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.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
September 2016
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