One Teacher's Adventures

Today was the last day of classes in my district.  While I am very ready for the summer break, I will definitely miss my group of Grade 4s.   As a year-end gift, I decided to create a Wordle for my partner teacher with all of our students' names.  Wordles are word clouds that you can make for free ( click here ).  You simply type text into the wordle box, and the program generates a word cloud that you can edit for font, colour, and configuration.  The program uses an algorithm that increases the size of words that are repeated more often. My Wordle looked like this: I loved this so much that I decided to something similar, but more special, for the kids.  First, I gave every student a page with all their classmates names on it.  I asked them to write down three words to describe everyone else in the class.  (We brainstormed a list of about 50 or 60 positive adjectives before they began and I wrote them all on the chalkboard). Then I...

Friday was a strange day.  It may have been the last day of the school year, but we may be back next week.  It's all very frustrating.  I wanted to say goodbye to my kids - especially my Grade 9's who will be moving up to high school next year, but I also want to keep hope alive that we will be back in school next week after reaching a fair deal at the bargaining table this weekend.  I've been so stressed about going into the summer without being paid for the last two weeks while on strike, about finishing up the end of the year routines and units, about report card procedures (we are not supposed to write them due to the job action, yet if we come back after reaching a deal, they will need to be ready to go), and so many other factors. However, I received some special letters yesterday that make it all worth it! This is why I can put up with all the other stuff.  The end of the year is so hard.  I will miss my kids  :(