The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Some responses to the ATA’s World Teachers’ Day social media contest.

On Twitter

Averie Meisner @averiemeisner
I am teaching my students about being kind to one another and showing bravery when faced with challenges.

Facebook

Kimberly Collins
Kindness, empathy and helping others. Show it, do it, support it, honour it — it is one thing to speak about those concepts and show examples. That’s great, but live it too. Let students see teachers and all school staff supporting each other, helping one another and being there with resources, support and appreciation. Be vulnerable, show grace, accept help and pull from your hard-earned grit. We — students and all school staff — are stronger together than divided.

Jennifer Black
We are planning together and covering classes when we need to. I pep talk the kids daily about kindness and patience. We really are making it through this school year together.

Hannah L Stephenson
Focusing more on building connections with each student! Emphasizing kindness more than ever this year.

Donna Knopper-Singleton
Every day I remind my students of the golden rule. I ask my kindergarten children about empathy and read them books everyday that model and project this. I talk about tolerance and how we should accept others for who they are and not judge or have expectations that everyone will see, do and understand things the same as ourselves.

They tell me how they should treat each other and talk about mistakes that we all make and how we can make our class a safe and caring place. I ask them to take action when they see a classmate or a friend in need of support and stand up and use their voices when things are not as they should be inside and outside the classroom. And most of all, I use Harvard’s Visible Thinking Routines to foster their critical thinking skills, which they can transfer to their own lives and use every day.