Hello J.D. Hogarth! Holy cow, I'm back for another year! I found out the last week of August that I was able to come back to JD Hogarth and I am thrilled to be at such an amazing school.This blog will serve much as it did last year - homework and updates. I have added a website this year to hopefully enhance communication and ease of navigating through your time at JD. I am hoping to have a calendar, useful website links, monthly newsletters and course content posted regularly.
Parents, if you wish to contact me, the best way is to call the school and set up a time to meet. While initiating contact through email is fine for setting up times to meet or call, my administration does not support Parent/Teacher email traffic. I believe their worries are justified - so much is missed when discussing important matters via email - and your child's education is important! So, phone: 519-787-0151, and to initiate contact or to set up an interview: lbibbysmith@ugcloud.ca.
I hope you all had a wonderful summer. I certainly did. My family and I hosted a beautiful young woman, Marina, from Spain for the month of July. This is her third summer with us and she is considered part of our family. We are hoping to go and visit her and her family next summer! We managed to get up to a cottage for a week - and what a week it was! We had a 'dock' day every day - the weather cooperated 'swimmingly'!!!
I attended the Summer Institute Workshop for two days, to learn about many current pedagogical topics. I took an intensive online Math course for the month of July. While I won't be teaching math this year, I feel that the problem-solving approach will definitely enhance our science classes this year. I also attended 4 days of instruction to become a certified "Tribes" Leader. Tribes is a wonderful process to incorporate into any classroom, improving inclusiveness, cooperation and conflict resolution. I finished off my summer at the Learning Fair in Niagara on the Lake - a two day conference on equity and tolerance in education. I feel ready to settle into the classroom again!
I hope this is the best year yet!
