Mr. Ford

My experiences throughout the penultimate 491 practicum have taught me so much about my self and the profession of teaching. At times I felt overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to do to keep up with my planning, preparation, and marking but I had more moments of wholehearted enjoyment and satisfaction to keep me going. The longer 10-week practicum was an excellent opportunity to build relationships with my students on a deeper level than I was able to in my previous practicums. The classroom results I observed from these stronger relationships really drove home for me the importance of building relationships and community in the classroom. Over time I was better able to support student learning when I knew them better by taking directions in my lessons and planning based on student preferences, strengths, and difficulties. I also found that through the last week of this practicum I began to really miss my students and had become very much invested in their learning journey.

After my 491 practicum I have also been missing the relationships that I had the chance to build with other teachers in the school. One goal I had coming into this practicum was to better build my support networks with other teachers in the school and with my fellow UNBC teacher candidates. Through this practicum I felt I not only had a better support network of teachers and friends but was able to build more community with my fellow teachers with reciprocal support and construction of resources that made this practicum more effective in terms of teaching, and more pleasant in terms of support.

On the more technical side, I wanted to continue to improve my skills in assessment, instruction, student engagement, and time management through this practicum and managed to make progress in all these areas. One of the areas I improve most was in my instructional style particularly in math where I was able to much better pace my lessons using assessment for learning techniques and moving through the classroom more often. I was also given ample opportunity and motivation to work on my personal time management skills throughout this practicum and was able to eventually prioritize my use of time in such a way that I was still able to prepare for my lessons and keep up with assessments without significant burnout. Throughout this practicum I also improved my ability to enhance student engagement in learning through building relationships with students and using more engaging learning activities. This is an area that I would like to continue to improve in particular as I think it is extremely important for student learning and so I would like to continue to improve my skills and resources in this area.

All in all, I found my 491 Practicum to be a very encouraging experience through which I was able to hone many of my skills as an emerging educator. I am excited to now be joining the profession and to build new relationships and communities with the students and fellow teachers that I encounter throughout my educational journey going forwards.

The Indigenous Day of Learning for SD. 57 gave me the opportunity to listen to two excellent speakers who both have extraordinary stories. The first was Ashley Callingbull who told her incredible inspiring story of overcoming intergenerational trauma and countless roadblocks to becoming a role model and spokesperson for indigenous people. Her story is an excellent example of the challenges that face First Nations people in Canada and is a strong motivation for me to be a part of positive change in our education system. Her story also showcased how powerful her cultural practices were to healing her trauma, showing how important it is to preserve and promote those ideas and traditions.

The second speaker I had the opportunity to listen to was Nikki Sanchez who talked about how to live sustainably in a time of climate change. With my background in environmental science and environmental consulting I have generally tended to focus on the science around climate change and less on the societal change that is required to combat it. This talk explored the personal and more importantly societal western colonial belief systems that have led to the exploitation of the earth we live on. Her discussion showed how important it is to shift this way of thinking back to beliefs that place higher value on our land.

The one word that I will use to sum up my goals and intentions for my upcoming EDUC 491 practicum is growth. I feel that through my previous practicum I grew substantially in my understanding of what teaching is and what skills I need to become an effective teacher. Primarily this practicum I want to focus on continuing to grow my ability to connect with students and create a safe and effective learning environment for them by creating and enforcing appropriate boundaries. I want to continue to grow my understanding of how students learn the subjects I am teaching, and how to make them more relatable and contextual for students. I want to grow my relationships with my cohort and other teachers so that I can be an active part of teacher support systems and work with more teachers to gather ideas from, and contribute ideas to, the pool of knowledge and resources that teachers collectively hold. I want to continue to examine my own biases and privileges and understand how they may differ from those of my students. Through this I want to grow my ability to understand the challenges my students may be facing and the different perspectives on the world that they hold. I believe if I focus on my own growth in these areas that I will continue to improve as a teacher and therefore help to improve the future of my students.

Through the 490 practicum I was presented with a wonderful opportunity to test my strengths as a teacher, discover areas where I would like to improve, and to continue my growth as an educator. I believe that my patience as a person continued to be an asset in the classroom as it helped me to take my time in my lessons to wait for student understanding and give the time and space for students to learn more difficult concepts. I was able to recognize stages of student learning through their expressions, answers to questions and conversations in practice to help moderate my pace and better support student learning, and I would like to continue to grow in my ability to translate the information I take into improvements in my teaching. During this practicum I was also able to see that my curiosity about how the world works will be an asset going forwards, as it keeps me learning about scientific advancements and their implications on our lives and the environment. I found in my classroom that I could use my own interest in technology to link my lessons to student interests and to real world implications of chemistry which helped engage students in the lessons and enrich their learning.

While the 490 practicum helped me to see some of my strengths as an educator it was also an excellent opportunity to discover and work on areas where I needed to grow. One such area for growth is the definition of my boundaries and expectations for the classroom as well as how to set and enforce those expectations. Whether it is showing my expectations for standards of work by being clear in my instruction and consistent in my responses and marking of student work or setting and enforcing behavioral expectations for students in the classroom, I was able to see how important these expectations are. After seeing the evidence of how important this is in my second week I was able to start setting and enforcing these expectations and was surprised to see how quickly students positively responded to the expectations I set. Going forwards I plan to continue to explore what expectations I want to set with my students, particularly with how I arrange and carry out my assessments.

Another area for growth I was able to find was my budgeting of time for lessons and units, particularly in the first half of the practicum I had difficulty determining how long I should spend on given topics or activities, especially in the context of the entire chemistry unit. Throughout my four weeks I gained an appreciation for the balance that needs to be struck between spending enough time on each topic while still preparing students with a breadth of skills and knowledge that they will need going forwards. Over my practicum I was able to better budget my time, but I also believe that through more experience teaching I will continue to improve in this area.

One of my favorite experiences in this practicum was the opportunity I had to give students a refresher on lab safety before my first lab. I used the lab safety jeopardy that I created earlier in the program to remind students how to behave in a lab setting in a fun and engaging way. This gave me the chance to give the students a fun activity that got them engaged, having fun, and stoked their competitive spirit. While the students were having fun I was also able assess and refresh their knowledge and ensure that they would be able to safely carry out the following flame test lab. All together this practicum was an encouraging experience that pushed me to grow in many ways, and showed me several areas that I can continue to grow as an educator.

Through exposing myself to a few different approaches to inquiry and reflecting on how they work with my own values and thought patterns I have determined that the ideas of transformative inquiry fit me best. I appreciate the balanced approach to inquiry that focuses on searching for answers in multiple ways based on the context of the relationships that will surround me as a future educator. Tanaka (2012) specifies four main areas to gather evidence from to pursue an inquiry:

Self-Study: What is your own knowledge about a topic from past experiences and intuition? What is the importance of this topic to you and how does this shape your question?

Academic Literature: What ideas does the academic community have to say on this topic? How do I derive meaning from this context that pertains to my own understanding of the topic?

Classroom Observations: What anecdotal evidence can I gather from my classroom and others that pertain to the topic? What is the history and personal context of these stories and what influence does it have on their application to the topic?

Inquiry Partners: What are the opinions of other teachers, parents, and students on the topic? What is the relationship between their beliefs and yours on the topic? How do you apply their ideas and values to your topic?

By gathering opinions, ideas, and data on a topic from these varied sources that have local and global, anecdotal, and academic sources and critically reflecting on them it is possible to gain a balanced and complete view of the problem at hand. Starting from this point will then allow creative tinkering of my practice and continual re-evaluation based on these four factors as changes are made and new ideas are tested.

My inquiry from block 1 questioned how I could apply the rich learning about education into a classroom setting and how I could create and execute lesson plans that exemplified this learning. Throughout block 2 I have begun to see how this can be accomplished in my courses which developed my thinking about how I can design learning around solid assessment and creative inquiry. The opportunity that led to the most solid progress on my block 1 inquiry was my Education 391 practicum that gave me the chance to practice breaking down ideas and skills into smaller pieces and present them in multiple ways to ensure all students in my class have a good chance of understanding them. I also began to develop my ability to engage with, extract responses, and form meaningful connections with students, and improve my approach to individual students to assess and improve understanding. I also have started to grasp time management, not only to keep students engaged, but to also spend appropriate amounts of time on given skills based on the understanding of students. All these skills are important building blocks towards my block 1 inquiry that I will continue to build into my practice moving forward. After my practicum I feel that I can currently narrow this inquiry down and focus in on enriching student engagement in learning and build this into how I design learning experiences in my classroom.

Aside from this core inquiry I have a few goals for block 3 that arose from reflecting on the experiences of the past four months.

I will work towards solidifying my “teacher persona” to manage the classroom and present myself in a way that feels authentic to self.

I will work on my balance between structure and flexibility in lessons, work and how I handle assessment and extenuating circumstances.

I will work on being better at managing my time while practicing and become more efficient with my lesson planning so that I can deliver better learning experiences while avoiding burnout.

Reference

Tanaka, M., Stranger, N., Tse, V., Farish, M. (2012). Transformative Inquiry. University of Victoria, BC, Canada

The EDUC 391 practicum was an excellent opportunity to obtain some experience in front of a classroom and to discover or confirm what my initial strengths and growth areas may be as a new teacher. The practicum was also and excellent chance to gain context for what I have been learning in classes, and to provide a framework for the ideas we will be exploring for the next few semesters. One strength that I planned to rely on in my practicum was my patience and even temper, I found throughout my practicum that my patience served me well in the bridging math 9 class I was teaching. I was feel I was able to reach students where they were and take my time explaining material, and was able to wait for students to try concepts for an appropriate amount of time before giving one on one assistance to those who needed it.

My bridging math 9 class was also an excellent group for encouraging me to practice my universal design for learning as the class had students with various learning difficulties such as dyscalculia, information processing difficulties, and lack of motivation. In terms of presenting materials in multiple ways for students I feel I did a good job of giving students multiple verbal, text, visual, and hands on lessons as well as one on one assistance during practice time to help students who were having difficulty with particular topics. One particular area I would like to continue to extend my practice in UDL is creating more extension learning opportunities for students in the room who need more of a challenge to keep them engaged in a meaningful way, particularly in this class that had such a wide range of mathematical skill levels.

This short practicum was a good chance to discover areas that I want to grow in and give me a chance to start that process. One of these areas for me was my confidence in classroom management where I would like to continue to improve my clarity of directions with students and to improve my ability to demand more from my students in a way that feels natural to my personality. Another area for growth would be to continue my journey towards a solid pedagogical stance on how I handle assessment of students, particularly with how I deal with incomplete or late work due to extenuating circumstances or just a lack of motivation.

My main inquiry from my time in bridging math 9 has to do with this lack of motivation that I observed in some of the students in my classroom. I would like to continue to develop ideas and strategies in my assessment, lessons, and classroom management that can foster engagement and motivation in students.

During my first year at UNBC I took first year programming and computational logic courses which I enjoyed and found gave me useful skills I have used since. These courses however were quite a jarring shift in thinking for me and would likely have been a step to far for many high school students or recent grads, making for a high bar for entry. When I heard that we would be partaking in a Scratch workshop I was excited as I was hoping to learn an easier way to teach and get into the mindset of computational thinking that would be more appropriate for younger students and those who have not been exposed to that kind of thinking. I found Scratch to be an excellent tool for entering this mindset as it allows the user to start with very basic computational thinking without needing to know the complicated syntax of programing languages. It is encouraging for students to be able to explore and create with Scratch blocks and to build and learn logic without having to simultaneously learn about a new complicated system of communication at the same time. With the simple directions we were given I was able to complete the basic tasks then move on to creating my own scenario where I had my cat endlessly chasing my bouncing ball back and forth across the screen.

I believe Scratch could easily be used in a high school setting to introduce students to the basics of programing and computational logic. Depending on the complexity of the project given to students it could be used to reinforce mathematic principles or give students the opportunity to be creative and create a game or a pre-set performance. For students who are highly proficient with Scratch they could also use it to present their learning in any other subject area.

In my practicum for EDUC 391 I could use Scratch to explore concepts in Bridging Math 9 such as arithmetic, mental math strategies, and proportional reasoning. One concern with using Scratch in this instance is the amount of time that teaching students to use scratch would take may be unreasonable given the relatively short practicum and the fact that there may be more time effective methods of exploring these topics. However, using scratch for teaching these topics would also introduce some valuable cross curricular learning as they would also be gaining computational logic and programming skills while practicing certain math principles. If given the chance to do my later practicums in junior programing or robotics for example I would definitely give Scratch a try in the classroom.

A digital footprint is the trail of data that is created when any person uses the internet including the websites visited, interactions with other users and the information gathered by services used. Christensson (2014) distinguishes this information into two separate categories the first being a passive digital footprint that includes all information that users unintentionally creates. This includes things such as a website logging your IP address or advertising profiles constructed around your online activity. The second category is an active digital footprint that is built by all intentional activity such as sending emails or posting on social media.

Managing your digital footprint is important because almost all the online information you create can persist for a long time and is almost impossible to remove. One of the difficulties in managing your digital footprint is the fact that a user begins to build it from their first interactions with the internet, therefore it is important to impress on young users the idea that their online activity is permanent and can be visible later in their life. To properly manage your digital footprint, it is important to realize that the content you create can resurface at a later date and reflect on you in a positive or negative way (Theifels, 2019).

The fact that information you post is permanent and reflects on you can also be used to your advantage. Building a positive “intentional” digital footprint can be an excellent way to display and give evidence to your own personal brand online (Buchanan, 2017). An online presence can be used to showcase your passions, accomplishments, talents, and ideas that can represent yourself in the digital world. This online presence can also be used as a tool to build your network where your contributions can attract people with similar interests and open connections with others.

To create a positive digital footprint you can use variety of platforms that best fit your own individual style and interests. If you find reflective writing useful a blog can be used to display your personality, or if you prefer verbal exposition or videography YouTube could be a useful platform. Whatever format you chose to use it is important to carefully curate the content you release, Boyle (2020) has a helpful guide of 12 tips to consider when expanding your digital footprint: https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/11-tips-for-students-tomanage-their-digital-footprints/

 

References

Boyle, J. (2020, January 23). 12 Tips For Students To Manage Their Digital Footprints. Retrieved January 25, 2021, from https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/11-tips-for-students-tomanage-their-digital-footprints/

Buchanan, R., Southgate, E., Smith, S. P., Murray, T., & Noble, B. (2017). Post no photos, leave no trace: Children’s digital footprint management strategies. E-Learning and Digital Media, 14(5), 275-290. doi:10.1177/2042753017751711

Christensson, P. (2014, May 26). Digital Footprint Definition. Retrieved 2021, Jan 24, from https://techterms.com

Thiefels, J. (2019, March 27). What Every Teen Needs to Know About Their Digital… Retrieved January 25, 2021, from https://www.netnanny.com/blog/what-every-teen-needs-to-know-about-their-digital-footprint/#:~:text=The%20digital%20footprint%20that%20is,they%27ve%20been%20up%20to

My one word for 2021 is connection, as I move forwards in the Bachelor of Education program I want to strive to create connections with the people and ideas that I am interacting with. I feel that due to COVID-19 protocols preventing us from meeting for in person classes and meeting socially outside of the program it has been more difficult to build meaningful connections with the members of my cohort. Through online interactions I have been able to get to know my classmates and teachers well enough to enjoy their company but I would like to get to know them more deeply on a personal and professional level so we can better support each other and better discuss and understand each other’s ideas about teaching.

Over the coming year I also want to focus on building connections in the Prince George teaching community. As an outsider who moved to Prince George as an adult, I want to continue to explore the community and learn more about the city and its people, particularly the Lheidli T’enneh on whose land I reside. I also would like to take the opportunity of having a mentor teacher this winter to build connections with current teachers from whom I can gather valuable experience and mentorship as I look to enter the profession.

I plan to also focus on developing my ability to build connections with students in a classroom setting. To effectively teach I believe I need to be able to build meaningful connections with students and their communities so that I can provide activities and guidance that will spark their learning. I also want to connect with students so that I am able to create a safe and welcoming classroom where students are comfortable enough to explore, create, and develop the skills they will need for the future.

Lastly, I want to continue to build connections between the ideas I am exploring in this program, and to connect that network of ideas to my own experiences and philosophies, as well as the community that I live in. I have greatly enjoyed this learning journey so far and have taken in so many interesting ideas so far. I look forward to building the connections that I will require to bring these ideas into the creation of lesson plans, preparations, and my practice in the classroom.

Above is my submission for my final project of Education 394. Its been a fun ride with so many rich learning experiences. Thanks to Christine and all my excellent classmates!