If you were to ask me a year ago my preference in teaching, I would have said primary students. After my experiences in the TELL 3C cohort and the long practicum, I am open to different teaching opportunities more than ever. The TELL 3C program gave me a window of what classrooms in British Columbia look like today; the changing demographics, the increase in support for students with special needs, differentiated learning, technology and of course, the new BC Curriculum. I was taught under the previous curriculum, and I know that classrooms are no longer the same as when I was a student. The inquiry in the case studies that were the core of TELL 3C highlighted issues of the current educational landscape.

I knew that I was entering an intense program, but I don’t think I really knew what endeavours I was about to have. Being in a multicultural, multiage school, the cases from TELL 3C became a reality. I was immersed in collaboration, differentiation, school community and supporting special needs. My time spent at La Movida Design Studios as part of the community field experience allowed me to work with an older group of students – or clients, in a different educational setting. I would have to say, the long practicum was the epitome of this whole learning experience. Reflecting back on it now, I’d like to go deeper in my teaching practice while continuing to work on inclusivity.

Deeper Learning

My long practicum in a K/1/2 class was vigorous; always planning ahead, revising, reflecting, material-prepping, numerous trips to the photocopy machine. Reflecting back on all of the lessons I’ve planned and taught, it’s pretty fascinating how it all unraveled. I’ll never forget our practicum coordinator telling us that by after a few lessons, the unit shouldn’t be as “on point” as planned. He was definitely right, but I think in general, my I accomplished what I wanted to. Now having said that, I do believe the learning could have gone a bit deeper. My reflective practice kicked in after each lesson ended: What went well? What didn’t go well? How could you have done this lesson differently? A few suggestions would also be given by my school advisors on how the lesson could be taken to the next level. So what about the body parts of an insect? What about the different natural resources in Canada? There could have been more opportunities for place based learning as well. The insect unit concluded with a successful trip to Beaty Biodiversity Museum, however I believe more outdoor insect observations as well as raising live insects would have been beneficial. Unfortunately, due to time and logistics, this could not be incorporated into the unit plan.

What I also found myself considering during my planning and teaching was the delivery of information – from teacher to student. I avoided the “stand and deliver” method as much as possible, ESPECIALLY with wiggly primary students. I varied the ways in which students would retrieve information about a specific topic: reading a book, brainstorms, group research (led by my older students.) But going forward, I am looking for more ways to uncover information, rather than cover it. Looking back, I do believe I made a good start in getting comfortable in the classroom and establishing an authoritative presence. Now that I’ve got my feet wet, it’s time to head to the deep end.

Inclusive Learning

I think what made my practicum experience extra special was the empathetic group of students in my class. There was a student with an IEP (category G) who had an assigned Education Assistant. The ways in which the students went out of their way to make him feel included were heartwarming. I’ll never forget when the students were cheering loudly for him while he was one of the last to finish doing laps around the field for a DREAM break (Drop Everything and Move); they were always encouraging him. Seeing this motivated me to build rapport with him and to do my best in working with his EA. I realized how imperative it is to communicate with any support staff you have in your class. Although it is the teacher’s responsibility for differentiated planning, the reality is the Education Assistant ends up pulling most of the weight. As I began my immersion in the long practicum, I found it a challenge to differentiate instruction so that the student with an IEP could participate as much as possible. There was so much focus on getting through the actual lesson that it was easy to get tunnel-vision sometimes. What ended up happening was I planned alternative worksheets or prepared mini booklets with simple phrases to maximize his participation. Something that I am thinking about for the future is how can I go beyond just a “separate” worksheet.

Going Forward

Thanks to my valuable experiences in the TELL 3C cohort and practicums, I have a better idea of what to expect as an educator. My preferences in teaching have certainly broadened. I was fortunate enough to have observed intermediate students at my practicum school. I am looking forward to working with students at the elementary and even secondary level. I was always a bit curious about teaching specific subjects. The community field experience allowed me to explore a teachable subject area that I have particular interest in, sewing. I had an opportunity to share some of my expertise, which was refreshing and exciting.

Beginning my career as a TTOC I believe will provide plenty of opportunities to explore different classrooms, interact with diverse students, and to get out of my comfort zone. I am beyond excited to see what is out there! My hope is to have a dynamic career. For now I’ll hold onto the advice given to us by an instructor on getting jobs: Don’t let this be your first and only job. I hope you that you have more than one job interviews.

If you were to ask me what I am teaching five years from now, and I told you Grade 12 chemistry…that would be a pretty interesting story to tell on how I got there.

Another short week! Another week of valuable learning experiences.

What I am enjoying out of this long practicum experience is that it is never boring. There is never a dull moment when I’m teaching the students. Of course, the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the students is what drives this. The shape of the days are the same, but every day is different! With only a few weeks remaining at Dickens, I am now looking at opportunities to give my own “twist” to things.

Some things I took away this past week:

1. A “catch up” class also requires logistical thinking and planning. It happened during a math class, and I had made piles of unfinished work for the students to complete. I also had a mini board game planned for those who completed their work early. But what ended up happening was several students coming up to me at once while I was handing out unfinished work. It was chaos. I ended up losing track of who was finished, who wasn’t, and who was lost in space. I had a lovely TOC that morning that had suggested I lay out all the unfinished work on the carpet, explain my expectations and have the students search for their own work. This way, I am free to circulate the classroom and not have a never ending lineup before me.

2. Thinking on your feet is part of the job! It’s important to be flexible to schedule changes and lesson plan changes when being a teacher. But when a page is missing from all of your kindergarteners’ printing books, you need to think quick! It was quite comical that this happened when a TOC was in for the day, my first official time leading printing, and the letter of the day was “X.” After barely getting through the printing lesson, a kindergartener had told me that the “X” page was missing. I said, you probably just missed a page! Sure enough, all of the kindy books had the “X” page missing. After a brief sweat of panic, I pulled out the mini whiteboards and had them practicing their printing while I could gather myself together. What a day that was! I’ve become accustomed to this quick thinking but that recent experience really reinforced that.

3. Don’t be afraid of shuffling the students. We had a partner activity for theme between both divisions. Each pair was pre-determined by us; we sat down and purposely paired older learners with younger learners, and even mixed the genders. After reading the list we had compiled, I feared it might be an awkward session of unproductivity and silence. Would these two really be on task? Luckily, our conversation prompts helped the students enormously and I am proud to say that we may have developed some unlikely friendships. I had thought of the idea of mixing the divisions in pairs in response to a recent incident on the playground. There was word going around that someone from division 6 could not play with someone from division 5. We had debunked that to the classes and I hoped this activity would encourage more cross-division activity. There was a lot of positive chatter during the lesson and students found out a lot of similarities and differences about themselves. It was really amazing to watch!

This week was a week of two very important “firsts”; my first field trip with an elementary school class, and my first taste of teaching full load. I am happy to report that we had a successful trip to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. The students loved exploring the museum, finally got a chance to see a praying mantis (a favourite insect among our students) and the biggest crowd pleaser was the blue whale skeleton. 42 kids, no one reported missing, no injuries, no tantrums = a successful field trip as a beginning teacher!

I wonder though, if it would’ve been different without our school advisors present. Even though the planning had been done by us student teachers, I did feel that our school advisors stepped in to help out with classroom management and logistics. It was a good balance in the end.

With all the primary enrolling teachers at a day long collaboration meeting, we all got our official taste of teaching at 100%. Well, I took it as a prime opportunity to get my feet wet, especially with leading on the transitions between activities. Let’s face it, those can be a challenge in themselves! I had a wonderful connection with my TOC assigned to my class, and was generous enough to let me lead the day. I already had a day’s worth of lessons planned, so why not lead the transitions as well? It was an exhausting day, but it did ease the anxiety of teaching at 100%. I feel that once the school advisor is out of the classroom, you are “in charge.” It just comes to you. There’s no wait time, you just assume the role and take charge. That’s how I felt anyways on that day. I believe that day to be a great segue into the last four weeks of the long practicum.