Your College and You
March, 2014
Ontario College of Teachers | Setting the Standard for Great Teaching
 
MARCH 2014
  Your College and You

Telling the public who we are and what we do

Communication with members and the public is an essential component in regulating in the public interest and is in fact one of the objects of the College. Members and parents emphasized the need for the College to communicate about what it does in surveys we conducted last year. An initiative to increase public awareness is now underway via a series of print, radio and digital ads. Click on the thumbnails for a preview of the print ads running in Today's Parent, Chatelaine, and other Canadian publications.

 

2014 Member Fee due

To maintain your Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) status, you must pay your annual $150 fee by April 15, 2014 through payroll deduction or directly online through E-Services, web / telephone banking or by contacting Client Services at 416-961-8800 or toll-free in Ontario at 1-888-534-2222.

 

Job market remains competitive

Finding regular full-time employment during their first year on the job market can be a challenging venture for newly certified teachers. Read our Transition to Teaching article in the March issue of Professionally Speaking. Read the full report here.

 

Save the Date

Mark your calendar now for the College’s Conference happening on November 5 to 7, 2014 in Toronto. This year’s conference, Inspiring Public Confidence, features English and French workshops focused on professional regulation, teacher education and the public interest. Ken Taylor, former Canadian ambassador to Iran, the Honourable Jean Charest, former Premier of Quebec and human rights activist and journalist Sally Armstrong, are conference keynote speakers.

Learn more about the Inspiring Public Confidence event.

 

Tax receipt for your Annual Membership Fee Payment

SAVE! OCT MemberPerks®

FREE RESOURCES
Margaret Wilson Library
Teacher Tip Resource
Professional Advisories
Find an AQ

Read these articles in the March issue of Professionally Speaking:

Chip in to support new teachers

Register for our annual charity golf event to help support the College’s teacher scholarship program. This year’s tournament will be held on July 7, 2014 at Station Creek Golf Club. Reserve your spot now.

Learn about College scholarships.

Taste unforgettable wines with sommelier Steve Campo

Elevate your status as a wine connoisseur and help raise money for the College’s scholarship program. Join your colleagues and sommelier Steve Campo as he pairs carefully selected Niagara wines with hors d’oeuvres at the Liss Gallery in Toronto’s Yorkville district, on Wednesday, June 11th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online. Unable to attend? A donation would gratefully be accepted.

 

Honour an exceptional educator

Nominate an outstanding Ontario Certified Teacher for the Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence. Recipients receive accolades from the Prime Minister and financial awards of up to $5000. Many recipients are also the subject of Exemplary Teacher articles in Professionally Speaking. The nomination deadline is April 15, 2014.

Find out more.
Congratulations to Teresa Rowan, winner of the Fitbit Wireless Activity Tracker!

Teresa, a Grade 1 teacher at Corpus Christi School in Richmond Hill, won a Fitbit Wireless Activity Tracker for telling us how she embraces winter in her classroom when it’s too cold to send students outside. Here is her submission. “For indoor recess we usually read, write or draw at our desks, but with the two weeks spent indoors during the very cold weather, we all had to get creative for the health and sanity of all of us. I teach Grade 1 and as we are working on structures in science, we spend our recesses making structures out of recycled materials and from store-bought building materials that I have in the class. As for DPA, we are doing dance right now, so I turn on the dance music and/or videos and we dance our fidgets out.  

Poem for dance:                
Dancing, dancing
It's the best way to go
When your body needs to move
We are in the know
Dancing, dancing
It's the best way to go
When DPA time comes
We have to show
What we can do
With our dancing shoes.”

 

Changed Locations?

As an Ontario Certified Teacher, you are required to ensure the College has accurate information about your work/business address. If you are employed or self-employed in a position of authority over children or students or in education, please let us know your employer’s address.

 

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