This site is a journal of a University of British Columbia education student on the second part of his practicum, which is called the “community field experience”. In the CFE, students are placed with “partners” — which could be any organization that’s vaguely related to education. Some student-teachers went to Mexico or China to work in international schools or Africa to help design curriculum or even just Vancouver, working in community houses, etc. The stated goal of this program is to give students a breadth of educational experience — but let’s be real, it’s actually about giving students an opportunity to network and find themselves a job prospect, as the regular teaching market is already super-saturated with teachers as it is. By any perspective, the program still is a great experience for new teachers, especially young teachers who haven’t moved outside their home city or their comfort zone, before this.
My CFE is, obviously, at Parks Canada – working at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the west coast of Vancouver Island (between Ucluelet and Tofino). It’s wet, it’s rugged, it’s beautiful. So check out some of my stories — I try my best to make them interesting, and if not totally edge-of-your-seat entertaining, then at least honest.