Anxiety is the most prevalent disorder in children and youth. A lot of this is at the beginning of the year. Especially if the school is larger in size, students may be put in classes with different peers each year. As a result, they have to go through the process of building relationships and friendships all over again. Something more on the academics side, a lot of the testing processes can be anxiety provoking. We have learned in our assessment class, the affect of constructed response testing – short answers, essays, etc. – on student performance as this form of testing increases anxiety levels in many students.

I learned a lot about how to deal with this anxiety as well. Some of the strategies that stood out for me were directions, expectations and cool down passes. As an educator, providing not just anxious students – but everyone in general – with structure is crucial to maximal learning. That is, outlining clear, transparent directions and expectations will help not just help the students but also the teacher. I feel like sometimes we as adults just assume children know what we are thinking or what we are expecting but really the children require direct instructions. For example, in our assessment class we learned that even when giving a test with true and false answers, we must say how we want the students to answer – write true or false, write t or f, circle t or f, etc. The idea of a cool down pass was something I felt like I could use in my own classroom. I have a student that leaves the classroom almost whenever she feels like. Maybe having this pass, will make her more accountable for her behaviour. Sort of like when she feels like leaving, she has to remember to take the pass. As a result, she might be more likely to realize what she is actually doing. And if the pass has some form of instruction like “please come back when you are ready,” she will be more motivated to return.

The presentation about homework was very eye-opening. I was really surprised to know that the topic of homework has been big in education for a long time now. It is nothing new. So, what really bothers me is the fact that for all this time, we have continued this practice even though there is so much research highlighting the negative effects. I agree that any work given outside of class instructional time should be worthwhile for the student – learning how to interact with their family, talking about their culture, exploring different life skills. And anything that is given for homework should always be debriefed in class the next day so students see the purpose behind their work.

I was so surprised by the idea of flipped classrooms as I have never heard of these before. This is something I would want to try in my own teaching at some point. But I can already imagine that it would be a gradual development. Maybe starting with one small lesson that has very direct teachings. Or it could even begin with giving students notes about a certain topic and then they come to class to work on related work. I really like how this approach allows more time for completing work in the presence of the teacher. However, I do not feel I would want to completely change all my teachings into this approach, because that would just be like an overload homework again for students.

Dealing with grief in the classroom can be one of the most emotionally difficult times for everyone involved. I know this from my personal experience. As educators, we need to learn how to help students or even colleagues go through tough times like death. When I was in school, I experienced some losses that were affecting my school performance and I can say that a lot of the teachers in my school were great support and really helped me cope. We do need to walk with the grieving individual and not try to guide them through it. As educators, we need to be able to positively deal with our own emotions – in a sense being a positive role model.

Having a gallery walk for our inquiry projects was a great experience. Not only did we have the chance to learn about a variety of topics, but it was also a celebration in a sense. We all had worked so hard on these projects for the last couple of months, so it was nice to see what everyone came up with. And, honestly, it felt great to see others appreciating the work you put so much time into!

Being a social and emotional learning cohort, I saw a lot of our projects – no matter what the topic – ended up connecting to the topic of community somehow. Because of this, I learned a lot about why a classroom community is so important. I think one of the points that really caught my attention was the idea that a community “formulates a zest for life in students and a joyful atmosphere in the classroom.” For me this is really important and one of my personal goals. I find that a lot of students find coming to school as just a requirement, not something they are personally interested in or motivated in. However, if classrooms can have a positive atmosphere, somewhere students want to return to every morning, we might just be able to raise this motivation in students

Something I have frequently wondered about are combination classes. I have never really understood how these classes could be valuable for students or even teachers for that matter. For example, when we were being assigned practicum classes, I really did not want a combination class as I thought these classes might be taking away from student learning. That is, by trying to accommodate two different grade levels, I thought we might be missing out on a lot from each grade. However, over the last months I have learned this is not necessarily true. And, now having a look at an inquiry project I learned a lot more. These classes can actually be quite enriching experiences for student as a result of the range and diversity in these multi-age classes. For example, this diversity can offer more opportunities to for students’ self-expansion by learning from different aged-peers. Also, through the presence of different ages, students learn more about responsibility. The older students can develop a sense of caring for their younger peers and the younger can observe the older as role models of positive responsibility.

Since the beginning of the program we have had many dialogues about individual student needs and our responsibility as educators to meet these needs. This is not a simple task and we will become more comfortable with experience. A project I looked at about differentiated instruction really spoke to this topic. There are four different methods of incorporating differentiated instruction in your classroom to meet diverse student needs. First is content – teaching material using a variety of different techniques (auditory, visual, groups, individual work, etc.). Second is process and providing different ways for students to learn material – using manipulatives, using rubrics and allowing extra time for work completion if needed. Fourth is product and allowing students to show their work through various representations. For example, writing, drawing, drama plays, etc. Lastly, is classroom environment, creating learning spaces meeting individual student comfort levels – again tying into the notion of community.

Another inquiry project had some great information about creating your own classroom community. What I really liked was the idea that there is no one recipe, formula or process to create a community. Really, the creation is mediated by how the class operated and how relationships are developed. I think this is really important because every year, as a teacher, the process will be different with new students. Four points that really stuck out for me were giving the students responsibility in the class – this builds pride and ownership; using humor – this can add to the comfort level in the class and just general joy; allowing opportunities for sharing personal stories – this fosters relationship building and a sense of belonging; and lastly, having a class name. Having a class name was my favorite, I can see this building a bond between the students and a sense of collaboration.

Lastly, I have never really looked into the topic of creativity and there was a very informing project by one of my colleagues. Creativity is really important as it fosters individual growth, which is so rewarding. Something really interesting I read about is “genius hour.” This is time dedicated for students to explore what they feel most passionately about personally. I can see this being so rewarding for students as most of the time in schools they are required to engage in content and materials chosen by teachers and administrators. This time would almost be like their own inquiry, even if it is into the simplest of topics!

As soon as I began reading Ken Osborne’s chapter on education and schooling, the third paragraph caught my attention. He asks, “to what extent, if at all, does our schooling contribute to our education?” because he is saying that education is pushed aside to make room for other “mandates” (p. 21). And I thought of an example for this right away because in our EDST 401 class we just read an article this past week about policy making for schools. I believe policies is one of those “mandates” that pushes aside education because policies are most often developed by individuals distant from education. Because of this distance, these individuals do not necessarily always prioritize education in policy making which means the contribution schooling makes to our education can be cutback.

While I read on in the article, a thought kept popping up in my head: “life-long learner.” For example, the article says, “almost anything we experience in life can be educational … serious misfortune or undiluted triumph,” (p. 22) to me this means anything we go through in life can become a part of our education. That said, I believe our education does not just result from our schooling and like Osborne explains, personal experiences mean much more to us than school experiences. Therefore I think these experiences outside of school can be much more powerful for our education. In my opinion, this could be really advantageous for some people, especially those who do not enjoy schooling or do not do very well in school. In other words, these individuals, in a sense, still have hope to gain what they did not in school from other arenas in life.

I think what really struck me was the reason why children were initially sent to school: “public schooling was designed more as a tool of social policy than as an instrument of universal education” (p. 27). Being a teacher candidate, this actually really troubles me, as what motivates me to become a teacher is the goal of instilling the value of education in my students. As I have mentioned in other reflections, I was inspired to become a teacher because of my own teacher’s drive to instill the value of education in her students. Although the article says we have moved forward in the twentieth century, I feel there is a long way to still go in terms of the “educational potential of schooling in the twentieth century” (p. 31). I believe a lot of this depends on individual teachers and how they instruct their students. In other words, like the article explains, we need to value what knowledge students bring into the classroom and then expand it, more student reflection, content that students can connect to, and so on. This is definitely not something easy; however, I truly believe with the education future teachers (like us) are receiving, it is not an impossible feat. For example, assignments like our social studies project plan allow us to actively involve students and build on their interests. It is such projects that get us closer to actually contributing to a student’s ‘education.’

In Molly Romano’s “Teacher reflections on ‘bumpy moments’ in teaching: a self- study,” I really enjoyed the rawness of the teacher’s story from her second year of teaching. It felt so real in that it offered such a realistic take on what new teachers experience. I specifically noted how many different aspects are involved when you do become a new teacher. As we are going through this program, I know I at least and some of my fellow cohort members feel like we are engaging in such a variety of tasks, work, and assignments. But, really that variety is just going to keep increasing. As a new teacher, the number of people you have to interact with, the different relationships you have to build will keep increasing, and you will be continuously changing up your teaching to fit new situations like this teacher had to. What I really appreciated was the teacher’s ability to ponder so much so quickly when a “bumpy moment” came up.

I found it really interesting to read that she chose her first activity in the new classroom to be an oral story. I have always loved this activity as a child and even now – whether that be sharing oral stories with my family or reading out loud. I think already in these five weeks we have gained a sufficient understanding of the value of oral stories and the underlying messages that children’s stories often have to offer. For example, in our Aboriginal Education class, oral stories come up in the Aboriginal People’s traditions time and time again, almost in every class discussion. So really when we incorporate oral stories into classrooms we are offering the students a story, usually some form of a message while incorporating Aboriginal pedagogy.

When I was reading the analysis of the “bumpy moments,” I was really surprised at how the teacher compared herself to a manager, I had never considered or heard of that comparison before. As I read on in this section, she explains the importance of management control for successful instruction. Honestly, this sort of scared me and it is something I hope we work more and more on as we progress through this year.

As an end thought, while I was reading, a somewhat random thought hit me: we are so fortunate to have access to articles like this one that offer so much detail into teaching practices that we will actually be making use of.

I know in one of my previous entry slips I said the Hymel, Schonert-Reichl and Miller reading was my favorite, but as soon as I began reading the chapter on teacher inquiry by Anthony Clarke and Gallen Erickson, this chapter became number one for me. Their talk about the controversy around teaching being professional practice is something I can connect with. In these past couple years, and more recently, these last months during job action, so many people I know have questioned teaching. Many have doubted teachers’ abilities and I feel teachers are not given the respect and acknowledgement they truly deserve. As I read the common elements of various definitions of professional practice I kept thinking, “yeah, teachers have this, yes teachers do this, yes this is characteristic of teachers.” For example, one such element is intensive preparation. In my opinion, teachers definitely fulfill this aspect of professional practice as we are in a one-year program right now in which we learn an amount of concepts, methods and ways of operating as a teacher in just one day that I never would have imagined. What really resonated with me was the importance of teacher inquiry in acknowledging teaching as professional practice; as the authors explain, “when a teacher ceases to be inquisitive about his or her practice … then his or her practice ceases to be professional” (p.5). I definitely agree with the authors on this because I feel like this sort of counters the image others have of teachers as inactive and/or static. I think teacher inquiry is evidence that teachers are indeed evolving, lifelong learners who are constantly trying to essentially enhance their methods of teaching along with how students learn – even if little step by little step. Towards the end of the article, the authors say, “Inquiry is embedded in professional practice,” (p.4) again highlighting how important inquiry is for the professional aspect of our teaching career. And this actually excites me now for carrying out our own inquiries in this program!

The Hymel, Schonert-Reichl and Miller reading for this week has to be my favorite reading in the course so far. This is because it reinforces our cohorts’ beliefs in that it gives such an importance to social and emotional learning. Through the five main reasons as to why social and emotional learning should be prioritized in schools, I believe the authors give such comprehensive information that there is at least one point, idea, or statistic that any reader can relate with. In my opinion, the statistics really helped my understanding of the article because they sort of add an element of reality to the topic. For example, they write that 14% of 4-17 year olds “experience some type of mental health disorder” (p.152) and then they give an actual number count – 800,000 plus children. This really stood out to me because usually we think of mental health disorders as predominantly occurring in the older population – but, as the authors explain, this is definitely not true. My favorite part of the article was reason 3: “The ultimate goal of education is to create good citizens, not just good learners” (p.158). If it were up to me, this would be plastered all over schools. I think in the midst of trying to teach our children academic content – times tables, ancient civilizations, cursive writing and so on – we sometimes forget the importance of the citizenship skills outlined in this article. For me, this side of education has always held great value because I believe schools and more importantly educators can and should help to build a strong and positive foundation to good citizenship skills. While reading this I thought how will I be able to do this as an educator and I hope I am able to answer this question at the end of our program.

The Henderson chapter on deliberative inquiry starts off with an example of a teacher, Sarah, facing a tough teaching situation. I really enjoyed reading her dilemma because I could totally see myself experiencing the same anxiety Sarah faced. What really made me stop was how she thought of including so many different people in her solution; this just goes to show how much support teachers can call on when in need. In a sense, that made me feel relieved because as teacher candidates and new teachers, we will probably face similar dilemmas in which we too have lots of support. This just reminded of how in the beginning weeks of this program we have been told countless times of the help and support we can get at any point from the TEO office, our instructors and our fellow teacher candidates. I also thought the concept of group deliberative inquiry fits so well with our social and emotional learning cohort as its core ideas are empathy, caring and embracing multiple perspectives. Through working together as a group, educators, students and their parents are – as the author said – building trust with each other. I thought in a sense, this is already fostering an environment where social and emotional learning can take place. Towards the end of the article, there is a section called “Examining and Describing the Problem,” this section really caught my attention as I never realized the importance of defining the actual problem for inquiry. I now think that this first step requires a lot of detail as the author describes a handful of questions we must ask to clearly state the problem. Without a well-defined problem, I can already predict it will be hard to reach a decent solution.

The first paragraph in Henderson’s chapter one really hit home for me. The idea of a teacher who teaches a way of living, someone who you will not forget, instead you will try to get in touch with them as an adult, to thank them is an idea I can vouch for. I consider myself fortunate to have had such a teacher in elementary school and like Henderson says in the chapter, she did help me “discover purpose and meaning in [my] life” (p.3). To this day, I believe she is the reason I have wanted to become a teacher, as her way of teaching was truly inspirational for me. Mainly, it was the value she had for education and how she attempted to instill this value in her students – she was so motivated. In fact my application for the BEd program was based around this inspiration and at this point I sent her an email thanking her for teaching us the way she did. The rest of this chapter was actually very new to me and so it was a good learning experience for me. I honestly did not know much about the relevancy of democratic living to education. However, as I went along there were lots of little details that I definitely believed in previously but just did not know of the connection they had to democratic living. For example, I have always appreciated the concept of being a lifelong learner has been drilled into my system thanks to my parents and I now understand the relation it has to teaching for democratic living. The last paragraph also caught my eye: the idea that we should look at our “frustrations as hurdles rather than obstacles” (p.30). I thought this was a great perspective on dealing with any issues in a positive manner. I think it is key to learn how to use any frustrations to your advantage, to learn from them so that you can grow as an educator.

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