My name is Bella and I have taught high school English and Modern Languages, elementary school library, and medium termed TTOC assignments in Grades 3 and 1. I am a TTOC currently and hope to get my kindergarten class in the fall!

I teach in two districts in the lower mainland — Delta and Surrey. Now that I think about it, all my favourite teaching moments are mostly subtle and anything but grand displays. A recent favourite teaching experience occurred in an intermediate classroom with me as a TTOC there. That set-up usually rouses my anxiety, as intermediate students are mostly bigger and taller than me and I had a couple of poor experiences as TTOC in Grade 7 classrooms!

I credit the things I had learnt in Kindergarten Parts I and II, as I used the strategies on this group of scary intermediate students! I saw them the way the Reggio approach views the child, competent and curious. A few of the students approached me in a welcoming manner, likely because of how I carried myself as a teacher now that I learnt about the Reggio’s image of the child. I learnt some Gen-Z humour (e.g. the ‘angy’ cat meme), concepts of graphic designs, and even saw a demo of a simple process of overlay, a graphic design concept. It was rewarding, as all the things I have learnt so far in K1 and K2.

My most challenging experience occurred when I was a TTOC in a grade 1 classroom. A parent flipped out over something he perceived I neglected that had to do with an item of clothing for his child during the xmas concert and came to our pod to confront me. Basically, the child took off a top that the parents bought specifically for him to wear when the child sings on stage. I was perplexed and felt his accusations were unfair. I did not have the tool to respond except to tell the truth: the child told me earlier and told me again in the presence of his parents that the top did not belong to him! The child did not sound hesitant or doubtful about that, he insisted, and his parents saw how adamant he refused to even consider the top as his as I asked him in front of his parents (not in a ‘I told you so way’). My colleagues in addition to admins were supportive and relieved my responsibility to dismiss the children, seeing the explosive parent would of course be there to pick up the child. Handling parents in a professional and empathetic manner, while maintaining firm boundaries for behaviour from them that are acceptable or otherwise, is something I want to learn more about.