I am someone on the spectrum, and I can confidently say it was many of my amazing teachers who not only got me into many of my special interests, but also set me on my current career trajectory.

Some of my fondest memories are me at 12-16, just sitting with my humanities teachers, discussing politics and history and English literature. I always felt as if they understood me far more than my peers did. I remember in my classes, their lectures would be so beautifully profound that it made me stop and reflect. I remember going through the height of my eating disorder and my depression and suicidal ideation and my teachers noticing, and putting me on the right path to recovery.

I remember my elementary school teacher, who taught me how to read when no one else could, who went out of her way to get me special SpongeBob books--because she knew getting something with my special interest would help me tremendously, and how she would get me rewards for completing my flash cards that she spent her own money on; how if I got my work done early she would let me talk about my special interests.

I remember my school's main English and religious teacher who would just sit on the grass with us at lunchtime and talk with us.

Teachers don't get paid nearly enough for how much they truly can impact people's lives, I feel.

I teach grade 5 in BC and I am SHOCKED at how many of them are reading at a grade 2/3 level. How am I supposed to expect them to analyze texts when they can’t read them?

I’ve also recently started doing ‘quick writes’ as a form of journal writing with them once a week and it’s like pulling teeth getting a few sentences let alone a paragraph.

I don’t even know where to start in terms of intervention.

Any suggestions on routines that you swear by to help improve literacy?

I would also be interested in seeing any of your year plans for ELA if you’re willing to share.

Are other intermediate teachers noticing the same thing or just me? 🫠

EDIT:

Wow thanks so much for the advice! It sounds like across the board we are all in agreement that things have changed and kids are lower than they once were. Huge shout out to all of you who I know are giving it your all while balancing a personal life, your mental , physical health. I know most of us are staying past contract hours to get done what we need to for our students. Solidarity 👊🏽

Here are some suggested resources:

GRAMS program 

The writing revolution 

Paragraph of the week (scribd)

Empower

Class wide phonics assessment 

Catch up your code 

ThinkSRSD

Becks Book

Four square writing method 

UFLI

Examples of student work: https://acadiencelearning.org/

There is a wonderful, evidence-based wellness (mental wellness) curriculum program developed out of the UK. it's based on research from Australia and has been shown to improve children's wellness. The best part is, it's completely free and includes everything you need to deliver the curriculum for ages 4 to 11. It includes lesson plans, handouts, audio files, power point and a 1 hour training as well as optional in depth 6 hour training. It's basically all done for you!

You can access the curriculum at https://connectcurriculum.org/

ETA: I am not at all affiliated with this program. I just want kids to have better mental health and share something that reduces the work for teachers.

Alberta teacher here. There have been multiple incidents this year where my new principal “borrows” my sub to cover HER supervision. Even when there is MY supervision to cover and outlined on my sub plans, inevitably my principal approaches MY sub (new to the profession) and hijacks his time. Yesterday, he had NO break to eat lunch. He had a 20 minute morning recess break, but this is not the 30 minutes required by law. I am furious.

I’ve already had a conversation with my principal when it happened the first time. However, in that instance, she assigned him to her afternoon supervision BEFORE he had a chance to even see my plans! Turns out that I had him scheduled to do my afternoon shift and he had to scramble to find a colleague to fill it. She apologized profusely, claiming that it was just a mix-up. I feel like this young man is being taken advantage of and I am frustrated. Any suggestions on how to approach this situation for a SECOND time?

And NO, there is no clause in our collective agreement outlining a subs duties when hired.

Looking for advice on anyone who has worked as a school counselor in Alberta schools while completing their masters in Counseling. Is this possible? I am currently on a mat leave and would like to come back to education not as a classroom teacher but as a counselor position. However, I do not have my masters but I have heard you can complete your masters while working as a counselor.

Any insight would be appreciated!

I have an upcoming OT interview with TCDSB and was wondering if anyone who has interviewed with them recently could share some tips!

I’ve had an OT interview with DCDSB before, so I’m curious if the TCDSB interview process and questions are similar.

Does anyone remember any specific questions they were asked? Also, is there anything I should focus on when preparing?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences you could share. Thanks in advance!

I am currently working two OTs that are going to contract, and are paying as an LTO. Contract postings are going up tomorrow and I will be applying to the OTs obviously, but I am curious what the etiquette is in that I will want to apply to other schools even though the two classes I have as an OT I have been doing since the first day of school and would give me a full first semester. It would mean a bump to 50% so I would be thrilled to get them, but I also want to see what else is out there and practice interviewing.

I guess I am wondering about how my principal might react to being a reference call for a posting from another school. Would that look bad on me or is there a professional understanding?

I teach 10th grade. Physically, I’ve seen bruises on face, eye patches, light wound on neck, swollen eyes, in all different occasions. Student says she’s clumsy, fell off escalator, hit the door etc. She completes all work but also just looks extremely tired and drained, I can literally see her not trying to fall asleep? She 100% denies it everytime when I ask her if things are okay at home and last time I checked in, she said “why would I not want it to be reported if I’m being abused” and seemed annoyed. Am I overthinking or do I email the counselor even if the student completely denies it, have ‘reasons’ physically, and have decent grade? I feel worried about her and instinct tells me somethings wrong but also don’t want to be too invading.

Hello fellow teachers,

I am an ESL teacher in Quebec City, looking for someone that would be willing to start a writing exchange with my grade 10 students. I am looking for a FSL class that would want their students to practice their French writing skills while my students practice theirs in English.

They are a very culturally diverse group, and they enjoy sports, video games and board games. They are 15 and 16 years old.

Have a good one !

I hate seeing in agendas the line "aggressive behavior will not be tolerated." Or shit like that, because it means nothing.

Hello, I'm Canadian but my husband is British and we're looking to move back to Ontario where I'm from.

He's a high school English teacher of 13 years, with all of his qualifications and experience in the UK. We have started the process of getting his OCT certification and looking for roles, but it's been difficult. I wondered if anyone might have a view of whether a teacher with international experience and qualifications would have better luck with private schools (especially if looking for a permanent contract)?

Thank you so much!

Curious how often other teachers have full staff meetings and departmental meetings at their schools.

How many full staff meetings and department meetings do you typically have per week or month? Are they usually during your lunch time, after school, prep time or a combination of both?

My school has weekly full staff meetings after school for 1-2 hours. I've never worked in a school that had weekly full staff meetings-I'm used to once every three months or so. I also have one weekly departmental meeting during our lunch hour.

Edit: I'm in a private school. Would love to hear from other private school teachers.

Question for secondary teachers who have course groups (multiple teachers teaching different sections of the same course). Of course you strive for some alignment and consistency but my experience (17 years) has shown that when you get three teachers in a room you often emerge with four opinions!

How do your departments and teams negotiate that (If at all)?

I’m 0.5. I was under the impression that I would have opportunities to supply teach at my school… or so I was told in the interview. I’ve been telling the VP my availability and I also wrote it on a note on her desk thinking it would be easier.

Whenever I check the board of absences in the office, I see it’s always the same retired teachers getting booked over. They’ve worked at this school for 15+ years, so I suppose they take priority. Should I just move on and seek opportunities at other schools, or is it worth talking to my admin about this?

Edit: I should mention that these have been half day job. And in my board, only the admin can book supplies. My Vp is in charge of that.

Just got an interview with YCDSB for an Occasional Teaching position. Does anyone have any questions they’ve been asked in the past? I’m incredibly nervous and I don’t know how to prep. Thanks!

I’ve been offered a replacement contract in Quebec where an I’m teaching two different classes (one day with one group, next day with the other, etc), and I’m finding it very hard to keep up because of some events in my personal life. I’ve only been at the school three days, and I believe need to do 10 days before the principal can ‘ok’ me and truly offer the replacement contract.

I’m wondering: if I explain my situation and ask whether I could replace only in a part time capacity, do you think they’d consider it? I was thinking maybe I’d teach one class, and then another hire teach the other? Would the principal in all likelihood come back and say it’s either 100% or nothing?

Hi all! I am a certified teacher living in the Maritimes. I just graduated with my BEd in May and am currently subbing. How long did it take you to land a full time position after graduating?

When I was a teenager, I remember hearing that teachers have to sub for 10 years before even thinking about getting a full time contract. I’m sure this is still true for some areas, but most of the teachers I’ve spoken to say that right now is “a really good time” to get into the career (and yes I know that this really means teaching is more difficult than ever now and many are retiring/leaving for a different field). I know about 7-10 of my peers got contracts during the summer and currently have their own classrooms but I was not that lucky.

For context, my teachable are English and social studies (most of my peers who got contracts are science/math). I have had one long term subbing job, May-June of last semester.

Why are there no ABQ computer technology courses for grades 11 and 12? No university offers the course

I have taught NBE3U and 3C for the last number of years and have used works like, "Shinny Game Melted the Ice," "Okay" by David A Robertson," "After While" by Cherie Dimaline and "Killing the Wittigo" by Suzanne Methot.

Would anyone have any readily accessible short stories by Indigenous authors? I have searched and searched for different ones, but either cannot find them or I have to pay for them (some of the prices are a little excessive). Also, I have asked the Indigenous lead at my board and she doesnt have any recommendations...

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if you could share the reassessment policies at your schools in Alberta. We have so many students who skip the tutorials teachers offer during lunch, yet they still ask for a retake for almost every quiz or test they do not pass. Parents are also emailing regularly to request retakes.

I am trying to understand what other schools expect in grade 9, especially since these marks determine the stream students enter in high school. I am getting tired of constantly creating new tests, adding to my workload, and giving out grades that do not reflect real understanding. Many of these students end up struggling in high school because they believe they are ready for the higher stream.

I would really appreciate hearing what reassessment guidelines your schools follow.

*Thank you everyone so much for your insight. I really appreciate it. I have learned so much that goes on high school now. I think I am going to have to shift my viewpoint on what reassessment is. I have been draining myself for nothing really...Our school board has a reassessment policy, but it states that it has to be the same level, no averaging, offer rewrites when requested without limitation (especially by parents). I refuse to give them the same test, as some teachers do. We are just getting burned out by these parents asking for a retake for every single quiz/test/assignment. It is not even the students! I think we will try to find a policy that can cover expectations across all subjects. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH AGAIN!

I have a good job with lots of remote work and a good working environment. It is a high pressure job. I believe that becoming a teacher will fulfill me. I want to give back to kids and have less work pressure (messages/emails evenings and weekends, meetings with high stakes customers, complex responsibilities, etc...) I am an artist and my teachable is music! 12 month fast track B.Ed. next year. I am so happy to get back into art, 💖

For background context, I graduated last year with a mechanical engineering degree. I absolutely hated my degree and everything related to it. None of the classes I took were interesting except for the few math courses I took in my first and second year. Everything else was extremely boring and I found myself memorizing information that I didn't even understand just so I could pass my exams. I always felt out of place at uni because all my classmates genuinely had this passion for engineering and for the classes they were in, I could see it in their eyes and in the way they spoke and asked questions, but I just couldn't find it in me... I even did a summer internship at an oil and gas company and it was just as horrid. All of the above has made me realize that engineering is not for me and I'm better off finding another specialization.

Now to get to the main topic of this post. I have been tutoring math and sciences on and off for the last few years and honestly, I really enjoy it. I understand very well that it's not the same as teaching a classroom full of kids, but I have also been volunteering at a school as an education assistant and I not only found it bearable but it genuinely felt nice. I like working with kids and explaining concepts, for me it's much better than sitting in an office making CAD drawings and whatnot. I am fully aware that teaching is not always sunshine and rainbows, and a lot of the time the kids can drive you insane with their behaviour, but every career has its downsides. I think the most important thing is to find a career in which the downsides aren't so overwhelming and crippling, and I strongly believe teaching is that career for me. This is why I'm currently considering doing an after-degree B.Ed. (which would take 1 or 2 years depending on which university I do it at), but everyone around me is really discouraging me from pursuing this idea. They're telling me it's a horrible idea to leave a professional career and go get bullied by schoolkids everyday for a living. Furthermore, they're saying that teaching opportunities aren't even that good in Canada, which means I will waste time and money pursuing a degree just to end up unemployed in the end. And even if I am lucky and manage to get hired, the pay isn't that good and wouldn't allow me to rent my own place and start a family (I live in Alberta and just last year teachers were on strike because of the pay and other reasons). Honestly all of this has made me kind of reluctant, but I know for a fact that I absolutely can't go back to engineering. So now I just feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

For the teachers here, can you please let me know if it really is as bad as they've been telling me? What would your advice be for someone in my situation? I'd really appreciate any useful input. Thank you.

Hi all. I work a Technical Secondary School in Ontario. Our Health Care Tech teacher went off in mid-September and I have just now been brought in as her replacement on an LTO. It's a mixed class so Grade 10/11/12s, only 16 students.

I am totally at a loss for what to do in this class, I have supplied in it a few times but not really had the chance to find any of the hands-on materials. She has not shared a Classroom with the admin, so I am now turning to Reddit for help. If anyone has any experience teaching this class and would be open to sharing resources or ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

Hi all! Has anyone had a recent interview with Grand Erie for the occasional teaching roster (September-October 2026)? Just wondering what questions are asked in the interview