The BC Ministry of Education defines the Core Competencies as  “sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need to develop in order to engage in deep learning and life-long learning.” During my practicum planning, I started with the Core Competencies and weaved them throughout my units, lessons, and overall teaching.

Communication

The TELL-3C cohort focuses on meeting and adapting to the needs of English Language Learners. During my practicum, I had 17 ELL students in my class, so it was important to ensure effective communication was always present in the classroom. Working with students of various language abilities and learning abilities, I learned that communication is vital in teaching. I learned how to facilitate students’ learning both verbally and non-verbally through multi-modal ways of teaching. For example, I delivered my lessons in various ways – such as placed based learning, using technology, physical activity, and visual aids. I also provided students with various opportunities to share their learning and thinking in multimodal ways.

Thinking

I believe that creative and critical thinking are closely tied to inquiry and problem-solving. Creative thinking can be fostered in students in by encouraging discussion and creative projects. For example, in my Earth and Moon unit, I tasked my students to create their own questions and then design their own project based on it. Many of the students took this challenge as a way to think creatively and brainstorm collaboratively to find their own method of learning and expressing their ideas.

Critical thinking is a skill that may be difficult to teach, but is vital in education. Critical thinking allows students to take ownership of their learning and to think more deeply about an issue. During my practicum, rather than explaining explicit facts or lessons to my students, I engaged them through inquiry and collaborative work. I frequently questioned them and their thinking of a concept, which I think further solidified their understanding. I found that this encouraged the students to take their learning outside of the classroom, and relate it to their own lives at home or out in the playground. It also gave them a better understanding of the interconnectedness of what they learned with the global community.

Personal and Social

I believe that having a safe and inclusive classroom environment allows students to sustain a positive identity both in and outside of school. Each student has a value and contribution to make to the class community, and I made it a priority to encourage my students to share about themselves, their families, backgrounds, and dreams.

As a classroom community, I also set the expectations to be socially responsible and good citizens. I want to instill in my students the passion to be respectful, inclusive, and contributing citizens of the world. I think that my practicum class already had a strong sense of personal and social identify in each student, and I feel proud that I was able to further implement this during the time I was teaching.