One Teacher's Adventures

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that my students live in a world where news doesn’t just come from the evening broadcast or the front page of a newspaper. Instead, it comes through TikTok videos, Instagram posts, YouTube clips, and memes shared at lightning speed. And while our students are more connected than ever, that doesn’t mean they’re better at figuring out what’s real, what’s biased, and what’s flat-out fake. That’s why I make a point of teaching media literacy in my classroom. Why Media Literacy Matters We’ve all seen how quickly misinformation can spread, whether it’s a miscaptioned photo, a sensationalized headline, or a “news” story that turns out to be satire. For students, who may not yet have the critical thinking tools to question their sources, this can be overwhelming. When I introduce media literacy, I don’t frame it as “don’t believe anything you see online.” Instead, I teach students how to ask better questions : Where is this information coming fr...

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year. As Earth Day approaches, middle school teachers have a golden opportunity to infuse their curriculum with meaningful activities that honour our planet while meeting educational standards. From math, English, and French to social studies, science, and art, here are some creative ways to incorporate Earth Day into every subject: Math: Environmental Data Analysis Project : Engage students in a real-world math project by providing them with environmental data sets related to topics such as air quality, water pollution, or climate change. Students can use mathematical concepts such as statistics, graphs, and proportions to analyze the data, identify trends, and draw conclusions about environmental trends and patterns. Encourage students to present their findings in a report or presentation, highlighting the mathematical techniques used and their implications for environmental stewardship. This project not only reinforces mathematical skills bu...

I have been working closely with the literacy support teacher at my school recently.  She and I have been co-teaching a Grade 8 Social Studies class and today I'd like to share an activity that she introduced me to: Collaborative Place Mats.  This technique is especially helpful at the beginning of a project or inquiry to help groups start to brainstorm about their big idea, topic, or question. Before we began the activity, we talked as a class about what behaviours we wanted to follow as we worked in groups.  Students offered ideas, and they were recorded on chart paper. From their criteria, I created a self-assessment checklist for the students to use as a reflection after the activity. Once we had established the guidelines, we explained the place mat activity.  Here's how it works: Each table received a piece of chart paper with our project question in the middle.  In this case, the question was "How would you provide for people in a comm...

This term, I've partnered up with the Literacy Support teacher in my school for my Social Studies 8 class.  For two blocks each week, she comes into the classroom and we co-teach lessons for the Grade 8s. She has more experience and so many more ideas than me, so it's been amazing getting to work with her in the classroom and learn from her. One idea that she had was to do an artifact study to explore culture and to spark critical thinking. This is what we did over the course of 4 days. Day 1:   As a whole class, we had a discussion about artifacts.  My co-teacher, Laurie, is Ukrainian and brought in a Ukrainian headscarf from her family.  She didn't tell the kids a lot about the scarf at teh beginning of the lesson.  Instead, she asked them to observe it, ask questions, and arrive at conclusions about it.   For example, one student noticed it was made from wool, and concluded that the people who made it must have had access to sheep to col...

As a wrap-up project to a lesson on stereotypes with a Grade 7 class, I decided to have the students create travel brochures for our great country, but they were only allowed to use typical Canadian stereotypes to bring in tourists. Each student had to include information on food, accommodations, sights, and activities to try.  It was hilarious to read what they came up with!  I was very impressed with their final projects!  Some students included typical Canadian advertisements, as well! So, what do you think? Would this work in your classroom? Have you done something similar? Let me know in the comments below. Looking for more great tips and ideas for middle school? Subscribe to my email list and receive an exclusive FREE sub plans resource. It includes plans for math, ELA, science, social studies, and Core French. Click  here  to subscribe.

I'm in the middle of my "Symbols of Canada" unit with my Grade 1's.   It has been a learning experience for me, as I haven't taught Grade 1 since I was a student teacher, but it has been really fun!   I'm enjoying bringing in resources for my kids all about Canada and British Columbia. Last week, I showed them "O Canada" from Ted Harrison, a Canadian painter who recently passed away.     I love Harrison's paintings.  They are full of colour and his style is so distinctive.  As a class, we discussed the images in the book and pointed out Canadian landscapes and symbols.       This week, I brought in "S is for Spirit Bear" by G. Gregory Roberts and Bob Doucet.  While Ted Harrison's book has a lot of images of Northern Canada, "S is for Spirit Bear" focusses on British Columbia.      It is an Alphabet Book of B.C. with beautiful illustrations b...

When I was in University, my reading professor gave us the idea of a one-page basic book report for young readers.  She called it the Bare Bones Book Report.  Basically, she folded a piece of paper into quarters and had us fill in each quarter with a different aspect of the book (character, plot, setting, and conflict).  She only wanted the bare bones of the book. I've used versions of this idea for so many assignments, with elementary, middle, and high school students.  Last year, I used it as a note-taking strategy in Grade 8 Social Studies.  As my students watched a film about the crisis in the Middle East, they took notes in the four section of the paper with these headings: Important People, Important Places, Vocabulary to Know, Questions I Have.  With a Grade 4/5 class, I used it when I was teaching connections in reading.  My students made notes about the connections they made in their free choice books. The ...