My funky padlet by Maureen McDonnell

Can you recall a moment as a teacher or as a TL where you felt you were a champion for a student or for an initiative that would help many students?

maureen_mcdonnell — 2025-07-06 17:28:36 UTC

I can remember starting secret handshakes with a couple of brothers who had obvious signs of child neglect and were new to our school. We did all of the CAS calls and interventions but there rarely seemed to be improvement. They are such lovely kids. One started off very oppositional. I taught both of them in two separate classes. I started greeting them individually and each day our secret handshake would become more and more elaborate. Slowly their social reluctance started to fade as did the opposition. They grew, changed classes, and every time I see them in the hall they smile and say "HEY MADAME! Remember me???" and come up to give me a secret handshake.

2025-07-10 13:09:52 UTC

I have been teaching at the same school since it opened in 2009. I have mostly taught Grades 1 and 2. One of the most powerful things that has happened has been learning to advocate for students who are struggling. Especially if parents maybe don't really know that they need extra support. Now that the kids I have taught in the past have been growing up before my eyes, hearing from those parents and students that I have helped them in some way along their journey gives me the motivation I need to keep doing this wonderful, yet challenging job every day! :)

Marium Thomas

2025-07-10 13:28:27 UTC

There are many moments in teaching that I had the opportunity to help a student. There was one student last year who couldn't stay in class. He would wander the hall and mostly get in trouble for not being where he was supposed to be. Eventually, he discovered the LLC and whenever I saw him there I would call his teacher and let them know he was with me so not to worry. One of these days he told me that he wrote rap songs and showed me some of the stuff he had been working on. I had a bunch of old equipment lying around that had been used for podcasting at one time but hadn't been used in a while. I showed him how to use it and he recorded some of his raps using some free online tools. I told his teacher and she was able to use his work to give him extra marks in Language (he had very little work completed). The best was that at our graduation he created a rap for all the graduates, he recorded it and we played it for everyone at the ceremony. It was so rewarding to see how proud he was.

kathrynlagerquist — 2025-07-31 12:53:02 UTC

I've had the opportunity to teach in a number of locations and in various roles.

Two different experiences come to mind:

1) Most recently, in my role as a Literacy Coach, I've had the opportunity to work with students in more of an interventionist capacity. In our first year as coaches, we worked with groups of students for 6 week cycles and we tracked their progress using a universal screener. Seeing the growth they made with consistent, evidence-based strategies was phenomenal. Students gained the skills they needed and the confidence to continue their reading journey.

2) I taught grade 5 at a school a few years back and there was a girl in my class who everyone warned me about. When this happens, I usually work extra hard to make a connection - I worked on building our community, getting to know the students' identities and building a relationship with each of them. It got to the point where I could co-regulate with this particular student. When I noticed that she was starting to get reactive, I could stand beside her and say her name in a calm way and you could see the tension in her body release. It was so interesting and definitely reinforced the power of relationships!