February 5, 2015

It’s been a great new year. The beginning of the term has provided me with a wealth of practical knowledge and resources that I’ve been weaving into my lessons.  I’ve even noticed some resources at my practicum school that are helping teachers bring the ‘act’ portion of the IB action cycle into their lessons. The picture I’ve attached is a notice I found in the staff room, highlighting 16 activities teachers can bring into their classes every day. It’s been great to observe and be a part of a school community where action is being taken, and as I continue to look for action, I notice a number of examples every day. Here are a few:

• The crosswalk kids: Every morning students go outside with ‘official’ red jackets to ensure that cars are following the speed limit
• Organizing Jump Rope for Heart day: Before school, teachers collaborate ideas on dates and locations that will allow the activity to run smoothly
• Salmon spawning: Some students have expressed their interests in the salmon cycle, so a couple faculty members have brought in a fish tank and they are spawning salmon on school grounds
• Big buddies: Older students are working with younger ones during recess and lunch hour to provide company and support if any problems or questions arise.

The list of action-based activities goes on, and each of these activities works toward empowering the students. I’ve talked to many of the students regarding their choice of action, and it’s clear that they’ve formulated strong opinions and are confident in their learning directions. It’s been inspiring and informative to see the effects of ‘act’ within the action cycle. I’ll be keeping my eyes open to see if I can spot students in the ‘reflect’ portion of their work.

Thanks,
Chris

Some Thoughts Before the Break

With winter break coming up and practicum finishing, I find myself and the rest of the IB cohort are working hard to make the most out of these last few weeks. We’ve been away from practicum for a while, and spend most of our time on university campus, strategizing different games and concepts to bring into our lesson plans. There’s also been discussion of our actions and demeanour towards students in our classrooms, and I’d like to share a couple of memorable ideas that I’ve tried to embody. Firstly, it’s imperative that a teacher use proper language, and secondly, that they use best judgement when considering what material to teach.

As teachers, it’s our job to provide our students with proper vocabulary skills, and there is no better way than to mimic them ourselves. Using words like “class” instead of “guys” when addressing students can make a big difference, and sets a precedent that encourages equal opportunity for everyone.

Judgement is a chief component in building lesson plans; it should be used to help determine what to teach, and when things need to be changed. Having just finished a unit on Canadian government in my practicum, I felt propelled by judgement to bring up some current issues affecting other governments around the world. These issues weren’t part of our government, but they were associated with the Unit of Inquiry – How we organize ourselves, therefore my judgement deemed it necessary to accompany these events into the lesson.

I will continue to use my best judgement to determine whether lessons need changing, and I’m trying to be more conscious of my choice in words; I hope you can too!

Thanks for reading,
Chris