I’m sad that my time in the classroom is over. The best part of both the practicum and CFE has been the interactions with the students and seeing them grow in their learning and as a person. At both schools the staff were so welcoming and kind to me. The students are very lucky to have these people as their teachers.

I team taught an undemo for chemistry 11 with my supervisor, the main point being that ions in solution conduct electricity. We had different solutions that were tested with this contraption:

The lightbulb lights up when an ionic solution is tested.

I also helped TOC a drama class. I was so tired after that I took a nap as soon as I got home. Grade 8’s have so much energy. We spent half an hour playing games running around the classroom and the other half they worked on their monologues. I had a lot of fun joining in. It was good practice for the probable future of TOCing before getting my own classroom.

Monday was lab day:

I helped set up a titration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrochloric acid (HCl).  To apply stoichiometry calculations in a lab setting, students had to use a molar ratio to determine the concentration of acid from the volume of base (of known concentration) added to the acid.

We ran the lab for two different blocks.

It was very different running the lab for 60 minutes versus the 80 minutes I had during practicum. A lot more prep had to be done for the students because of the time constraint. I really had to exercise my classroom management skills to ensure that everyone was following instructions and were moving at a good pace to ensure that they could complete the lab in time. I really liked that the students took it as a challenge to create a solution of the faintest pink colour and worked together with their bench mates.

My time this week at VC was cut short because of the Whistler Music Festival.

I went up with Templeton, my practicum school, to help chaperone the students. I got to see students from my practicum school perform pieces I had heard them rehearsing since I stepped into the school in November. There has been a lot of growth in the students and their music and I was very proud of their performance.

The community of music teachers and event organizers were very inclusive even though I do not have a music degree or play an instrument. I felt like a wolf in disguise with my chemistry teachable.

I hope in the future to find more cross curricular activities for my students that combines music with science. I’ve been thinking for sure that I will do some sort of music video project that covers a concept taught in class. I was also thinking about connecting the two subjects through frequency and waves in the junior sciences. With collaboration days becoming more common in schools I hope I will be able to connect with other teachers and create engaging and meaningful material.

A week flew by so fast.

My first week at Vancouver College ended with a Pro-D day centered around inquiry hosted at the school.

Friday started off with a run in with my former Science 8 teacher, who was ecstatic to see me when I introduced myself:

The Circle of Life: A former student now a student-teacher soon-to-be colleague????

Proud pic.twitter.com/vxwyctYd3W

— Rose Pillay (@RosePillay1) April 28, 2017

I’m excited to see what directions my future students will go.

The keynote speaker was Trevor MacKenzie, a BC teacher who wrote Dive Into Inquiry. One thing that I will take into my practice will be a brainstorming session of questions. To start inquiry we must have a question. By coming up with multiple questions, identifying whether they are open or closed, and prioritizing the questions, students should be able to identify an essential question to their inquiry. The practice as a teacher, when considering my subject area (Chemistry), was very eye opening.

There were multiple sessions throughout the day.
I attended:

• Philosophy for teens
• Cross Curricular Co-Teaching Science with Art and made this little guy
  
• Project Based Learning
• Career Mentorship Program
• Innovative Assessment
• Outsourcing to students

The day ended with a review session. I plan to use the format in future review sessions I will hold in the classroom.

How it worked:

• Four students to a group
• Each is assigned a card with a specific suit (hearts, spades, clubs, diamonds)
• The group answers a question together in 5 minutes
• The students hold their card up
• A suit is selected to come up to a board
• They must answer the question again on the board with no aid
  • verbal – team cannot give any hints, only a thumbs up or down as guidance
  • paper with solution cannot be brought up to the board
  • room should be silent
• The teacher checks answer
  • If correct gain a point
    • get a chance at a bonus point
    • Throw a football through a giant protractor with a hollow middle

I took away a lot from the Pro-D day and my interaction with students and staff at Vancouver College. I am very thankful for the opportunities I’ve had so far and look forward to the coming week!