A rolling rock catches no

It is incredible how everything has to be worth something. The amount of marking that is needed to be done within teaching help to solidify the progress of the student, not only for the school but the students themselves.
Is this for homework? Yes, Johnny.
When is it due?

It seems like everything must have a reason for being done, or a due date attached to it. Otherwise will it really get done?

Teaching to the test

We have since moved into understanding testing and the methods that are used for conducting assessment in our Social Foundations course. The concepts of standardized testing have been made apparent within these lectures. How is not possible to teach to such a test?

The testing that is laid out currently relates to the curriculum and how the "collective" students of a school are achieving. Does this mean that Grades Three, Six and Nine are somewhat white-washed in what needs to be covered? Standardized tests are their to measure the achievements of the students based on the curriculum expectations, so how can a teacher NOT be teaching to the test.

Motivating the unmovable (revisited)

It was a subject of an issue I had during my first practicum that has since had some light shone on it:

During one of our lectures in Ed Psych, the class was learning of the concept called “self-efficacy”. It describes ones perceived abilities and ideas of what can be accomplished. I had brought up the idea of how much and better yet how to instill self-worth within and recognizing accomplishments of the individual students. This is something I felt was missing from my practicum experience.

The students were being given marks based on what they perceived they'd be able to accomplish. It seemed as if their was no personal progress. The students that got high marks ended up getting high marks. The students who were underachieving received marks that reflected this. And their was no complaining.

Near the end of the class, I asked the Ed Psych teacher if their was anything we can do, because it seemed as if by high school it was too late for that to change. The teacher responded by telling us its never too late, it all started when the environment for this personal growth is given to the student. That is my goal for the my next practicum placement; to help facilitate this type of change and praise the students' personal growth.

Setting the Hook

Its tough being a teacher in the Canadian and World Studies section of school. You are given a usually rough set of Grade Nines who are limited to the choice in classes, but instead given a layout for their first two years of school.

Its all about the hook my Geography teacher had told us. Essentially, a Geography teacher has one guaranteed round with the Grade Nine class. In that time, they must plant that seed; make those connections, generate that interest in this discipline and how it encompasses and relates to so many different things in a students world.

You just have to make sure you have that passion in you.

Extra-curricular Benefits

This topic came up as a part of a discussion my associate teacher and I had.

We were discussing the ideas of teaching and also how students relate to teachers who they are engaged with outside of the classroom. Their is sometime a social threshold that is exhibited in those teachers who engage in extra-curricular activities involving students. This threshold relates the respect level that students have for the teacher, and the degree to which a teacher can be comfortable with the students and still retain that level of respect. The associate teacher had encouraged me to try helping out with the intramurals that were going on in the gym, and I quickly found out the benefits.

This week, I was instructing a classroom and one of the students had recognized me from playing in the gym. It was an interaction that had not only helped me to get to know the students on another level, but for them to recognize me as something other than a teacher, but still in a respectful manner.

Motivating the unmovable

What does it take? How much is too much?

These are questions that had me pondering after the first week of practicum. What does it take to encouraging kids/students to want to try? It sometimes seems like they have packed it in, and they are only in Gr. 11. When did we give up on them? When did they give up on themselves? And what can be done?

It would seem we would cover something like this within our Educational Psychology course, but not as of yet. It is tough too as well, because in order to maintain your classroom and move the materials along, you almost have to leave some kids behind. This works in a class that doesn't have work/information that builds, but in a classroom where it does, what about those left behind?

How much can you offer of yourself, without sacrificing yourself?

Practically there

Its been a full week in my school, and it has been an awesome experience. There are not nearly enough ways to prepare yourself for stepping in front of a classroom, except knowing your materials and finding that link between your audience and the topic for the day.

The invisible roads that are drawn inbetween ideas and individual's concepts are so tough to make. In the weeks we are "submersed" in a school, it is extremely challenging to make those connections or help the students create them. It seems we are here to go through the following within our first practicum:

• Learn the "ways" of the school
• Compare to our experience of our own high school growing up
• Discover what its like standing in front of a class

In those three items alone, it takes the three weeks we do spend at the school to get adjusted. Only near the end of the practicum session, I learned there is more to teaching than this. The "life force" of the staff; the engaging of the students beyond the classroom; the challenges of balancing life outside of the school with that of your job. Its rewarding and challenging all at once.

Teaching and Learning

Just recently, we entered our first day of practicum teaching at our respective schools. It is interesting to meet and engage in something new for the first time. There is only so much to be done in preparing you for the real world before the real world takes over and teaches you the rest. That’s how the first day feels when you enter the classroom.

One component of teaching within a classroom is how you present your expectations of the students. I learned very quickly from observing that it doesn't mean telling the students how and what is to be done, but encouraging a mutual commitment in achieving these common goals. Students do not want to have to repeat classes, teachers wish for students to learn and achieve. It is the combining and meshing of these two goals that appear to be the essential part for success within the classroom.

Opening Statement

I would like to take this time now to explain that this Blog will be used for educational purposes only. As a part of the discipline at the Faculty of Education, it is understandable to be reflective in the learning and/or teaching.

Through this Blog, I hope to keep a record of my thoughts and insights into what goes on in period of time that consists of teacher training, practicum and other aspects of the profession that lead to the professional development of my own self.