I can’t believe this three week practicum is already over! It has truly flown by. This last week also provided numerous rich learning opportunities and experiences. I spend Monday in a grade 4/5 class observing and assisting a Helping Teacher who was finishing a unit on the TRC and Indian Residential Schools. We watched a short video, read 3 survivor stories and listened to the apology from the Prime Minister. The culminating activity was making a necklace as part of Project of Heart. I thought this was a really beautiful way to end the learning on something positive and expressive. Some students came up with designs full of metaphor and meaning. Others struggled to come up with an idea. It was wonderful to sit with students and try and guide their thinking without giving them all the answers. In the end everyone had made something unique to them and that represented their understanding of this Canadian history.
Tuesday was National Aboriginal Day and Prince Rupert really celebrates with enthusiasm! It was wonderful to be part of this celebration and experience it with the beautiful people of this territory. Although, we were mostly manning the coffee and tea station in another room, we were able to pop into the big auditorium a few times to watch the amazing dancers, artists and musicians perform throughout the day. It was also very interesting to see the community come through and have some free coffee, tea and donated food at our station. We were able to speak with numerous community members!
We also participated in a book launch at Lax K’xeen Elementary this week, which was really cool to see! The librarian published three books from three different classes, with the help of the classroom teacher. Each book was made up of student writing accompanied by a beautiful photograph that surrounded a common theme. They turned out lovely and the celebration was exciting for the students. It was wonderful to see how proud they were of their work and seeing themselves published in such a sophisticated way. It gave me lots of ideas for future projects with students!
Finally, I finished this week off with a field trip to Butze Rapids with the grade sixes of Prince Rupert Middle School. It was a lovely way to finish off my time in Prince Rupert. The students had a blast looking for crabs, wading out into the low tide, fishing, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and making forts. They were all very well behaved and although the day felt chaotic it was also relaxing to be out in such beautiful nature. It’s fantastic to see how schools here seem to take every opportunity they can to take kids outside. I can see how great it is for them!
