reflections: a great week
so a week in the schools has just passed, and i am pleasantly surprised to find that i am really excited to start my practicum. i thought there would be some nerves that would arise as i sat in the classroom observing my sponsor teacher. surely they will come. probably 3 minutes before i start my first lesson. but they didnt this past week. my teacher had me sit and observe, and often help the students. i was a sponge: i wrote and wrote. there are so many things that i want to change when its my turn to be a teacher, but my sponsor teacher had so many great ideas too that i want to incorporate. the environment that i am working in seems really open and caring. there were definately lots of joking around and that made everyone so comfortable. on a different subject sort of is the aspect of caring and etc in the schools. a bit ago on the radio (Ah CBC you are my favorite) they were talking about how rude our youth is, and how things have change. Random old man quote ‘they dont have any respect’. But all i saw this past week was positive modelling, and a whole lot of respect. students, when admonished, were respectful and understanding; they also had an opportunity to speak about what happened and why. there was so much respect going both ways. the teachers that i saw, even with difficult students, were open. they didnt yell at a student in particular, and there was a lot of discussion. i know that this might not always work, but it can a lot, and it was nice to see. during my week, i was able to participate outside of the classroom as well with a cultural event; amazing drummers using just about anything but a drum to create an amazing performance, and a volleyball game that the entire school attended. i thought that was pretty cool. i know that some schools have issues with school spirit, but it sure didnt seem like it that day with the volleyball team. it helped that GESS won! something that may become an issue for me is that i am sharing my classes with two teachers. i dont know if this will disrupt my practicum learning, though i think that it is definately something that i can use to my advantage, and see two different sides to the practicum. as is obvious, i am very excited to start upon this path of learning. i cant wait.
