The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Teachers on the Twittersphere

Beginning Teachers’ Conference (#btc2015, #yycbtc)

Ms. Ingram @ms_ingram12: Let’s be the advocates in our education system!

jason schilling @schill_dawg: At the Beginning Teachers’ Conference in Edmonton. Great energy in the room!

Kirsten Dyck-Conrad @KirstConrad: "It takes 5–10 years for a beginner teacher to have the same neurological connections as an experienced teacher in the classroom."

Democracy Bootcamp (#democracybootcamp)

Jennifer Keay @teach_run: Listening to #candidates at #DemocracyBootcamp is exciting, tense and brilliant! Thank you @CIVIX_Canada for arranging this!

Vince Bustamante @LSLBustasocial: Crazy to see all impacts that @studentvote has on not only kids, but families too!

World Teachers’ Day (#worldteachersday)

UNESCO @UNESCO: Putting #EducationFirst means putting #teachers first

Letters to the Editor

Mentors and prep time make a difference

After reading the editorial in the Aug. 25 issue, I felt I needed to indicate a viewpoint on how two-thirds of new grads measure up.

I graduated in 2007 from the University of Alberta in the education department. I decided to do my official first year in England. After the support I got from the first year, I stayed another four.

What support did I receive in England? All new first-year teachers were entitled to extra prep time and a personal mentor. Being a math teacher for grades 7 to 11, I was put with a teacher in the French department. At first I thought this was a silly idea, but after spending one period every month getting familiar with this new profession, I enjoyed having a mentor.

Even having the extra prep time really helped with trying to prioritize all lesson plans and other everyday tasks teachers need to do.

Overall, I must say this article about only two-thirds of new teachers measuring up really makes me wonder why we do not have mentors in our schools or, especially, provide extra prep for all new teachers.

Angelo Delli Santi
High school science-math-religion
Gerard Redmond Community Catholic School, Hinton