As a new educator, I am continuously striving to become the best I can be. Throughout all three practicums (391, 490, and 491) I worked hard to achieve in competencies related to the industry. My work as a TTUC also helped me develop in these competencies.
I have worked hard to accomplish goals and strive for excellence in the following competencies:
Critical Thinking:
I believe critical thinking is an invaluable skill in todays society. With so much misinformation and divisive news, it is important for my students to be able to think critical about what they read and hear on the news. Throughout my practicums, I worked to introduce my students to an understanding of bias and how information can be twisted to fit a narrative. For example, in practicum 491 I did a Second Languages lesson where I divided the class into 2 groups. I met with each group in the hallway and explained the following scenarios:
Group 1: I told them that they come from a culture that loves direct eye contact and being in each other’s personal space. I told them that avoiding eye contact and being quiet was a form of rudeness. I told them their culture loves touching and being loud.
Group 2: I told them that they come from a culture that respects being quiet and respecting personal space. I told them that direct eye contact was a form of aggression. I told them that their culture loves being alone and loudness is very offensive.
I the3n asked both groups to interact and mingle; naturally it was chaos. After a few minutes, I asked both groups to write what they thought about the other group! The same words kept reappearing: rude, offensive, disrespectful, aggressive, arrogant, snotty, etc.
I then explained what I told to each group and asked them if they still agreed with their negative write ups. This was a fun and interactive way to introduce grade 4 students to the concept of critical thinking and how we cannot assume we know everything. The full lesson plan for this can be seen here:
- Communication
Communication is something I work towards with my students every single day. During my 491 practicum I started a Monday Morning Check in. This was a soft start exercise every Monday morning; when students came in I would take the time to let each student share about their weekend I also would include a question such as “favourite animal” or “if you could time travel to the past or future, which would you do?” This gave me the chance to get to know my students and communicate with them. This was just one easy way that I incorporated more communication in my practicums.
- Collaboration & Teamwork
Introcuing partner talks and encouraging students to develop collaboration skills: - Numeric & Scientific Literacy
I included number talks daily, to help increase numeracy literacy in my students:
