♥ Throughout this year, I have learned more about the complexity of teaching. Before, teaching was just something that you did. But now I realize how teaching is something you are. There is so much more to teaching than meets the eye and you really have to look beyond the surface to reach the many deeper complexities of teaching. There are so many layers to teaching and everyday I began to peel back a new layer that I had no clue about. I really cannot emphasize how much I realized that teaching is a LIFELONG learning process. It really is. I learned new things everyday I was in school at UBC and my practicum about assessment, social and emotional learning, differentiated learning, instruction, inclusion, incorporating Aboriginal education, inquiry, and the list goes on. I will never know everything there is to know about teaching and that’s okay. I have definitely begun the learning journey and have begun to witness the many complexities that teaching brings with it.

♥ I have learned a lot about myself this year and have begun my journey of personal growth. When I began this program I was really nervous about what things I would have to endure that would pull me out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone had become my best friend and I had lived in it for a long time. This program forced me to challenge myself and begin to have more confidence in my own capabilities. I can often become consumed with self-doubt and so I tried really hard to just take everyday as a new day and a new opportunity to grow as an educator and person. I grew tremendously during practicum.  I began to focus on having this mindset of “you can’t control everything; things are going to change”. Especially in the teaching world, this is so true! However, being someone who likes to be in control, it was difficult to just go with the flow and adapt to new situations. I realized as I progressed through practicum that I began to think on my feet more, adapt as situations needed, went with the flow of the day and just let go of that control. I still have a far way to go but I am really happy with how much I have progressed. My SA even commented on my growth from the first day to the last day in terms of simple things such as my intonation when I read stories to the class or my writing on chart paper and the white board. I even began to develop my own beliefs towards teaching and saw my teaching practice evolve through the lessons I created and instructed.

Some things that I learned:

◊The importance of scaffolding students learning

◊Bringing multimodal approaches into the classroom to provide support to diverse learners

◊Explicitly teaching topics and appropriate instruction for specific grade levels

◊Bringing SEL into the classroom in an effortless way

◊How to use formative assessment as a tool to determine where students are

◊How to bring hands-on learning into the classroom

◊Inquiry and it’s many complexities

◊Classroom management techniques and strategies

◊Framing questions and the language used

and

the

list

goes

on….

To check out more of my learning throughout practicum, check out my original blog!

https://blogs.ubc.ca/jnerada/