My practicum at Ridgemont was one of the most fulfilling and exciting parts of my teaching journey thus far. I could not have asked for a more supportive team, including my amazing AT, Laura Wheeler. But, above all, the bond I was able to build with the students is irreplaceable. I am happy to have been a small part of each of their own journeys. As I now plan for the second phase of my BEd program, I want to add links to the other blogging I did during my time at Ridgemont (please see the link attached). Also, I have added a photo of the wonderful poster that my students made me (which I still keep in my home). The direct demonstration of gratitude and affect I have on students is rarely so blatant; often, as a teacher, you rely on the most subtle smile or the glimpse of an ah-ha moment to make your job worthwhile. This expression of sincerity and love from my students through simple thank you notes was something that was unexpected and irreplaceable. I know now more than ever that my true calling is teaching. To be able to learn beside students every day is an honor.
Link to RHS blog: http://msdarlingrhs.weebly.com/blog
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My time at GHS recently has been eventful to say the least. I find I am (finally) finding my footing in the school. I am proud to say that in the last 2 weeks our CSL projects are officially underway, I have volunteered at social events, attended assemblies and ceremonies, all while still being able to work in the workplace math class in the afternoon.
Every time I enter the afternoon class, I am excited to start working with the students. They make me laugh every day and every time I go in there, they are more and more motivated to learn about the topic at hand. That is not to say there aren’t hectic moments; much of the class time is still spent allowing the students to walk around, take breaks and simply guide them to where they need to be. Although these moments may be more frequent than in other classes, I am coming to realize that those moments are a major part of daily life as a teacher. Regardless of how well behaved and engaged the students are, there will always be moments where some level of supervision and redirection is required. Besides the time spent in the classroom, we also began working with the LINK crew class on their interviews to promote the link crew. This video was designed to be used at LINK crew orientations, meetings, or even just to show other students so they are more aware of what the LINK program has to offer. After interviewing the students, we were given the opportunity to also interview the coordinator and teacher of the program, Sonya Carrier (who is absolutely awesome – shout out to her for being one of the teachers who has shown amazing amounts of enthusiasm and passion for her students and her work). Oh my goodness – that class is made up of some impressively smart and engaged students. Within the first 2 minutes of the first interview, I knew we hit on gold. These students are such an amazing crew, and you can feel the passion they have for the work they are doing. With such a diversity of students, it was amazing to see the tight community bond they have formed since starting the class. I can’t wait to work more with these students throughout the term. In the afternoon of that day, I was able to sit in on Joe Ross’ class – this is the 4U chemistry class that I often find myself in. Seeing the way this class works is so intriguing to me. Even though chemistry is not one of my teachables, watching this class makes me want to spruce up my knowledge just so I can work more closely with the students. This particular day was different though; Mr. Ross was getting over being sick, so instead of group work, he presented a PowerPoint (this was shocking as I haven’t seen him teach in the front of the class for more than 5 minutes). In talking with my fellow teacher candidates after, it was kind of odd to learn that the presentation apparently took less effort for Mr. Ross to prepare then group work. I find many people look at group work or open-ended questions as something that is easier to prepare then talking for a long period of time and yet, leaving questions up for interpretation and further questioning from students can send the class into a direction that you can’t really prepare for. For period 4, I was invited to attend the award ceremony for the students. This was a unique time for me to be able to learn more about different sides of the school. I was able to see the school band perform, and connect more names to more faces. At this time, because my AT was giving out awards, I was allowed to begin his class. Although only three students showed up (they obviously got the word that Mr. Pritchard was away) it was the first time I was able to fully lead an activity in the class. This felt really awesome and made me more excited to have opportunities like that later in the school year. I also had the amazing opportunity to supervise the Coffee House in the afternoon. I was really impressed by the talent in the room, and I was even more excited because I felt like a true member of the community. Although, I wasn’t able to talk with as many teachers as I was hoping to. I feel my nerves still prevent me from talking to some of them, which I am realizing more and more that I need to get over that in order to have my name be remembered in the school. Nonetheless, I was able to have really great conversation with the mother of one of the Co-Prez students. This was a really great opportunity for me in a few ways. Firstly, she was a very nice lady who was genuinely interested in hearing about my journey as a teacher candidate. I found we were both able to learn from each other in a short period of time. Also, these interactions have given me the opportunity to interact with people who are major contributors to the school community that aren’t teachers or students. Parent-teacher relationships are so important in fostering youth learning and development, so being able to have a slight exposure to that was rewarding. Lastly, in our conversation, I learned that my presence in the school was more noticeable then I thought. The women shared how she learned of the student teachers in GHS through school committee meetings, but more importantly, through her daughter telling her about our work in the school. There have been many days where I feel like my presence has gone unnoticed by the students and teacher in the school. It’s easy to get discouraged when you put in the effort and feel like there is no difference being made. Yet, this conversation has helped me realize that I am making a difference. It may not be life changing or drastic, but I am present in the school, and the school knows it. Hearing that has made all the difference. I hope that my presence can continue to be a positive addition to the school community. The most recent time I was at GHS was a weird combination of the week prior and the average day at the school. As with most days, I spent time in afternoon math class and worked with my fellow teacher candidates to finish up the LINK videos and watched the 4u chem. class be awesome. However, like the last week, I spent time at an assembly as well (this time, it was for Remembrance Day). The ceremony was beautiful and focused a lot on indigenous contributions in the major wars of the past hundred years. Seeing this dedication to indigenous soldiers was very touching and was a good representation of the large push toward incorporating indigenous histories in schools as an act of truth and reconciliation, and also concreted the importance of focusing on indigenous issues in the BEd program. This week at Gloucester High School was different from the others. When I first began going to the school, I spent most if not all of my time in my AT’s classroom. I really enjoyed those experiences as I found I was really able to connect with the students. This week, and some of last week, I spent a lot more time outside of those math classes. I have been lucky enough to continue attending the afternoon 11/12 workplace math class in the afternoons. The last two weeks we have focused on building casino style games that can be transformed from being fair to being in the casino’s favor depending on the amount of money able to be won. We then moved on to look more closely at describing and finding mean and medians of a group of numbers. Some students struggled with these concepts, but most of them were very intrigued throughout the lesson. It was wonderful to see the students to be so engaged. There were a few who would race to the board to share their answers with the rest of the class. It was great because the students were able to explore different number patters that would give specific means or medians (ex. give a list of 5 numbers whose mean is 80 and whose median is 75). The students were able to come up with their own combinations and really teach themselves how to manipulate numbers to give desired results. In all, I found the classes to be very insightful and fun!
For the mornings, I have been meeting up with my fellow teacher candidates to discuss our CSL project in more detail. It has been so wonderful to actually come up with solid ideas that we know we can realistically implement over the next year. I also like that we’ve all decided to work on all the projects together. I already feel a greater sense of community between us. We’ve decided to call ourselves the CBC – or community building coalition. As cheesy as it sounds, I think the name really contributes to our cause and allows students the opportunity to better understand why we are in the schools and how they can help. Many times when I think about going to the school, I feel overwhelmed. I think I’m slowly coming to realize how much work is required from us in the next coming weeks, so it’s easy to freak myself out. That being said, I can’t wait to begin the projects through our school. As of right now, we have 4 projects in the works. The first is Link promotion. We were actually able to go talk to the Link Crew class and begin our work for this project. The Link crew is a group of grade 12 students that plan events and work closely with grade 9 students to help with their schooling experience while building inter-grade connections. Our goal with this group is to work closely with their advertising committee to create social media platforms that allows the students to better communicate amongst each other while building and strengthening community digital citizenship. This platform will give students an opportunity to become better informed about the awesome work that the Link crew does in their school community. We hope that this project will also allow younger students to become aware and join the Link crew when they are able to. In the next coming weeks, we hope to begin a skateboarding club (with focus on all aspects of skateboarding including riding, art, graphic design, photography – just to name a few), a greenhouse project where we work with students to refurbish the run down green house, providing the community with the first steps to a community0based garden center, and to promote SPARK, a program focusing on providing fitness to students before Math, Science or English classes to help with concentration and academic success. I can’t wait to begin working more intensively on these projects as I have no doubt they will help further build a tight-knit community within the school. I also will be attending the coffee house and a Halloween Haunted House in the coming weeks. I feel so fortunate to have been invited to participate in previously established community events. I hope these opportunities will allow for me to meet more people and get to know the school even better! This past Wednesday morning, I woke up early, got ready for the day, and drove my sister to school, my dad to the bus and myself to Gloucester High School (GHS). I was so nervous and second guessed everything I did that morning. “Is my dress appropriate?” I asked myself. “Maybe I would wear my hair back – It will make me look older. Should I bring a lunch? I wonder where I’ll eat. Who will I meet? Will there be anything planned for me today? Will I see any other uOttawa students? I wonder if we’ll be working together”. So many questions were running through my head.
I arrived at 8:34am, which was extremely frustrating as I hate being late and was expected at 8:30. Morning traffic was something I had to get used to. When I arrived, I signed in at the office, and made my way to the Gator Room. Here, I met with many associate teachers, guidance counsellors, the vice principal and the other teacher candidates who are working at GHS. We were able to get acquainted over coffee and muffins. After being quickly introduced to everyone, it was already almost the start of the school day. And, with a hand shake from Mr. Pritchard, my associate teacher, I was then welcomed to the next year of my life as a GHS teacher candidate. The first two periods were planned exactly the same, as they were both grade 10 applied mathematics courses. At the beginning of each class, we watched a movie on pumpkins and then the kids worked on a problem that had them to attempt to determine how many pumpkins would be required to make enough pies to feed the entire school. Something that I found extremely interesting that I have not yet seen in a math classroom was the amount of technology use, group communication and innovative thinking that went into one question. For you see, the question only provided one piece of information – that the largest pumpkin ever weighed 2096 lbs and produced 840 cups of pumpkin pie puree. All other pieces of information required to solve the problem (for example, the amount of pie each student would get, the number of students, the average size of a pumpkin, etc.) was brainstormed, thought up and researched by the students. In this problem, Mr. Pritchard was able to incorporate a real-life situation, with real-life, researchable information, to a not-so-basic math problem. I found that this approach really made the kids think outside of the box. Furthermore, they were able to learn from each other through group discussions to come up with the most efficient way to solve the problem. During this time, I was able to circulate the class and help guide kids on the right track. I thought it was important to discuss the problem with the students in a way that allowed them to answer their own questions. By asking students to re-think why they believe something is the way it is, they are then able to see other sides of the problem that may have been ignored otherwise. This was particularly important in a situation where many aspects had to be considered in order to solve the problem at hand. As I was able to talk with the students, I noticed that even though the two morning classes were being taught the same things, the classroom atmospheres varied greatly. The first period class was quieter and showed no signs of behavioural issues. Everyone seemed engaged in the project at hand, but there was definitely less questions being asked. In the second period class, the kids were more rambunctious. This was particularly noticeable during “DEAR” – a program that has the kids sit silently for 20 minutes to read. As Mr. Pritchard and I both agree, it may be difficult to see the benefit in the “DEAR” program. I know that I as an adult would have trouble being required to be quiet as well. These students were in no way badly misbehaved, there was simply more discussion present in this class. Sometimes, students would get off track, but their love of discussion and questioning also made the students more engaged at times in comparison to the period one students. For example, some of the groups were asking questions about things that went beyond the scope of the question. One group even figured out how much the pies would cost the school to make (through research and more mathematics). By letting their creativity carry their logical thoughts, they were able to ask questions deeper and with more insight. During lunch, I spent time wondering the halls of the school, becoming more familiar with my surroundings. I ran into the principal and nervously introduced myself. I find there is a lot of pressure for her like me, so I hope I left a good impression. I had to remind myself that I have 8 months to convince her I’d be a good teacher. I hope that in the next few weeks I will be able to talk to her more, and arrange for her to work watch me at work during my practicum. In the afternoon, I spent my time helping in a grade 11/12 workplace math class. During this class, the students worked on an assignment that required them to research used cars that would suit the requirements of different families, comparing specs, pricing, and mileage. As someone who has always been, volunteered with and worked with academic students, workplace math was something I was never exposed to before. Even after just one day, I found that this class was the most intriguing to me. There were only 12 students in the class which was new to me as almost all of the classrooms I have experienced in my life were composed of at least 25 kids. The teacher warned me before the bell went off that a lot of trouble has come out of these students. Many of the young adults had behavioural problems to varying degrees. One of the students was actually known for having some of the biggest behavioural issues out of all the students in the school. With his outwardly distressed behaviour, in combination with autism, it was obvious this student had some difficulties functioning in a regular class setting. He was able to leave class whenever he felt like he needed to. During the period, he left once, stormed down the hall where he was met by the vice principal. But, I was amazed at how the school authorities were able to delicately handle his behaviour. The teacher has never kicked him out of class. In fact, he said to me after that he would never kick a child out of his classroom. This was an “ah-ha” moment for me. In that instant, I was able to realize what message was sent when ‘troubled’ kids were treated as problems; they then thought they were a problem, they felt like they weren’t wanted in the class. By third period, my associate teacher already demonstrated to me the importance of inclusion in the classroom. I realized that students who are normally kicked out are the ones who most need to feel a sense of welcome by their teacher – they are the ones who need to be there the most. It was wonderful to see that the vice principal also shared this wisdom. When she was disrupted by the student yelling down the hall after leaving our class, she didn’t force him into her office to have a chat. Instead, she listened. She brought him outside to have a breath of fresh air, asked him why he was feeling so upset, allowed him to call home, and asked him if he was hungry. He hadn’t eaten all day. So, she talked about his difficulties with an understanding ear, gave him a granola bar and some cheese, and he was able to calm down and re-join the class. She realized that listening and truly understanding his concerns was what would be most beneficial for him – and, it worked. I saw firsthand what I have been reading about for 3 weeks in my classes. After working not only with this student but also with the other children of this class, and seeing how my associate teacher could interact with them, it made me recognize how worthwhile it could be to be able to build a strong, healthy relationship with the students. Some students may appear more difficult to work with, but success is just that much more rewarding when it is reached. Success is subjective, and being able to see what success can mean in a less ‘academic’ course has really opened my eyes. In the final block of the day, Mr. Pritchard and I sat and discussed my first experiences as a teacher candidate. He provided me with a glimpse of different teaching styles, assessment strategies and the logistics of working in the public school board. But, what was even more touching was how he opened up to me about some of the struggles his past students have undergone (at Gloucester and Rideau High Schools). By listening to the different stories, it made me realize how difficult some of the student’s situations are. He told me that a girl in his afternoon class couldn’t attend fourth period because she had to work as she was the main breadwinner in her family. He told me some of the students in his grade 10 classes immigrated to Canada 2 weeks ago. He told me that an old student came from Syria because both of their parents were gunned down in front of them. He told me how the girl who talked to him during 2nd period was a student who just returned to school after dropping out because she was inspired by the phone call my teacher made to her mom, encouraging her to continue with school. I was so moved that I was almost brought to tears (luckily I was able to compose myself – no need to make a fool of myself on the first day). All of these stories opened my eyes like they have never been opened before. As someone who grew up in the suburbs, I honestly didn’t know students so close to home faced these issues. I am learning that I have been ignorant to the issues these kids face, even as they live, work and go to school right in front of me. I also was able to see how much of an impact a teacher can have on someone’s life. When I think of math, I think of formulas and graphs. Little did I know a math teacher could have such a powerful, implicit impact on their student’s choices, feelings and outcomes. Taking the time to learn about your students and help where you are able to, while encouraging them to contribute to their own education, has not demonstrated real-life results that I have now seen. And this is all after one day! I am eager to go back to GHS and see what else is in store. As soon as I returned home from my first day of CSL, I ran to my room and flipped through the math curriculum to see how I could plan a project to do with the students I had met earlier in the day. So far, I have considered planning an on-going project around youth activism, fundraising for a social justice issue of the students’ choosing. I may try to see if I can work with the 11/12 workplace math group, as a major part of the course curriculum focuses on earning and spending money. It would be interesting if we could focus on issues around poverty, as we could then discuss costs associated with living in Ottawa; I will have to see where this project takes me. I have thought up some other ideas, including beginning a DILA project, working with the homework club, participating in a race weekend with my associate teacher and students, or beginning an environmental club. So many things to think about…I’ll be discussing these possibilities over the next few weeks. I had a great experience my first day, and I can’t wait to immerse myself further in the school community! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
September 2016
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