Classroom Perspectives

It began on a lovely spring afternoon in 2015, when a Grade 7 student came up to me during recess: Student: “Do you know Rick Mercer?” Me: “Yup.” Student: “Do you know about his Spread the Net?” Me: “Yup.” Student: “Could we do that?” And with that brief exchange, a seed was planted, one that would eventually grow into one of Macville Public School’s most powerful and positive experiences.

I have gleaned three wise teachings from King Lear's fool and each one informs my practice in the classroom more and more each day.

Two years ago, my principal rolled an iPad cart into my classroom. I'd been challenged to design and implement a 1:1 iPad program that would enhance the highly structured academic curriculum already in place. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I set out on this technology adventure, but I quickly realized that trail-blazing wasn't all glitter and rainbows.

School is a part of every child’s life. During their academic years, students deal with so many different facets of growth and development—physical, cognitive, emotional, and social. Having a chronic illness on top of the regular day-to-day stressors of being a student can be an enormous burden and challenge.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that rules without relationships lead to rebellion. Yet today, relationships with students seem to be feared instead of embraced. Over the years, quite by accident, I have discovered that this precept from days gone by is critical to classroom rules and to learning itself. Relationships are an essential part of learning, especially relationships between teachers and students.

Often, we forget our students come to class each day with a lot more on their minds than academics. Despite this, my students willingly express gratitude each morning.

This past year, in a small Midwest community, we lost a student to a drug overdose. We have lost many more to drug addiction, and although we haven’t attended their funerals, they are no longer the students we once knew, while some are unrecognizable.

For teachers, time is a precious commodity. That’s why I believe we need to incorporate Google Drive into our everyday teaching standards.