Teacher Candidate -Week One Communication

Hello!

Some of you may have already met your Associate Teacher and others of you will meet your AT tomorrow or first thing Monday. You will be eagerly awaiting that first day on your placement on Monday! Here are some brief reminders for you for the first few days of your placement:

 By the first day we ask you to do the following tasks for the Education Office:

• confirm your Associate Teacher's receipt of the Welcome package that was sent by Julie Howell or Rosa Fabiano
• confirm the GRADE your AT is assigned (if it is different than what currently appears in the Portal)
• confirm the number of students in grades 3 and 4 if your AT has a 3/4 class (so we know what division to call this placement)
• confirm the number of grade 6 and 7 students if your AT has a 6/7 class (the class has to have a majority of grade 6 students to be called a junior placement for this P/J program)
• confirm your AT's email address (if it is different than what currently appears in the Portal)

Getting this information as soon as possible from you will reduce any Associate Teacher login issues as we approach week #3 when you and your Associate Teacher will be eager to submit the Formative Assessments.

Teacher Candidate Communication-Weekly

I will be sending out brief weekly reminders to you throughout your placement. Dr. Helyar will continue to share information with you on her Sunday night  videos and my notes will be attached as well. Thank you for managing your emails throughout your placement.

Professional Development Day and Teacher Candidate Responsibilities/ Teacher Candidate Absences

During this placement period school boards will be having a professional development day and it is typically the student-teacher-parent conference time. If  your host school board has evening conferences and your AT is  not expected to be at school for a half day on the PD day, you can follow the same schedule as your AT, if you are with your AT in the school for the evening session. If you are not with your AT in the evening session then you are expected to be in the school all day on the PD day. You can be involved in lesson and classroom preparations for the upcoming weeks for that half day that your AT is not in the school. If you have any questions about this expectation please email your Faculty Advisor. The Associate Teachers have been given this information. 

It is the expectation of the Ontario College of Teachers that you are in their placements for 25 days, so any absences do need to be added on to the end of the placement and you need to be teaching up to 100% if you are permitted by the associate teacher to stay until Dec. 15 to make up one day. Making up any more than one day will need to be discussed jointly with the faculty advisor, the associate teacher and myself to ensure that the expectations are met in your placement. Please ensure that you have emailed your Faculty Advisor if you are absent during your placement.

 Professional Development Workshops During the School Day and Teacher Candidate Responsibilities

If your Associate Teacher is attending a professional development workshop and would like you to attend, that is permitted. I have asked the Associate Teachers not to have you attend more than one workshop during in-school time during your placement, however, as you have only 25 days in your placement to develop your planning, teaching and assessment skills and the more you can be in the classroom with the students at this point in your education,the better. Working alongside an occasional teacher for a day is a wonderful experience for you too!

Teacher Candidates Not To Be Left Alone in Classrooms with Students/ Supervision Duty Responsibilities

Thank you for not being alone with the students in your classroom or anywhere else in the school. You are to be supervised by OCT certified teachers at all times during your placement when you are with students, including during nutrition breaks. You are to do supervision duty  when your Associate Teacher is scheduled for such duty, and not remain back in the classroom. We appreciate your Associate Teacher giving you the full range of teacher duties to experience when out on your placement. 

Associate Teacher Communication

I will be sending out weekly communication to the Associate Teachers to remind them about upcoming expectations for the week(s) ahead. As with you, they can email their Faculty Advisor and/or me if they have any questions or need clarification on something.

We wish you the very best on your first placement. Please remember that we are here to support you in your professional journey. Work hard and have fun.