Teacher Profile - Jo

This month we start off with our very first teacher profile. Each month an enthusiastic teacher will share with us their personal experiences from the classroom. If you would like to be featured in the upcoming months then please contact us.

Introducing our first teacher… Hi there, my name is Jo Rinaldo, and I have been teaching for 12 years. I am currently teaching at Canowindra Public School in the Central West of NSW. I have a Year 3 class this year. I am not great at chatting about myself though there are some brilliant questions which I have very easily managed to roll out some answers.

I am not big on using social media as a teaching showcase. I do follow some amazing teachers, and they help with fabulous ideas that I use in my classroom. I have also unfollowed some teachers too as they did not support me. I love social to media to share the good, the funny and the travel pics. It is my downtime from work so I mostly keep it separate. I love nothing more than seeing a photo of a mate enjoying a cocktail on holidays, preferably on a beach. My Instagram and Facebook accounts rarely feature teaching-related content though I do love an inspirational quote about making sure students always come first, we are here for the kids!

I was far too lucky to have Laura (the creator of this gorgeous blog) as my internship teacher, and I truly learnt more from her in 10 weeks than I did in 4 years at uni. I still use Laura’s ideas and think about her words and advice she gave during my prac, so it was easy to say yes to completing this little profile for her. I just hope I am interesting enough for you all 😊 so here I go…

1. Why did you become a teacher?

This is an important question because you often need to reflect on this. To be completely honest, I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do when I finished school. I worked at our local vet after completing work experience there in Year 10 and I loved working there so I was thinking I would study vet nursing. I put in uni preferences too, just to keep my options open. I included primary and EC teaching as well as nursing. I was drawn to teaching as my big sister Jenny was a primary school teacher and she absolutely loved it! So really my why is simply because of my big sister.

2. Tell us your favourite; year to teach, subject to teach and platform for resources

For the majority of my career so far, I have been on infants’ classes though over the past few years, I have been on primary classes including a 3/4/5/6 class at a small school. So it is extremely broad though my favourites would be from Kindergarten through to Year 4.

I love teaching students to read in kindergarten, and it could quite possibly be the most amazing part of our job. I love artist studies to inspire artworks and getting students exciting about writing. I love to share my love of reading with my students and picture books are without a doubt my number one go to resource for any KLA. I can spend hours in bookshops.

 3. What is one of your favourite teaching memories?

During my first year of teaching, I worked at Walgett, NSW. This was an amazing experience which allowed me to step out of comfort zone. I moved to a new, isolated town where I did not know anyone.

4. What is the most important thing you have learnt while teaching?

Completing L3 training allowed me to realise the most important thing to spend money on for your classroom resources is picture books. Having said that, you don’t actually need to spend money on books at all really, just utilize your school or local library and you won’t need to spend a cent.

Another is laminating is not imperative, you can create the most engaging and simple literacy and numeracy activities with very minimal preparation and money.

Another oldie but a goodie, don’t try to reinvent the wheel!

Student and family relationships should always be our core business.

5. If you could invite one guest speaker into the classroom who would it be?

Most likely an author, probably Anna Walker, she is one of my favourites.

6. What is your best teaching tip for beginning teachers?

I have quite a few.

Use initiative, ask questions, understand that we are all continual learners (we never know it all), be flexible and look after your health! Save your best for when your students are in the classroom with you, this is going to have the greatest impact, do not exhaust yourself prepping.

This may be controversial though I am finding it concerning that beginning teachers are creating their whole program by simply printing from Teach Starter or similar accounts. While these are a fabulous time saver and without doubt have their place to support lesson ideas, I feel when these accounts are used in isolation it makes it extremely difficult to deliver quality teaching/learning which show you know your students and you are differentiating for their individual needs.

Actually take your holidays, dedicate a few solid days to get organised, so you stay on top of everything then switch off to school. Your staff and students will be grateful for a happy, relaxed and refreshed teacher.

Yes, it does get easier! Hang in there; you’ve got this 😊  

7. Teaching can be very demanding. How do you achieve a work/life balance?

Always have something to look forward, I try to have a holiday booked or outing planned as it allows me to remain positive, as I am thinking about working towards this goal.

A focus for me this year is to ensure I make time for exercise and organising lunches to put my health first. I am very guilty of missing exercise for a variety of reasons/excuses and for grabbing an easy and quick lunch which is rarely a healthy choice.

Collaborate with colleagues, chat, laugh, cry, share all your resources and programming. 

Teaching is tough gig and no one is perfect. There are great days, sad days, tricky days, challenging days, nervous days, happy days, funny days… at the end of the day walk your dog, light a candle, play some music, have a glass of wine, spend time with family or friends, do whatever it is you love to do to unwind and chill. Make sure you take this time for yourself.

8. What is one thing you like to do every day with your students?

Laugh with them!

9. How do you minimise your environmental footprint in the classroom?

Recycling, reduce laminating, really reduce photocopying student work booklets if not eliminate them completely (often these do not support quality teaching anyway), teach strategies to students (again there are many amazing quality texts to support this learning).

10. Plan a perfect teaching day for us

My favourite days are the ones with no interruptions and when we are together in our classroom for the whole day. I find my students love these days the best too, where our routine is glorified and enjoyed. Where there is no pressure to be somewhere, where our love of learning can grow together.

I am more than happy to chat or answer any questions; my Instagram account is @jo_rinal_do

Enjoy the year, try to stay positive, do the best you can each day and make time for you x.

WOW! Jo, this is incredible. You have offered so much helpful advice that will surely inspire other teachers out there. Thank you so much.

To read other ‘feature teacher’ profiles; click here.

If you are a teacher and are interested in featuring next month, we would love to hear from you. Send an email to laurathexplaura@gmail.com or drop us a note below