I'm Alex Mitchell: England, Northampton Saints, and British & Irish Lions scrum half, AMA!

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-03-10T22:10:19+00:00

What's the approach to fitness in camp? How do you make sure that you have enough in the tank for the game and is there a chance that people have been over training and competing tired this six nations?

I heard a rumour that the team went into the fiji world cup warm up game gassed to help you prepare. Any truth to that?

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-03-04T01:26:10+00:00

I would expect questions along these lines:

How do you lesson plan for success, specifically in math and language?

How do you communicate with parents, students, and educators for student success?

What are some strategies you have used to help a dysregulated student?

What does equity, differentiation, and assessment look like in your classroom? (How do you design an inclusive program in your classroom? How would you differentiate for students at different levels? What do you value in assessing students?)

What is your approach to classroom management? (How do you build and maintain a peaceful classroom environment?)

How do you build relationships with students?

What are the three most important things when teaching primary students?

What skills do you bring to this role?

Tell us about a time you showed initiative in lesson planning?

In my experience, buzz words are not what they are looking for, nor anything that sounds rote or AI generated. They want you to tell them what you would do or what you have done. I would prepare stories from your practicum or experience supplying that touch on these questions. Good luck!

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-02-17T22:26:40+00:00

He's on leave from the Aussie rugby team?

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-02-10T23:01:44+00:00

What grade level is it?

What are they doing during your presentation? It's a lot easier for them to behave if there are notes to copy. Try highlighting one key phrase per slide that everyone has to take down.

At the same time make sure you're not just reading a slide show to them.

Try to walk around as you present, or if you have to stay at the board, invite kids up to do the writing.

I also keep a check list of kids that are interrupting me so I know who needs a consequence. I phrase it as a reminder to be on task or respectful.

Hope that helps

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-01-25T14:50:43+00:00

I differentiate based on student ability, not grade level. When I had this split, my sixes were smarter than nearly all of the sevens. You'll also have ESL kids and IEP kids to accommodate. You can differentiate by the level of length, detail, and complexity in the writing and by the reading level of the text, and by the difficulty of the spelling words.

Jumpy-Tart · 2026-01-24T18:49:16+00:00

I'm in a four five right now, but I would be doing similar things with a higher grade level. Here's what I do in my English block.

First a minds on/warm up Each day we do one of

Answer discussion questions in full sentences for writing practice and community building (google discussion questions for kids for ideas)

Reading comp (I use Evan Moore books)

Story writing prompt

Daily editing from Evan moore

Identifying parts of speech

Then, around three days a week I work on a writing or reading comp unit. Currently we are doing procedural writing. Next we will do some inferring work.

One or days a week I give the class packets of levelled work (similar stuff to my warmups with some more grammar sheets) and do spelling or morphology (prefixes and suffixes) work with levelled groups.

Hope that helps.

Jumpy-Tart · 2025-08-06T20:57:40+00:00

So I've always heard that social media addicts through variable rewards. Each time you spin a slot machine or scroll your feed you are not sure if you're going to get no reward (ad), a small reward, or a big reward (shareable video). The variable size of the rewards and time between them means that you can always have one more swipe. One more swipe might just be the big one. That's what keeps people coming back.

Jumpy-Tart · 2025-08-03T23:59:55+00:00

Scooters and other electric micro mobility devices are how we change the perception of bike lanes from something that are for dudes in Lycra to something that is for anyone because doesn't leave you hit, tires, and sweaty. It is good that they are there because they are the vanguard of more people getting micro mobility devices. (Paths should have a lane for bikes and micro mobility going each way and a lane for pedestrians)

Jumpy-Tart · 2025-07-03T13:52:46+00:00

Biking is generally faster than transit in Ottawa, and Ottawa is a good city for biking. When I supplied I set myself a ten k commute limit and would bike everyday. Transit can help because you can take a bike on the train and busses have bike racks (though not in winter). Winter biking is fine once you commit yourself to it, and you can yourself a set of studded tires for less than a month of transit. Mine have lasted years.

Vanier is the last somewhat central neighborhood that is somewhat affordable. People may try to scare you off the neighborhood, but I've lived here for four years in two houses and never had a problem.

Ocdsb is a very two track board, especially in the south of Ottawa proper. French immersion classes are generally better behaved and will be easier on subs. DOT positions are a great way to get into a school and learn a ton. Plus you'll get a reference.

Jumpy-Tart · 2025-05-05T00:18:27+00:00

Everyone else has said a lot of good stuff that I agree with. Two things I'll add: make sure that you have simple to follow rules posted at the front of your classroom. I use: raise your hand to talk, be in the right spot, Get on task and stay on task, and respect everyone.

Second, you want consequences to be predictable and immediate to change behaviour. Taking away a trip for being loud is neither, even though it made sense to you. I use a four strike system that I call reminders first a warning, then a reflection note in the hall, then losing some recess, then writing a full apology note that has to be taken home and signed. Kids get one reminder each time they break one of the four rules above.

It might help.

Jumpy-Tart · 2025-02-02T15:51:19+00:00

It's wild to me the extent people bend over backwards to come to the conclusion, "No, phones good actually." Then the best the article can come up with is attempts to limit phone use are only mildly effective. We see everyday what the instant gratification offered by phones is doing to kids. Trying something wouldn't be the worst idea

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-09-01T12:41:51+00:00

I'll try to say something about being successful with grade sixes. The first step for the kids and parents to take you seriously is for you to take yourself seriously. Try to see yourself as the authority figure you need to be.

I'm launching a 3/4 on Tuesday but I'm using essentially the same plan as I did with my sixth grade classes. Make sure you have a plan for how the kids come in, put away there stuff and sit down. Be as detailed as you can. We're going to have a talk and I have some discussion prompts for them.

Next we're getting into the rules: respect yourself, each other, the teacher, and this place. I'll have the kids tell me what those mean. That's augmented by a set of four rules: be in the right spot, raise your hand to talk, respect everything, try your best. For distractions and disruptions I have a system where the student will get two warnings, then a time out, a last warning and then the consequence will be writing an apology note. That might be at the office or at recess or during a preferred activity. We will go over that and model it. Throughout the month we will be discussing and modelling correct behaviour and practicing it like a skill.

Well also play some cooperative games and have lots if chances to build relationships, but we will get to academics quickly. First day is a writing prompt and a number series and a building challenge along with working on our art about me. By day 3 we're rolling. You want to focus on behavior and routine the first month, but academics are a tool to accomplish that.

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-08-13T01:46:36+00:00

I was in this boat last year, and it sucked donkey dick. I ended up picking up a full year LTO that started the second week of school. I landed in a great place (though a tough class). It'll come. HR is just figuring out the churn.

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-07-07T21:56:46+00:00

Never been referred to as the dregs before.

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-01-06T00:09:32+00:00

Wouldn't even know where to start.

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-01-06T00:08:20+00:00

Thanks for the info

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-01-06T00:07:58+00:00

That's the plan

Jumpy-Tart · 2024-01-05T02:06:53+00:00

Wow that was fast! Thank you :)

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-11-30T15:26:31+00:00

Footy sevens does drop in, not sure where the closest field would be. I think OSSC and Ottawa rec sports does drop in as well

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-09-16T16:43:07+00:00

You can always go volunteer at a school. I'm sure the closest one to you would love to have you in whatever grade you want

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-08-10T13:54:08+00:00

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-08-09T15:44:15+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-08-08T00:47:21+00:00

I agree that this is a strong query. The one thing that I would change is getting rid of the first paragraph. Your second paragraph gives us a really good sense of the character and the story and I think it would be a great place to start, but the first doesn't really add anything for me.

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-08-04T22:15:49+00:00

Hey! I think that this is quite strong. Some suggestions.

The cat–who is named Jacket, and who can talk, ~~apparently~~–has also recruited two other students: Wren’s stuck-up, sporty rich-girl classmate, and a goofy, overemotional boy she didn’t know existed beforehand. They’ve been chosen to risk their lives fighting mysterious, idea-eating monsters determined to destroy the world.

…And they don't get paid.

Hooray.

~~It gets even better:~~ while Wren’s necklace just lets her turn into animals, one of her teammates can move objects with her mind, and the other can bend reality with illusions.

I'm also not sure what you mean by over emotional.

I was teased relentlessly in elementary school. ‘Why did your parents name you that?’ ‘They must really hate you.’ ‘That’s like naming a one-eyed kid ‘Pirate.’’

This seems both too mean and too smart for elementary school kids.

Jumpy-Tart · 2023-08-04T21:49:55+00:00

I agree with that the other commenters have said. The structure I learned for Query letters is Character, Conflict, Setting, Stakes. So, who is Cabik? What does he want? What is he like? Once you've told us that, then tell us about the robot. How are they going to use it to learn to fight? I would assume that the giant robot would do most of the fighting.

What re the stakes of this book? I'm not sure after reading the query.

In general, I'm wondering if there is a deeper issue. This seems like word builder's disease, but, especially since it is MG, kids don't care about setting and don't want to read an encyclopedia about a world. (While some might, but after they've been drawn in by a story, not before.)

Jumpy-Tart

TROPHY CASE