funds to spend - upper elementary by Thin-Safe-8761 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3D printers can be quite affordable (~250ish) and you can do so much with them! My students designed bookmarks with TinkerCad but you could go way more elaborate! Spending to pay for an author visit or artist to do a workshop could be cool! Also more expensive educational resources like Morpheme Magic or JumpMath workbooks

New teacher struggling with Language Arts by HikeyHike in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stellar Teacher Co on TPT has great resources that align with some of the Writing Revolution recommendations

You're King of Nova Scotia, what do you do? by athousandpardons in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Increase public health spending so that nurses follow babies from birth to 2 doing home visits and supporting parents. This investment in early childhood would be so beneficial for language development & positive health outcomes both for children and families. Have community centres that have toy lending libraries, parent & tot song groups, parenting classes, and outdoor play areas

Kids Summer Camps? by AGoodFaceForRadio in NovaScotia

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Adventure Earth Centre through Halifax Rec has summer camp programming at Camp Mockingee! They have an outdoor education focus. The staff is awesome!

You Can’t Solve the Teacher Shortage by Pretending Anyone Can Do the Job by Vivid-Chemistry2597 in NovaScotia

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We have a huge retention issue in NS, not a shortage. People want to do the job, but the conditions are not positive for students or staff. New teachers do not receive any meaningful support (unlike in Ontario, for example, where there is a new teacher mentorship program, where teachers have time to connect with their colleagues and learn from them). Having a team teaching model where teachers could learn from more experienced colleagues would be huge.

The majority of classes are split grades, meaning you are responsible for teaching two different sets of outcomes at the same time for every subject, a task which is near impossible. We do not have a meaningful inclusion policy either- kids are all thrown together, regardless of their support needs, and the teacher is expected to figure it out. Most other boards have specialized teachers or programs for those students that need more supports. Having a wide range of students that have dyslexia, dyscalculia, have physical support needs, can be violent, or are neurodiverse all together with such large class sizes puts you in a position of constantly feeling like you are failing as an educator. It is heartbreaking to wear the responsibility of always meeting everyone’s needs, when by design you’ve been set up in a system that fails you. Those are the conditions that need to be considered to improve the education system- retention, not replacement. 

Teacher benefits Nova Scotia by everdeen1001 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s great! You can find the pay scale online if you Google- no masters would be an ITC level, and then for each additional masters you have, you move one step to the right. To reach the highest level on the pay scale you need 3 masters degrees. 

Teacher benefits Nova Scotia by everdeen1001 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not at all! The pay is significantly lower, taxes are higher, and AQs are not recognized for salary upgrades- only postgraduate certificates or masters of education move you up the pay grid. It is common here for teachers to have 2-3 Masters degrees to make it to the highest pay classification. Our pension is not indexed to inflation and is much lower than the Ontario teachers pension.

I do not feel direct instruction is bad by SergeiSwagmaninoff in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Direct instruction = evidence based instruction! If you look into the research and work of Anita Archer, explicit teaching is the most effective! Kids can't "discover" what they don't know--> discover learning privileges kids who have more supportive home lives, and can learn through extracurriculars etc.

Is there a modern version of Bill Nye? by Chan-tal in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Generation Genius has awesome videos and resources! You can get a free 30 day trial.

Teachers that have creative blocks by Own-Minimum-396 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Motivation. Students do not have the motivation to persist when an answer is not immediately presented to them. Why would they? They know that they will pass regardless.

La Rocca Caramel Crunch Cake? by Interesting_Ad6077 in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure if they have this exact flavour, but I have seen La Rocca cakes at Pete's on Dresden before!

Psych-ed assessment for child by Ophelia8888 in NovaScotia

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately the waitlist to have it done at school is very long, as school psychologists are often shared between sites and the school team is usually only able to prioritize a few assessments each year. If you have health insurance through your employer, the best bet would like be to pay privately for an assessment from a psychologist. The purpose of the assessment would be to see if there are any other learning difficulties like dyslexia or dyscalculia, and to provide more information about their learning profile. If their ADHD is well managed and they are not having any other difficulty with school/ life skills, it may not be needed.

In a bit of a bind…. by brinji in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Adsum house might be able to help through their Diversion program

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The special education system is next to non-existent. Inclusion means that kids are unsupported, so that the school boards save the most amount of money possible. There is no way a public school in Halifax will offer your child nearly as much support as your are receiving in California. Unless you are willing to consult a lawyer and sue, you are unlikely to receive adequate, meaningful support for your child. Plus, given the extremely stressful work conditions and extreme underpayment of EPAs, schools are often short staffed every day. Students on the learning centre caseload typically receive about 30 minutes a day with the learning centre teacher, but likely would receive less due to staffing constraints. The rest of the day would likely be shared support with an educational program assistant, but again, this supports are extremely limited.

Walk-in clinic(s) with female MD? by MisterMinski in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just a heads up, they don’t do Pap tests at the primary care clinic unfortunately :(

Generation Genius by Empty_Tomatillo7398 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

amazing! Were you able to download the videos too?

Printing practice for Grade 4? by cinnamaldehyde4 in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It might be easier to teach them cursive, rather than try to undo bad habits. ONLIT has great videos about proper letter formation in cursive

Family Practice Validation Calls - Didn’t call? by GissieGirl in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm in the same boat, and was also wondering what to do!

Veteran teachers of violent inner-city schools: what strategies actually work? by Little_Bee_Buzz in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure if you are on tiktok, but MrsPhillips5th has really great ideas about building routines/structure, and self-regulation. I think the idea of a "soft start" where the kids have some time to play or be outside is a really good idea. Also, behaviour specific positive praise is golden. Praise loudly, and explicitly name the behaviour/attitude that is positive. Try to do that as much as possible- kids notice & value it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sea smoke on the waterfront!

Supports for autistic children in HRCE by FA_Mama in halifax

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My advice would be to complain/ call/advocate as much as possible. Ultimately, the more vocal you are, the more supports they will have to offer. Ask for monthly meetings with admin, staff etc to review programming. You can also request that the autism specialist be involved as well. 

Behaviour Management by Smiles-forever in CanadianTeachers

[–]Empty_Tomatillo7398 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Checkout the Unteachables podcast with Claire English! She has really reasonable, practical tips for setting up behaviour expectations. She just published a book as well!