Karen Graham
Tracy Boyd has been busy, and she is delighted to join our school community at Millbrook/South Cavan Public School.After seven years as a supply teacher, Boyd was hired on Labour day last year by another school in the district, and she spent the month of September in catch-up mode establishing her routine and her program. This year she learned in June that she would teach grade three in Millbrook, giving her the whole summer to plan. As a result, instead of sitting by the phone waiting for a call for a job interview, Boyd spent the summer relaxing and preparing for the new school year. While there are always some nerves about changing schools for teachers as well as students, with her class work organized and her classroom walls covered with colourful learning aids, she is eager to meet her new class.
The Enthusiasm of grade three teacher Tracy Boyd is obvious in her smile and her classroom as they await the arrival of her class.
Teachers have been in the schools preparing their classrooms and their curriculums for the past few weeks. Sometimes the best laid plans are for naught, however, as last minute changes to enrolment can change the makeup of the classes, as Millbrook teacher Carrie Ray learned last week when her class switched from a split grade one and two to a straight grade two, making some of her plans with fellow grade one teacher Karen Hunter no longer relevant.
You have to go with the flow, before classes begin but particularly once they start. Hunter and Boyd agreed that although it might seem prudent to get the scoop about specific students in their class to be prepared for potential class dynamics, these seasoned professionals wait a week to establish their own opinion before referring to official and unofficial sources of information so history does not necessarily repeat itself.
With ten years of primary teaching under her belt, Grade One teacher Karen Hunter compares the preparation behind each school day to that of planning a birthday party: the environment must be fun and engaging, there has to be the opportunity for positive social interaction, there is a seating plan to avoid potential problems, and of course, there is curriculum to deliver. To meet the learning needs of their students, teachersmust often communicate the course material in a variety of ways, so the visual, auditory and kinetic learners all receive the content in ways they can absorb. This requires some perseverance and ingenuity to keep active young minds engaged. With a maximum 23 students in the primary classes, teachers have to be on their feet and on their game, and while these classes can be exhausting, these teachers agree that the work is very rewarding.
With name tags, coat hooks, calendars and schedules waiting, all that is missing is the kids. The school and the teachers welcome volunteers from the community to help in a variety of ways, whether it’s the occasional help during a special event or through ongoing support in the classroom, the breakfast program or on the School Council. Of course the doors are always open for discussions about concerns about your child. These educators are committed to developing respect, discipline, co-operation and learning in their students, lessons which they hope continue after the child leaves the school grounds. With positive, constructive and consistent messages reinforcing the lessons offered at school, the community takes to heart the message that they, too, are raising these children…
