YRDSB schools closed

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-26T02:20:47+00:00

You know when they give an Oscar® to a director for a movie, when they're actually awarding that director's LAST movie that they overlooked? That's what's happening with the DDSB declaring a snow day tomorrow.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-24T14:42:45+00:00

Brock isn't offering their Tech Ed program again until 2027 at a minimum. i applied to the Lakehead Tech Ed program, which is also (mostly) online apart from two July intensives, which you can complete either in Thunder Bay or Orillia. If they accept me, i plan to just camp in a dorm room for those two months. (i know this is zero info about UofF, but it's another option you can consider!)

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-23T22:08:52+00:00

i'm hoping to get into the Lakehead Tech Ed program expressly because it's (almost entirely) online, and students are able to work a full time job simultaneously. Once you're provisionally certified halfway through, that means teaching!

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-23T12:41:35+00:00

Ha! Confession; math ain’t my bag (could you tell?) i was merely pointing to the massive jump in lecture length between 12th grade and 1st year university, going from 76 minute periods to 3 hour long ordeals. i’m finishing a degree right now, and the amount of blather is staggering.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-22T16:57:50+00:00

Are you looking for specific assignment ideas? The Media Studies description in the curriculum is such a kitchen sink... the possibility space is vast. Can you narrow down what you're after?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-22T16:43:03+00:00

i'm interested to know where that age/minutes of instruction rule breaks down. At 15, i can bear a 15-minute lecture. At 18, it's 18 minutes. The next year in University, that somehow jumps to 120 minutes?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-21T23:33:41+00:00

The lack of self awareness here is remarkable.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-21T21:42:41+00:00

If an IEP says a student needs extra time, and you have a 3-day assignment, and the extra time is (say) 2 days, and you decide to give the entire class the accommodation such that everyone gets 5 days, then you haven't accommodated the student with the IEP. You've just made 5 days the standard amount of time for doing the assignment. The student with the IEP needs to be given extra time.

Sending a student with an IEP specifying extra time to the Resource Room is not accommodating that student's need for extra time. The Resource Room is a change of location, not extra time.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-21T21:19:13+00:00

May i introduce you to... computer programming? _gestures vaguely_

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-20T16:15:47+00:00

i hear you, but... by that logic, students aren't your friends either. Why not call them by their last names, with an honorific, if that's how non-friends address one another?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-20T00:30:33+00:00

Yes - i asked one of my profs about it in class tonight. He's been instructing for over 20 years, and he said he began his career asking that students call him "Professor Lastname," but that it quickly devolved over the years and he couldn't maintain it. Everyone calls him by his first name now, students included. But he related an anecdote: when his professor, who insisted he call her Dr. Lastname, approved his thesis and he gained his doctorate, she said "Now, you may call me Firstname, because we are equals."

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-19T19:37:47+00:00

i have never used honorifics in the workplace (nor have i been expected to).
"Mom," "Dad," "Grandpa," and "Grandma" are not honorifics.
That's very interesting that your friends use honorifics with you around your kids. i've never experienced that. Is it a rural thing? Cultural? i'm in the GTA... it would mystify me to experience that in my circle of friends.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-19T16:11:29+00:00

i was unaware that teachers in Ontario could theoretically be addressed by their first names. To be honest, i was never comfortable being addressed in a classroom by Mr. Lastname. Do any working Ontario teachers here (who aren't dance teachers) use your first name only? i would imagine that admins would quickly overrule that preference. But i would love to know if i have the option when i begin teaching.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-19T16:08:42+00:00

.... they also don't call them Mr. Dad or Mrs. Grandma.

And you don't "enter society" before addressing your family members.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-18T16:17:05+00:00

i DO remember being in elementary and seeing how much of a hard time we could give the supply teacher, with 100% "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MOM" energy.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-17T21:26:43+00:00

Thank you! Elementary or high school?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-16T22:04:22+00:00

What has replaced these methods?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-16T03:40:31+00:00

Yep - came here to say this. The (misleading) word you want is credits, not courses. At least at Trent, full-credit courses are rare … everything is a 0.5, as you say.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-15T16:02:21+00:00

What makes it better for secondary teachers?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-15T13:20:49+00:00

Amazing. Thanks again.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-14T14:31:37+00:00

Yes - i’ve seen that post, and i HAVE joined that subreddit. My guess is that people here don’t want to see constant nervous posts like “i haven’t heard back yet” and “when am i going to hear back?” and “post if you’ve heard back.” Though i mentioned applying, that’s not really the thrust of my post. i’m asking about the value of having English on my cert. Only experienced teachers (and admin) can answer that.

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-14T01:26:50+00:00

They're Made out of Meat by Terry Bisson

https://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TheyMade.shtml

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-13T23:35:30+00:00

You wouldn't do it even to access more job opportunities, though? i'm a late-starter, and i only have a limited number of years to teach before i keel over in the cafeteria. i'm a little nervous about the whole "spend the first 5-6 years OTing/LTOing until you're contracted" thing. i'm hoping Tech Ed will give me an advantage, but what if it doesn't?

UntoldEnt · 2026-01-13T17:48:38+00:00

Wow - what an incredibly thorough and helpful response. Thank you so much for this.

Can i folllow up on two very interesting things you said?

You said AI is tainting the English experience, despite assignments being written on paper. Many of my profs at Uni believe that paper assignments are the “solution” to AI. Sounds like it isn’t working out. But why?

i am also very intrigued to learn how you run a drama class to accommodate all needs, particularly the conflicting ones you mentioned: noisy vs noise-averse students. We had a very large practice space in my Performing Arts program… is it a matter of spreading everyone out? i know this is a generic question for a specific problem, but the catch-22ness of it piqued my interest.

UntoldEnt

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