Grade 7s

 I graduated teacher's college in 1996 with credentials for teaching primary and junior division students. I became qualified to teach in the intermediate division in 2008, with my "teachable" (the subject area specialty that intermediate teachers are required to have) in Dramatic Arts. 

It isn't often that I get to teach the Grade 7s or 8s on my own. My Guidance periods this year are with the homeroom teacher present. It is true that when I first came to my current school, part of my assignment was teaching Grade 7 math, but that was an anomaly. During the COVID pandemic, I started out with a Grade 6-7 teaching assignment, until reorganization removed the Grade 7s from my class. I see the intermediate students when their teachers and I collaborate on a unit together. However, we've made arrangements this term, related to the requirements that the Human Sexuality unit be conducted in a single-grade setting, so that I get to teach the Grade 7s both for Health and History. 

The Grade 7 cohort this year at my school is a wonderful group. They tend to be on the quiet side and we have some quirky characters in the mix, but it really is a pleasant experience to teach them. I'm working hard to ensure that the teaching strategies I employ suit pre-teens, with their personalities, priorities, and preferences.

Grade 7 Health

I am beyond overjoyed that I was able to locate - thanks to Lisa Daley and the help of the patron saint of lost things, Saint Anthony - my Plicker cards. Tangential story here: there are a lot of superstitions related to the powers of Saint Anthony. My sister and I visited his museum when we were in Portugal, and my mother instilled in us a great fondness for this particular saint. I will say this: whenever I say a prayer to Saint Anthony to help me find something I've lost, somehow it works out! I didn't want to bother Saint Anthony for help finding something as insignificant as these cards, but they had been lost for five years and I really wanted to use them for the Grade 7 Health lesson. I prayed, made some inquiries, and Lisa found my Plicker cards in her classroom.

The reason why I was so gung-ho about using these Plicker cards is because it's a way for students to provide answers in a way that respects their privacy. The student rotates their individualized QR code to indicate their answer, and no one can tell the difference except for the teacher collecting the data. I am using the OPHEA lessons, one of the few times where I follow someone else's plans, and some of the discussion topics can be awkward for students. Here's a sample of our survey questions, with the results. (For health, I taught the 7s from the 7-8 class separately from the 7s from the 6-7 class, because of how the timetable works.)

Another point of pride is that I was able to set up all the resources beforehand, such as Padlet to prioritize our class norms, handouts with definitions, and chart papers and sorting sentences so no one had to worry about writing. I also used the translation app on my phone to explain certain terms. Our first lesson went off without a hitch. I will review the diagnostic assessment results from Plickers to see if there's more need to simplify or explain things. The OPHEA documents presume a lot of prior knowledge from the students that might not be there.

Grade 7 History

Lisa Daley and I co-planned and co-taught this Grade 7 History unit together and the goal was to make history accessible and interesting. It's a shame that the Grade 7s are working on their inquiry projects at this time of the year, because they won't be able to participate in the upcoming Heritage Fair. I took students in 2023 and other educators took students in 2024 because the GTA Resource Fair was on the same day. Even though the inquiry questions may seem frivolous or unusual, we deliberately designed the question generating process to be more guided and centered on student interests and expertise. It's nice to see their passions and hobbies reflected in their questions. 

My time with the Grade 7s will be interrupted a bit this week, between Track and Field and a field trip and other classes taking priority. I hope they are enjoying their time with me as much as I am enjoying my time with them.