Oct 13th 2016 –
Today marked the second practicum visit. This will be the last visit before teacher candidates are to go off and explore education from a first person perspective (in two weeks ~)! I felt spoiled from my last school visit to be in such an environment where theories I was learning about were being taught in the student’s classroom. Nonetheless, I am eager to see what a new system looks like and am excited to be a part of someone else’s learning environment. I was welcomed with a great smile followed by some prep before going to class. I got a nice tour of the school and was given a guide booklet describing school protocols that was amazingly organized. As a certified safety inspector, I am very happy to see schools providing such crucial knowledge (especially about safety) so efficiently and in a punctual manner.
This morning could have not started better. It started with French! Yes, French has grammar. Yes, French may have many tenses. Yes, French may have funny sounding phonemes, but by golly good gosh it’s one of Canada’s official languages. It also provides a beautiful opportunity to practice something completely foreign using language. Additionally, it allows for conversation that people of all ages absolutely love. The beauty of the challenge is trying to add that key vocabulary (to add value and relevancy). If one were to study linguistics, that one could see that there is a relationship between languages old and new. Mrs. B modeled a great example using relations today with an activity she asked her class to do.
Mrs. B took the attendance in French and asked the class how they were doing today. She spoke quickly of the weather in-between names and key objects in the room (such as desks). She started with her activity lesson and had my full attention as I was about to learn something new. Mrs. B told the students that they already knew 20% of the French language. The students laughed and doubted it, but she was ready to prove herself. Using words the students already know (in English), she began to name off a few French words and asked what they meant in English. Easy word and common words were used and the class got 80% of the words right without scaffolding. There were some words that caused confusion like “sentiments” (say that in French, not in English)! This conversation led to the awareness of the term “faux-amis”, words that seem similar but are not in meaning. I found this approach to language a very efficient one judging by the student’s reactions and enthusiasm.
French was over before I knew it and I was off to the next block. Explorations were next and I was excited to see what this school did for their student’s interest. I had the opportunity to explore a tech ed room, home ec room (which I didn’t have the fortunate opportunity to wrap the string around the spool), arts room (in which the teacher was absolutely amazing in her classroom management skills and interaction with students), and finally the music/drama room. I wanted to continue exploring, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to play journey on guitar with 31 other people in the room singing. I politely approached the teacher and asked if I could join in on the session. He had a huge smile on his face and handed me a few sheets of paper and a pick.
I was amazed at the patience and understanding this teacher demonstrated. Mr. Music (as I would like to call him) was always on his feet moving around trying to help students all the while playing was going on from all directions. The students gave him a lot of respect when they saw him standing at the front of the class with his arms in the air and quieted down quite quickly. The class, Mr. Music and I couldn’t help but laugh when there were two students with their guitars up in the air, shaking them trying to get their picks out. His instructions were very clear and very visual. Cues such as (for swing stroke) “up-up-down-up-down” helped students stay on rhythm. For additional support, he had charts, drawings, scales, and notes on the board regarding the pieces of a guitar as well as the string letters. It was amazing to see that each student already knew how to play each chord of the songs. It was certainly awesome to rock out to such an experience.
The art teacher had a different approach. She had a lot of enthusiasm not only for the subject, but for what the students had to say. It was amazing to see how naturally animated she was with her interactions. While the students were busy working, she admitted that her art program would change to her student’s needs. As a teacher, she did not have an issue with that as it only enriched her knowledge in the subject. The student’s bring all their unique ideas to the table. There are times where she tossed entire lesson or unit plans and decided to run with the students’ interest and values. This reminded me of a time I suggested a software game design program to my Information Technology teacher. I was determined to make video games, but didn’t have enough autonomy to go at it alone. I won over the teacher quite quickly as the following week he told me he would implement this idea instead of his original in the New Year (which was coming up quick).
I found it admirable of the teacher to do such a thing. It is certainly not easy as it takes time, but it does take the right time and right person to spark an interest. The art teacher is always inspired by new projects or ideas her students come up with. My previous IT teacher was only going to spend five minutes on software a student showed him and ended up programming 3 quick games. This makes learning/education real, adds value and allows students and people alike to develop their drive to learn. Knowledge is truly something that raises awareness in an individual. It allows them to see more dimensions of a topic or subject. Developing that awareness to a point where acquiring knowledge becomes an intrinsic motivation is priceless. What better way to do it than starting somewhere good?
I didn’t hear much of “why are we doing this today”, but did see a few students off task. I’m not sure if this is bad as they were still working on something. One student was doing Math while another was reading. Can I get mad at a student for that? I think that question can only be answered with “depends” as all other complicated things can be answered. Just as I’m always looking to challenge myself in physical literacy, I’m looking to challenge myself to see if I can get students to challenge themselves. I believe by incorporating their interest can be that marble stone that can start a beautiful carving.