…Till we start our ten week practicum! I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the upcoming practicum and what that holds for each of us. I for one cannot wait to get back into the classroom. After the two week practicum, I knew that becoming a teacher was the path for me. I just really appreciated the atmosphere of the classroom, where we have the opportunity to share whatever knowledge we have, and in return also learn a lot from the students.

I always try to keep an open mind, especially when I’m teaching; Through my experiences when I’ve taught back in Korea and tutoring here in Canada, I learned that as a teacher, you shouldn’t always be “teaching”. Instead, you should always keep your eyes and ears open, observing the actions done by students, listening to them, and actually learning their point of view, thoughts, and ideas. It always surprised me whenever I did this because many students that I’ve taught had bright ideas for projects, interesting viewpoints, and great input on topics. As a teacher, I think the role that I have to take is a facilitator.

As I start to prepare for the long practicum by making my unit and lesson plans, thinking of new projects, and organizing everything, I realized that although this practicum is important, it is not a be all end all situation. It’s a time for myself to grow as a educator, learn new things from my faculty and student advisors, and just absorb as much as I can. Some lesson plans may not go as smoothly or the way I wanted to, some lessons might be great, while others might fail miserably, but that’s okay. I will fail but through those failures, I hope to pursue the best that I can be.