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Professional Practice

Illustration: Martin O’Neill/Three in a Box

An illustrated image of a child holding a pencil and looking pensive. The child is surrounded by math equations.

Help students master their multiplication skills early with number charts. Introduce this math manipulative into the mix and make it exponentially easier for younger students to learn their times tables. They’ll discover patterns in numbers as they explore their 50s/100s charts, as well as a range of multiplication strategies that will assist in recalling single digit multiplications rapidly. As they build on these basics, they’ll become more confident and proficient in solving division, fraction, long multiplication and algebra problems, which will set them up nicely for future math classes.

Malti Batish, OCT
Peel District School Board

Have a classroom idea to share? Send it to us at ps@oct.ca and your advice could be published in an upcoming issue! Check out our Professional Practice research archive at oct-oeeo.ca/1QAwOIQ.

Information Hot Spot

By Stefan Dubowski

TeachOntario (teachontario.ca) is more than a website. It’s a hot spot for information and collaboration. Operated through Ontario’s public broadcaster, TVOntario (TVO), this social media hub gives teachers free access to a goldmine of resources — from professional development videos and webinars, to new research and teacher blogs.

Use your board email to register, then dive into the Explore, Share and Create sections. Explore is the natural place to start. It’s full of inspiring material — including videos on how to use Minecraft in the classroom, how to integrate video conferencing into the classroom, as well as explainers on 3D printing.

Sift through original lessons and case studies with TeachOntario Talks, a subsection of Explore. The Parents as Partners area is full of activities that families can do together to build on what is taught in class. Another handy subsection is Ministry Resources, which links to the Ontario curriculum and much more. Knowledge-hounds will love the Research subsection — a source that leads to fascinating investigative gateways such as the Ministry of Education’s What Works? Research Into Practice site (oct-oeeo.ca/1X7qrPT), where you’ll find studies about project-based learning, the link between poverty and schooling, and other relevant topics.

Visit the Share section and exchange best practices with 4,000 teachers from across the province. Want to plan a new classroom activity? Be sure to click on the Create section, where you can collaborate with like-minded teachers on innovative educational tools.

Francophones, take note — a number of French teachers’ groups are using TeachOntario as a digital meeting spot, and all navigation tools throughout the site are available in French.