This year I have been joining and participating in quite a few Facebook Groups, mostly about film but a teacher friend of mine recommended joining Ontario teachers – resource and idea sharing. Since joining, I have seen a tremendous amount of lively debates, as well as received a fantastic array of resources for the classroom. I, like many others, as well as students spend a tremendous amount of time on Facebook and have found it not only helpful but also very convenient as I am often on FB multiple times a day.

I have already started tucking away resources shared in this group, and I feel having access to such a huge array of expertise from all across Ontario will contributed to my professional practice immediately. A simple post when looking for something seems to have garnered so many helpful responses, it’s wonderful to see teachers positively helping teachers.

With this in mind I am going to participate with several groups across social media. First, I have added another FB group, Ontario teachers (High School) – resource and idea sharing. An off-shot group, run by the same people as the Ontario Teachers Group, and in an effort to focus more on my own specialty as I am a high school teacher. I am hoping to be able to share some of my own resources as well as gain some more ideas and resources for the upcoming school year.

Secondly, I have started following Ontario Teachers Twitter account, I am trying to get more involved on Twitter, as my school is looking to move in the direction of teachers to have a classroom Twitter account. Therefore, I am hoping to get a little more involved on the platform then I am now.

In order to gain entry into the groups, I had to give my OCT number as well as the name of the school I teach at. I was accepted into the group, the next day once the Admin, and I can now engage with the group. Was very straightforward, but I appreciate that this is a teacher only group, and you have to prove it with your OCT number.

Since joining the group I have seen 20+ posts go up, and a multitude of answers to them have followed. Additionally, on the twitter there has been 12+ tweets in the last few days, showing that despite it being summer there seems to be a lot of engagement on both platforms. So far those looking for specific information have had a lot of support from the community. There has also been a lot of resources, and discussion posts so far which has been engaging. A great example of a very recent discussion is pasted below;

The platforms have had lot of engagement, and some great teacher discussion that are continuing to happen. This is what I really like about these Facebook groups, real people, sharing real thoughts about current events. Not just resources, but honest discussions about topics that affect teachers. Perspectives on the cancellation of the Sex Ed. Curriculum is still a hot topic in the feeds even now.

This group if very much in line with my personal philosophy of education, I believe that teaching is a collaboration. One of the greatest things they taught us in teacher’s college was ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’, someone out there is out that has done it before, and if not someone’s done something close to it. You cannot teach in a box, you will burn out like that, it’s important to reach out and use the resources that are available to you.

I would recommend any teacher in Ontario, to join both platforms, it’s quick, it’s convenient, and the engagement is with real teachers, who are looking to engage other teachers in discussions, resource sharing and advice. It is very user friendly, and allows the sharing of any type of media. It is good for all teachers to have a space however, where there are people who understand, and are able to sympathize with your situation, difficulties, questions, and even share in your successes.

One of the big challenges I am finding, is the group leans heavier towards the public-school boards. There is representation from Catholic, as well as private schools, but arguably the majority are public board teachers, and because of this, and the way high school subjects are structured the curriculum design leans heavily on the subject centered design.

Many posts are asking for ideas of textbooks for classes, which line up in accordance with the ministry curriculum documents which is part of that subject design, where the assumption is the course is best outlined in a textbook (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2013, p.160). The response below shows this thought processes, when a poster asked for some ideas on their first time teaching history.

In terms of instruction and evaluation I have seen many different ideas recommended and resources shared and pointed out, assignments and projects that show a good breadth of methodologies.

I have also seen a variety of evaluations recommended when someone is looking for ideas about how to go about accurately recording student observations.

I have only been in the space for a small amount of time but there seems to be a lot happening so far. I am looking forward to engaging more with this platform, sharing more, and seeing what other sorts of discussions and resources pop up.

Sources

Ornstein, A., & Hunkins, F. (2014). Chapter 6 Curriculum Design. In Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues(6th ed., pp. 149-173). Boston, MA: Pearson.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OntarioTeachersSecondary/?ref=group_browse_new

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17782097216/

https://twitter.com/TeachersOntario?lang=en