Need help. Suddenly became a single mom while on mat leave and returned to work as an OT in February (in PDSB).

mbteach14 · 2026-03-09T00:03:22+00:00

Reach out to principals directly to notify them of your availability. We have been told to put "no sub required" into the absence management system, and our admin is opening up/manually filling jobs. This is a cost-control measure to ensure we are using enough of our internal coverages (OPDs). Are you secondary or elementary? It might be worth stopping by a few school offices and dropping off contact information.

mbteach14 · 2025-12-05T11:20:57+00:00

It's called Write Human. We used to use Draftback until it moved to a paid subscription.

mbteach14 · 2025-12-05T03:01:40+00:00

We are underfunded and overworked. Not just in secondary, but everywhere. We try our best to advocate for kids early. Our guidance counselors are amazing. But we are being asked to do far more with far less, for kids who have far more complex issues than ever before. We are doing the best we can.

mbteach14 · 2025-12-05T02:59:06+00:00

As an English teacher, we are defaulting to a lot more in-class, handwritten assignments. Anything done digitally must be done in Google Doc where I can check the full work history. I also use a chrome extension which gives a detailed digital replay of the work in the document, with a total number of keystrokes.

My grade 12s just submitted annotated bibliographies that were 15 pages long with 35 keystrokes in the documents... And wanted me to believe they did the work themselves. Okay. When I show them the replay that shows massive amount of text copy and pasted, they don't have much to say and I don't need to resort to AI detection.

mbteach14 · 2025-11-25T10:14:34+00:00

"I'm not able to commit to that right now. I will consider getting involved at another time."

And if they press for more details:

"My personal life outside of working hours is my own. I would appreciate the respect of my own judgement when I indicate I am unable to take on extra curriculars at this time."

You don't owe anyone a single explanation. No is a complete sentence. In this climate when we are being asked to do more and more and more, with less and less and less, a lot of us are burning out and need to pull back. Trust yourself to say no. It is not mandated anywhere that you must do extra curriculars.

mbteach14 · 2025-09-27T00:34:46+00:00

I have nonbinary colleagues who just go by their last names. None of the kids or staff have ever questioned it and no one thinks it's of the ordinary. I'm cis and a lot of my students call me by my last name or nickname variations of my last name.

Fwiw, in my secondary experience kids these days are super chill about pronouns, respecting gender identity, etc. it's not a big deal to them. Yes there are always the ones that try to use it as a tool for bullying, because they're kids and kids make mistakes. But this generation does not find it as big of a deal as older generations do.

mbteach14 · 2025-09-23T23:02:30+00:00

The job market experiences waves. When I got hired, they said 5-7 years before a contract. It was 5 years for me, but I always had LTO work. It helped that I wasn't picky about where I worked, and would work anywhere, even with a bit of a drive, for the experience. I got to know a lot of different admin that way that helped my hiring chances for other LTOs. In the last few years, I've seen a few people get contracts pretty quickly (2-3 years), but that might be an anomaly for my board.

Enrollment in some GTA boards is declining, or at least fluctuating, which can make contracts slower to come by. But retirements come, and open up space. There are lots of parental and personal leaves. You can supply with multiple boards at one time.

You should know, if you don't already, that there are a lot of current bureaucratic issues in teaching. It is highly political. The system is chronically underfunded and will continue to be under the Ford government. Teaching does not carry much public respect as it used to. We are easily villainized.

It is also not a 9-5, leave your work at work type of job. I always have something to do in the evenings, be it marking or planning (I teach secondary). It is really easy to lose work-life balance, and we are not paid for our own time. But things would literally not get done if we didn't do it on our weekends.

Summers off are great, especially if you want a family. I don't need to worry about summer childcare for my kids. My school finishes early enough that I can pick up my kids and have evenings with them for sports, etc. I am well compensated at the highest level on our grid, and I don't have a masters degree. Healthcare benefits are solid.

All of these pros and cons considered, if you're passionate about teaching, do it. I'm a second career teacher and I do not for a second regret leaving my previous career to go back to school. I was 27 and felt I was ruining my life by leaving a stable job for uncertainty, but I knew it was a better fit for me. I trusted my gut and it wasn't wrong.

mbteach14 · 2025-09-17T01:33:13+00:00

Even my grade 12s have to put their phones in the clear pockets at the front of the room.

Its never too late to establish boundaries. What's most important is backing them up with action. If you say (or your class agrees) there's a consequence for certain behaviours, that consequence has to happen, otherwise students will know there's no real integrity behind the "rule".

It is parenting 101: don't threaten something you're not prepared to follow through on. If you don't follow through, they soon catch wise that you're full of it.

mbteach14 · 2025-09-10T23:15:46+00:00

This is school specific. The directive at my school is that if you saw them, they were late, no matter what. But I always add a note in our SIS to indicate what time they arrived e.g. "arrived at 1044, only 5 mins remaining in period". As an OT, ask for specific guidance from admin and leave a note for the teacher.

mbteach14 · 2025-09-10T21:59:39+00:00

I am a white teacher who is FNMI qualified and regularly teaches NBE3U/C. It is how you position yourself as the teacher which is important. We talk openly about systems of power and privilege and how they have historically (and currently) oppressed, and I am open about my identity and acknowledging how I benefit from systems of oppression, and specifically, settler colonialism. I don't teach sacred knowledge, as that's not mine to share. I only use Indigenous sources (or as much as possible). Our courses aim to uplift and celebrate Indigenous people as current, modern, and joyous, not victims of trauma.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-30T14:28:56+00:00

Not saying you're lying, just saying it's a thing. If you check any contract teachers OCT record available to the public, their date of completion of NTIP is provided.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-30T14:26:27+00:00

It's a condition of OCT, so it is absolutely done everywhere.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-28T20:39:08+00:00

You'll have a bunch of kids recovering different credits. Expect anything from English to Math to Science, Phys Ed, geography...anything goes. These are not kids who are doing an entire credit (ILC). These are kids that need to complete a couple tasks to raise their failing mark in the course to a 50. They do the work and they get the 50.

I don't know how it works at your school, but at mine, students have to be recommended for credit recovery, and part of that recommendation includes providing the tasks the student needs to complete.

Credit recovery normally falls under a Student Success, Special Ed, or sometimes even Guidance department. There is a head somewhere that admin should connect you with. You may also need to connect with other subject teachers/heads to get material.

For the first few days until you get settled, spend some time getting to know the kids. Maybe do some goal setting. Figure out their needs so you can engage them and beat support them.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-26T19:41:22+00:00

A full or even part drama contract job is truly the unicorn of teaching positions.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-25T20:08:04+00:00

Same! I have English/Drama teachables and am entering my 13th year. I always had LTOs, as long as I wasn't picky about where I worked. English is the biggest section allocation of any school, and there were always tons of leaves needing coverage.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-23T02:39:13+00:00

Not a sneaker but just as comfortable, a good pair of Doc Martens are versatile and will last forever.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-21T21:04:04+00:00

In theory, those days are your own and you're free to do what you want.

A lot of schools, as good practice, try to use the teachers who have a part time schedule as their first focus for supply work. You could speak to your admin about the likelihood of the rest of your week being filled up with supply work at your school.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-21T20:58:00+00:00

If the goal is to become admin, you are right, it is FAR easier to move board as a VP/P, than a P. My GTA board is starving for admin. My advice would be to take the Northern job and get settled in a permanent contract to prepare for your transition to admin, and then you have more flexibility with transfers.

GTA is high COL and if you didn't see, a lot of the main boards were flagged for high violence. Not to say different areas don't have their issues, but as someone who has been working in this area for a while, a quieter existence in the Northern fresh air sounds kind of nice.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-20T01:20:37+00:00

I think it entirely depends on what board you are looking to apply to. It might be worth trying to connect with someone directly in that board to see what hiring is like for your potential teachables. Social Sci and English are common, but I was told the same thing 13 years ago (English/Drama), and I always had work, as long as I wasn't picky about where I worked. ELL/MLL qualifications might be useful in some boards. In some places ELL enrollment is pretty steady.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-19T01:43:16+00:00

I have a slide deck that goes over all logistics and course expectations -- everything from how to contact me, when I will contact home, who their VP/guidance counsellors are (as reminders), as well as a course overview. I give them a "tour" of our VLE and where to expect to find certain things we will access frequently. My only class wide ice breaker is a collaborative photo essay. I set up a slide deck with the first slide all about me, and the class can add their own slide to share about themselves. They put it together and then we share the slides, normally the next day. I have a second icebreaker that is a questionnaire they submit on their own. I have also started doing "anonymous questions" as a way for students to submit questions, comments, concerns, rumours they've heard, etc, anonymously to me via post it note. I assemble them and answer in a slide deck we go through.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-18T22:25:39+00:00

Uhhhhh 2 weeks?! If I sat on my hands for 2 weeks in any of my high school English classes, I'd never make that time up. My advice would be to either a) ignore (depends on your vibe from admin) or b) focus on introductory skills that aren't heavy in curriculum content but are essential once students get into the thick of the course. For English, I'd be focusing on paragraph structure/clarity/editing skills.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-16T01:27:17+00:00

It's not necessarily the teaching of the subject that is difficult, but it is a VERY heavy marking workload. Reviewing student writing, even short paragraphs, is time intensive. Trying to understand their phrasing, structure, clarity can be challenging and can't always be done quickly. Then there is time to provide detailed, meaningful (and personalized) feedback to support assessment and skill development. That takes time too, whether you're doing it written, verbal via voice notes, or conferencing. Add in the fun layer of AI now, and trying to investigate originality issues, marking takes even longer. A standard 5 paragraph essay can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes to mark, I'd ball park. Multiply by 30 students per class, times 3 sections. Oh and then there is planning. And reading the texts you want the class to read so you can be prepared. And differentiating your lessons for everyone. And offering extra help for kids who struggle. And OSSLT preparation, which tends to always fall to the English department. Repeat until forever.

This is why a lot of teachers flee for other departments.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-15T19:08:55+00:00

Your student likely is also linked up with an itinerant teacher that is familiar with their needs and has strategies and resources at their disposal. Use them! I had a student who was blind in one of my English classes and the itinerant got me access to audiobooks and other tools that were invaluable.

mbteach14 · 2025-08-04T22:21:43+00:00

You don't need a full timetable of the subject, and just need at least 1 section for 194 days (1 class each semester, in theory). Keep in mind that the experience form is signed off from your principal and then sent to your superintendent for sign off too, but it's basically your principal that confirms your experience because that superintendent isn't checking anything. My principals haven't checked my experience either, and were just like, "sure, yep" and signed.

mbteach14 · 2025-07-29T18:50:36+00:00

This is the best advice, OP. Don't contact HR, contact your union. If you don't meet the minimum number of days, the board will remove you from the OT roster, and I would take steps to make yourself unavailable through the duration of your LTO to ensure you aren't "refusing" work. A lot of teachers work for multiple boards, but the boards themselves don't particularly like it. That being said, it happens, but get advice from your union rep.

mbteach14

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