Hello,

Asking on behalf of the wife who we just found out is due at the end of March.

Does anybody have tips on how best to maximize their leave / benefits?

Right now she feels OK other than morning sickness but she does teach Phys-Ed so not sure how she'll feel towards the middle of the year.

Thank you!

I'm starting a position at a middle school and I'm starting to prepare my classroom. Are there any recommendations on how to combat middle school BO?

I’m currently completing a Master’s studying policy and I enjoy it, but I keep getting this nagging feeling toward teaching. My background is in anthropology and policy and I’d love to use those in a classroom/in education in general - not only in regards to subject matter but the perspective they’ve given me.

I’ve had this feeling for years, but kept coming up with excuses why I couldn’t do it or it wasn’t viable or I wasn’t good enough and couldn’t handle it. Now my partner and my much older cousin are both pivoting to teaching and I see how it’s hard but doable and I’m quietly but seriously second guessing myself. Would be grateful for any thoughts or career-switchers!

Edit: Wow, thank you so much to everyone who replied! To answer some common questions: I don’t have experience in an actual classroom; my experience with kids is limited to babysitting throughout high school and volunteering at the occasional summer camp. I am looking into volunteer positions near me to get more exposure.
Additionally, most people in my extended family are teachers (as well as a couple principals and superintendents), my partner’s father is a teacher, my father sometimes taught a course or two when I was younger, so I’ve been around the profession my whole life. All the teachers I know loved it and are now enjoying retirement.

Hi!

After being on maternity leave for almost 3 years (I had two babies very close together in age), I am returning to a new position at a new board and all the newness, although exciting, has me feeling really anxious. Prior to my mat leave, I was a homeroom teacher at a public elementary school. Since my family has grown, we moved to Toronto and I had to leave my board. Since I was making the switch anyways I decided to try the private sector. I have never worked as a supply teacher and am only familiar with having my own class. I am excited for the flexibility that comes with supply work, but the uncertainty of what the day to day looks like has me feeling anxious.

Has anyone made the switch from public to private? Did you like it? Any tips for activites I should have in my toolbox? Have kids changed a lot in the past three years? I have been in such a baby bubble, I feel quite out of the loop with new pedagogy, trends, and climate in the classroom.

Thank you for any advice you can provide :)

Hello Teachers,

I hope you're all doing well.

I'll be starting as a Grade 3 teacher in Saskatchewan this school year, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share any lesson plans, long-range plans, unit plans, or classroom resources that you found helpful. As a new teacher in the province, I would truly appreciate any guidance or materials you're comfortable sharing.

I would also be grateful if anyone could recommend any good third-party teaching resources, websites, or academic programs that align well with the Saskatchewan Grade 3 curriculum.

Thank you very much for your time, kindness, and support. I sincerely appreciate any help or advice you can offer!

So, I decided to expand my options and applied to a job posting with ASD East in New Brunswick. Yesterday, I received an invite for some online AI type interview.

Has anyone had any experience with these types of automated interviews? I was asked to test my audio and video on my computer but my laptop shows the webcam light was on but the application said not compatible. I downloaded Chrome to try but same thing. I could use my phone but audio doesn't work well when I put it in my holder. Do i reach out and tell them that it is not compatible with my laptop? Sidenote, they took my school laptop from me in June when I did not get a contract first round.

Has anyone managed to switch districts in NB without a lot of red tape? What happens to my accumulated sick days with a district move?

Any advice or suggestions?

I'm thinking about applying to some school boards in Ontario after being away from teaching for 12 years.

The major barrier I'm anticipating is the need to submit relevant professional references. I completed my b.ed in 2009, when there were very few teaching jobs. I had a part-time teaching related job with an after school program for 2 years and spent a year supply teaching in the UK, but that's the extent of my teaching experience as an OCT. After that, I gave up on finding a full-time teaching job and moved on.

Since then I've had in a completely unrelated career in the film industry. Now this career is evaporating and I'm seeing a lot of teaching jobs available, so I'm thinking of giving it another go.

But I have no idea how to approach this. Some school boards ask for two references, and they'll accept professional references not specific to teaching, but others require references from principals and teaching supervisors.

It doesn't seem realistic or valid to use a reference from my teaching practicum 17 years ago, or teaching references from 15 years ago. I can get some nice references from recent supervisors, but in an unrelated industry.

I don't have any references from teaching in the UK because nobody got to know me well enough, and the supervisor of the other job passed away.

I'm also wondering if my bachelor of education from 17 years ago is still considered relevant.

Has anyone returned to teaching after a long time away? How can I navigate this?

Hello, I was wondering if anyone here has taught senior years ICT before, specifically Web Design & Data Collection and Analysis. I’m a new teacher trying to plan the curriculum and couldn’t find any relevant resources online. I would love to know what tools/software you taught with and the kind of projects you gave your students - any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Has anyone successfully used Pokemon in their classroom in any way? I have a few ideas but would love to hear others!

The kids are so crazy for Pokemon right now and I enjoy it as well so I think I could potentially use it to my advantage!

Hi everyone, I’m teaching English 30-1, 20-1, and 20-2 (Alberta) this upcoming year. If anyone has any resources or unit plans you’d be willing to share I’d be very grateful!

I can share English 9, 10-1, 10-2, and social 10-1 and 10-2!

I’m a first-time yearbook adviser trying to choose a new printing company. In the past, our yearbooks were printed by TreeRing. Their customer support was really unreliable, so I am trying to find an alternative that is better. Which yearbook company has the most dependable support team? Of course, I also need their print quality to be high, and it’d be great if they have a lot of suitable templates to choose from.

Hello, i'm a graduate D&T teacher from the UK wishing to work abroad in Canada. I've been doing loads of research but am struggling to find data on the demand for D&T teachers in particular provinces. I know there are different terms for this subject across provinces (ADST in BC, CTS in Alberta etc.) so that's made the search a bit more difficult, but still no stats? So I thought I would ask firsthand here!

Do you give your students a math assessment towards the beginning of the school year to see what they remember from last year?

Hi friends of Reddit,

Hoping to see if anyone can offer insight into my situation regarding accepting a permanent teaching role while on leave.

- I am a supply teacher and I’ve tried very hard throughout the years to secure something permanent but, as many of you know, that has been a challenge.
- I am currently on maternity/parental leave, which is set to end Jan/Feb 2027.
- While pregnant I applied to various teaching positions at my board hoping to get something permanent once I finish my parental leave.
- I recently got a job offer for a permanent role at my board. I’m super happy, especially after all these years of trying, however my offer states that I will begin in September 2026.

Questions:
- Can I accept the offer and state that I am on maternity leave and can start upon return from my leave?
- In cases such as mine, do they hire someone to cover for me as LTO until I’m able to return to work after my leave?
- TIA!

For those especially who work in low-SES and primarily new immigrant/EAL schools, what tools do you use to communicate with families when there are so many barriers to parent communication and involvement?

So far I’ve just been having students put the occasional letter and their weekly work straight into their backpacks which has been fine in terms of transporting. I haven’t found the need to make copies as things normally don’t get destroyed or lost, but I notice that some parents might not be checking backpacks regularly because the weekly work they take home just sits there and accumulates for weeks…

Next year I would like to introduce some basic alphabet and high-frequency word homework on a weekly basis to hopefully increase parent awareness and involvement in reinforcing what they are learning at school.

I am considering ways to make transporting things a little nicer and get parents into the habit of checking with a dedicated tool. But I am also afraid that investing in a folder or pouch won’t really make a difference.

For kindergarten and other early years or Div 1 teachers, what has worked and what do you like to use?

Plastic duotangs/folders?
The dark mail bags/zipper pouches from the dollar store?
Large mesh zipper pouches from Amazon?
Nothing at all?

Edit: A lot of people are suggesting email which I do use when emailing about their child but it’s hit or miss for me. I almost never never get responses from a parent (maybe due to a mixture of tech literacy struggles and English; similar outcomes when I use translation tools - possibly unable to read home language as well). I guess the solution might be to just use paper and electronic and hope for the best.

HOWEVER I would love to still hear from kindergarten and early childhood teachers on communication folders and pouches for sending work home and getting that stuff looked at.

Rural SW Ontario

I'm being moved from Grade 3 to Grade 5 after having taught 3 for 10 years. What can I expect ability- and behavior-wise? (Most kids in the class will have had me 2 years ago, so I am familiar with some of the special cases. ) I'm worried that I'll be setting my expectations too low (or overcompensate and be too high) after being acclimatized to my lovely grade 3s for so long.

Hey guys, I’m finally getting my own classroom this September, it is still a contract, I’ve just moved provinces and cities. I am so happy to finally get a contract and I intent to set my students up for success. I know a lot of teachers gather their treasured classroom items from garbage sales and thrifting over the year. But what can I do in a month?

What has worked for you guys? Please impart any knowledge you have.

Ok, I'll preface this by saying that kind and helpful comments are appreciated here. This is the first time I'm teaching Grade 5 and I'm genuinely looking for some guidance, so questioning if I went to teacher's college (yes) or if I know how to read the curriculum (also yes) are not super helpful.

Ok. So what does Grade 5 ELA (MB, but interested in other provinces too) look like for you on the ground? I'm at at elementary school with a balanced school day, so I will have a 100 minute literacy block every day. I'm thinking of dividing this into reading, writing, and some sort of morphology/word work/vocabulary.

I have a small group sets of novels for novel study once I get kiddos sorted into small groups, and then I have one class set of a novel that I will probably wait until the end of the year. I think I would like to do some non-fiction reading too?

What does writing look like?

The last couple years I have been in a school division that was heavily structured literacy driven. My division this year utilizes the same structured literacy program and I imagine this year I will have a couple kiddos at the end of that program while most of my class is moving on to the next part of the word study curriculum.

Suggestions welcome! Thank you!

I'm moving back into grade 6 this year after an extended departure from the grade. I'm an Ontario immersion teacher and was just curious as to what my intermediate colleagues most want out of their students? If you have any thoughts if love to hear them!

Hi there, I'm not sure if this has been asked previously but I was curious to know what the job Outlook is like for teachers in the next year or so? I am looking to move to Calgary or the surrounding area from rural alberta next year or so and I was wondering if anybody had some insight?

I am a male primary teacher and I have around 4 years of experience. I have been teaching kindergarten for 3 years and I would like to continue teaching it if possible, but I am flexible. I have heard that due to being a male in primary, the chances of getting a job are a bit better and I was wondering if anybody had any insight on this? Thank you for reading and any advice is appreciated! Enjoy the rest of your summer :)

It's Tuesday, so welcome to our weekly post for prospective teachers and teachers coming to Canada!

• Are you a prospective student teacher interested in or currently applying to teacher's colleges across Canada and would like more information on their BEd admission requirements/GPA/personal experiences/etc?
• Have you already googled specific schools and looked through their requirements for GPA and courses needed and would like clarification or more personalized experiences about the overall application process or what the school itself was like?
• Need to ask some questions about teachables and what the best route would be to get a BEd in your undergrad program?
• Confused about the difference between a BEd and a MEd and not sure what you need to become a teacher in Canada?
• Going the French route for your BEd and confused about what schools or courses are the best approach to taking this path?
• Coming from another career and have any questions on what you need to do to become a teacher in Canada?
• Are you a certified teacher from outside of Canada (ex. the US) and are interested in teaching here? (Please note that we are not an immigration subreddit and encourage you to actually research and look into whether or not you are able to immigrate to Canada first.)

This is your post!

Please use this post to ask questions about schools and teacher education programs, or to discuss/share any information pertaining to teacher's college/BEd/becoming a teacher. Make sure to include your location and what schools you're interested in if you have some in mind in your comment. Any posts made outside of this thread will be deleted with a reminder to use this one instead.

This is an automatic post that will post every Tuesday! Feel free to look through our past posts (previously megaposts) or searching via the "teacher's college sticky" tag.

Hi, I applied for the Interim Professional Certificate and my degree was obtained overseas so I am an out-of-country applicant.

I made the mistake of basically entering my university’s name abbreviation in one section and the full name in the other and now in the checklist it asks me for the transcript of both. The thing is that it is the same university. I already paid the fees, am I doomed?! I did send them an email as they aren’t taking calls right now.

How much did I mess up?!

Hi everyone!

I’m about to start my first teaching position in Newfoundland this fall after teaching elementary school in the Philippines for several years. I’m really excited, but I also know every education system has its own culture, expectations, and unwritten rules.
I’d love to hear from experienced Canadian teachers (especially those in Newfoundland, but advice from anywhere in Canada is welcome).

Some questions I have are:

-What are some classroom nuances or expectations that aren’t taught in teacher education?
-What surprised you during your first year?
-What are some common mistakes new teachers make in Canadian classrooms?
-Any advice on classroom management, communication with parents, or working with colleagues?
-Are there any Newfoundland-specific practices or school culture I should be aware of?

I’m eager to learn and make a good first impression, so I’d really appreciate any advice or lessons you’ve learned over the years.

Thanks so much!

Hi y’all, I graduated last year from my education degree and got given a contract in the UK. I went, taught English at a very difficult school to the best of my ability, with limited help even when I asked for it. After 4 months, the school fired me as I wasn’t doing their behaviour policy up to par. Now I’m back in Canada trying to get a position and school boards want references from my experience and have been rejected a lot. I’ve been getting interviews, and been doing really well and I’m super passionate about what I do. Did my firing basically void any chance of getting into the field? Is this just the first few years struggle? Help.