My First LTO Experience!

Hello there! I am SO happy to be back to blogging, after having taken a long, LONG break. As much as writing on this blog and sharing ideas with my fellow teachers brings me joy, this most recent school year has been a whirlwind, because… drum roll please… I was teaching full-time for the first time EVER! Today, I am going to be sharing a brief overview of my first LTO job, how I landed it, and what I learned from my students and colleagues during the 2019-2020 school year.

How it Happened:

I originally applied to a Grade 5/6 job posting during the beginning of August. After not hearing back, I figured that the position had gone to a more experienced teacher, and began preparing to supply teach in the Fall. Then, after the first couple of weeks of school, I noticed the same posting in the middle of September. After thinking it over, I realized the job was worth another shot, and submitted an application in the morning on September 23, 2019. That afternoon, I was contacted by the school’s principal, and was asked to come in for an interview after school the next day. I received the good news call that I had waited for and dreamed about since graduating Teacher’s College in 2016 on September 25, 2019, and on September 27, I walked into my own classroom for the first time with high hopes, and no formal lesson plans. I cannot even begin to describe the mix of feelings rushing through me that day.

My First Day:

My first day with my students began during the school’s annual Terry Fox run. I volunteered to help supervise the water/rest station with my principal, and did so for the entire first block of the school day. It was so wonderful to see the enthusiasm of many of the students, and to get to know my new administrator better. After we returned to the school and the students had their recess break, it was time for me to meet the class that I would be working with until the end of May. I had them complete some getting-to-know you activities, we played an ice breaker game as a group (more on this later), and then I opened up the floor for my students to tell me about their hobbies and interests, and for them to ask me any first questions that they had for me. Overall, this was an extremely fun and exciting process, but I was still very, very nervous! We went outside after lunch to play soccer for PE, and then I wrapped up a few of the activities we had started in the morning. As a whole, my first day felt a little bit surreal. I spent the entire time in a state of overwhelming gratitude, and it is still one of my favourite memories from the year.

What I Learned:

I will be talking much more about this in future posts, but for the sake of keeping this one at a reasonable length, here are the three main areas that I feel I experienced the most professional learning and personal growth:

1. Planning: Because this was my first LTO, I was fortunate enough to work with a mentor teacher for the majority of my assignment. One of the biggest skills she helped me to develop was my lesson planning style. At the start of my assignment, I was planning primarily on a day-to-day basis. It worked at first, and eventually, left me feeling overwhelmed very regularly. I knew that I needed to make a change. So, my mentor teacher introduced me to digital week-at-a-glance planning. We initially stated by planning my daily Literacy and Math lessons in one weekly Google Doc, and I was BLOWN AWAY by how much planning time it saved me, and how much more prepared I felt as each new week approached. I soon adapted the document to help me plan my afternoon lessons as well, and overall, I would recommend this style of planning to any teacher, new or experienced. Week-at-a-glance planning makes it much easier to get ahead with lesson planning, and to prepare materials more efficiently. I will definitely be bringing this strategy to future teaching jobs.
2. Classroom Management: In the name of complete and total honesty, classroom management is an area that I feel I still have room to grow in. However, I picked up several helpful tips and strategies this year that I feel will make me a much better teacher in the future. I learned that classroom management is more than an attention getter or reward system. Classroom management lies in the daily procedures and routines of the classroom, the consistency that teachers offer their students, and the expectations for what learning looks, feels, and sounds like every single day. Looking back, I wish I had spent more time on classroom management at the very start of my assignment, but I am well-equipped now to do so in the future. In future classrooms, I will dedicate the first 3-4 weeks of the year to explicitly teaching the expectations and procedures of my classroom, so that my students know exactly what is required of them in order to be successful each day.
3. Assessment & Evaluation: My mentor teacher also provided me with a wealth of knowledge about how to organize my assessment and evaluation procedures, in order to make the process easier for myself, and more transparent for my students. I learned how to properly document every assessment task I had my students create, how to take anecdotal notes throughout the day, and how to use observations and checklists as a tool for ongoing assessment. This changed the way I view assessment and its connection to daily instruction, and I am so excited to bring my newfound learning to future classrooms.

If you made it to the end of this extremely long post, thank you so much for sticking around! Your support of my blog and my teaching means so much. I hope that you are staying safe and healthy, and are enjoying what is left of your summer holidays!