Badminton was a good challenge for me. I learned a lot about organizing equipment and space. Here is an example of a lesson plan I used for teaching a grade 8 badminton class. Lesson Plan – Grade 8 PE – Badminton – Lesson 2 – Drop shot
Today we had the opportunity to hear from an aboriginal elder who shared the story of her family and how the government policies and actions affected her life. It was hard to hear. The atrocities that were committed against her or that she was witness to were almost beyond comprehension. I believe that we need to consistently consider the perspective of others and the context that they come from and this influences my philosophy as a teacher. Today was a whole new experience. Although I had heard stories and met other survivors of residential schools, today helped me continue to appreciate how the actions of the Canadian government in the past created an entire population of marginalized and traumatized people. There is good reason for lack of trust. And even though the people who perpetrated these crimes may no longer be in positions of power, the same organizations and structures are still in power. I have a new understanding of the mistrust of Canada as an institution. I must also say that I was amazed at the forgiveness of the elder. She understood that an important part of her own healing involved releasing the anger and shame. It was a moving and powerful time.
During my community field experience, I had the opportunity to visit two situations. The first was at a middle school helping with a program specialized for students how are years behind in reading and writing as well as helping the students services teacher. This was a phenomenal experience. The specialized program, the teaching and evaluation center, was amazing to experience. Seeing the students enjoying reading and working so hard as well as seeing the relationship the had built up with the teacher was amazing. I also gained an entirely new perspective on students in my class that may be struggling and appearing to not care. Often, we facilitate their lack of interest and care by having low expectations for them. In the afternoons we helped with the students services or special education teacher. In particular, there were two students with autism that required extra help and it was so great to get to know them and work with them. I wish I was able to have more time to work with them.
My final two weeks were spent at a local daycare providing programs for stduents during the strike. It was interesting to see a different perspective of the program as a teacher. It was difficult to adjust to the lack of schedule and try to just fill time without specific aims and goals. We did spend a lot of time outside and I thought about how I could continue to incorporate more time outside into my lessons. Below are some pictures from one of our nature walks and the wild life that I discovered and discussed with the students.
