As a beginning teacher, there are many areas of inquiry that I intend to pursue and examine during my career.
Ongoing questions and issues that are of concern to me
- I am interested in the new draft curriculum, in particular the aboriginal education components of it. I am curious about how to apply this new curriculum in my every day teaching. I will attend professional development sessions offered on this new curriculum and I will collaborate with other teachers to work on implementing it in the school.
- As mentioned in my inquiry project , I am very interested in the issue of error correction in French Immersion. As a French Immersion teacher, how can I correct my students’ common language errors in an effective way? I hope to continue to study this through my own teaching experiences (trial and error, observation), through collaborating with other teachers who have had success, and continuing to read the latest research on second language acquisition and error correction.
- Technology in the classroom is another area in which I would like to continue to learn about. Although during my practicum I used iPads, projectors, and SMART boards; technology in the classroom is always changing. I am interested in learning how to maximize the use of technology in the classroom and I hope to attend workshops on how to do so effectively.
My strengths and how I will continue to nurture them
One of my biggest strengths is that I am a very caring educator. I will continue to nurture this by creating warm, positive classroom environments in my future classrooms. I also work well with others, and I will nurture this by collaborating with my colleagues. I intend on pursuing a Masters degree from UBC once I have a few years of teaching experience under my belt.
Improving my practice/my thinking about my practice
- An area where I believe there is room for improvement is using more inquiry in the classroom. During my practicum, I did not use as much inquiry-based learning as I would have liked. I see a lot of value in this type of learning, but I struggled with finding ways to implement it. I will work with other colleagues who have been successful using inquiry-based learning and I will also continue to attend professional development events to expand my strategies.
- Another area where I could improve is in my classroom management skills. I know different strategies work with different groups of students and different ages. I hope to learn more strategies that work and to use them in my practice. I believe speaking to more experienced teachers will be beneficial in finding new ways of managing the class and new strategies.
- In my teaching, I have learned to use higher level questioning on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. I know that I need to continue to work on this throughout my career. I have a handy flip-chart that I will keep near me, making sure I am continuously asking questions that expand my students’ thinking.
I am thrilled to be entering this exciting profession. I know that through my career I will continue to grow and improve as an educator and as a life-long learner.