Hello!

I can’t believe inquiry (and this program) is coming to an end! It’s been a whirlwind of a year. Some emotional ups and some emotional lows. If you have followed my blog (specifically during practicum time), you would know how much of an emotional rollercoaster things have been. Honestly, going into this program, I wasn’t sure at all what to expect. How to be a teacher? How to teach? What to teach? Math? Science? Language Arts?

I have learned a lot about education and myself this year.

I have learned the value of patience, empathy, ethics, care, perseverance and exploration through inquiry.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

(For my living inquiry, I have brought along a book that my students made me before I left)
^ this highlights the lessons/activities that I did with them! 🙂 I miss them all the time! They were such an amazing class! We did a lot of fun things together! Below are some pictures of the fun things we did 🙂 (Or in ‘edu-speak’, engaging things)

  <— We were learning about community helpers! The students had a chance to think about what they might want to be when they grew up. The Kindergarteners filled out “I want to be a _______” while the Grade 1s did more writing, “I want to be a _______ because _______”
 <— my last official “teaching day”, we had an ice cream sundae party!

<— I love taking my kids outside for DPA! Two of my Ks wrote and drew this for me 🙂

<– This was for our community unit! It was their first “group work”. I was a bit hesitant at first, but it all worked out well! 🙂 I am so pleased! The students were all so gracious and respectful to one another.

<– The Ks made this for our Nursery Rhymes Unit! It’s for the rhyme, Jack be Nimble! They all enjoyed jumping over the candle sticks!

<– Painted and grew Marigolds! It was part of our unit on Plants as well as a nifty gift for Mother’s Day!

<– this was a LOT of work to get done but so worth it! Got the students t0 draw as much fairy tale characters that they knew. This was an introduction to the unit on fairytales as well as an assessment to see what my students already know.

MY PHILOSOPHY

My teaching philosophy is for my students to feel safe, cared for and important. To achieve this, I would also have to create and maintain a positive classroom environment. This classroom environment would entail students feeling comfortable enough to express themselves and to learn, grow and explore freely. I would explicitly teach Social and Emotional Learning as it has been shown to lead to an “emotionally and socially more positive school climate” (Hamre, Pianta; 2006). I would do this by integrating Social and Emotional Learning ideas in the books we read, things we discuss and activities that we do. To be specific, I would read books that have a great Social and Emotional Learning message such as “The Beautiful Oops” by Barney Saltzberg. This is a great SEL book that I read to my practicum class (Kindergarten/Grade 1). It talks about how mistakes or “Oops’s” can turn into something beautiful if we take the time to see it. It teaches students to see beyond their mistakes and to shift their mindset to think of their mistakes as a learning opportunity rather than a pitfall or a “stop sign”. This was a timely book to read for my class because a lot of the students have been showing signs of frustration every time they make a mistake. I thought that it was important, especially at their age, to learn that mistakes are not a bad thing and that they are so useful in their growth and development.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED THIS YEAR

From this program (BEd), I have learned how important social and emotional learning is for students. Thus creating a classroom that focuses on more than just classroom management is not only important but essential. Social and emotional learning helps “build a positive school climate which increases students’ self-confidence as well as increases teachers’ belief that they can be successful in their jobs” (Hamre, Pianta; 2006). Furthermore, the explicit teaching of social and emotional learning skills and behaviour regulation helps with relational development and gives students a chance to talk about their feelings in a safe and supportive environment, something that is of top priority for me as an educator.

 

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PLAN

What’s next for me? Well, I believe that learning is life long. Part of the reason that I want to be a teacher is because I believe that you can learn so much from students, just as much as students can learn from their teacher.

My professional growth plan involves eventually taking Kindergarten classes (as it is needed to work as a Kindergarten teacher at the Delta School District), as well as maybe specialize in Special Needs.

I want to continue to implement social and emotional learning in my classroom as well as find other ways to incorporate it.

I will most probably start off my teaching career as a TOC, so I hope to discover many different classroom management techniques and SEL techniques!

Oh and of course, I plan to continue learning through PRO-D days! I think they are such great opportunities.