I see this sort of thing everyday. Behavi
In AB you are not allowed to hold a student back unless the parents give permission. The majority of kids I've taught that would benefit from being held back coem from homes with poor parenting. So of course most times they don't agree to hold back. You also need permission from the superintentnt where I am to hold a kid back. So first you get permission from principal to even bring up repeating a grade with a parent, if the parent agrees to let you talk abotu it with the parent then you talk abotu it with the parent. If the parent agrees to hold the kid back then you take the info to the principal and they must form a case to be sent to the super indentant who actually makes the ultimate decision. Truly, I know the students academic/behaviour/social needs better then anyone, yet I have the smallest role in the decision.
We don't do learn at your own pace... lol.. that's a fucking joke... If they are bringing this in to supprt kids who are behind, they will just fall further behind unless they come from a great home who will work with them and push them. Work at your own pace might let bright students go through curriculum faster, but I doubt they will learn it very throroughly
I rarely let kids help each other lol.. This year is the first year I've done it and I've only let 1 child get help from the boy she sits beside. It's an extreme case and the onyl time I've let it. Kid needs help? They get it from me so I have full control of what help they get and I have a better understanding of that kids needs.
Honestly, here's how to fix education.
1) Be willing to repeat kids at the kindergarten/grade 1 level. I've taught this age and its usually very obvious which kids aren't ready to go to the next grade. If you let them, the learning gap gets bigger and bigger each year they move ahead when they shouldn't. Have them repeat K/1 and its the single best thing you could possibly do for them. Rarely is a kid who is far behind able to catch up by moving them ahead.
this was the grade we wanted to hold our grandson back, but he is way to big. It would be way too obvious and we didn’t want him thinking he was a dummy later on. I had a friend that was like my grandson and that’s how he felt when he was held back being a big as he was. Never really had a lot of friends either.
*this will never be put into place because the government sets aside a specific amount of dollars per kid to have them graduate gr 12. IF you start repeating kids, these kids cost more then the government budgeted.
2) Have a provinical wide attendence policy. Most kids who are behind are behind purely due to attendence or it is a significant factor. I have kids in jr high whose total absences since gr 1 equal to 3-4 full years of missed school. And of course they are behind, but we push them through. I have no choice in this.
To put it into perspective. I have 26 kids in my class. As of last week we have had 120 days of school. I added up all the days each of my students have missed.. Are you sitting down? Of the 120 days of school, my students have missed 520 FULL days of school (its actually around 525, but I fotget the exact number).
3) get rid of all the new curriculum for math/language and go back to doing what teachers did when it worked.
this is part of Fords new plan. He is for sure reverting back to old math.
4) cut the shit out of the curriculum that is now irrelevent. Rememebr when we had to rotate triangles and flip rectangles on graph paper??? They still make kids do that shit lol... totally useless waste of time... Replace it with functional math that adults need to live.
5) Keep class size less than 22 until grade 10... You'll never know how huge this factor is until your standing on the front lines. Every single kid in the room will get a better education.
it is only in high school where he is increasing class size and it’s still way under 30. Still 22 in lower grades
6) Keep classes under 15 in grad k-2... Spend the money to give kdis the best possible chance to start school on the right foot. I'm telling you, if they do well in k-2 they just keep doing well. If they do poorly in k-2, they will contnue to struggle until they get HUGE support from someone outside of regular teaching. Again, the gaps between learning only get bigger unless huge steps are taken.
it is like this at my grandsons school, actually around 10.
But it is my opinion and well as the teachers that full day prekindergarten is stupid, they are way too young to be in school. This will be phased out, it was brought in by Whynn as a vote ploy.
7) don't be such pussies when it comes to making policies with how to deal with behaviour. Policies really restrict what consequences I can apply and you'd be floored if you knew things I can not do to punish kids and things kids are entitleed to regardless of their behaviour.
totally agree here. When we go to parent teacher interviews we always give the teacher to treat our grandson like their own child. They are allowed to discipline. It was funny because on timevour grabdson was whining about how his teacher was being mean. We told him to listen next time, lol,
We need to keep in mind the idea of the "family" is really different than it used to be. And the amount of good parenting at home has really changed.
I could tell you a story about a student and his behviour in another class over the last two days and your jaw would drop to the floor with what the kid has done and what the outcome was of his behaviour.
please tell the story.
*I've said it before, give me less kids in my class before you give me a raise and I'd be overwhelmed with joy. I don't want a raise. I want a cap of 22 kids in my room. I'd be happy to not get a raise for 10 years to make this happen.
Please check above I answered in your quote in red.
What I think is funny is that everyone is blasting Ford for changes, but he is doing a lot of what you recommend.
No teachers will be let go and my wife worked out the ones that he plans on not replacing works out to around 1 teacher per school and if the remove prekingegarden that there is the 1 teacher.
So yeah they are screaming for nothing.
Anyhow, you are likely the 50% that would take a smaller class size over a raise. It’s tough for you because you can’t compaire yourself to the average teacher. You go above and beyond. There are a few at my grandson school and they stand out.
A lot of teachers shop at my store.