Today we had a debrief about our 2-week Practicum. It was weird to go through this transition of being a teacher back to a student. I must say I am already missing my teacher’s life…

1st day – nervous and excited
I did not know what to expect from the school or the practicum. I wondered whether my school advisors were nice, and I was worried about the classes I would teach. However, the welcoming staff made everything easier. All our sponsor teachers got into the conference room to introduce themselves and to know us. The Vice Principal was certainly kind – he prepared breakfast and coffee for us. I must say that was a good first impression. He also gave us a booklet that included a map, the different bell schedules, an emergency outline and room numbers. That booklet was helpful. Later on, he also gave us some observation outlines, which were beneficial for a UBC assignment.
I visited many sponsor teachers’ classes and got to know them a little bit. It was interesting. Both of them seemed to be quite talkative, which was good (I am kind of slow to open up to people – I am a little bit introverted). They were smiley and nice. However, I was not sure whether I looked lost or stressed or something else. Both sponsor teachers asked me to take it step by step and don’t worry that much. That day went pretty quickly, and to be honest, I was quite confused by the end of the day. I did not know what I was supposed to do; I did not know why I was there.

1st week
I do not recall all the tiny details that I did everyday during the first week, so I am going to highlight some significant events.
The Vice Principal certainly kept us occupied by preparing different workshops for us. There were multiple sessions that various teachers organized to help us learn more about the school culture and the teacher’s life, such as the purpose of advisory class, the different printers and scanners, the amount of computer labs, etc. These workshops certainly helped me picture myself as a teacher working there (once I have the key to get to the materials behind the locked doors, I am sure the imagination will be a lot easier). They also allowed me to learn more about the school’s ideology. I have to say there must be a purpose why I am doing a practicum at this school. I have similar ideologies. I know I can actually fit in pretty well. I felt more comfortable with the schedule and the system. I could be myself again.
I observed many classes, and I learned something from every class I had observed, whether it was a teaching strategy or a classroom management trick. These observations made me realize what kind of teacher I want to become. I was actually learning about myself while I observed all these classes. Right now I must say I have a pretty solid idea what kind of teacher I am (I will talk more about it later). I knew what I did not want to occur in my classroom, such as being disrespectful to one another. I actually witnessed an incident that a teacher mindlessly made a student felt uncomfortable. She asked the class, “what’s that smell?” Everyone looked around. Someone yelled out, “it was the tuna.” I looked at the student who was sitting next to me. He was eating a can of tuna with some crackers. The teacher said something like it was stinky. The girls around him were making faces and covered their noses. (Mind you – I could not even smell anything. Yes, some people might have a more sensitive nose, but was that appropriate to address the situation like that?) The student did not know what to do. He tried to hide the can and covered it with his hand. He was clearly embarrassed. I felt bad for the student. This incident has become a good reminder to me teachers need to be aware of what we say.

That’s good for now. I have more to share, and I am going to leave that for tomorrow.