Back to Class

Well ladies and gentlemen,

Tomorrow is my first day back at the University after three glorious weeks of teaching. I loved every minute of teaching (even the difficult students) and wish I could just stay in the classroom. Don't get me wrong, I am quite excited to see many of my classmates and hear how their practicums went. What I am not looking forward to is the obscene amounts of work that the professors will try and pile up in the last weeks before Christmas break.

Let me just quickly give you last semester's scenario. When we all got back from practicum, we got an email from the chair of the program saying that they are shortening our semester by one week. What the email did not say is that they are still going to expect us to do as much work as we would have done if we had that extra week. I cannot speak for my colleagues, but I sure felt the crunch near the end. What especially made the last few weeks tough was all the extra little assignments that were added to the list of all the major assignments we were already given. Overall, I felt worn out at the end of the semester.

As I said previously, I am quite excited to see my classmates again and hear how their practicums went, but I'm not looking forward to the work load. Today I picked up my final report from my cooperating teacher and had awesome reviews. My cooperating teacher made me feel like I'm a real teacher and I don't really want to go back to being a student again. Oh well, only 8 more weeks of classes left, then a 10 week teaching practicum and I'll be a real teacher (pending BCCT certification)! I'll just have to take these remaining weeks with a grain of salt and continue to jump through the hoops! I can see the light!

Cheers,

Andrew

Week Three Over

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

Well, the third and final week of my practicum has come to an end and I really DO NOT want to go back to the university. I had such a blast with my students (even the difficult ones). On my way out of the school today I had several students slap me high-fives asking me if I could do my long practicum there as well. Such an awesome feeling. I cannot think of another job that I would want to to for the rest of my life more than teaching. I think PGSS is the place I want to be when I graduate!

I could not have asked for better reviews from my cooperating teacher and faculty advisor. They were really impressed with my profession growth and performance. My cooperating teacher really helped me overcome some of the fears that I had as a teacher. For one thing, he taught me to take chances and to try new things. Not being afraid to look foolish in front of the kids really helped me connect with them. I could not have asked for better students. I can only hope to be blessed with another awesome teacher and students for my long 10-week practicum.

That is all for now,

AR

Second Week Reflections

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I thought I would share with you a few reflections from my second week of teaching. I love teaching... that is all

Actually there's much more. My whole week was awesome! Monday and Tuesday were good lessons, there was a test on Wednesday and I decided to try something new for Thursday and Friday, which I will briefly explain to you.

Far to often teachers get stuck in the mindset that the only way to teach is to by lecturing and giving out worksheets, especially in the Social Studies classes. Sadly, I got stuck/comfortable in that routine. My block A grade 9 students started complaining that there were just far too many notes, so something had to change. I decided I would teach the kids how to take their own note. How did I do this? Let me tell you how. I chose volunteers from the class to read from the section of the textbook we were studying. When we finished I told them to flip back to the beginning and I taught them a neat way to take notes. On Friday I did a similar thing and had the kids get into groups and summarize the section of the text and write it on poster paper. They then circulated around the room and copied down the notes their classmates took. The kids loved it, and more importantly, they actually learned something from it!

Block D on Friday surprised me. It was the Friday before Halloween, last block of the day and I expected nothing to get accomplished - things did get done. I did some brief notes on the Causes of World War II, then handed out a graphic organizer and had the kids chart out what were the 6 main causes and the effects of them. In other words - how did each of the causes lead to war. The kids loved it and came up with insightful questions. On top of that, my cooperating teacher was observing me in that class and had nothing but positive things to say... he said it was a flawless lesson and great way to end Friday!

I love teaching plain and simple! That is all for now,

AR