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This Side of Perfect

The not-so-general ramblings of a woman trying to do it the right way, but not always hitting the mark.

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First Grade in Finland: Every Day is a Half-Day - Taught by Finland

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By Iva Floyd - January 22, 2014

First Grade in Finland: Every Day is a Half-Day - Taught by Finland

This is an interesting article comparing the typical school day of American first graders and first graders in Finland. The differences (and the author's justifications for those differences as he views them as an Ameican teacher teaching within the Finnish school system) are quite profound.

Perhaps the United States *does* have it backwards. Perhaps less really is more?

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Life as a Paraprofessional vs Life as a Teacher: Part 1

By Iva Floyd - March 01, 2014

Eventually, I will write a lovely end-of-the-year post (probably entitled something original like: "What I Learned as a First-Year Teacher"), but this morning, I want to write about something a little bit different.

The differences between my life as a paraprofessional (teacher assistant) and my life as a teacher .

I'm sure many of you are aware that I began my life as an educator, not in the classroom, but in a lunchroom. After I had home schooled The Boy and Baby Girl for a couple of years, it became apparent that it wasn't working out any more and some changes needed to be made in our family. So, on that fateful day in November, I dropped both of the kiddos off at the Little Elementary School Around the Corner, The Boy, a 4th grader and Baby Girl, a 1st grader, while I headed off to work in the school cafeteria.

As a substitute cafeteria worker, filling in for the ladies who had to be out for whatever reason at various schools around my city, I had the opportunity t…

Life as a Paraprofessional vs. Life as a Teacher: Part 3

By Iva Floyd - May 18, 2014

This is the third part to a 3-part series chronicling my take on the differences between a job as a paraprofessional and a job as a teacher. (View Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

Let me preface this list by saying that I believe that paras and teachers have the potential to equally rock the education world. They can love and nurture students in a way that only an educator can. They can help students become great.

That said - there are some definite differences between paraprofessionals and teachers. This list is not to say one is better than the other. Rather this is meant as a tongue-in-cheek comparison of how I perceive the differences of a paraprofessional's job and a teacher's job. (And any teacher who has worked as a para or vice versa should be able to relate to my list.)

Paraprofessionals Vs Teachers Calendar Reduction Days – “Yay! I get another day off. Yeah, it kind of stinks that it’s a Calendar Reduction Day, but hey – a day off is a day off!”
Calendar Reduction Days …