Final Reflection

One of the central ideas I described in my teaching philosophy is:
 "Many students seem to find math as one of the most boring subjects, and may struggle in learning the subject.  My goal is not to remove the struggle from the learning experience, but have students embrace the struggle and view it as a positive motivator in learning.  I believe math classes could always be made engaging no matter how plain the topic is.  As a math teacher, I love designing lessons filled with interesting puzzles, tricks, and games.  I want to have every single student feel that my classroom is a fun place to be in.  I strive to match my teaching style to each students' unique preferences and skills, utilizing an array of interactive techniques in order to appeal to the student. "

During both my long practicum and CFE, I have had many classes based on games, such as escape room, treasure hunt, jeopardy, level-up character game, etc.  Overall, the feedback from both students and my sponsor teachers was quite positive, as it engaged all students and made the subject matter fun.  What I need to improve on is to make sure my instructions are clear and concise.

Given the opportunity to work in a more personalized classroom setting during my CFE with the ELL students, I was able to adapt my teaching style to each student, based on their level of English as well as their background.  I admit it certainly helped that most of the students spoke Mandarin Chinese, so whenever there was a major communication issue around a specific phrase/word (that sometimes couldn't be found in the dictionary easily or the student couldn't understand the dictionary definition), I was able to directly translate.

During my three-months out in the field, I found out many strengths and weaknesses I have as a teacher.  I realized that I am quite dedicated, and have a strong will to accomplish tasks set out for me.  When put under pressure, I would be extremely focused and have never broken down or burned out.  What I am continuing working on is communication with the staff, trying to not be shy when meeting new people, and to not waver when giving my thoughts on certain things or giving instructions to students in class.   I think being more confident even during times of hardship is key to improving myself as an educator.  An analogy my long practicum FA used was being a teacher is like being a leader of a hiking (or mountain climbing) team.  As the leader, I need to show my confidence in leading the group to where I want to go without wavering.

Week 3 Reflection

During the last week at St.Patrick's Regional Secondary, I had the opportunity to teach a few classes outside my teachable areas and learn from those experiences.  I also would like to focus on one aspect of the system at the school, and how I could see myself using it.

At the school, a significant number of classes use an online learning platform called Moodle.  On Moodle, students can look up class notes, watch videos on each lesson, and also complete quizzes and/or tests.  First of all, to me it is interesting to see it being used at a non-online school, because I have only seen this being used at online schools such as VLN and Self Design.  It was eye-opener in a sense to see Moodle used alongside standard teaching.  Since the school implements a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, students are able to use Moodle during class.  As a side-note, this is also my first time in a BYOD school.  The experience got me thinking about how I can utilize BYOD for my inquiry topic --- game-based learning (specifically for video games).  Coming from a background in programming, I could embed games or educational software into Moodle or other online systems.  One of the obvious downsides of using devices in class is distraction, but as long as clear expectations and goals are set out for each class, distraction will be minimized.

For the PE class that I taught, the most important thing I learned was how to efficiently organize and instruct the class.  For example, when numbering students off, in a standard classroom where everyone is seated, it works fine to go along each row/column numbering students off.  However, when students are sitting randomly on the floor at the beginning of PE class, going around to assign a number to each student was problematic in a few ways.  The teacher suggested that I could ask students line up against the wall, which is something I can do in a PE class but not in a math class.   The classroom management skills I learned were invaluable and can be applied when I have an outdoor class, or a field trip.

Over the three weeks at St. Patrick’s Regional Secondary School, I went from worrying about offending the community and somewhat unsure about the routines to getting immersed into this environment while learning about the religious aspect from my sponsor teachers.  I enjoyed teaching here and strongly recommend it to future student-teachers.

Week 2 Reflection

During the second week, I was involved in more teaching and assisting in the library, in contrast to the first week, where the main focus was on observations and getting immersed in the environment.

In my English 9 class, where I taught how to write an MLA formatted works cited page, the main idea I wanted to get through was that there is no need to memorize all the steps.  These days, one should be able to utilize the internet to aid with recalling a procedure.  I went through how to start from scratch, with no knowledge and learn how to cite properly by googling, and using available online tools to do citations automatically.

I also attended an interesting staff group meeting on Wednesday morning.  The principals, IT teacher, and some other teachers were discussing the possibility of using a different electronic grade-book/attendance system to use next year and in following years.  In public schools, this discussion would not exist since the higher-ups decide that all the schools use MyEd BC.  It was interesting to learn about what features the teachers would want the grade-book to have, as well as the pros and cons of existing systems.  Some of the main ideas was that teachers are moving away from using just mathematical formulas calculate the percentage each student should receive, but opt for a more detailed and personalized grading system.  Also, the idea of whether or not to make the gradebook viewable to parents.

On Friday, I attended the Mother's Day school mass.  The atmosphere was quite loving and welcoming, especially since today, we had many guests (mostly mothers of students) in attendance.   The priest emphasized how we should behold each other, and take the moment to think about our loved ones.  Overall, I think the mass had a calming effect, and the church was certainly very biblical and worshipful.

Week 1 Reflection

As my first exhilarating week at St.Patrick's Regional Secondary School comes to a close, I take this time to reflect on what I have learned.

My main sponsor teacher is an ELL / ELL CE teacher who is also the international students' coordinator.  There are 13 ELL students in total spread across 6 blocks, so the size of each class is quite small and it feels much more personalized compared to classes of 30 students.  As a teacher, I get to know each student and have a better idea of exactly where they are in terms of language skills and how they are coping with living in a foreign country.  

My duties in the library include helping out at the front desk, serving as a librarian, and assisting students who are working on coursework in the library.  I have met many parent volunteers who have come in to fill the role of a librarian.

One other thing I have noticed is that while students usually dress up in a uniform at this private school, on occasional dress down days, they tend to be more rowdy and much more casual with each other.  It is interesting to see how much an effect dressing in a uniform brings.  However, it could also be that students feel like dress down days are rare and special hence they feel more excited and want to treasure the moments.  

As my placement is at a Catholic School, I actively seek to immerse in Catholicism during my time here in order to experience what it is like working in this special environment.  School MASS is usually on Friday’s which I will be looking forward to attend tomorrow.  I have chosen to teach CE (Catholic Education) for my ELL classes, and it has become my number one challenge so far, as I have minimal background knowledge in Catholicism.  After discussing with my sponsor teacher, we have talked about different ideas and finally come up with a realistic project and plan for the students.  I am looking forward to seeing how it goes and will reflect on the exciting experience next week!