Trevor's B.Ed PDP portfolio

 The full selection of my Museum of Me, which was a set of artifacts that highlight and explain who I am and what represents my personality and teaching philosophy.

 A better view of some of my Museum of Me, which includes personal and teaching artifacts.

 Field trip planning, visiting the UBC Museum of Anthropology to look at how their exhibits could be used in a Social Studies classroom.

 Posing next to an artistic cube of First Nations creation.

 The model school created for the Bachelor of Education class “Education in Society”, where we described what our ideal school would look like and what policies would be enacted within the school in order to create ideal learning conditions for students.

 Front view of our idealized school.

It’s difficult to believe that the field experience is coming to an end and that this coming week I won’t be going back to Fraser Park to help teach the students again. I learned a lot about how to interact with all sorts of different youth while I was the detention facility which I will eventually use in my teaching practice.

On Wednesday, I had an opportunity to meet with the other student teachers and the learning support teacher to learn more about how to create individualized education plans, which I found very interesting. During my long practicum placement I had also learned about IEPs from the practicum school and their learning support staff, so I was interested to see that there were some significant differences between how things are done in the community schools as opposed to how they are created at Fraser Park, and I have to admit that I think the way it’s done at Fraser Park makes more sense to me. This is because there is much more consultation with the students about what their individual needs are, and because the students themselves are providing the information in the IEP, they are much more likely to buy in and follow the instructions because it’s things they have identified as what will help them succeed in the classroom.

The only other thing that needs noting is how comfortable the students have become at seeing myself and the other student teachers in the classrooms. They were very easygoing to be around for the most part, and I found that the ones I had seen on a regular basis were starting to ask me about myself and open up about themselves far more than in the first two weeks of the practicum. This isn’t to say that private or personal information was being divulged, but there was a greater willingness to talk and create a more casual environment, instead of being standoffish. One of my main observations was how easily the students would engage in teasing with each other. I was concerned at first, and once I had some discussions with the staff I realized that it was a way of showing their comfort around each other. In this last week, I saw that a few of the students were beginning to involve me in that teasing. None of it was particularly hurtful, and most of the comments revolved around my car and how old and small it is compared to some of the other cars that I could be driving. The only thing about those comments that caught me off guard was that the students could see me drive into the parking lot from their residential units in the morning, and it’s not something that I would have considered before they started talking about what kind of car I had and how small it was. Again, this was not something that I felt was a concern, and for me more than anything it was interesting to see how they began to involve me in the social structure of their classes and daily structure.

I’m so very lucky and pleased that I was given the opportunity to teach at Fraser Park over the last three weeks, and that I also had a chance to learn and to strengthen my ability to relate to students and build an inclusive classroom community. I’m looking forward to applying these lessons to my future classroom and being more willing to appropriately open up about myself to my students and create more genuine connections with the students that I will be teaching.

The second week of my CFE at Fraser Park has been more interesting that the first week, but that’s mainly been because of the extra-curricular things that I have done while at Fraser Park, as opposed to any surprises that I was having with the daily routine.

While within the classroom, I’ve noticed that the students were far more willing to communicate with me and ask for help on assignments, even if they weren’t totally sure that I knew what I was doing. Even if I didn’t know what I was doing, for example in the art class or in some of the science classes, the students seemed more willing to let me sit in and watch, and if I truly didn’t know what I was doing the students themselves seemed eager to show me what they knew and to interact with me. Most of the time we did talk about school related things and the topics of conversation had to do with what they were doing, or something else that was related to another subject they were taking, but sometimes the conversation was just idle conversation and discussions of things that weren’t part of the curriculum. In particular, I noticed this week that many of the students in my classes were asking me about the teacher education program at UBC, or at least about the community field experience that led all of the student teachers to be assigned to Fraser Park for our three week period. Because of the interest in the CFE and all of the student teachers that had been arriving and coming through the classes, I took the time to ask some of the students how they felt about having so many new volunteers come visit them in the school portion of their day. Most of the students admitted that they did enjoy having us in the classrooms because we were something different and it did change up their routine a little bit to have new teachers to talk to and get help from.

Outside of the classroom, there were two major events that I took part in which I felt improved my experience at Fraser Park, and which I think have helped improve my ability to interact with the students. Last week the students of one of the living units invited me to visit them on unit at a certain point during the day, and I asked for permission to fulfill that request. This past Monday I was finally able to go and visit the students during their lunch break, and we were able to interact more casually and outside of the context of the classroom and their immediate school work that was placed before them. The first thing I noticed was that the residents were far more relaxed in their living unit than they are in any of the classrooms, and that they were willing to be much more talkative and lively than they normally would be in the classroom. Some of the residents of those units have moved on to other locations, but the ones that remain have been particularly cooperative in the classes that I have had with them, and one of the students encouraged me to join him and his cohort while they were working out in the fitness centre later in the week. It is Sunday morning and I am still feeling a bit sore from that particular session of strength training, but having me be among the students while they worked out certainly appeared to increase their focus on what they should be doing, if only so that they could show off how much stronger than me they are.

The other event that occurred was the weekly Wednesday afternoon chess club. I used to play chess somewhat competitively back in elementary school, and I’ve always enjoyed playing whenever I get the chance, so I thought it would be another good opportunity to interact with the students outside of the classroom setting and to test their chess skills against someone they hadn’t seen or played against before. I will admit that I thought I was going to do well in the chess club and that I would be continuing in my role as a teacher in that setting as well. I was wrong. The students at Fraser Park are quite formidable chess players, and I spent most of my time there being defeated by a series of different players. I think this was good for the students as well, not just because they enjoy winning but so they can see that we’re human too. They were good wins too, I don’t believe in holding anything back when I get involved in competition, so they were definitely defeating me when I was doing my best.

I’m not likely to be returning to unit for another meal, but I do think I will go back for another round of Wednesday chess club and try to make a better impression on the players. In the final week of the CFE I will be focusing on building up my portfolio of different techniques that can be used to encourage reluctant students to focus on their task for the block, and what can be done when students are refusing to cooperate.

This week I had the amazing opportunity to start my volunteer shifts at the Fraser Park corrections facility. I admit that I came into the experience with a number of preconceived notions about what I would experience during this particular CFE, but I have found that many of those views have not been true. Most of the students that I have personally interacted with have been very pleasant and friendly, and as the week went on, the students have started opening up to me more.

Most of the students don’t ask for any help with the coursework when they are in my classes, which I imagine is mainly because they have public images that they want to have maintained, and asking for help would go against how they see themselves and how others see them. This has led me to simply give the students help right at the beginning of class and introduce myself as the person who will be helping them through their coursework for the day, instead of asking them later on in the class if they need help, which would make them look bad in front of their peers. This seems to work well, and once I begin to help the students, they don’t seem to have any problems with my being there. In terms of the actual coursework, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the work the students do is the same as what would be taught in a public high school. I had assumed beforehand that the students at Fraser Park would be doing coursework with serious adaptations to it, similar to the essentials or core classes offered in public schools.

In many ways, I enjoy teaching in the corrections facility more than I enjoyed teaching in my practicum school because of the greater amount of individualized attention I am able to give to my students. Most of my previous education employment was in tutoring and summer camps with small class sizes, so I am much more used to teaching in small groups like how classes are taught at Fraser Park. I appreciate the ability to individualize my teaching for each student and to have an opportunity to build a stronger relationship between the students and myself. I feel that I have been successful in creating these connections, as I have been invited by a small group of the students that I work with to visit them in their housing unit. While I am apprehensive about the potential experience, I think that it will ultimately be beneficial to me to take up the students’ offer, and I look forward to doing so sometime this coming week.

There was one event that occurred during the week that I felt particularly proud of being part of. One of the students at Fraser Park completed their graduation requirements, and on Friday the staff arranged to have a graduation ceremony for the student. I felt that it was very well done to have the graduation ceremony and show the importance of the event for the student. As the school principal pointed out, this is a milestone in the student’s life, and celebrating that milestone send the message that it is important, which is something that the student will hopefully keep with them as they go through life. That kind of positive reinforcement can only benefit the student in the future.

I have learned very quickly that something is always happening at Fraser Park, and I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks and learning more about how to work with their diverse learners.

Teaching has started to feel a lot more natural now that I’m on week eight of the practicum, or I suppose that would be the end of week eight now. I have noticed that the students are starting to respond to me quite effectively and are not as shy as they were at the beginning of my ten week practicum, and more importantly they have been willing to start showing off more of their personalities in class instead of treating me like a stranger who’s not really part of the classroom community.

Two different issues arose over the week that tested my ability to adapt to changing teaching environments; one that I feel I did do well with, and one that I did not address effectively and will have to work on in the future to ensure that the classroom remains a safe environment.

The issue that I did not address effectively was an issue involving one of my grade eight students and the peer tutor for the class. Words were exchanged between the student and the peer tutor about whether or not the student could speak Spanish, which was a continuation of a discussion that had begun the class before. I had been working with a small group to get them on task, and I did not hear the entire exchange between the two students. I only became aware of the situation after the peer tutor announced that she felt she was being bullied, and my response was not serious enough to resolve the issue. The issue was ultimately resolved by my SA, who did hear the entire exchange and determined that beyond the words exchanged in that class, there was lingering tension from the class before that I also had not picked up on, and which had left the grade eight student very upset with the situation and feeling that they were not being validated. Once the class was over and the observation was being analyzed, the SA indicated the extent of the tension between the two students. I have made a note to take all allegations of bullying seriously from now on and to ask for clarification from the students involved as to what is going on before I make a decision on how to respond to the situation.

The other situation that tested my adaptability as a teacher was during the Thursday afternoon classes for my grade ten classes. The first block of the grade tens had a four corners activity that was not successful, and I was asked by the FA to consider changing the activity for the upcoming class. I admit that I was concerned about the lack of time available to prepare an adequate new activity, but I did decide to change the worksheet activity into a jigsaw. The results were quite good, and the students were more engaged than they had been in the class where the four corners activity failed, and it was also more student-centred than the class where the students did have higher participation rates for the four corners activity.

I wasn’t happy to change my lesson on short notice the way that I had done, but it is reassuring to know that I do have the capacity and ability to make immediate changes to lessons where there becomes a need to make those changes. That will be something that I will keep in mind for the final two weeks of the practicum, as well as my future teaching career.

Working with the Tutorial class has been an interesting challenge for me so far. I haven’t really gotten to adjust the fact that they’re much quieter than my normal classes, and that means I can’t rely on them to provide input during class discussions or during the lesson phase of each day. Having said that, they seem to be responding well to me as a teacher and that’s made it possible for the work to get done that needs to be finished.

Over this weekend I’m going to be attempting to complete all of the marking that I have obtained over the last two weeks. I’m learning very quickly that staying on top of my marking is going to be one of my main challenges as a teacher, both in terms of ensuring that students hand in all the assignments that are due, but also returning them in a timely manner. These problems are compounded by the fact that I haven’t really learned when the best time to collect something is during a class, and there’s still some confusion on occasion about what is worth collecting and what should just be used for a formative assessment.

The CPR stations activity was very good and worked well with my grade 10 students, I think that there are some things that could have been changed to ensure that they were able to get more out of it. In particular, I should have informed the students beforehand which items I would be marking through a rubric or other marking scheme, and which parts of the assignment I would be marking for completion. Of course, that would create the concern that they would only focus on the ones that were worth marks and do a less complete job on the ones that were just for completion, but that would at least ensure that the assignments were completed in a timely manner.

The grade 8s this week have been somewhat more unruly than they were before Spring break. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that they did just have Spring break, and therefore they have more energy to be in the classroom. This week was the first time I attempted to bring my grade 8 classes into the computer lab without any other supervising teacher. The students seemed to like the game and they definitely enjoyed the fact that they did better at the game than I did, and it’s becoming a bit of a recurring theme that they remind me that they were better than me at something. While I don’t mind them taking pride in their achievements, I do hope that it doesn’t lead to the students becoming intentionally unruly and unresponsive because they no longer see me as this person who knows how to do everything that’s done in the classroom and as part of the lesson.

There was a change in topics with my grade 10 classes this week as well. Prior to Spring break we had been focusing on First Nations issues in the history of the Northwest Territory, and that was really difficult to get into with issues such as the Residential Schools and the treaty process being brought up in class and made a central focus of those lessons. This week we moved more into the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was a bit more comfortable for me as there were significant political components that I had a greater awareness and understanding of, which allowed me to create lessons that the students were more interested in.

The end of this week marks the halfway point in my teaching practicum. This week was a bit of a change for me, in that the grade 8s are usually the class I’m more excited about and which are better behaved for me, but this week it was completely the opposite and my grade 10s were the ones who I had the most breakthroughs with in terms of what we learned and how we interacted with each other.

The grade 8 classes got somewhat different lessons this week. The grade 8s in my 2-3 block were short a class in order to ensure that the unit test was not split between the beginning and end of spring break. This meant that they had a class that served as a fusion of my two lessons on the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This class, because it was missing much of the contextual information and other pieces that helped truly identify the Dynasties and their differences, was not as successful as my class that had the two separate lessons, one for each of the two Dynasties being discussed. The grade 8 classes did not react well to having the test on Thursday and Friday before spring break, with many students becoming restless through the week and creating new challenges for my classroom management. This was partially because the week prior was much more interactive and I did allow for quite a bit more noise and disruption than would normally be considered acceptable in a social studies classroom, but which would have been detrimental to the continuation of the simulation that I had tried.

The Grade 10 classes were the ones where I took more chances and really broke through with them. On Thursday and Friday I taught a class on the Residential Schools, and I felt that beyond a few timing issues and my usual level of nervousness in the classroom, it went very well. The students were extremely respectful towards the topic material, and I felt that they worked hard in the classroom. I know that there were many pedagogical issues with that lesson, as with many of my lessons, but I was proud when one of my students who does not normally pay attention or care about social studies came up to me after class to tell me that for the first time, she was interested in history and what we were talking about in class. That’s been the high point of my practicum so far, beyond anything having to do with what I’ve been graded on, I’m always going to be happy that for at least that one lesson, I got someone to care. Hopefully through the last five weeks of practicum I’ll be able to dot hat more consistently.

Classroom management and getting the respect of the students was the goal for this week, and outside of one major lapse, things appeared to be going well. The students are beginning to respond to my style of classroom management and are aware that there are consequences to not completing work. I’m trying to use wait time more effectively by calling for the attention of students before I begin my wait time, and that’s been effective where I’ve allowed it to happen. This does not always occur during the early morning block, as there needs to be additional communication between myself and the peer tutor to explain why wait time is used instead of attempting to yell over the students to obtain their attention.

The two research periods were quite long and were difficult for the students to maintain focus for the full two hours, but overall the students were using their time effectively and many groups began working on their final copies of the pamphlets before the two hours had expired. Adjustments for the second research period included giving the students access to the map component of the project that they required, which I did not believe would be necessary during the research period. Students were more focused on their work because of the extra activity they had available to them.

The one major concern that occurred this week was that two of my students left the library before the end of the period. This was reported to the appropriate authorities within the school and on Tuesday students will be reminded of the necessity of staying within the classroom unless they have been given permission to leave for other locations. That these students did not do so is a concern, not least of which because their safety becomes an issue. I will be explaining to the students that this is completely unacceptable behaviour and that there will be consequences for this behaviour.

I found that things went really well for the first week of practicum. The students have been seeing me throughout the winter semester because I wasn’t at UBC doing coursework, so they were already familiar with the expectations I had for them, and they also knew me a bit better and had a stronger set of relationships with me than they would normally have with a student teacher.

The Wednesday class I taught was observed, and it was also much shorter than typical blocks at Killarey are. As a result, I had to do a lot of extra work in my Friday class to ensure the two blocks were roughly at the same space in the curriculum. This has made it easier to engage in some of the softer forms of classroom management, where there’s less need for specific strategies and more of a desire to simply redirect behaviour.

One of the things I need to continue working on is how to get the attention of the class once it is time to transition to a new activity. I have the capacity to become very loud if I need to, but I’m aware that when I get loud it sounds as though I am angry with the students, which is not the impression I want to give my students. I had to do this once during the Thursday class, and unfortunately I was looking at a student when I raised my voice above the volume level of the classroom. The student believed that I was singling them out for my apparent anger and responded by becoming very quiet through the rest of the class, even though my intention was to get the attention of the whole room. Next week I will speak with the student and ensure they are aware that they were not in trouble.

This coming week will be spent in Flex Week, which changes the block schedule significantly and means that I will not return to teaching everyday until the beginning of week three of the practicum. I’m not pleased about Flex Week, and it interrupts my plans for the unit and it is disconcerting to have 2 hour classes instead of 70 minute classes, but my two blocks that I will be teaching will be spent in the library working on the projects that have been assigned to my students. This will be an excellent opportunity to observe my classroom management skills and whether I am able to quietly obtain the attention of the class, as most strategies for obtaining student attention are not feasible in a library setting.