A Journey: Student to Teacher & What Lies Beneath

Concave Mirrors in Action

2011-12-05T23:37:00.001-05:00

As a Physics teacher it can sometimes be difficult to picture ways to modify labs and make the content of the Grade 10 Applied Optics unit accessible to my students. I think that I have mentioned in a previous post that I really like the group of kids I am working with this year. A bunch of them are very curious and they ask good questions (even if they are off topic sometimes, you've just got to go with it!) and most of them are just trying to be successful enough to not only finish their Science credits, but to achieve a level 3.

One afternoon I was talking to a colleague about how teaching mirror and ray diagram rules are too complicated for these students and that I wish I could find a way to make them accessible through a lab and to find a way to create a meaningful summative evaluation. She inspired me to work on creating templates for the beginning steps of doing curved mirror ray diagrams to give them the chance to follow instructions for the actual rays while still giving them an understanding of the principle axis. I felt that a concave mirror would be the easiest way to do this.

The image shows the core diagram that was given to them for each rule (we did three of the rules). The instructions were put on the overhead (it is a good way to keep enough light in the room to not end up tripping over one another) for each one. The first set of instructions was detailed with specific areas to be labelled and fill-in-the-blank sentences at the bottom and was completed as a formative exercise (along with the second rule and set of instructions with slightly less detail). The following day we did the third rule, with even less detail and less support from the instructors, as a summative evaluation, and each student had to submit their own drawing (for the benefit of time each pair only had to create one diagram for the first two rules, unless they were speedy).

The students were engaged in the process and wanted to do well. Many of them asked to have the rubric so they could check over their work and double check that everything was included. The students averaged in a level 3 and were all very happy with their results when the rubrics were returned to them. I will definitely be seeking to involve more ideas like this when I teach this course again, and hope to be able to evolve it more and continue to use fewer "content-based" lessons throughout the unit. They seemed to have a decent grasp of the idea of a focal point, although they may have overextended this idea and lost sight of the fact that the third rule relates to the centre of curvature. A goal for increased understanding the next time I teach the course!

Hooray for collaborative teaching!

Simple Labs Don't Make for a Bored Class - Yay!

2011-10-16T22:40:00.002-04:00

I tried this lab last year, mostly out of desperation with a difficult class teaching a course I had never taught before, but decided to try it again to see if the engagement it created the first time could be reproduced. Because labs require writing they are always going to be difficult with a class with a number of students with communication exceptionalities, etc. The students continually require attention from the instructor to get through the process and I was lucky to have a second body in the room to help out for Day 2 and 3 of this process.

When I showed the lab to the aspiring teacher who was helping me he was concerned that it would be too simple for them and would not engage them for three periods. The lab is simply investigating the combination of two ingredients to determine the best tasting mock champagne. It allows me to have them work on skills such as writing a procedure, hypothesis, identifying variables, creating an observation chart and drawing a conclusion. As well as have them practice an important skill - measuring liquid volume. And they love that they get to drink their lab!

The next one will be more complicated - measuring the pH of stomach acid and its changes as different antacids are added to it. We will probably have to practice a couple of the lab writing skills again before we get there. As this one will be a summative piece of their chemistry mark.

An aside: We changed our formal (but formative) lab in Grade 9 Academic this year to a simple, but fun, lab using Alka Seltzer tablets, water and film canisters and went "Smarter Science style". The kids loved it. Can't wait to evaluate the formal lab write-ups that went with it. I hope they learned something through all of the peer and self evaluation that we tried in my class with it this week. (Cross your fingers for me, next year I hope to do some action research with peer and self evaluation).

Inquiry Based Ionic Compounds Lesson

2011-09-30T18:12:00.002-04:00

I am so excited about the lesson I conducted this morning! Engagement. Learning. Oh, so great.

I spent approximately 2 hours yesterday preparing this lesson. I created a word document with a variety of elements represented in Lewis Dot Diagram format, arrows, regular element symbols along with charges and numbers that could be used to create the ionic compound formulae. Then I printed out enough copies to have 5 groups going at a time so that they could work in smaller groups to manipulate the pieces and learn from each other. The elements that become positive ions were blue and the negatives were pink - this because I gave them a periodic table to keep in their binders that is blue and many of them coloured the non metals pink when looking at the periodic table in the back of their textbooks.

So this morning we went into a larger classroom that I had booked so that they would have the space to work. It seemed a bit harder to get them to settle down to give instructions, but the space was nice to have. I demoed the use of the manipulatives once for them and then asked them to get into groups of 3-4 (so that there were 5 groups). I gave them a set of the papers and then asked every group to create the same compound. I would give them time to work on it and go around and observe, scaffolding where necessary. It was great to see them so engaged and to see the ones that understood it well teaching their peers and helping them through the process. I wish I'd had my camera with me.

Anyway, at this point I am rambling and if you have read this far, I thank you for sharing in my joy. Hopefully the fun continues in the weeks to come! Next, polyatomic compounds!

Thank you Smarter Science (and a couple of my colleagues) for the inspirations behind this lesson!

Remembering Thousands

2011-09-11T13:33:00.003-04:00

I had every intention of creating a blog entry about my first week of teaching in year three. The incredible week it has been, starting off courses using Smarter Science teaching strategies and watching my Grade 9 Academic and 10 Applied classes be engaged in the first week of Science - my gosh it has been amazing, and I am scared at the idea of keeping it up and making them better Scientists...keeping them interested or helping them find an interest they thought they had lost of never had. But today is September 11, 2011 - and that scares me more.

This weekend I have watched the Dateline special surrounding September 11, 2001 (where FDNY survivors and the families that passengers of UA flight 93 called that terrible day) and the made-for-TV-movie Flight 93. I will eventually watched the feature film United 93 (I taped it) as well. I often think to myself that time is a strange concept. We have this concrete idea of seconds, hours, days, and years...but when I really think about it, time is this subjective and relative concept that has a different meaning in every context. For instance, how 10 years have managed to pass since 4 planes were hijacked in the United States on the East coast. I was in my first week of Grade 11 that day. I was 16, and still didn't truly grasp what had happened.

This summer I had the opportunity to go to New York City for the first time in my life. I spent one afternoon taking a walk down to the World Financial Center (WFC) and Ground Zero with a friend. We went into the Winter Garden in the WFC where you can see over the fence that surrounds Ground Zero and took pictures. You can see where the World Trade Centers used to stand, where the reflecting ponds will be in working order, as of today, to commemorate all of the lives that were lost that day (over 3 000, including 343 FDNY personnel). From many angles we saw the Freedom Towers that are being built nearby - the new additions to the already gorgeous Manhattan skyline - incredible architecture in that city.

I am willing to bet that watching these specials and movies this weekend would have found me emotional regardless, but I believe that having been there made the connection that much stronger. At 16 I had nothing to relate to. I was not alive during WWII, none of my living family served in that war overseas (only in Canada) - yes I have heard first hand stories of survivors from the concentration camps in Europe, and yes I took Canadian History in Grade 10 and we learned a lot about WWI and WWII - I had no true concept as to what war was. I have seen footage of the WTCs falling, almost straight down, more times than I can count now. I have heard the story of a group of Ladder 6 firefighters who saved the life of an elderly woman, and only lived to tell the tale because somehow the staircase they were in was spared. I have heard the story of UA 93 through the eyes of the air traffic controllers and families and seen what was left of that plane after it crashed in a field because the passengers on the flight decided they were going to die anyway, and didn't want others to suffer with them. There was almost nothing left of that plane. It was traveling so quickly that it effectively disintegrated (along with the people on board) on impact.

So I think what I fear most about going to school on Monday, is trying to talk to my students about 9/11/01 and realizing that they were 4, 5 or 6 years old when it happened. And discovering that we already have another generation of kids who don't really get it, and maybe never will. But if I've learned anything in the years of my life, history tends to repeat itself. They will know despair, hatred, and intolerance one day. I only hope, that they have the role models now to show them how to grow, learn and make a difference. I only hope, that more of them become the heroes of tomorrow than become the bystanders of today.

A New Year Ahead

2011-09-05T18:49:00.001-04:00

"Map out your future, but do it in pencil." - Jon Bon Jovi

I felt this was a very fitting statement as we head into a new school year. I actually bought a teacher planner this year, but I have to admit that it is with the intention of trying to keep track of what I did each day after the fact than it is to plan everything in advance. I have not managed to do this electronically in the past, so I am hoping that by having this book in front of me every day that I will do a better job of it.

My pet of the semester - the SNC 2P course. The first time I taught it was terrible. This time I would like to be able to say otherwise.

Good luck, to my fellow teachers!

The Gifts of Leadership

2011-06-27T16:34:00.001-04:00

The school year is pretty much over. Exams are finished, marked and report cards are written. It has been an eventful semester and we have a lot of cleaning and organizing to do this week (Hooray for renovations?). A week ago I began working through my Honours Specialist HS Mathematics course and this was one of the readings I have had to do and thought that it might be worth sharing. Some things worth thinking about, in any event.

THE GIFTS OF LEADERSHIP
Cile Chavez, EdD

Consider the gift of intelligence
And balance it with humour.

Consider the gift of truth
And balance it with compassion.

Consider the gift of routine
And balance it with creativity.

Consider the gift of confidence
And balance it with vulnerability.

Consider the gift of presence
And balance it with detachment.

Consider the gift of hard questions
And balance it with honest answers.

Consider the gift of managing crises
And balance it with predictability.

Consider the gift of challenging work
And balance it with recognition and celebrations.

The Joys of 3U Physics, and Why I Will Miss This Class

2011-06-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

This semester has been a much more enjoyable one, especially in terms of answering the question "So how are your classes?". I've been having a great semester when you look at things on a whole - and it is amazing what one great 3U Physics class can do for your outlook on things.

I have had the pleasure of working through this class of 20 students (that started out much larger, but that's a whole different story) since the start of February and now have to consider that it will be coming to an end. It has been pleasantly refreshing to work with these kids - kids who have a sincere desire to learn. A couple who are taking it just because they can even! What a novelty this is nowadays (and a sad reality). To see the joy of learning instilled in them and to see them love it even though they are not all doing amazingly (but they just like the class so they are OK with it and are still pleasant to be around).

I am going to miss these kids when they leave the classroom for the last time. Seeing them in the halls next year might not be enough - of course they will be invited to come join me at lunch whenever they would like. And again I will miss them when they graduate next year. It will be the first graduating class that has a substantial group of kids from various classes that is graduating and has been taught by me as well. It will probably be a bittersweet day. But I will be proud of them all. And hopefully, they have enjoyed putting up with me as much as I have enjoyed learning with them.

Here's to many more experiences that make the teaching experience a beautiful one!

Social Rants of a Second-Year Teacher

2011-04-19T20:32:00.001-04:00

As many of you are probably aware, teachers recently took a bit of a media hit in Ontario because of an incident with a teacher and an accusation from a former student via social media. Or maybe you didn't know why it became something that the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) felt compelled to send out an email for to all of its members (which is actually what hit the media). It is my understanding that a male teacher, in the past, tried to help a female student who was shy (with the permission of her parents) and is now graduated and accusing the teacher of sexual solicitation. So really what the OCT is trying to say is "students do not have the social and emotional maturity to understand the intentions of a teacher or to step back and understand the true intentions of a situation - and oh, because of the nature of the internet, they can now hold potential proof of anything you say or do".

So here is the world I live in, one where social media surrounds me (both because I use it daily and because my students are attached at the hip to their phones - and yes, much more so than I am!) and a profession engulfs me in the need to be a "professional" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A strangely stifling yet respectful place to have to be. Funny how teachers in the 80s could be invited to the house of their students (by the parents) as a post commencement celebration and thank you to those teachers (where alcohol would be served) and now we sit in a place where it cannot be perceived that a teacher is allowed to have an ADULT life and we constantly feel scrutinized by parents and the like instead of working with them. (Here's some context - I even had a student say to me this year "You are supposed to do everything in your power to help me be successful" [read, even if I don't do the same]).

The real motivation behind this social rant is an idea I had for an entry last week - the state of social media in North America and how it relates to education. Here are these amazingly accessible resources that many students make use of daily, and I am not even allowed to have email contact with their parents (never mind the students)! On what level does this make sense? We live in a world where there is a reality that many of these parents live on their emails and blackberrys, similarly to the way their kids do. Where trying to get in touch with them via email (at least initially) would actually save us time and create more efficient relationships. Why can't we have an email that students are allowed to use to ask us questions or a twitter account that is used to respond to common questions that students are having? Oh right, because they are not capable of interpreting a connection as professional over the net? I don't believe it. There has got to be a way to improve assessment and improve communication with our students using the media that they understand and use daily without crossing the professional line. Maybe we don't have the answer right now, but I strongly believe that running away from social media is NOT the answer.

I think that the comment that really got me thinking (and frankly, annoyed) back in the fall was the notion that not only shouldn't we "friend" or "follow" our students on social media while they are students, but we shouldn't friend them even after they graduate. Apparently we would get no professional support if any of this every blew up in our faces. But really, I take this to be an implication that the fact that I am friendly with (both in person and on social media) with my former teachers should not be allowed. Who is some minister or board employee or union rep to say that I cannot (as a post secondary or person in the workplace) become friends with my former teachers? People that I identify with as colleagues, friends, mentors and down-to-earth, good people? I guess what I am trying to say is, the idea of shutting out social media from our teaching lives to be completely ridiculous. Maybe there will always have to be a separation between personal and profession accounts for Facebook or Twitter or what-have-you, but to say that these two lives should not or cannot be combined only denies where our world has (and will continue to) ended up.

But I bet that those resisting change would just call me naive.

Let them. Some day, I will be the one calling a second year teacher naive. We all end up jaded and resisting change eventually, right?...

P.S. I would never friend a current or recent student on Twitter or Facebook on a personal account. I have not and do not plan to start. I just believe that even at my age, I am already losing communication with today's students - and we need to do something about it.

A Teacher in Drowning

2011-04-10T21:38:00.001-04:00

Wow...I have clearly been overwhelmed and under water. For starters, I have not posted an update in two months. But that is really only a symptom of a long list of things that have been going on. I am behind enough in my marking that I currently have two assignments from the same class in my bag (gross, worst feeling). We are working through the Biology unit in the Grade 10 course (and despite this being my second time through it, we are actually making a real effort to develop a good unit so I am learning way too much and spending time creating new things and working with my colleague who is the lead for the course this time around). And it is my first time teaching the 3U Physics course and I have decided to add a research presentation to the Energy and Society unit (but I have never developed this type of assignment before, never mind developing it alone).

The above is the current icing on the cake. The joys of being a second year (read first year, since I am in a different department) teacher. Despite the stress (and the addition of being in a wedding party for a wedding that is fast approaching) I am still happy with my career choice and love the learning and excitement that comes with it.

Speaking of learning, I have had the privilege of getting to attend two great P.D. sessions (3 if you include the sharing session we had with nearby schools). The first was a session for Smarter Science (they are also on twitter, if you would like to follow them). It was a great look at inquiry-based learning for the science classroom, a model that started near London that now has ministry funding and has been spread across more than 3-quarters of Ontario since! The session fascinated me and overwhelmed me. All of these great ideas and new things you want to try...but once a semester has started it is difficult to implement a new model of learning. I have had a chance to use parts of it three times so far in my 1P class, which has been a good start.

More recently I attended a session on Graphic Intelligence (read, making use of graphic organizers in class). Something that is a bit easier to start using right away but still something new to get used to using and a lot of prep work to get it going (new lesson plans to think about, rubrics to write, etc). We got a chance to do some planning inf the afternoon so I walked out with an idea for the Electricity unit for the 1Ps and will look forward to using it when we get there. I have also found myself thinking about other places it could be used and hope to get a chance to do those - but they may have to wait for another semester. Oh, and did I mention that I have finally gotten myself on explorelearning.com so that I can use Gizmos with my class (think online demos for science concepts)? I am using it in my 3U Physics tomorrow...wish me luck.

I think the cherry on top of all of this is even feeling overwhelmed about the summer (as it is fast approaching). I will be working an afternoon shift as a secretary for 6 weeks, the same 6 weeks I will be doing my Honours Specialist course in Mathematics online, and will hopefully be spending time looking at condos. These are the three basic things I see myself doing, and those in themselves are not really all that overwhelming - it is actually the thought of all of the things I can't wait to try as an educator and feeling like I am never going to have the time to wrap my head around them and actually prepare to use any of them. All of these ideas to look into, literature to read, assignments and ideas to prepare, assessments to come up with, rubrics to write, checklists to develop....well, I think you get the idea.

Here's to surviving these next couple of weeks. Hopefully the marking works itself out before report cards are due in just over a week. Hopefully.

Happy marking!

Proud to Support

2011-03-09T23:55:00.003-05:00

I will do an actual update soon (and have been meaning to for awhile). But in the meantime, here is a Facebook status that is going around that I wanted to share - both as a person and as an educator of today's youth.

Let me get this straight...Charlie Sheen can make a "porn family", Kelsey Grammer can end a 15 year marriage over the phone, Larry King can be on divorce #9, Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage, Jesse James and Tiger Woods, while married, were having sex with EVERYONE. Yet, the idea of same-sex marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage? Really? Re-post if you are proud to support equal rights.

A Refreshing Start

2011-02-13T19:59:00.002-05:00

The new semester is under way! A long and difficult one behind me, I went into February with a renewed sense of self and a fresh perspective. It helped that I had a lot of support. My fellow teachers were and still are there to encourage me and to share a word of advice or lend an ear and my admin were there to recognize another trying class and take them out of my schedule.

So here I am, with a Grade 9 Applied and 10 Academic Science along with a Grade 11 University Physics. My stress level has already decreased significantly. Having three preps is a lot to handle but at least only 2 of them are new (it was supposed to be three). I have had such a refreshing perspective on my students with only a week under my belt - the Grade 11s have reminded me that there are students out there who want to learn, who like being in your class, who look forward to learning something a little difficult. I am still dealing with the remnants of my stress, realizing that my headaches are a result of tension, but hopefully they too, will pass.

And now we will see what my new approach will bring. A new late policy in my classes (complete with a sign in sheet), a focus on routines and rules in the first couple of weeks of class (largely with the applieds, ensuring they (and I) use their hands when they have a question or want to answer one), remembering to follow through on consequences, and always remembering to smile and enjoy the moments of my students' day.

So here is to the next 5 months.
May they be productive, educating and entertaining!
Cheers!

Reflecting on Science...and so Much More

2011-01-31T22:46:00.002-05:00

So here we are, another semester has come and gone. My first full semester of Science was definitely an eventful one, as the couple of posts I was able to make eluded to. A couple of challenging classes leading to many challenging moments. A few sick days with some terrible symptoms. And some great results from some of those challenging students in the end.

We worked on our approach to the final 30% evaluation for our applied level classes this semester. Changing the weighting of our performance task and the exam and changing our preparations for the performance task to try to improve results. Using a base of identified kids I was able to track an improvement of 9% (from a 58 to a 67). we used a checklist to help them identify the skills they were working on and practiced the same type of task multiple times. While it seems to have worked it is still so concerning to have a group of students pass through a course and not really learn anything - most of them cannot pass a test or lab without a cheat sheet or asking a multitude of questions. It was definitely an interesting experience as well as one that taught me a lot. There are many things that I will do differently when I am given the chance to go through that course again (both to do with classroom management and the curriculum/teaching itself).

The next semester will be a fun one - I will get to see if I can apply some of the things I learned with a Grade 9 Applied class; to reteach Grade 10 Academic for the second time this year (a small breather); and to teach my first Physics course (Grade 11 Academic). I am looking forward to the Physics course, it will provide me with a chance to teach some topics that I am more comfortable with again and to be challenged a bit more academically. I have missed both of those aspects of education in the past few months not getting to teach Mathematics or Physics.

So here it is, my written goal for this upcoming semester
1) Set firm, transparent boundaries and stick to them right from Week 1.
2) Adjust to having an afternoon prep and try to stay a day ahead on planning.
3) Incorporate as many demos, POEs and practical classes as possible into all of my courses.

A tall order, I suppose...but here's to trying! And to maybe staying on top of my health and fitness in the meantime.

A Weary Mind, Body and Spirit

2010-12-20T15:53:00.003-05:00

Wow am I ever drained - and very glad that it is Christmas Break (though I could also have dealt with staying a few more days so that we had more time after New Years Day, but oh well). It pretty much feels like I have not slept since Thanksgiving. Combine the busy life with the season change, and it all makes sense.

November was busy at school. You get into the second half of the semester realizing that your courses are nowhere near half-way through their curricula, you don't have the energy to lesson plan, and every committee, club or sport your are involved in is about to get busier. Every weekend, something prevented me from sleep - a hockey tournament, the Future Aces Leadership Conference and an OSSTF new teachers retreat being the most notable. I have definitely learned a lot.

The Future Aces: A Conference Empowering Students was a great experience. It was really nice to get to spend some time with students with amazing leadership potential from across Ontario for a weekend. We had fun getting to know each other and hearing from very inspiring speakers like Matt Evans on the adversities he has overcome through comedy, Amanda on her lemonade 4 heart campaign that she has been running since the age of 2, and Paul Rosen on losing his dream to play in the NHL and almost losing his life. Students learned about various causes like MAD: Making a Difference (where Maddie started raising funds to build a community in Africa as her WISH when she was fighting cancer), OSAID: Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving, and human trafficking in Ontario.

To say the least the weekend away with a small group of students from my school was both rewarding and tiring. I cannot wait to have the chance to go again and am really hoping that I can keep the 8 kids together to accomplish what we have now set out to do. They have decided to host a week-long coin drive at school with various events involved to raise money for Maddie's Wish Project. It is going to be a challenge considering I have never run anything like this before, and neither have any of these students - but that was the whole idea!

On another note, some small milestones have been met in some challenging areas of my teaching life. I am slowly learning to put my foot down sooner, rather than later (it's a tough one for us nice folk). Some of the students I was having trouble reaching are buying into the routines in the classroom and are completing work and causing less trouble. Of course there are those who are not buying into it and I am still having trouble with. Some day I will find ways to deal with students who are vain or overly talkative class clowns, but I doubt that this semester will be the day. I am going to come out of this semester with some new tricks up my sleeves and with the knowledge that I have a lot of support around me. I am going to walk into next semester with a new way of starting things and the conviction to follow through with them and create a better learning environment. And I will do all of this knowing that it will not be perfect, that sometimes I will fail, that it is going to take a lot of time and effort. Time and effort that will be taken away from the already huge challenge of having three new courses to teach. Time and effort that will be taken away from coaching teams and helping Future Aces.

Somehow, it will all work out.

Scientific Adventures

2010-11-08T19:23:00.003-05:00

Wow, it is seriously hard to believe that as of the end of tomorrow Term 1 of Semester 1 of the 2010/2011 school year will be over. Midterm marks are due and there is only one term left to lead into exams. And at the same time, this has left like the longest term...I have had many challenges, grown a lot, felt broken down emotionally a few times...Definitely some of the many reasons I have fallen behind on this blog. So much for writing at least once per month!

I have encountered some of the most difficult circumstances of my young life. Working with full-size classes for the first time in my teaching career has brought along with it some interesting challenges - largely classroom management related. I walked into this career with many pieces of advice on the matter, and was told many times that I would learn and create my own style as I went along. I think that hardest part to realize, is that the style that will become my own, will not always be the one I had hoped for. I am not the "hard ass" teacher that I sometimes need to be and sometimes will need to be, especially as I continue to teach applied level course and continue to teach Grade 10 classes (such a fascinating Grade, no longer timid Grade 9s that think they are more mature than they really are).

This was the first experience I had getting to start from scratch with these level courses, and man would I like to take it back and start again. I can now see just how important it is to establish routines that are largely focused in character education and social learning and needs. Boundaries is a word I hear often...and now really understand the value of. It is very difficult to come back and set a tone to reestablish rules that should have been there from the start. And it is amazing to see just how much a 16-year-old will push the gray areas of behaviour. I think that when it comes down to it, the hardest part will be creating these boundaries around students who will always need my empathy and support. There has to be a balance between listening to problems/giving second chances and forcing someone to learn that they have to grow up eventually - no matter what they have had to deal with in their lives.

Enough on the struggles that have made me want to crawl under a rock though...

Being full time in a department that is my second teachable and is not my forte has brought along enough stress to last me a long time. Thankfully I have taught one of these courses already and have an amazingly supportive department. I can ask any of them questions and they are happy to do their best to help. My department head is amazing and provides me with the time and support I need. She has gone out of her way to help me create a major lab for a course that I am new to (and the teacher I work with is not as helpful) and finds ways to create time for me to do things on release days that I need the time for.

Our school is one that is recognized by the Ministry and receives funding for student support. To do this the school has identified 34 students to follow in Grade 10 and has created teams to work on PLCs (professional learning cycles) in certain departments. Science is one of those teams and we are working to develop changes and preparation for the 30% summative. This involves creating transparent assessments around the performance task and identifying true ways to evaluate application of knowledge and develop tasks to help students practice these skills. We have set out to have these 34 students improve their 30% evaluation mark by an average of 10% from their Grade 9 marks.

In any event, it feels like there is a lot of pressure on me to make this happen in Grade 10. Even when my department head will do everything she can (before going on maternity leave) to get the other teacher on board...

I'm sure I could go on for awhile, but I will spare you further digression.
Keep learning!

My First "First Week" of School

2010-09-09T21:52:00.003-04:00

So here it is, we are three days into the school year - and I am actually a teacher in September...how weird. It has been a great experience getting to help set the tone of the school year (both within my classroom and in the halls). I think that this year is going to feel much more at home (even if I am teaching Science and terrified that I am going to screw up every day).

I started my first day of classes with icebreakers to help my students get out of their seats and get to know one another. The only thing Science related they saw was my intro letter that they were to read, sign and have their parent/guardian sign. Grade 9s respond much more timidly to name games on the first day, but I think that everyone learned a few names and had an experience they will look back on and laugh about. I must say, indoor "snowball" fights are fun and Grade 9s and 10s cannot do the Birthday Game in silence to save their lives. Hilarity.

My favourite story so far comes from a Grade 10 class on the second day, when a student asked me "Miss, are you Canadian". When I proceeded to tell him that I was, his response was "oh, because you have a Canadian accent". I didn't really know what to think about that one...so as usual, I laughed! (I laugh way too much in that class...they already know they can distract me with their goofy ways. Oh well!)

I'm teaching an applied Science class for the first time in my career. As expected it comes with a group of unique students; many talk too freely about things that teachers do not want to hear about; some have more life experience than I probably ever will in my life; some live in single parent homes; and others will constantly be a struggle to get to do work (even though they are perfectly capable of it). I have actually had some good experiences so far (they make the struggles worth dealing with most days) with students completing work and willingly asking questions and participating in class...it is definitely less of a struggle than applied math was. All I can do is try to keep up what I am doing so far and hope that most of them hold on. I intend to be there as a role model for them and give them a place where they can feel like they are capable of being successful.

I am both excited and nervous to see what the following weeks hold for me and my students. Every day is different and cannot be predicted. Maybe one of these days I will even learn to get to sleep at a decent hour and have things planned before the 5 minutes before class starts. But just maybe.

A New Beginning

2010-09-06T21:51:00.002-04:00

Every day in teaching is a new one, where you can prepare as much as you want and never predict what is going to happen.

Well, here we go for a new beginning. The first day of school. For me this is a first as a teacher, having started in October of last year...I have had the first day jitters since last night and been told that every teacher feels this way before the start of every year. I am going with the assumption that this is a good thing - that I am anticipating a new beginning and looking forward to meeting a new group of students.

Anyway, I had intended to write some powerfully reflective summer entry before school started but that has not happened, and now it is getting late and sleep must be had. For didn't you know, the first day of school is the worst traffic day of the year.

To all my fellow teachers, good luck this year, have a blast making a difference in the life of someone young. Think outside the box. Try something new. Love what you do.

Walking on Thin Ice

2010-06-12T18:48:00.002-04:00

It's funny how self-centered humans are as adolescents. How we can go through 3 or 4 or 5 years of high school and never really understand what our teachers, parents, principals, guardians and what have you are going through. How easy an adolescent finds it to walk through their day-to-day life and believe that a teacher has it out for them or doesn't believe them or whatever experience you can come up with. And I say this with absolutely no authority as a teacher, but with the authority of having been a teenager not all that long ago.

I was, what most, would call a good student. I did my homework, went to my symphony rehearsals, did well on tests and assignments and went off to accomplish things I had dreamed of for a long time (mind you, I was late for everything). Granted, I was (and still am) a rare case. I love(d) school - friends, teachers, sports, music...you name it - and I knew the whole time that I wanted to teach high school. But I can still look back and know that I took for granted what I had, and failed to recognize a lot of what my teachers, etc were doing for me.

Over the past couple of months I have had so many things run through my mind, so many things I wanted to discuss with myself, with colleagues, with friends...things I wanted to ramble on about on my blog...things I never got around to mentioning to anyone. I do not recall ever wanting to talk about teenagers and their ability to believe outright that one of their teachers wasn't trying to do what is best for them, but maybe that is what it has all boiled down to...I think I worry about this a lot.

I feel like I am often walking on thin ice. Like everything I do changes my students' perception of me. Like I need to be superwoman for them everyday. But I also feel like my students need to see me fail, to make mistakes, to pick myself up again and forge through the day. I have started to realize that, by seeing my parents and family as successful people, by being in the company of friends who were driven and amazing, I have spent very little of my life learning how to fail. Maybe this is something that many of the students at my school (and elsewhere) can see in their teachers. Maybe they can tell that few of us had to truly struggle through a high school course (especially not in a subject we teach). Maybe, that makes us...some kind of enemy...

I have seriously digressed from where I thought I was going to go with this. In the end, what I am trying to understand is how to help those kids who are at risk. Whether at risk, in this case, means of failing a course or dropping out of school. How can I diversify myself enough, that the ones who really need me, can find a way in?

Funny thing is, when I was changing the layout of this blog today...trying to find a background picture...I was thinking about how I want to teach kids to see the bigger picture. I want them to see school as a tool to shape them and change who they will become. I want them to stop analyzing the little things in my math class and start truly learning how to think from themselves. How to problem solve and become independent people. I want them...to learn how to learn about themselves - to become those people and love who they are. Maybe the way to do this, is to reach them all...maybe that's why this entry turned into what it is now.

The Second Time Around

2010-05-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

We are finally well enough into second semester that I can actually say that it feels like I am doing this for the second time. This being teaching...and this really being only one course, but still. At least it finally feels a little bit less like a scramble every day. I think.

My Grade 11 course does not have a current textbook and teaching Science for the first time is beyond a scramble. So really, the newbie status has a long while to go before it's behind me (I'm still on probation after all - and will be until the end of October).

I am sure that I have come up with a million little things that I wanted to blog about since my last post, and a couple of big ones too...but it appears as though they have all gotten lost in the shuffle. Pushed back into the complex storm of brain activity that goes on...lost in the madness of a first year teacher.

This week is a fundraising drive for camp that has a patient facility for children with cancer. It has been quite the site to see all of these kids pull out their spare change, run bake sales, sell perogies, sell roses, etc etc etc. So many of the homeforms have contributed some kind of lunch fundraiser and they have had other major events (such as a talent show) to boot. It is really neat to see what these kids can manage when many of them come from less affluent homes. Such great spirit (and I've heard that this hasn't been the most involved year, it's still amazing).

Anyway, I have survived my second Parent's Night now and Math GAINS has been going in full force. We have one more lesson to observe and debrief and one more anchor session to attend. The missing classes thing has been difficult at times but all of my classes are coping so far (and probably used to my absence). It has definitely be interesting though, I have learned a lot and it has been a great experience. Getting to build lessons with colleagues and actually see them in action is very cool - and very Japanese (seriously, they have led the way a lot with this type of Professional Development).

It is late now, and though I have much to say it will have to wait for another time!

Cheers!

The Learning Continues

2010-03-20T11:27:00.003-04:00

March Break is drawing to a close, and of course I have spent the majority of my time lying on the couch trying to get over this cold. It has made getting my errands finished quite difficult, not to mention being sick is rather annoying. But I guess I expected to fall ill this week - being fine on Monday just gave me false hope.

The Semester is shaping up to be a relatively interesting one. My Grade 11 class has been tough, it's a pretty good class but we do not have textbooks for this "new" Grade 11 course. And the department doesn't have a day-to-day outline set up either so it has been really easy for me to miss things as I go. As a result their tests have been a tad difficult, and on the unfair side. Something I totally recognize and am working to correct for them (I adjusted one of the tests even). What really got me was that I had to find out how they felt through the Grapevine of my former students - at least I know that those students still had some respect for me. Anyway, I got the class to do a Start Stop Continue reflection for me and reiterated that it is their class and they need to speak up so that I hear it from them. Hopefully this has shown them that I am willing to make changes and that I do want them to succeed. Hopefully. Hence, my learning continues...as I expect it to for the rest of my career!

We had a curriculum development day for Math recently so I spent some of my time creating an authentic assessment for the quadratic relations unit for the Grade 10 Academic course. I already have one for the Analytic Geometry Unit so it made sense to try to have one for each of the units in the course (one more to go). I want to give my students who have trouble on tests the opportunity to show their understanding...which will hopefully help them to be successful in the long run - maybe it can help them build some self-confidence. The goal is for the assessments to look at a variety of skills and communications and be graded through a rubric. The rubric allows students to know exactly what I am looking for and allows for a shorter marking time.

Finally, Grade 9 Science. Interesting to say the least. Chemistry is almost finished. It was a lot of lab/activities so it was hands on for the students and we had a practical test so they could show us what they had learned in an appropriate way. It seems as though leading off with this unit may have given them a misconception of a lazy teacher in front of them, but this is generally the way the department goes through Chemistry - and seeing as though it is my first time through and Chem is NOT my thing I guess it has gone relatively well. One thing is for sure, this has involved a lot of written formative feedback. We return for one last lesson or two on compounds and their summative lab assessment before moving onto Earth and Space Sciences.

Needless to say I've had my ups and downs so far this semester, but it has also reaffirmed that I love teaching and that working with my colleagues at this school has been an amazing experience.

I guess the next two weeks will tell if I get to spend another year with them or not. Here's to hoping!

A Beginning

2010-02-13T18:50:00.004-05:00

This week I completed my first full week of starting my own classes from day one of a Semester. I got to try some things - not doing course outlines the first day, developing classroom expectations with my students (instead of dictating them), teaching Science for the very first time, using a Culture Assignment with my Grade 10 Math class, using Student Conferences from the start to try to get to know (a few of) my students so that I could really know who I was teaching instead of just knowing the material, using Math Journals with my Grade 10s...

Wow...that is the first time I've really sat back and thought about all of the things I have been doing, and now I think I really understand why I was so tired this week! And I haven't even met with half of my students...they keep missing their time slots (oie vay).

But so far I can say that it has been fun. I did get to start planning a little bit before things got underway, so in some ways it has been less overwhelming (but teaching in two departments, makes the overwhelmed feelings come right back). It is a challenge to work for two different department heads - they will never have the same style/expectations/etc and I have two sets of department meetings to attend and keep track of. But more of the challenge is trying to feel comfortable with my science lessons before I walk into the classroom. I am finding it really difficult to stay ahead of the game, so it goes day-by-day which makes it hard to be prepared - something always get forgotten...but I teach next door to a colleague with the same class so I am surviving.

I had a student tell me in this first week that she has realized that I can make math fun again. That had to have been the highlight...getting to see something make a difference so soon. Another student expressed concern over her success and what she can do in the future, so we have agreed to meet to try to work through it. I have really enjoyed these journals, I feel like I know these Grade 10 students better after a week than I knew many of those in my Semester 1 class. Definitely feel enlightened by some of their perspectives.

If I had to address one realization from this week it would probably be the realization that this feeling of being the young teacher that the kids relate to will not last as long as I would like it to. I look young for my age, so it will happen for awhile, but it will slowly fade and they will fool me with their technologies and slang terms more and more often. I find the students are more real in my class than they would be in a more experienced teachers room...and it's not just about age. They think they can get away with stuff without me noticing it as a new teacher...but they are wrong so it's funny. Maybe I will know things have changed when I stop being able to hear the "mosquito" ring on their cell phones.

For now I will be content with how things are (and I am more than content) and enjoy the things I get to hear, see and learn in my classroom and in the halls. I will keep enforcing things in my class that force the kids to take ownership for what they do and say and try to teach them how to be better, charismatic people. I will keep working to be the teacher that I have always wanted to be. I will keep trying to make math something that doesn't suck for most students. I will keep being me, and letting my students be themselves.

A Semester Ending

2010-01-27T13:04:00.003-05:00

Semester 1 of my first year of teaching is coming to a close. An interesting one it has been.

I have spent the last three or so weeks counting down the end of this semester while looking forward to new and exciting things to come. It is not as much that I want this Semester to end, and more that I cannot wait to finally get to start classes that are my own from day 1! It has been quite the challenge to take on students that had already fallen into routines with another teacher - I am just looking forward to a new challenge that is my own (and more realistic to what I will experience for the rest of my career).

I have found that especially the older students I have (at the level of course they are in) had lost interest in large parts of the course long before I arrived at their school. Many of them were content to aim for a 50 to get their last mandatory credit in Mathematics. Some strove for better and worked sometimes...but it is hard to say that any of them really put their hearts into it. But I still loved it - getting to see students for who they are and having some open up about their struggles (whether it be at home or school). It is hard not to appreciate people who are trying to be true to themselves...to be real. I only wish I had found a way to motivate them better.

We are in Exam week right now, so classes are finished and the final marking and report cards are all that are left for my responsibilities. I am spending time starting to prepare for the next Semesters classes (I am only repeating one of my three preps) but constantly find myself reflecting on how this Semesters classes went. What would I do differently next time? What would I continue doing? What would I stop doing all-together? Despite the fact that I will not be teaching a 1P course this Semester it is the one I had the most trouble with this time around so I am thinking about it a lot.

How do we reach such an eclectic variety of students? There are so many unique needs, despite the fact that some of them have similar backgrounds. Many are misplaced in the P stream and lack the core math skills that are needed. Most are motivated only by marks (and even that comes and goes) and all of them were pretty much shut down by the time the performance task and EQAO came along...never mind when they write their exams this week. I honestly don't know how that class functioned as a class of 18 before it was split. I constantly needed to be in three places at once and was using the phrase "focus" or "get back to work" at least 40 times per class. I know that when I teach this (or a similar) course again that I will separate from the use of the TIPS books much more often. I would love to be able to create partial notes for students like this that they can fill in during a short lesson and use as a model to complete their work. Page after page of application is, frankly, useless to them if there are no examples.

Now I will go back to writing reports and preparing for the upcoming Semester. All the meanwhile trying not to take it personally that too many of my students were unsuccessful this time around. I will focus on how I can make a difference for and motivate my next group. I will take what I have experienced so far and use it to make myself a better teacher.

Personal Goals
- Bring back goals students set for themselves throughout the Semester
- Use Student Conferences to check in with students about their progress and get them to talk about their goals and fears
- Teach students to self-evaluate their struggles and successes and give them the tools to figure out and execute their next steps
- Keep My Class Sites updated throughout the Semester

A Difficult Place to Stand

2009-12-22T15:34:00.002-05:00

I have now been teaching for eight weeks. What an eight weeks it has been! Hard work, long hours, many hours spent in the car, and few evenings spent outside of my house. Time, effort and reward and I wouldn't trade for anything.

It is really hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am living my dream. I have spent some of my time reflecting on that simple fact and realizing that a part of me feels lost because of it - what's my next goal? what do I dream for now? I have since realized that it has only just begun - I intend to move out of my parent's house within the next year, have my car put into my own name and the ultimate goal being to own property. Those dreams are definitely big enough for now!

Put aside the daily trials that I face with my classes, working with others, managing parent contacts, keeping people safe, etc and I see myself standing in this system we call "Education" and realizing that I am not sure what it is supposed to accomplish anymore...realizing I don't know how to stand within it. It's difficult, everyday.

When you are preparing to be a teacher you spend a lot of time trying to figure out who you are as a teacher and what aspects are important to you. You make those things your focus and design your classroom, lessons, etc around it. Afterall, if you cannot be natural in your classroom it won't seem sincere. What I have come to realize is that we spent no time figuring out what to do with that information! So I know who I want to be as a teacher, and what I want to try to inspire my students to be...but can I really make this Education system work?

I have honest fears about where our province is heading. It is a frightening realization that this generation of kids lack the skills to think for themselves. And only we are to blame. Even as a first year teacher I know that what I am sitting in is different than when I was a student. I am not oblivious to the fact that there were struggling students 10 years ago, that is a fact, I am aware of it. What I do know is that the students in the Academic streams get to high school without basic skills in mathematics. The cannot add integers, never mind add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions. So how I am supposed to expect them to be able to think about problems and to learn how to solve them (and I walked into teaching with the goal to teach these skills to kids, not to teach them Calculus! so how can I not feel lost??).

You could argue that I am overreacting, and I wouldn't necessarily argue with you - but we NEED to over react to this! Something in this "new" curriculum isn't working! Whether we have somehow worked to scare elementary teachers away from math or we have changed things so much that the way in which it has to be taught isn't working, SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!

We have this amazing idea of "Pathways" - they are often referred to as "Pathways to Success". We definitely have been working to change the definition of success in our schools to recognize that not everyone can accomplish the same things, and that going into the work force, an apprenticeship or college are just as successful as going to University - and I love it. But if the Pathways don't work they way the should even before high school, we have a problem! An applied class is supposed to be able to take a more hands on approach to learning for students who don't learn as well from books. They should, in theory, be learning similar material to the Academic stream...but this is impossible. The applied classes end up being a mix of students with various abilities, most who have fallen so far behind throughout elementary school that they cannot maintain the standards we want to have for them in Grade 9 (and we think it is good for the egos to not allow students to fail in elementary school?????? on what planet does all of a sudden failing in Grade 9 make for a positive ego???).

Anyway, this update has turned into a serious rant. So despite the fact that I have more to say on the matter I will leave some of it up to you. I think our system needs a serious change from the bottom up. Our future is certainly uncertain at this time...question is, how can us pawns (the teachers) make what we do have work for these students?

Any input, questions, or comments you have will be appreciated.

Or heck, write your City Councillor, the Mayor, the Minister of Education and your MP. We've got problems in our own backyards...we need to make SOMEONE realize that the problem exists and we know it!

For now, I will enjoy some Christmas music and a skate at the neighbourhood rink.

Merry Christmas and cheers to a safe and happy New Year!
xoxo

Month One

2009-11-20T16:18:00.002-05:00

Well loyal followers, it has now officially been 4 weeks since I began teaching. Which means that only 174 days remain on my probation period as a teacher. It has been quite the roller coaster ride, but I can safely say that I still love it and am so happy with my decision to pursue a career in teaching. There have been funny moments, overwhelming/stressful moments and some great learning moments so far. Some of them are outside of the classroom - it's always ironic when I get home to have my father say "are you REALLY a high school teacher? not grade 2?"

He has a point though, as I love that age group as well at camp and cannot believe that I handle teenagers everyday either, but I love that I can go into class every day and not know what is going to happen...and at the same time be able to be apart of such a tough/awkward time of a kid's life. There are pros and cons to being the "young" teacher that the kids think they can relate to - I find that they tend to be more open about life and class which can lead to them saying things they probably shouldn't but they also seem to really appreciate my efforts and want to put forth the effort to meet my expectations.

Speaking of expectations, I tried to walk into these classes with high expectations...if you lower your expectations students will tend to lower their standards and not work to their potential. They created my classes by splitting existing ones in half (ya, I am a lucky butt, I know!) so the classes are small but I also had to deal with starting partway through a semester and got some of the students that were struggling a bit more in their classes. I've been working hard with them and some of them are struggling, but I make myself available to them for extra help a lot and a few of them have responded to it.

I had to write report card comments and do the report marks for my students in my second week at the school. It was quite the experience and quite the learning curve, but I got through it and have become more acquainted with the process as well as using Mark Book - a computer software for recording and calculating marks. This week has marked a bunch of "milestones" as well. The new teachers had our NTIP meeting with one of the VPs to find out about that process (and of course I just realized that there is much to do and it got left at school, luckily my Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) isn't for another two weeks). It was also Parent Teacher Night this week - which marks my first as a teacher. I give camp experience a ton of credit for how easily that went and for the fact that I wasn't even nervous about it. Overall, it went really well and some great conversations with parents occurred.

There are so many things about this first month that have gone through my head when I have thought about finally getting a chance to write this entry, but of course I cannot think about much right now - the exhaustion on a Friday evening is aplenty. I have kind of gotten used to the idea of exhaustion being a constant state of being. I have yet to drink coffee still - hooray!

Well I feel I have spent enough hours thinking about school for now anyway. 53 hrs were spent within the school walls, plus some additional time at school and lots to do this weekend.

Something you would like to know about my experience so far? Post a comment and I will include it in my nest entry :)

The Journey Officially Begins...

2009-10-20T19:02:00.003-04:00

After 20 years of my own education I will officially be a teacher in my home-grown province. Through a round of applications for permanent positions in Math/Science roles I landed four interviews in all and, in the end, two job offers. I accepted the first offer that came through thinking it would be a week before I heard from the last school and they ended up calling the next day. Not that this knowledge would have changed the decision to accept the offer, but it was a little ironic as I never expected to get two offers, nevermind land a full-time, permanent position my first year out of the Faculty. It feels really surreal still and I have had 24 hours to soak it in.

3 math preps at a semestered school will make for a very busy and interesting year. The school is small and seems like a great place to start my career and I will get a chance to teach a science class second semester as well. I am definitely excited, despite being rather nervous and unsure about it all (well, not about the profession itself, of that I know I want).

Time will tell what the experience may bring, and I will be sure to keep you posted (though I cannot guarantee frequent updates! haha).

Happy learning!

Realizing the Unknown

2009-09-01T00:01:00.003-04:00

This week has largely been about realizing that I really have no idea what life has in store for me. Today it has really hit me that for the first time in twenty years I will not be heading into a classroom with a teacher standing in front of me the day after Labour Day. I am beginning to realize how strange this is and how much I am going to miss school - University was an amazing experience and was such a huge part of my life.

Not only do I have to move into a non-student life this September I am sitting here not really having any idea as to what the next 4, 8, or 12 months have in store for me. I have some short term plans as I continue the job search, but they could easily be cut short if my search is successful. I have been lucky to find some employers that will understand if I have to leave them, but there is a mix of a family business really needing my help in there as well. It makes the unknown and looking into the "rest of my life" feel that much more stressful.

I am so grateful for the support of all of my friends and family who really see the potential in me to be a great teacher and want to see me succeed. These networks are as valuable as the ones that help me meet the people that may be able to help me find a job somewhere down the road. It would be pretty daunting to have to tackle it all without people backing me up - so thank you to you all, for being a part of my life and pushing me to keep going and be the best person that I can be. In those moments where it doesn't feel worth it to do it for myself I will push myself knowing that there are people in my life who will be proud of me for it.

Well it is late and I have to get up to go to work in the morning, so I will leave with my congratulations to my friends who have started to find their place in the teaching world. Whether you are starting overseas, have found a job in another province or are starting in a permanent, occassional or LTO position around the GTA/Kingston I wish you the best this year and know that you will be successful in whatever you put your mind to!

If you know better, do better!

2009-07-13T19:54:00.002-04:00

The title comes from someone who is in my Additional Basic Qualification (ABQ) course. It came up during our online chat tonight about a teachers role in the socialization of students. A stimulating chat we had, I must say, and it is unfortunate that we did not have time to debate some of the finer points. Since I haven't updated this blog in awhile I will give the basics of this course: Online version of a curriculum course that will enable me to be qualified to teach Senior Social Sciences.

It is such a simple line "If you know better, do better." But I had to take a moment to write about it because of just that - a simple motto in which to live by. Six words that encompass how I have tried to live my life as I have grown, matured, and developed a set of personal values. But as simple as it may sound, it is not always easy.

It is the every day things, like trying to be an active witness - being the one in your peers to stop someone when they use a particular term or phrase when no one else will. Like trying to throw every little piece of garbage into a garbage bin and recycling into a recycling bin. Like trying to be a good friend to everyone, even though it is virtually impossible to never say a bad thing about another person at some point. Like trying telling your mom or dad a little white lie, even though the truth probably wouldn't hurt. Like realizing just after the fact that you've made a mistake, and leaving it for someone else to deal with.

Anyway, this classmates life motto caught my attention long enough to bring it to your attention. I hope it makes you think a little bit about how you would like to lead your life better. About how you can make a difference for a better world.

Happy Summer!!

A future blog - the roller coaster of the job search!

Preparing to Write a Philosophy

2009-04-23T00:24:00.007-04:00

One of the final assignments at the Faculty is to write a Philosophy of Education. This will be at least the third, if not fourth time I have been asked to do this, but as your experiences progress, the way you write and your views on Education change. This is for one of my Professional classes and has been presented in a way that I am really enjoying. We have touched on some interesting issues and the instructor is trying to bring up some things for us to think about and consider as we write. On the first day of our theatre lectures he posed a bunch of questions. I thought that it might make for some interesting reading into who I am as a teacher. So if you dare, read on and find out what my current stance is on Education. Who knows, maybe I will write a chunk of my Philosophy of Education in the process.

--

What is your role as a teacher?
I believe that my role is to facilitate and guide the learning of others. It is to provide opportunities for learning with regards to curriculum (subject matter), social issues (which is done by creating a welcoming, positive learning environment that students feel safe in and can trust), and current local and world issues. It is to make students aware of who they are as learners and provide them the means to learn from and about one another.

What is the learners role?
I believe that the learners role is to have an open mind and be willing to learn. To be curious, ask good questions, and expect a lot of himself/herself. What "a lot" is for one learner may not be enough or may be too much for another. I believe that the learner should expect a lot of me as a teacher and be willing to communicate his/her needs with me so that their goals can be met and we can be successful as a team.

How do you decide what is important for your students to learn?
I believe that it is critical to determine what is important for my students to learn by determining what their individual goals and needs are for the course and learning in general. I will decide what is important to each individual student through personal discussions. Considering the former along with the links that my curriculum has to that of other subjects, social and character education, and important skills (such as logical thinking, problem solving, and language-math understanding) will allow me to make an informed decision of what is important for my students to learn.

How do you find out if/what your students have learned?
Determining whether or not your students are learning what I am/have been teaching requires constant observation, research, and reflection. I believe that walking around the class every day to check on students notes and progress in their work is essential to gauging learning. Combining this practice with asking questions in class and keeping other lines of communication (i.e. communication log, online methods) with students open will help to determine if the students learned on a particular day. Providing multiple opportunities for my students to get feedback from assessments for learning will help me to find out what my students have learned and give them a chance to be better prepared for various forms of assessments of learning.

What strategies do you employ to help your students learn?
It is my belief that by varying the tempo, teaching style, and types of assessments and evaluations I use in class I can help my students learn. Changing the tempo allows students the chance to be reengaged and to refocus their efforts in class. Some of the teaching styles I use are lectures, class discussions, experiential learning, POEs (Predict, Observe, Explain), investigations and experiments, presentations, jigsaws, prompting questions, research, notes, handouts, interactive whiteboards, technology based lessons, and one-on-one discussions/help. Finally, by varying assessments for my students I am allowing them the opportunity to express their thoughts and learning in different ways - some students will not do well on tests but can express their understanding in a different way - which will also help them learn how to be more successful on types of assessments that they may not usually do as well in.

What do you feel is important for your students to remember about their learning experience with you 10 years from now?
If I were to run into one of my former students ten years after having taught them I would hope to discover that they remembered learning how to think about and solve problems. That they would remember being taught to think about things logically and that my classroom was not just about Science or Math, but about what life was like around them and becoming educated about the people who surrounded them. I want my students to leave my class having become a more conscientious, caring, empathetic, and logical person.

Describe your educational background.
Finding a passion for Mathematics in elementary school I was driven to follow through and complete any Math course I could get my hands on in high school. I was also musically driven and my Grade 12 year was spent largely in Math, Music, Physics, and Psychology based classes. I completed by B.Sc.H. in Mathematics with Physics as a second teachable through the Concurrent Education program. I also took interest in taking a wide variety of electives including credits in Health, Philosophy, Economics, and Psychology.

What are your future career goals?
I have now worked through my B.Ed. with intentions of completing an additional University credit required to take an ABQ course for Senior Social Sciences as well as the intention of completing Spec Ed part 1 early on in my career. I have aspirations to eventually become a department head and have not ruled out the potential to work as an administrator at some point in my career. Some of my shorter-term goals include: Setting up a safe, positive learning environment in which my students feel welcome and free to speak with me about anything and to speak with each other; being analytical of my own teaching practices and ensuring that these practices evolve as my students and I evolve; and continuing to make an effort to learn about and use technologies in my classroom.

Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation

2009-04-10T22:35:00.010-04:00

Throughout the past three weeks I have been doing work with the Herbert H Carnegie Future Aces Foundation in Markham, ON. Future Aces is affiliated with many schools throughout the Toronto District School Board and the surrounding area doing leadership and character work with a focus on at-risk youth. It was really neat to get some experience in an Educational role outside of the classroom. This charitable organization definitely does some amazing work. I first heard about them when I was in my last year of high school and got to hear Herb speak at my co-op placement.

My tasks included creating a student journal for the student trip to Chatham, ON; developing a couple of Intermediate Science Character lessons; working through evaluations from the November Leadership Conference (which is run annually for Grades 7-10); attending and supervising the trip to Chatham (36 high school students from 5 high schools in Toronto attended); and organizing the ACES Team (Leadership Team) for the Returning Faces Conference in May (a follow up to the Conference in November). During my placement I was also able to attend one of their high school presentations - it was the first presentation at a school that started a Future Aces club just this year.

The most eventful part of my placement was obviously the excursion to Chatham, ON. The trip lasted for two nights and I rode the bus both ways with the teacher supervisors and the students. We met up with the Future Aces staff there. It was a bit of a 'no man's land' for me to be there on the "organizers" side of things, but to not really have much of a role with them, and not have a direct responsibility for the students, as their teachers had. In any event, it was interesting and I got to see some pretty neat things.

We stopped at the RM Classic Car Exhibit.

Visited the North Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, located on what was the Elgin Settlement - a last stop on the Underground Railroad where many Black men, women, and families settled after escaping slavery.

Spent time at the W.I.S.H. Centre, part of the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society, where we got to meet and speak with Ken Milburn - the first paid black firefighter in the Chatham department as well as the first black captain (it is believed that he may have also been the first in Canada of at least one, if not both).

Had a tour of the Milner House and Museum (we had also been to the house the night before while on our "Ghost Tour", it was neat to be back during the day time when the kids were less afraid!). The Milner house was built in the late 1800s and was restored as a 1905 home. Apparently the phrase "put a sock in it" comes from this time as the gramophone did not have a volume control - one would be told to "put a sock in it" to muffle the sound.

Our final stop on the Underground Railroad was Uncle Tom's Cabin, built on a part of the large portion of land that was once the Dawn Settlement. Rev. Henson played a big role at this settlement and was made famous when the main character in Uncle Tom's Cabin was developed based on his life. A small museum is housed here were we saw some of the torture devices that were used on black slaves.

We also visited some important First Nations sites. Stopping briefly at the Tecumseh monument (it was almost horizontal snow, so we did not stay long) and spent the better part of our third day on Walpole Island (aka Bkejwanong) learning from and speaking with some of the First Nations Youths, Elders, and the Youth Director. It was a really interesting day there and I think the students learned a lot (I know I did). I did not take any pictures on the Island, but definitely have many memories to take from the experience.

One of the important aspects of this trip for the students were the consciousness thinking sessions with Courtney Kazembe. We did a condensed version of his Awakenings session and it was interesting to what it unfold while he worked with high school students instead of his usual "middle aged" audience. I have much to say about this and will leave it for it's own entry.

Be the new you.

Completing Practical

2009-04-01T22:24:00.002-04:00

So practicum was coming to an end...and as my Associate Teacher (AT) put it, I was learning what a report card deadline felt like. Basically I had a huge pile of marking left and very little time left in which to do it. It's not like I could return it to the students at that point, but March Break and the fact that I wasn't coming back was big enough reason to finish it. Needless to say, I got to see what it was like to be one of the last people in the building...at 5pm the Friday before March Break.

It was kind of like I was there....in the moment...as this teacher that is really on her way to becoming who I want to become - I was no longer a student teacher, I was a committed, hard-working professional and had a huge smile on my face, even though I was exhausted. I was leaving, knowing I had helped some students understand new concepts and believing that what I had set out to become 15 year earlier (I was in Grade 3 when I realized I had a passion for teaching) was always going to be a part of me.

At the end of my last class with each of my Grade 11 sections I asked them to take half a sheet of paper and write me some feedback. To explain why they liked or disliked something I did or didn't do, etc. Some of the students were ones I had taught in Mathematics during the fall and some of them mentioned something that I had improved or that they had noticed I did different between the two subjects. Last night I got around to reading the comments from my last class and one of them had written something along the lines of 'you're way better at teaching physics than math'. I was kind of shocked for a second when I read this...but in the end it has few surprises...in Physics I was able to lead two labs, and do multiple demos throughout the chapter I was working on, as well as mentioning some things I had seen in the news, etc.

It is definitely true that my passion lies in Mathematics and teaching - and I can see even more clearly now that I need to let that passion out with my students and strive to find ways to demo math concepts and keep the classes more connected to the lives of my students. Now the next step - get the chance to do this in a teaching job!

Now that all of my classroom practicum opportunities are complete I will go forth, seek opportunities to learn, and make a difference for myself and in who I want to be.

Loving Online Marking and soooo Much More!

2009-03-03T20:36:00.002-05:00

Wow it has been awhile since an update was written here. It must make it seem like I don't have much to say about what is going on (I'm sure those of you that know me are laughing/scoffing at that comment right now!). There has been so much happening but I guess some of it had to compound (and a few of you had to remind me to write) before I realized there was much I wanted to share.

I am in the midst of my first ever science placement. Teaching in a different department has brought on many new challenges and excitement since I have started. Math and Science both had their perks and their low points. Some of the things I have noticed are as follows:
- Coming up with and being able to perform demos as a normal part of my classes is a lot of fun and a great way to think about learning
- Doing demos is a lot of prep work and cleaning up is annoying! (But it is DEFINTELY worth it!)
- I am way less confident working with science concepts, but teaching it has led me to refresh my knowledge and even do a bit of research of my own. It has reminded me how much I LOVE learning and being curious about things!
- It really is amazing that departments within the same school can have such different dynamics!
- Getting to work with a new Associate Teacher has been a great experience. New things to learn and different approaches to observe.
- Enriches classes are SO curious about the subject. They are amazing to watch in class!
- Teaching four sections of the SAME course is REDUNDANT and I cannot keep track of who has be told what (Yikes!)

There are definitely other things that I have come across, but many of them are not directly related to the subject change so I will stop there. I will leave you with a brief account of some of the excitement I have encountered in the past two weeks.

1. I started teaching the Grade 9 sections today. You definitely have to be conscious of the ways you manage a junior Grade compared to a Grade 11 or 12 class. But you can also have a lot of fun with the material with them.

2. I was on the bench for the girls' last regular season hockey game. What an improvement they have made! Unfortunately I couldn't make the quarter finals or semis - but I was super proud of them for getting to the semi finals!

3. An experience of dealing with coming back to class after a supply teacher has been there...I was away and my associate teacher ended up being sick. Needless to say I am behind with my Grade 11's and there are more interruptions to come (gross).

4. Spending 3 days and 2 nights at an outdoor centre on a Grade 11 Biology field trip. SUCH a GREAT experience as a teacher candidate! An experience I will take with me and (dare I say) reflect on. It is definitely something I would do again and even though I have seen how much work organizing a trip like that can be I am definitely interested in doing something like that in my professional career. Getting to see what the students can get out of it and realizing that so many of them would never get some of those outdoor experiences otherwise. Lots of responsibility (and definitely some risk involved) and many new challenges with discipline and problem solving - and experience worth having!

I cannot believe that I almost signed off without talking about the title of this entry! I only remembered becuase I was running off to do more of it before I head to sleep. ONLINE MARKING!!!

My Associate Teacher uses turnitin.com - how awesome! It took him some time to get all of his students on the site and connected with the class they are supposed to be connected to, but now I can post bins for them to submit assignments to (in word format) that I am using to do formative assessments with my students. I will assign a communication type question for them to do based on something I have taught and they have to submit it before the next class. I review it (make comments on the work online that they can then access!) and then discuss with them the next class common mistakes I noticed or even realize that I need to reteach a concept. Marking this way is sooooo much faster than formative marking by hand. I am much less overwhelmed by it this time around. Oh, and I can also send entire classes emails from turnitin to remind them of the assignments, etc. I highly recommend checking out what it is capable of!

Happy March!!
(March Break in 2 weeks!!!!!!)

Calm and Assertive...Dealing with Language

2009-01-28T16:27:00.005-05:00

Cesar Millan is a famous dog whisperer that deals with owners and their dogs. It is he who believes that leadership comes from being "Calm and Assertive". This idea has some interesting applications in the human world, especially in teaching. I wanted to link this idea to the entry I have been planning write for a few days now because I believe it has a place in the solution. I am sure there is a theme visible in what I write about and the issues I talk about (within and outside of class) so this will not likely come as a surprise - I have been noticing and trying to find new ways to deal with language that is not inclusive. So here I will discuss a few of the more common phrases used that I believe lead to exclusion and hopefully leave with a part of a solution to help myself, and others, to be active witnesses.
________________________________________________________________________________

Faggot: I would be curious to know how many people actually know what it means.
- A bundle of sticks and branches bound together
The term came to be an offensive term as referred to a male homosexual when a group of 'witches' used homosexual men as kindling for a fire.

It absolutely appalls me that someone could continue to use this word once educated as to its meaning. Yes, we have to consider that it is done simply to offend someone - but if all we can do is use words as incredibly terrible as this then all I can think of to say is that we are incredibly uncreative. But away from that tangent - those who are educated as to the origin of 'faggot' should feel obligated to pass on this information, should feel obligated to make it a part of who they are to prevent others from using it.
________________________________________________________________________________

Homosexual:
- Was once a diagnoses in the DSM for a medical condition or psychological disorder
At one point it would have been considered the 'proper' term to describe same-sex sexual orientation

The goal behind bringing this up is that we have to work on the context in which we use words - even words like 'homosexual' can have a negative connotation used in a wrong way. The same goes for words like 'gay', 'queer', 'lesbian', or 'trans'.
________________________________________________________________________________

Caucasian:
- Refers to an old anthropological reference to a skull structure consistent with those from Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and South Asia.
As one can venture, not all of these areas consist of what we know as "white" populations.

This is more of a personal pet peeve of the assumption that "Caucasian" is the politically correct way to refer to a white person. I am white. And yes, I happen to be Caucasian, but if you need to refer to my race or culture call me white or Canadian!
________________________________________________________________________________

Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Husband/Wife/etc:
I will admit it can be difficult, and at times awkward, to use the word partner or to choose other gender neutral terms when asking about or referring to someones significant other - but at times the assumption that a person is straight or the assumption that a person is not straight is unfounded and we find ourselves in an awkward situation anyway.

Why not get in the habit of using gender neutral terms. Just because the societal "norm" is to be straight doesn't mean that a person who is not should be forced to choose to either lie to you by omission or have to "come out" to you just because your language implies you are assuming that person is straight. That small effort by you allows you to show you are an accepting person and makes others feel more comfortable around you. And hey, setting a good example doesn't usually hurt anyone.
________________________________________________________________________________

I will sign off with a general comment - be aware of your own shortcomings when it comes to inclusive language. Take the time to realize when YOU are excluding someone simply through the use of a word or phrase and make the effort to find something else to say.

Take it one step further and find your most common generalizations (be they about race, gender, sexuality, parenthood, age, culture, etc). Take a second to think about a time when someone generalized you for being part of a group to realize that it is possible for people to fall outside of their groups 'norm' just like you did.

These are just a few of the "solutions" I was referring to. You will have to find your own - but the connection is that I have found it is much easier to be an active witness if you are calm (and assertive) about your views. Share your opinion, stand up for others, and stand up for yourself - but don't be afraid to listen to what the other person has to say as well!

Happy Lunar New Year!
And thank you for taking the time to read this entry and/or others.
Feel free to leave a comment just to let me know you stopped by =)

Do your part - be an active witness!

Preparing for the "Next" Step

2009-01-14T23:36:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week I was in class when a conversation ensued that made me want to write about the notion of teaching students as preparing them for the "next" step in their lives.

So often we hear that the system should prepare students for college and university, that the system is failing our children if they do not succeed in post secondary education. I believe that we are TOO focused on what comes next and, often, that we forget about what the student needs NOW. If we get too sunk into the tunnel vision of the future we will easily forget or miss something that our students will require to succeed in our courses.

It all starts in Pre-School. We want out children to learn to co-operate, socialize, and to stimulate their cognitive growth. Focus is on the whole child and on simple skills that will effect their success through their entire future. It would make little sense to skip the letter A in the alphabet when we are starting to teach literacy - and we wouldn't do this simply in the interest of saving time because we desperately need to get to the letter Z. So why, in a high school class, should we gloss over teaching a student how to study effectively or how to make organized notes in our class just to get through the entire curriculum? Why should we always lecture to a Grade 12 class just because "that's what they are going to get in University"? - This is completely irrelevant if they are not able to actually UNDERSTAND and THINK about the concepts that they need.

Anyway, I feel like I had much more to say about this topic at the time, but my general point has been made. Maybe the only other thing I think is worth mentioning is that sometimes, using an activity or manipulatives in a Grade 10 or 11 class isn't a negative thing. Yes, the academic students should learn to conceptualize things without them, but this skill isn't easy for everyone to develop and it is more useful for a student to use manipulatives to help them comprehend than for me to force them to conceptualize something they just do not get.

-----------------------------

An aside: I once received an email from someone that described what you should say if someone asks you what a teacher makes. (A rebuttle for those ignorant people who think that we teach for the money, the "holidays", or think that we shouldn't teach because of the money). There is a video version of this, that I have linked to here.

I have also provided a link here for an article that compares football, teaching, and the finance sector. A little long, but a good read.

Untitled

2009-01-07T22:01:00.002-05:00

I have found that my writing can get pretty structured around whatever idea I title my entries, so I thought I would leave this one a little up in the air and see what happens.

The first week of the winter semester of my B.Ed. is well underway. The snow is aplenty and the freezing rain super-annoying! It seems like the air at the Faculty is pretty upbeat considering the weather - most of us are enjoying that we are back in classes being given the chance to review what we have done in practicum and to continue to get interesting ideas from one another. I could have used with a couple of days of vacation from my break to do nothing before classes started, but have found that doing no work has done about the same thing. There are drawbacks of course; I have yet to get any real move on with my resume and covering letter writing and I have an appointment to have it reviewed in less than two weeks.

In the first three days of classes and special programming I have already heard a few things worth writing down and attended another social justice lecture. This one was about Environmental Education, and was pretty interesting as I had not really thought of Environmental Education as a social justice issue prior to yesterday. We got a taste of a couple of good resources too. There is a video that shows you what the world would be like if we kept proportions the way they are but decreased the world's population to 100. You can view the video here, it is pretty short so watch it if you have a few minutes!

One of the things that has been said since I returned to the Faculty that has really stuck with me is "Beware the 'teacher reaction' - make sure to know the facts and react accordingly". I think that is stuck with me and led to me writing it down because it is so easy to relate to. I have had many moments in my life that I can relate to this statement. It's that reaction that I have from time to time that has the look "are you seriously saying/doing/acting like that right now??????" Many social and ethical issues have become so ingrained in me over the years that it can be easy to forget that it is not necessarily the norm in society (yet) and that the individual is a result of his experiences. Which leads me to something someone said today - we must remember that we are not just teachers in the classroom, we are educators everywhere. And so, with this thought in mind and having seen myself overreact to situations in the past, I will strive to remember to step back, take in everything, and then deal with a situation. And I will strive to be an educator in my every day life and to continue to try to be an even better active witness.

Well I think that I have shared enough for tonight. I hope to continue to find things worth sharing with you!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

Power of Experience

2008-12-14T00:17:00.002-05:00

It has been a long 3 weeks or so since I last updated my blog. Some of you have started to ask me if I have abandoned it - the answer is no, I am still here. There have been times where I have felt like I have been in the background of my own life...or in a (maybe) more concrete explanation - sitting in the back row of my own classroom while at school and analyzing too much of what I do everyday while not at school. It seems like I often express myself more often when things are not quite going the way I would like so I have given off the view that I am not enjoying my second block of practicum, but I really am.

I think that I have really embraced the freedom that I am given in my classroom this time around. I spent some time learning about SMARTboards (including going to a workshop on some of it's basic functions during the PD Day a week ago) and have been using it with my Grade 11 Functions classes for the past two weeks. This has involved learning some new software and being comfortable having some things go wrong in class! I had a definite Murphy's Law day when our school had multiple photo copier issues (on top of the fact that I initially photocopied the wrong handout!) and everything that could go wrong with my laptop and the projector seemed to (never mind the fact that it was a buyout period so a third of my class missed out on Part 1 of a vital lesson). I have also used the graphing calculators in class a few times and we have done some group work. On top of all the technology I have been using the transformations of functions unit as a chance to do a lot of Assessment FOR learning where I have given handouts with prompting questions for my students to take notes on during class that they then take home to help with HW and then hand it in to me the following class to get feedback. It has been quite the adventure with these two classes, but man i have learnt a ton! [I also started using private "wikis" with my classes, but that will be it's own entry once my project and research are complete].

This entry is already way longer than I thought it was going to get, but evidently 3 weeks of not talking has taken its toll! (as I am sure a few people in my life would tell you when I have been in some seriously talkative moods recently). Other tidbits I will include for your enjoyment will be short here, but I think they are things that have been a big part of this block of practicum and will probably play into things I write about in the future:
- Having to give speeches/"yell" at Gr 11 classes about how I am here for them, not myself, and that they will be seriously troubled as this unit progresses if they don't get a thorough understanding of what I am trying to teach them
- Helping coach the Girl's Ice Hockey Team
- Spending time in Student Success learning about some of the inner workings of a school and how amazing these programs could be with the right support
- A student sharing something with you about their lives, just to create conversation
- Getting to spend time with fellow Teacher Candidates at our "meetings" or otherwise and getting to bounce ideas and give suggestions to others (it is so easy to forget how NOT alone you are in this profession!)
- Starting the process of applying to the Ontario College of Teachers and doing some basic research on the application processes for the District School Boards (DSBs) I will be considering

I think that is enough for now... I want to talk about a video clip that was sent to us by one of my curriculum professors at some point, but I will save that for another entry (so maybe it will actually happen soon! but don't count on it, as the Holidays - which means working in my family - are quickly approaching!

Take care and a very Merry Christmas to you all!

Teaching for Social Justice

2008-11-18T14:06:00.007-05:00

I have been back at the Faculty of Ed for just over two weeks now. This is our third and final week of the fall semester that will be spent in classes talking, reflecting, and analyzing things that we have already done and trying to soak in even more ideas and notions about teaching. I have really found things to be overwhelming - there are so many things to consider when you are teaching children and adolescents (most of which has nothing to do with the curriculum) and you cannot possibly address them all. So this is what leads you to start to think about what is important to you and what values you would like to instill in your students. I have found myself consistently having the social justice undertone in everything that I do - I always want people (my friends, family, and students) to be active witnesses to injustices in our everyday lives. And so, my path has led me to two things.

1. Attending a series of lectures on social justice that will take place, for the most part, when we return in January and will lead to a certificate in social justice.
2. Making a presentation in my Exceptional Adolescent and Children elective on cultural diversity in the classroom that led me to speak about all types of diversity and get fellow Teacher Candidates (TCs) to discuss how they will plan to create an inclusive classroom/environment in their careers.

In the spirit of spreading my knowledge and views the intent of this entry is to share with you some of the things I have shared with others and some of what I learned in the first of eleven social justice lectures (we also have additional generalized lectures for this topic in one of our course modules in January that all TCs are required to complete).

Here is the pamphlet I created for my presentation.

The rest of the information here is paraphrased from the lecture that I attended this morning. I learned some interesting statistics but please note that this is in point form and that I do not assume that all data presented is precisely or historically accurate.

- Faggot – a bundle of sticks usually used for kindling. “Witches” used a group of gay men as kindling.
- 30% of youth suicides are LGBTQ youth.
- At school, 86.2% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed
- 44.1% reported being physically harassed
- 22% reported being physically assaulted
- 100% of students suffer as a result of homophobic name calling and bullying causing rigid gender roles to be formed
- Film: It’s Elementary: Talking about gay issues in school (Educators version), has also been remade since called “It’s Still Elementary”
- What you permit, you promote!
- 25% of new carriers of HIV are women
- 98% of predators are straight men
- You will always have the School Board Policy, the Education Act, and the Canadian Human Rights Policies to fall back on – ultimately your goal is safety for all students
- Resources: www.crimethinc.com; www.glsen.org; www.thinkb4youspeak.com; www.galebc.org (GALE = gay and lesbian education); www.stonewall.org.uk

The Interactive Quiz

2008-11-01T17:06:00.003-04:00

I mentioned I was planning to do an interactive quiz in my last entry. I went ahead with it and, although there were a couple shortfalls, it was AMAZING! I created a review quiz for a unit that was going to be tested the following class. I tried to brush on each topic so the class could get an idea of what would be on the test later in the week.

The biggest downfall was that it was definitely too long, and the second page was more difficult than I had intended it to be (essentially half of the quiz ended up being "thinking" questions). To balance this I ended up increasing everyone's grade by one mark (10% of the quiz).

They had half an hour to complete the quiz as they normally would. I then gave them 20 minutes to sit in pairs that I had assigned them to to discuss there answers and make any changes that they wanted to. This was the amazing part. Most of the students were actually actively engaged in conversation about the quiz, it was a great atmosphere. The idea behind this was to get the students to learn from each other and figure out where their weaknesses were so that they could ask for extra help in these ideas.

Because it was too long having it peer evaluated at the end wasn't sufficient enough so I had to collect them. The students were told that they could come to the math department before or after school in the next two days to pick up their quizzes and/or to set up a time with me for extra help. I only wish that more of them had taken the time to pick up their quizzes to find their shortfalls. It shows a lack of desire, or maybe a lack of the idea, to take responsibility for their own learning. I feel that had they seen these quizzes that many of them would have lost fewer marks on their tests.

That being said, I know that I had some short falls in teaching some of these skills and that there were a couple of things not reviewed throughout the unit that should have been and would have helped them with their learning. Hopefully we all learnt something valuable in the process!

Continuing Developments

2008-10-26T20:49:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I feel like my emotions cause me to bounce back and forth about how I am feeling about myself in teaching. The last week has been a roller coaster and I had intended on addressing some of it sooner so that there was a smaller gap between entries, but somehow I didn't end up making time for (and motivating) myself to do so.

My last entry eluded to me feeling like I had stepped into a much larger hole of confusion and unknown than I had thought I was. I still feel that way - but continuing on with another week definitely led me feeling slightly more optimistic (even if the optimism felt repressed only five minutes later). I will pick a couple of instances and try to focus my writing around them. I apologize if I seem to ramble, as I tend to do =)

On Friday we were able to gain the experiences of attending a Professional Development Day (or PD Day). (Yes, teachers actually do attend school when the students don't!). The day was planned by the PD committee at the school and the theme surrounding the day was transitions - both into and out of high school (One thing I learnt is that PD Days are going to make me feel like I'm at the Faculty of Ed again). We focused on what we, as teachers, should Stop, Start, Continue, and Change about our practises, the school, etc. A group of the TCs at my school hung out afterwards as a chance to blow off some steam and be around people we could talk to (about anything) and it seemed like I wasn't the only one who felt like we were being *evil eyed* by current teachers with "ya, just wait until you're actually a teacher and you can see that you're dreaming" written across their foreheads. Aren't teachers supposed to be life long learners? Aren't they supposed to be here because they want to be and think they can actually make a difference?

We are the new generation of teachers and we are ALLOWED to be excited and enthusiastic about it. I want to be USED as a resource for new things and different insights. I WANT current teachers to look at my attitude and think "maybe she has a point." Is that really too much to ask? Well I sure feel like I'm asking too much of a lot of them anyways - it wouldn't be fair to say that some of them don't embrace us, they ARE out there! (and for you, I am grateful!!)

I did have some personal triumphs amidst the week though. I was able to see that although it is difficult to do now, it really is true that as my experience builds I will be able to figure out where to start with teaching a concept and break it into enough steps that I create minimal confusion. Not that I am there yet, but I feel closer. I do feel like I have already fallen into a rut though. My lessons have consisted largely of "chalk and talk" methods and they are hard to fall away from. My goal has to be to create as interactive an atmosphere as possible in doing this, but sometimes it's hard to pry answers out of students. I have managed to create one handout (and see where it was good and where it fell short) and I have used one investigative class. I am intending to do an interactive quiz with one class this week before their test, so we will see how that goes. I might be able to get some graphing calculator time in before I head back to B.Ed classes but my goal for the second practicum block is to involve some more technology (there is a classroom with a Smart Board).

I cannot wait to get involved with extra-curricular activities!

Now reader, head forth and smile at someone today - you never know how big of a difference you can make!

Built Up Expectations.

2008-10-17T00:12:00.002-04:00

Having grown up knowing that I wanted to be a teacher and having almost everyone around me tell me that I would be good at it and had a natural knack for helping people understand isn't always the cup of tea that it seems to be. I am not saying that I wish I had not found my passion so young, or that I want to be the person who has finished University and still really has no idea what she wants to do, but there is something to be said for soul searching and the things that come along with it. Sometimes I feel like I've missed out on a chance to really learn a lot about myself. At the same time, being a Teacher Candidate is the beginning of a road to a lifetime of learning.

What I am getting at is this - through knowing what I wanted to do and having so many people I care about agreeing with me, I have come to have expectations of the profession, and of myself. Finally having the chance to start a unit with more than one class has been a way different experience than my two Undergraduate placements (even though I had a chance to teach a fair number of lessons considering how short they were). I guess it has given me a chance to see how easy it is to fall into patterns and not make the extra effort to find a way to make each day that little bit different. Sometimes you get ahead of yourself and teach a class something that you really do know is completely incorrect, but it takes someone pointing it out afterwards that you overlooked it. It can be easy to make the perspective on something like that larger than it should be...so maybe that is what I did today - but it has lead me to remind myself that I still have lots to learn and that only I can go and seek those things out. I have to create the chances to learn new things, to find people to shed some light on a new angle, to look for the opportunity in everything I do and be willing to take chances (on myself mostly).

I have more to say on the subject, but I should have fallen into my nice cozy, warm bed by now so it will have to wait for another time.

Head off and use your brains as the sponges they were meant to be!

The Baby Steps

2008-10-07T18:36:00.006-04:00

Leading up to final year (aka this year) we have been taking small steps into the teaching profession. At times it has been trying - meaning that when you are observing for an extended period of time it can be difficult to stay awake - but there have also been some key moments that have probably kept many concurrent students on this track to teaching. Through my undergraduate placements I did more teaching than I was "required to do" which led to me teaching about 6 days of a full course load. While it feels like this gave me a taste of it I am sure starting with a full unit in one or two courses will feel completely different. All of a sudden my giant! baby step is to leap into two classes head on in the third day of my placement! I'm pretty excited (beyond just meeting the students and basically watching them do seat work or write a test...).

I was able to make it to my old high school on my way home to stop in and talk to some of the Admin and a few teachers in the math department (ones who taught me and/or were my host teachers at one point). I bumped into a couple of students who had been in the classes I had been a student teacher in and even ran into a girl who was in a class that I was a co-op student in when I was in Grade 12. I always find it fascinating that you can forget the people you've met have moved forward (and gotten older) and made their own baby steps.

It gets me thinking about the impact you can have on someone and the impact that others can have on you - and sometimes not even realize they have for a long time to come! You can think of it as forgetting, but I prefer to believe that realizing what someone has done for you happens right when you need it to - after all, it's the context you learn something in what has the effect, not the lesson itself. I don't think that very many of us consciously realize what life/someone has taught us and I think that even fewer of us ever come to understand it enough to give credit to whom it is deserved. Or maybe I am just way too philosophical on trivial things for my own good.

Either way, I am in my first practicum block of my final year and about to start teaching a set of minds that will affect my future. One day they will be the politicians, doctors, carpenters, electricians, engineers, and lawyers that our society so much relies on. Who's to say whether one individual can really make that much of a difference in a life - but I have to believe it if after 15 years I still want to share my knowledge and love for learning with others. That is to say, it was 15 years ago I realized this dream and that has to be worth something!

Wish me luck!

-------ADDITION--------

I knew I had a purpose when I started writing this entry, but of course by the time I got to a point where I wanted to mention this, I could not remember what on Earth it was. My baby step from Wednesday was realizing that I had been so caught up thinking about how I was not going to be teaching in my own environment and would have to use the classroom rules of someone else, that I had not taken the time up to come up with my own, never mind a way to let a class know what they were. So when I was told that I should do what I wanted and let them know what MY rules were I wasn't quite prepared. But I plunged feet first...and it would suffice to say, I survived and will keep rethinking and adjusting those rules and how I presented them. It's definitely something worth putting a lot of effort into (the thinking part!). After all, what's the point of fighting your students on those rules all year when you can get them right from the beginning and have way fewer battles to wage!

Heather's Letter Home

2008-10-02T10:45:00.003-04:00

I am currently in my Physics curriculum class and we were asked to write as if we were writing home to someone to tell them how things had gone here. So obviously I figured it was worth posting here as well. It's not really as informative as it could be, but it was written in a limited amount of time and I will be adding in something more concrete to my blog sometime soon. Not that I expect anyone to keep up with me enough to care about my attempt at being concise (this time...).

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I'm trying to think of a concise way to let the outside world know how things have been going since I have arrived at Duncan McArthur Hall and am at a bit of a lost of how to do that. It's funny how every time I've talked to a friend that isn't at the Faculty I am always asked "How's Teacher's College?" so maybe it is just as easy to use this as a chance to answer that question.

It has been easy to feel the (general) gap between the concurrent and consecutive students throughout classes (more so the first couple of weeks) so things have been a little bit redundant. But at the core of this, I try to pull myself away from this view as much as possible - after all, I'm here so I may as well make the most of it. This is to say, that when I am asked how things are going I generally say: "They're going. But I am keeping an open mind and putting the effort into it that I wish to receive from it."

If that isn't the reason I am here than maybe I am lost amongst my ignorance. I'd like to think that someone would point out my ignorance to me if I had made it to that point...but I would be more surprised if any of us had really gotten beyond a lot of our ignorances.

It's been exciting (and sometimes very overwhelming) to discover new aspects of the teaching profession. I have spent most of my time listening for teaching ideas and for things that are "inspiring and worth remembering." These are really the only sections of my "commonplace book" that are worth looking at. I'd like to meet a teacher that managed to get through a year where they actually implemented all of the things they wanted in their classroom....it doesn't seem possible.

Let the real test begin! (aka Prac)

"Try Harder"

2008-09-24T22:12:00.003-04:00

In my professional class this morning one of the instructors said something that I just had to take note of. I do not often take notes in this class since we also have readings to do and I get most of my notes from there, but from time to time one of the two instructors will say something that I add to my "Inspiring Things to Remember" section of my notebook. Todays entry reads, "Teach students to do things differently - 'trying harder' doesn't work if what they're doing isn't helping in the first place."

I could not even begin to count the number of times I'd experienced (or overheard) a teacher or parent saying "try harder" when frustration or misunderstanding were involved. It is a simple response when ones initial thought is "he/she has not really put effort into it and just wants an easy way out" but how often is this really the case and what are we taking for granted?

I remember times where I would get so frustrated when I would ask for help spelling a word and the response would be "sound it out" and then "try harder" when I still wasn't sure of my answer. Yes, it would have been just as easy to look it up in a dictionary at this point, but when you are struggling with spelling (and not definitions) this, too, can be a frustrating process. And when I am asking how to spell, I do not need the response to be one that makes me feel worse about one of my weaknesses. I am well aware that spelling is not my strength. Maybe there are ways to look at problems like these differently in order to help a student think about them in an alternative way - one that makes more sense to them.

There are SO many things that I have taken note of throughout the past three weeks. Sometimes it gets overwhelming to think of the number of things that I would like to implement in my own classroom, but I would like to think that many, if not most, of them are accomplishable. Being able to respond to a student's struggles without assuming that their only problem is a lack of effort should be one of those things, but it is going to take some effort to find out what those things might be. So my call to you is this - if you have ever had an experience like this as a student (or a teacher) and can provide insight as to what you liked about what happened or what you think would have helped you, please give me a shout!

Thanks for reading!
=)

-----Amendment to entry, Sept 28, 2008----------

I have since seen this even more because of its application especially to special needs students (mostly those who happen to have a learning disability). This just reiterates the need for teachers (and parents and students) to be sensitive to things that someone is having difficulty with. It is also a reason to know your students well as individuals!

Position Paper

2008-09-15T00:12:00.002-04:00

For my math curriculum class we were asked to write a position paper. Basically it asked us to write up to 2 pages, double spaced, about how we feel about math, where it comes from, what it means to be a good teacher, etc. I thought that this was a good chance to start to share some of my thoughts as I have started into my Education year. Hopefully it will provide a bit more insight into where I am coming from and who I am. Here is a good chunk of my paper thus far:

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For me Mathematics is a language – it is a way to communicate some very complicated (and some very simple) aspects of our world in a logical and beautiful way. It can definitely be difficult to relate to another person who has a lot of trouble understand math and the reasons it is taught, but everyone has something that they don’t “want” to learn so that is what I try to think about. Mathematics is important to be taught throughout secondary school because it relates to so many careers. Many students that struggle throughout adolescents may find themselves in some kind of trade – and trades require calculations, spatial understanding, geometry, and/or problem solving skills. Further to that, learning how to problem solve in a math class has a great effect on students and their ability to problem solve in their daily lives.

Through my experiences I have found that, in general, secondary school students are not very fond of their math classes. There are always a few students that like the material being taught and want to further their knowledge – but even most of those that are there by choice in Grade 12 just want to get the credit so that they can be accepted into their program of choice in College or University. At least these students will have a drive to learn, just maybe not the desire to be educated that a teacher could hope for. The most important group is probably the one that does not understand why they have to continue taking math and does not want to be in the class. This is a majority of applied courses and even parts of the academic ones. I believe that these students did not receive the support that they needed at some point in their elementary years causing them to fall behind. At this point it is easy for a student’s self-confidence to falter and not know how to get it back. This is why I feel it is important to find the route of a student’s weakness and try to bring that confidence back up.

It takes a very patient person to be a teacher. It takes an even more patient person to teach something like math or any science – the basic concepts must be taught and understood well before one can move on, while, for example, in a history class if one does not understand the year 1899 this will not necessarily prevent one from understanding 1900. A good math teacher can find more than one way to explain a concept, creates a positive learning environment, and finds ways to help the students relate to the material. From what I have seen throughout my life it is really easy to fall into a pattern of using lecture style lessons in math classes and to forget that one needs to make it interesting and try different methods to get things across.

A Beginning

2008-09-12T22:35:00.002-04:00

I have been sitting here creating this blog for the last while. Trying to come up with a name and a URL that were both available and something that I thought reflected me and the purpose of this weblog. It is not easy to summarize a purpose in a few characters, never mind to create a description for a blog in 500 characters or less.

I wanted somewhere to come to discuss my thoughts, even if it is nowhere in particular as I have proved to myself in the past that I no longer take the time to keep any kind of hand written journal - even if it is a new years resolution!

In any event, these first two weeks of my B.Ed have proved to be trying - if only on my patience and my organization skills. It has been very introductory so far (although understandably so) but there are many things that we have been asked to do in time for next week (and I have not used an agenda since high school). Even still, I have already found quite a few things to write down...many of my instructors have said things or posted things on a power point presentation that have really made me think about what I am going to do in the classroom and how I am going to accomplish them. Even at this point I feel like there are many more aspects of teaching and managing a classroom than one person can handle. I am already feeling very unsure of myself in this regard, but am also really excited to go about trying it. I can't wait to continue thinking about how I am going to accomplish things and what my priorities are going to be - it's as invigorating as it is frightening!

Three more weeks left until I am off to my first "Final Year" Practicum!