school, students, teachers I interact with or their interactions with technology during my day as a supply teacher. To do so would be unprofessional in my opinion. Is there anything I can write about as a supply teacher?
I think you can write about your daily practice - As a general rule, it is unwise to identify the school - by name, or by explicit descriptions of what it is like.
ReplyDeleteYou can however, use classroom anecdotes & reflections on your experiences in your blog posts.
Take a look at these - http://bit.ly/aHMKYe and http://bit.ly/h99T1w for ideas.
Hi.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michael. I am also a substitute teacher. And I face the same questions you do.
So, I one of the things I do on my blog is reflect on my teaching experiences, without naming names, even for good news. However, I also use my blog for active, individualized PD. The school district I work for, just a little east of Edmonton, does not offer substitute PD, something I learned after months of asking what I should be doing for PD.
I also maintain a website on which I create and share teaching resources and project ideas. Since, as a substitute, I have no chance of doing this at any school, I do it online. I believe lesson planning is one of our permanent certificate requirements. But I also just love doing it. And if any teacher finds my resources useful, so much the better.
On my blog I occasionally refer to these resources on my website. So far, these posts are my most popular.
Some teachers maintain a second blog on which they anonymously post comics or other rants about school experiences again without naming names including their own.
And many, including me, keep a personal blog as well. In this they post about their hobbies or other personal interests which they want to talk about publicly.
I also agree empirically with your second post regarding rules and procedures. It is hard to enforce order, respect the regular teacher and respect the students when you have no idea what the procedures are. Worse yet, the students know it. I generally let students talk as they like so long as they are on task, ask questions, keep the volume down and don't horse around.
Good luck and have fun.
Shawn