1. What did you learn or discover about your strengths as a teacher from the programs and teaching you did at your CFE site? (i.e., what are your strengths!)

In general, I found this CFE experience was hard to connect to my teaching experience because it was quite office based, though it was still valuable experience. It did help reinforce the idea of inclusion in the classroom and in discussion. Typically during our UBC courses we discuss the inclusion of race, sex, gender, and socioeconomic status in the classroom, but rarely do we discuss physical disability inclusion. Another strength I discovered during this CFE experience was an interest in passion in special education for physical and learning disabilities. I was familiar with my interest in special education prior, which is why I wanted to explore RHSF, but this experience has confirmed special education as my teaching niche.

2. From your experiences, what did you learn about teaching and/or how children/students learn (anything new to add to your previous ‘reflections’?)?

I’ve learned that education may not be accessible for every student. Not every school is built to accommodate students with various physical disabilities. There may be unnecessary physical barriers a student with a disability may need to overcome each day just to be able to learn the same way other students do. Not only are there physical barriers, but also stigmas and stereotypes can alter the way students with disabilities are perceived. By having more inclusive conversations in the classroom, any negative or unclear ideas surrounding disabilities can be broken down.

From different school visits we went on, I’ve also learned the importance of team-building and social-emotional learning between different grades and schools. Watching the Difference Maker Program and an Organized Chaos Day at Lord Byng Elementary and McMath High School in Richmond. Sometimes these styles of learning can seem like silly camp games, but the energy the students generate between each other when completing these types of projects cannot be replicated in a traditional classroom setting.

3. What did you do and accomplish by the end of your work on any special project?

By the end of my work at the Rick Hansen School Program I was able to create 4 project-based challenges for the Abilities in Motion secondary program (and possibly more as there are two days left). The purpose of these challenges is to have students eliminate barriers in the world (their school, home, workplace, community areas) to create accessibility for everyone. Cedric and I worked together to brainstorm ideas that can be used in a wide range of classes in the school, as one challenge can be used for multiple courses. After a day of brainstorming, we were able to create 8-10 full-length challenges for the AIM Secondary program. Another project was to evaluate already-made programs taking place at different schools in the community.

4. What have you learned from doing this curriculum project that you think will be useful in your future teaching?

From connecting projects and challenges to curricula across Canada, I’ve learned about learning outcomes throughout the country. I think this will be useful for my future teaching, as it has opened my eyes to resources, materials, and teaching strategies outside the province I am teaching in. I’ve also created a set of projects that can be used in different classes. These challenges, along with other RHSP resources, will be tools I will use in my future classroom to foster mindful and inclusive environments in the classroom, while also working on problem-solving skills for students. I have also become familiar with courses outside of my two teachable subjects, so I will always have a backup lesson ready for an unexpected TOC day.

5. What did you see as the connections between your time at the CFE and your time in our UBC methods courses?

There is a strong connection with social justice. Being fair in the classroom and the school environment has been a large topic at UBC, and the goal of the RHSP is to create more inclusive classrooms when it comes to disabilities. Many of their lessons, however, also promote inclusion of any kind.

6. Would you recommend this experience be continued or expanded for future teacher candidates? Please explain why or why not?

I think the experience is definitely valuable for teacher candidates, but it would be more successful if candidates weren’t limited to one type of experience. It’s a nice transition between the hectic practicum and starting lecture. It would be fascinating if teacher candidates could do a two-week CFE every second or third month when we are doing lecture. While I loved my experience at RHSF, I would have loved to also do something hands on, something outdoors, something at a museum. If the purpose of the CFE is to show TCs where a Bachelor of Education can also take you, the purpose is a little spoiled if you only get to experience one other alternative.

1. What activities have you participated in this week? In a table, list workshops/lessons you presented, ways you assisted and any activities/classes/workshops by name. Include grade level and approximate numbers of students.

1. Activities This Week:

2. Briefly describe any project (what, for whom, how it is promoting meaningful learning) you have been working on and what you’ve accomplished so far. What is the final goal (educational and product wise) and when will your contribution to this project be complete?

Our main project while we’re here is to build a toolkit for the Secondary Abilities in Motion program. We are building project-based challenges that can be applied across curricula and across Canada that will challenge students to consider accessibility options in their environment. This is for the Rick Hansen School Program. It is promoting meaningful learning by challenging students to problem solve. Many of the challenges will show barriers for PWD and the students will be asked to design something that will fix those barriers. The challenges are designed to incorporate aspects from different classes, meaning, a challenge will need to consider aspects from math, science, language arts, and technology, for example. As well, it is to have students become more mindful of the barriers in our society that PWD may face. The hope is that when these students become engineers, scientists, teachers, lawyers, etc. after they finish their schooling, they will be more considerate of the accessibility in their environment around them. So far, we have created 7 or 8 challenges and are currently attaching PLOs to the challenges so they can be easily adapted into the classroom.

The final goal is to hopefully have the challenges go to the graphic organizer to see how the challenges will look in print. Educational wise, the goal is to have challenges that can be easily used in the classroom.

Because we are starting the project from scratch, this project will continue to be developed after we leave, but our contributions should be well developed before leaving.

3. From your experiences thus far, what have you learned about:

1. Children/student learning?
2. Teaching practice (yours in particular and in general)
3. Informal and formal science education?

1. For student learning I have learned the importance of clear instructions.
2. I haven’t had many opportunities to focus on teaching practices with the jobs I am given, but from the AIM day at McBride, teacher demonstration may be helpful for student participation.

Daisy is a member of the Accessibility Team at RHF and came to say hello this week!

My group of McMath and Lord Byng students making a difference by picking up trash at Steveston Park.

Loving it!

Wrap up with the RCMP at Lord Byng

1. My setting at Rick Hansen School Foundation in Richmond is a little corner office at a desk with a computer. This is where I spend the majority of the day, typing away at documents that RHSP will hopefully use in the future for their secondary resource packages. Two to three times a week we visit an elementary school to evaluate how some of the programs RHSP has are being implemented into the classes. It is fascinating to see the resources in action after reading them on paper for so long. For the most part, we work in an office environment. This was a worry for me coming into the CFE because I am aware that I am quite unproductive working at a computer for long periods of time. I enjoy hands on work where I am able to move throughout the day. However, I am very interested in special education for learning disabilities and physical disabilities, so the material keeps me engaged throughout the day.
2. For the most part, our (Cedric and myself) day is spent working on our own trying to finish a set of challenges that RHSF can use for their Abilities In Motion Secondary Program. These challenges are meant to promote project-based, cross-curricular learning. This means that when we design a challenge, it can be applied to more than one subject, and it should be a hands-on project that can be developed. There are options to do a mini project after a classroom discussion, or options to plan, design, and build the tools needed to create a more inclusive and accessible world. As previously mentioned, sometimes we have a “break” in our work day to visit a school and see how programs are working in action. This week we have visited Lord Byng Elementary School in Richmond where a group of secondary students is working with a group of elementary students to complete random acts of kindness activities to make a difference in their community. Rick’s infamous world tour is used as an example to show how we can make a difference in our community.  Next week will be very similar to this week in terms of tasks we are doing. We have a few team meetings and check-ins (these are usually informal), and will visit different schools to see how programs are working.
3. This week, we created 3 or 4 challenges that are in their draft mode and will be brought to the meeting on Monday for review. We also went on school visits. During the first week of the CFE  I have learned that there is a stigma where people may feel sympathetic towards Persons with Disabilities (PWD), or they may feel that PWD are inspirational for completing a task that wouldn’t be considered inspirational if an able bodied person did it. I think I have been guilty in contributing to this stigma. There is this idea that society patronizes PWD by “over-crediting” tasks accomplished.  That sounds harsh, but I think the mentality our society needs to work towards is that PWD are no different than anyone else—they are able to complete the same things, just differently. The message RHSP is trying to put out is that our world should provide the options for people to complete tasks differently. If a PWD wants to go on a nature walk, what tools can we build to make that walk accessible? It has reshaped my mind set to make accessibility a natural part of our world.My mentality has definitely shifted this week.

I am not a science teacher :). I am an English and Spanish teacher.