Rime of the Ancient Teacher

I used to be a high school English teacher. I taught everything from English 7 to English 12, Communications 11, Honours 10 and 11, Advanced Placement English Language and English Literature. I switched roles about 8 years ago and slowly became a full time Learning Assistance teacher about 4 years ago.   I shifted from a deep and diverse literary existence to doing a lot of math and Science!   The students I have may or may not have a reading disability and if they do, the impact it has on their schooling varies as well.   So, most of my work that focusses on reading is about remedial, skills based intervention. However, since enrolling in the diploma program to become a librarian, I have realized the tremendous overlap between these worlds and have started treating my LA world as more of a mini learning commons. I have purposefully promote reading to all of my students to build more of a life-long learning and reading enjoyment culture in my room.   There are three things have contr

Assignment B After a couple hours of searching, I found that there isn't a lot of specific information about how Learning Assistance teachers (or other student support services) can use technology to assist collaboration or co-planning with teachers. I found many articles on collaboration and many on using technology but nothing that really fit what I was looking for. Instead of researching topics on something I am not as interested in, I decide to get a bit creative with my research.  I really wanted to stay within my district so that if I found something that could work for me, I would be able to connect with that school or person and, more importantly, understand the context in which they are used. 1. I started searching the library websites of schools that I know have maintained a high level of collaboration, co-planning, and co-teaching.  And, since I am interested in how technology can be used to overcome the lack of time we all suffer from in order to encourage and maint

I was once a middle and high school English teacher but for the past 7 years I have been a grade 7-12 Learning Assistance teacher. It is a great job because you never know what you are going to help kids learn:French, chemical equations, fractions, civilizations.  Each day is different in a great way. Unfortunately though, we tend to be on the back end of learning. We often support, reteach, or re-explain someone else's content.  Learning Assistance is very similar to library in that we are supposed to be and would love to be collaborating, co-planning and co-teaching all the time.  In a perfect world we would be co-planning with teachers so that the material was always differentiated before the student sees it.  I teach at a great school with passionate, dynamic teachers but we are all plagued by a lack of time that makes collaborating, co-planning, and co-teaching really challenging. This lack of time has been on both sides - LAT time had been cut drastically in many schoo