I've heard from many teachers that they always start getting an itch to get back into the classroom during summer. I can now definitively say that I'm one of those teachers!
I've finished my third year of school, and first year of teacher training. I'm officially a 4th year B.Ed. candidate. What does that really mean? I CAN'T WAIT FOR MY PRACTICUM! I can't wait to meet my students, to meet my cooperating teacher, to find out the hows and whats and whens that I'll get to impact the lives of 20+ students. I can't wait so very much that I've already started preparing. I've been reading professional development books, I've been attending conferences and pro-d workshops, I've been amassing resources, and this week I went a little book crazy at Value Village and brought home $50 worth of high quality literature for my future classroom, which I then spent 16 hours sorting, leveling, resorting, labeling, listing, theme-ing, and then packing. I've started a reader's response journal, so that I can prove to my students that reading gets easier and more enjoyable when you work at getting better at it. I'm also going to be publishing book reports here for the various books I'm reading out of my collection, because I'm a strong believer that you shouldn't ask anyone to do something you aren't willing to do yourself. I have 4 courses I'm taking over the summer semester, partially because I need some extra credits, but partially because a well-rounded teacher is an employed-out-of-college teacher. I'm taking 2 event management/marketing classes. These will be great because I love planning things anyways, but it might give me some ideas on how to round up free or sponsored supplies for my future school, or how to plan amazing events like fairs, community days, and appreciation events! I'm also taking a math-for-teachers course online from TRU-O, and a digital photography course so I can finally learn how to use my fancy DSLR I got for Mother's Day a few years ago. I'll be checking in over the summer with some work I'm doing with my daughter to get her more confident with some skills she's developing. We're already planning our first book, a spin-off of We're Going on a Bear hunt Have you ever been to an EdCamp? (If yes, go to paragraph 3, if no, go to paragraph 1)
No. (Paragraph 1) What?! Okay let me break it down for you! A bunch of people invested in education: teachers, students, administrators, parents, student-teachers, and trustees all show up to have conversations (challenging ones!) about education, pedagogy, practice, tech, and trends. There are no agreed upon sessions (except "Things that suck") and everyone gets the same number of votes to put towards the sessions. That means that the sessions are also run by the attendees. It means authentic and in depth conversation. It means challenging questions and thinking deeply about your practice. One of my favorite things is having access to so many master teachers, so many educators that care deeply about their practice AND THAT ARE WILLING TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT! It's like an hour long twitter chat where you aren't constrained by characters. I am going to disclose that I feel like I abuse the system by asking the most probing questions I can and stealing, outright stealing, the best practices I find that come out of the answers. I'm not sure where that puts me for TRB Standard 1: Educators are role models who act ethically and responsibly. Yes! (Paragraph 3) Allright. *fistbump of awesomeness* Don't they rock? I've had some uncomfortable conversations and still walked away a better person. They aren't all about the warm and fuzzies, and often by about 2:30 I have a -raging- headache. I've learned so much about what is -really- important when teaching, when acting as a colleague, when acting as a role model, when acting as a mentor, and when acting as a mentee. One of my favorite sessions is "What Do Student Teachers Really Need To Know?" I find that hiring administrators -love- to come sit in on those conversations. In January at EdCamp Delta I had three hiring administrators come, sit, and converse with me about the state of teacher ed in BC and the things we need to focus on to be excellent teachers in their districts. On Saturday I sat with many many other Student Teachers (from nearly every University in the province) and we talked practicums, alternative ed, getting hired, and passion for the job. We were joined by mentor teachers (including one I have the privilege of joining in his classroom), university faculty, and hiring administrators! The conversation was vastly different than the first one I attended, but was as beneficial and challenging. To wrap this up a bunch of my Twitter PLN were having a Poetry Slam to celebrate. Haiku's have been done, acrostics too. I'm gonna go with the old standby- a limerick. There once was an EdCamp in Langley, The learning was deep and quite tangly. I went with some friends, and discussed some trends, The experience was very change-ly. (You try and rhyme Langley!) I have a 4 year old daughter. She and I love to read books together. Luckily my mom was a teacher and I had a lot of exposure to really great quality literature over the years. I remember some of my favorite books and have purchased them for my daughter over the years.
What a week. I've had some great days at school, some sick days at home, and some successful days at work. Then I joined in the #BCEdChat tonight at 7. It was all about teacher education, which is obviously relevant to my interests.
In discussing the topic with educators around BC (plus a few guests from the States and Alberta) I learned a lot about how to get the most out of my next 2.5 years. I'm definitely already looking to 'my' classroom and what I want it to look like, and more and more that classroom doesn't look like 'mine' at all. The more master educators I get to talk with, observe, and cyber stalk, the more I realize that a classroom that I'm in charge of will need to be student centered. It will be a working classroom that hums with constant energy, excitement, and noise. It will be a classroom of thinkers and doers and students in charge of their own learning. There will be groups, there will be individuals, there will be collaborators and there will be solo passion projects. There will also be technology. Lots of it. I don't mean to say that I'll never use direct instruction and that my kingdom will banish all worksheets, but I do mean to say that I want to serve my students to their best potential. There is a great analogy out there about sports coaches- sometimes they get out and physically provide an example, most of the time they nurture, guide, and help all the players see the bigger picture when they are navigating in a tiny area of the arena. That's definitely me. I want to have honest and meaningful conversations with my students about life, responsibility, bravery, and getting back on track when you fall down. I want my scholars to learn about great orators, great art, great people, and great advancements in knowledge. I want my classroom to look like it was written by Aaron Sorkin. The thing about what makes Sorkin great is that the characters and dialogue are all good, but what pushes it beyond is the relationships. The relationships between the characters and the relationships those characters have with the audience. This means that the first thing I have to do every day, every transition, every celebration, and every failure is to build a relationship with my students. That might not be the most forward thinking idea in the history of pedagogy, but it's definitely at the front of my mind as I go into this semester, and look ahead at my future. I live in beautiful British Columbia, and this week has been a huge week for educators and the state of education in BC. On Monday a BC Supreme Court judge ruled that our gov't had violated the Charter Rights of teachers by stripping their rights to collectively bargain. The ruling reinforced a past ruling, and effectively reinstated the contract from 2002. This means that we should have lower class sizes and be able to restore many (many, many) support roles that were cut in the last 12 years. Obviously this is a great victory for teachers, parents, and most importantly students.
Something else came out in the ruling. The gov't purposely provoked a strike in order to gain political opinion and legislate the teachers back to work. This is truly disgusting. I am (almost) at a loss for words on how despicable and underhanded this is. Education should be one of the main priorities of any people, and the way in which the government has, time and again, treated hard working professionals who care for our most precious citizens infuriates me. Some other important information has come out recently, regarding the pedagogical and curricular shift towards BC's new Education Plan. Yesterday, during our Principles of Teaching and Learning class we started delving into the murky depths of the provincial IRP's. It took about 20 minutes for our very inexperienced heads to be swimming, and many of us gained an appreciation for our former teachers as professionals. In contrast we looked at the new curriculum and felt like we could breathe again. What a dichotomous gov't we have. On one hand they legislate us back to work, violating our Charter Rights, and on the other hand, obviously trust our professionalism so much that they have taken away huge swaths of guidelines to give us the freedom to teach and reach our students however (and wherever) we need to! I'm looking forward to digging more into the new plan, and though our next two years of practicum have to be built on the current IRP's, we're being taught to look forward and our assessments and differentiation around the newer focus. University has been back in session for 3 weeks now. I'm still feeling the rush and excitement of new classes, and looking forward to the knowledge and wisdom of my professors and peers this semester. I have a practicum day tomorrow, which is always exciting. I spent some time today, doing some deep reflection, thinking about how my Philosophy of Education has changed over the last few months.
My name is Sarah Moore. I am currently a year 3 Bachelor of Education student at Vancouver Island University. I am passionate about technology, geeky things, and Mexican food. I have been married for almost 10 years and have a 4 year old daughter. I love reading (and re-reading) books, and if I could change one thing about the world it would be that good healthy food was available to everyone anytime. |
AuthorI respond to Sarah, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Smoore, Miss Sarah, (and sometimes Mom!). I have been an DL (homeschool!) teacher for 2 years and am now a proud member of the SD35 team! Archives
September 2018
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