*** To note, this was written three weeks ago on a plane ride by a very exhausted student teacher who forgot to ever press ‘upload.’
Holy wowsers.
Twelve weeks, 5 different classes, a basketball season, 200 students later, and one tired teacher candidate. Practicum has reached its end. What an experience.
I’ve had more experiences than I can recollect.
The final week was a blur of chaos trying to prepare marks, write report card comments, and wrap up numerous loose ends and units.
Marking has been a very manageable experience in comparison with some other experiences during practicum. But each time I marked I was acutely aware of the idea of giving a number value to an individual student. Even with use of rubrics, careful consideration, and a resilient red bic pen, it seems nearly impossible to give a completely objective mark to a student. You care about the students. And when you care about them and you know students have tried their hardest to improve on an assignment – it is difficult separating grade from effort.
Through my time separating feelings from grades, I also couldn’t help but consider the use of grades as a means of identifying our students. I certainly agree with their usefulness in helping students recognize where a natural skill might occur, but it doesn’t always do this. And depending on the teacher assessing the student, the scaffolding they provide, students could have a completely different experience, receive a polar opposite grade, and could be dissuaded from every trying a subject again because of a small mark on a piece of paper no bigger than a thumbnail. There are many issues involved I’m sure – I’ve considered dozens I won’t mention right now, and I’m sure there are dozens more that have yet to walk across my brain, so I’ll just leave it at this. Grades are a problem in schools. They’re weird. They’re confusing. They aren’t reflective of true assessment (not in many cases).
I’ll leave it at that.
Practicum is over, for that I’m grateful (it was gratifying – but exhausting). And I’m grateful to all of the students and teachers and other members of South Kam Secondary I had the pleasure of interacting with over the last three months. Saying goodbye was difficult, but a pleasant experience, helping remind myself even through a few small interactions, of the impact a teacher CAN make and lives you are able to touch.
You have made my first experience as a teacher a memorable one. Thank you for everything.
Now, time for Costa Rica: Practicum Part 2.
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