Busy times at Gray Academy

Hey guys,

Back to the grind, and I am finally feeling somewhat challenged. My first practicum was always enjoyable and I didn't really ever have to work at being a teacher...it sort of came naturally.

But now I'm teaching grade 8s chemistry (grade 9 Atoms and Elements Unit) and it's a whole other story! These guys, especially the boys, couldn't stop talking if their lives depended on it. I learned more today about teaching than I learned all last practicum. I discovered that my natural strategy, of starting with information, and then showing them cool things (chosen so that they understand what they are looking at), will not work in junior high. I am resolved, in the future, to always start with a cool chemistry demonstration (I have an idea of what I'm going to do next class) and then providing the explanations and information. Also, I have to implement a classroom management strategy because I am having to repeat myself 5 times to people who did not pay attention the first time. Ultimately though, I would rather hook them on chemistry than have them understand minute technicalities that seemed so important to me before the class, so my expectations have to change to accomodate this.

So I'm not really frustrated by this result; I'm encouraged that things can really improve now that I have a plan to improve them.

Tomorrow I have a double period with them, and I start teaching grade 11 chemistry too (Organic Chemistry Unit), so it's just getting busier for me. I hope everything's going well for everyone else.

Chris

Day 3, block 2.

Hello there,

Just dropping a line to say I'm in math class, kinda bored. Substitute today so it's a work period. I am hoping to get involved in some extra-curricular stuff, I will keep everyone posted. Ice skating in Phys. Ed was fun, we played Green light, Red light, capture the flag, posts, and other fun games on the ice. I like all my students but once again names are tricky.

Hope you are all enjoying your first week back in your schools!!

Adios amigos,

Justin

March 3rd

Here is some final info from chad:

Chad Duffield



Hey cohort reps,

I hope this last week has not been too stressful as we winf down our classes for the year. I can't believe we're almost done!

Just a couple quick notes from today's council meeting:


1)There will be advance voting done on Friday for the UMSU elections. This emas that you can vote before we go away for practicum. The voting poles will be on the first floow of university center by the dental offices. If you need some more direction once in university center, swing by the UMSU office and they'll be happy to point you in the right direction.

2)Graffiti tickets are still available! They're five dollars in advance and seven dollars at the door.
In short, bring a white shirt, get a marker, practice our teaching writing together.
Let's pump this last social up!


That's really about it. If you would like a copy of the minutes I can certainly send you a copy.

Thanks for working so hard right until the end!
All the best in the last practicum block!


-Chad

News Letter From Chad Jan 6th 2011

Happy new year Cohort Reps!

Here are some announcements I have recieved for you to forward to your cohorts. please email me back and let me know when you have been able to deliver the news to your cohort -- just so I can be accountable.

I really appreciate your continued hard work, and I'm really stoked to get back to classes with you wonderful people.

Have a great night!


Go Canada Go!

Duff





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hey there, external reps!

There are a few announcements to be delivered to students, preferably this week. They are as follows:

1. The annual Education Exposition (Ed Expo) is fast approaching, and in order to ensure the continued success of the event, the Ed Expo Coordinators require many volunteers. Volunteer sheets are posted by room 321, and we ask that students sign up listing their U of M email accounts only. Volunteers are needed from the afternoon of Sunday, January 30 to the evening of Wednesday, February 2. An all-volunteers meeting will be held on Friday, January 21 at lunch (room # to be posted on EdSC door).

2. The EdSC has managed to delay the vote by Faculty Council on the issue of the Dean's Honour List. As stated in the letter from Jason Athayde sent by email to all students during the last practicum block, a committee called CITEP is recommending that the requirement for standing on the Dean's Honour List be raised to a minimum GPA of 4.0 (up from 3.5). The EdSC advocates for an increase to a maximum of 3.8. CITEP is also calling for a change to graduation with distinction - instead of taking those with GPAs of 3.8 and above, they want to just take the top 10% of students. For a full copy of Jason Athayde's letter to students, please email edsc@cc.umanitoba.ca. The EdSC is asking that students email keepthehonourlist@gmail.com to express their opinions about these issues, which the EdSC hopes to use at the next Faculty Council meeting on January 31. (Cohort reps should especially send letters, as they are members of EdSC, and should then encourage their classmates to do the same.) These do not have to be lengthy letters, they can even just be quick statements, but please take the couple of minutes to send a response.

3. (For final-year students) More grad photo dates will be opening this Thursday (January 6). The link to the website for registration will be available through the faculty site, or you can use an info sheet (available at the student council office, room 320). The photo dates will be February 8-9 and March 1-4.

4. Tickets for the Faculty of Education Graduation Dinner and Dance will be available starting Tuesday, January 11. Tickets are $50 for the event, which will be held at the Delta Winnipeg on April 30, 2011. Those buying tickets will initally be limited to 2, to ensure that all graduates have a chance to buy tickets. Tables will seat 10, so students can have their names listed with friends if so arranged, as long as they inform us while purchasing the tickets.

5. There will be a resume-writing workshop, with one session on Tuesday, January 11, and one on Thursday, January 13. They will be held in room 200.

Please ensure that the cohort reps READ these announcements or at least make them orally to their classes, rather than just through email, because there seem to have been issues with students actually reading their email. Please ask them to put total emphasis on ALL FOUR items listed.

Thanks,


Jason

--
Jason M. J. Athayde
Senior Stick, Education Student Council
Faculty of Education
University of Manitoba

Hey everyone,


Thanks,


Jason

--
Jason M. J. Athayde
Senior Stick, Education Student Council
Faculty of Education
University of Manitoba

Last day of school, last post for now!

Wow...almost over. Faster than the blink of an eye it seems. And as always, after reading the responses here, David's experience seems to be the most similar to mine. I also have found that I won't be able to cover nearly as much as I had hoped in science. Despite scheduling everything in detail, I covered maybe 2/3 of what I wanted to do, mostly because my kids ask great questions that provide (I shudder when I hear this phrase) "teachable moments"...I'm not complaining about this at all, but to provide some balance, I had them postpone questions for about a class and a half, so I could teach what I needed to and get to the questions by email or in an optional lunchtime review class. Because although 1/2 of the questions are amazing, the other 1/2 are questions about things that I just haven't gotten to yet, questions that will have answers if I could just finish this goddamned lecture!!! (Not that I ever said such a thing out loud!) ;)

Like David, I have been doing math, even though I have exactly two courses of university math (calculus), not nearly enough for a minor - apparently science and math are frequently lumped together in high school teaching assignments, for some bizarre reason. This is not too hard in grade 7...we finished basic polynomial operations (addition, subtraction and multiplication...with exponents even), and dividing monomials (with multiple variables and exponents).

Getting the students' attention has been a bit of a challenge for me as well - they are quite talkative and easily distracted. I have been described as soft-spoken by my CT (in a good or neutral way I think) even though I often have to use my loud teacher voice to establish some order...I guess I am soft-spoken relative to most other teachers!

However, I find that my 7s are not so mark-focused; the 8s and 9s are moreso. I just gave a test which was really well-written except for about 6 people, half of whom failed, with the other half in the 60s and 70s. But even though they are highly competative students, the people with 60s and 70s were actually not concerned at all with their mark (which was somewhat shocking). I guess they expected to fail...?! And the people who failed readily admitted that they did not study enough.

I already knew that teaching was organising, re-organising and rethinking, but didn't think to express it that way, thanks David, succinctly put! I would add in "learning the material in very great detail"; to teach something well you have to know it well enough to understand the relationships within the hierarchy of knowledge. This is more applicable in the older grades, but a couple of my grade 7s have taken to asking the most incisive questions that cut right to the heart of a concept, exposing the layers of detail that flow from the not-too-broad strokes I've drawn, and it's good to have answers ready.

All-in-all, this environment (private school) has been a hugely positive experience for me, and I think the classes I have taught have benefitted from my presence. With 100% of graduates going on to university, I have found that Redekopp's First Law does not apply so much here: they are like me, to a first approximation. They value the knowledge I have shared enough to be sincerely curious about the places this knowledge leads. Since the school was a perfect fit to my skills, personality and desires, the assessments from my Faculty Advisor were uniformly positive and my Collaborating Teacher has been entrusting more and more to my control. I absolutely cannot wait for March!

I hope all's well with everyone else, and will see everyone soon!

~Chris

3rd assessment complete

Well. It's all but done for the first quarter of our two year program. I was assessed twice today, once with my grade 10's and then last class of the day with my 9's. They weren't the best classes in regards to everythings running smoothly, but they were a good representation of a tougher day and my capabilities in handling the classroom. Wednesday is my assessment of three classes and Friday is my final day with them, final run-throughs of Marriage of Figaro and Wind River Overture, with the principal as our guest audience, then onto Christmas Carols! It's been a great first experience, very tiring, tough, but a good look at what's ahead. I know for sure that I do NOT want a full time position for my first job, I'll have enough on my plate with half time.

Take care all, and I look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Cheers,
Joanne

EMAIL FROM CHAD (our stream Rep)

Hey Everyone! Finally caught up on the blog, good to read that there are mostly good and funny stories. How did you apology day go rob? Language is a huge problem in my school too...

Any ways here are the emails that were too large to put up on the face book group... I should have just put them up here in the first place as now they are kinda dated...
#1
Hello Cohort Reps!


I hope you've been having a great time in practicum so far... I know I can't believe it's almost half over already!

We just had a student council meeting a little while ago so there is some stuff to bring to your attention.The update pertains mostly to year two cohort reps, but there is something for everyone!


For year twos

Ed expo registration will begin December 4th and run until December 10th. Please tell your cohorts to check their u of m email on Thursday, Dec. 2nd. There will be a link/password emailed out to them so that they can register for the expo. Our Ed expo planners have done an excellent job getting an abundance of school divisions to come out, so let's make the most of it!

For everyone

There have been some break downs in communication from the student council to the cohorts themselves. As a way to make myself more accountable, I ask that you please email me back when you get emails form me, and once again when you forward information. This will help me know which cohorts are getting information, and which ones are sometimes missing it. After meeting all of you, I trust that you are all doing an excellent job; however it is important to establish a bit of a paper trail.


The next student council meeting will be on Thrusday Dec. 16th at 6:30pm. Of course, you're all invited to come! Last time I even scored some popcorn and tea!

Thank-you so much for continuing to do a great job even while being busy with practicum. I'm really looking forward to seeing you all again in the new year!

Of course, if you ever have any concerns from either your cohort or yourself, please feel free to get a hold of me any time.... if anything it'll make me feel wanted :P


Have a great week!

-duff
#2
To all Faculty of Education Students of the University of Manitoba:

The Faculty Council will be hearing and discussing two motions from the Committee on Initial Teacher Education Programs (CITEP) at their meeting on December 13, 2010. These motions concern amendments to the criteria for graduating with distinction and membership on the Dean's Honour Roll (DHL). This is not the first time the issue has arisen; in June, the Faculty Council passed a motion to abolish the DHL entirely, but fortunately, the Senate Committee on Instruction and Evaluation (SCIE) informed the faculty that such an act would violate University of Manitoba policy. Now CITEP has come up with two motions to address the "grade inflation" problem believed to be plaguing our faculty.

I ask that you read this email very carefully and thoroughly. I cannot stress, through this message, the importance of this issue, and thus it is up to you, the student, to read this message in its entirety.

The first motion that could be presented is one to increase the required grade point average (GPA) for the DHL, for any students admitted in September 2011 and beyond, from 3.5 to 4.0. The Education Student Council (ESC, officially) is against this. The students in this faculty have proven themselves to be highly intelligent, and we have a high caliber of students comprising our membership. This is evidenced by the fact that GPAs are weighted at 69% for admission to the faculty (with the written skills exercise, meant to reflect our ability to think critically, making the other 31%). Further, we are being taught by those who have received experience and instruction in teaching. Unlike many other faculties, where instructors may not necessarily want to teach (as they find their research to be more important), and are expected to teach classes of hundreds, the Faculty of Education hires those who have made teaching their life's work. According to CITEP, there is a problem with grade inflation because our grades are skewed to the high side, but this cannot be entirely due to some sort of false assignment of grades. With a high teacher quality coupled with an intellectually strong student body, I would see a normal curve in our grades as a cause for concern, not jubilation. In addition to this, 4.0 is a high GPA for the DHL. This would mean that any student with a B+ would have to offset it with an A+. Even great students have weaknesses, and excluding them from a much-deserved honour is not a solution to the problem that CITEP has perceived. As the present GPA required for this is 3.5, the ESC recommended a modest, more compromising increase, to 3.7, but this was ignored.

The second motion that may be presented to Faculty Council is one to adopt a stricter requirement for graduation with distinction. Currently, those whose GPA is greater than or equal to 3.8 may graduate with distinction. However, at this level, 43% of students tend to graduate with distinction - thus it is not really a distinction at all. Unfortunately, CITEP seems to want to overcompensate for this, and they would like to only take the top 10% of students for graduation with distinction. Again, the ESC disagrees with this proposal. In addition to all that was previously stated about the student excellence to be expected in our faculty, a 10% cutoff is a fluctuating bar. The lowest GPA to get the distinction would easily vary from year to year, and since students could not possibly be expected to know where they stand relative to all others, students would thus not know, until graduation, whether or not their efforts had allowed them to attain the honour of graduating with distinction. The ESC believes a firm bar should be set, perhaps one that gives 25% of students the honour, on average. The faculty should determine the GPA that would allow this, and adopt that as the new cutoff. However, it should not be any higher than 4.1. A GPA of 4.1 ensures that those who graduate with distinction have mainly As and A+s, at least one of the latter, and any lower marks are offset by even more excellent marks; this still marks excellence and a reason for distinction.

As Senior Stick of the Education Student Council, I sit on the Faculty Council. Normally, student members of Faculty Council are expected to excuse themselves from meetings that occur during practicum. However, with this issue arising, I will be present at the meeting, where I plan to garner support from faculty members to ensure that these motions do not pass. I am doing this because when the last motion was passed last school year (to abolish the DHL), a faculty member requested that the vote be postponed until student membership had been established on the council, but that was ignored.

My request to you, a student in the Faculty of Education, is to word your support for the ESC, against the motions from CITEP, in an email to a temporary account set up for this issue: keepthehonourlist@gmail.com. The email can be brief, perhaps just a few sentences; it could, alternately, be as long as this message, or perhaps even longer (if you need a means to occupy your time and wish to write an essay).

I plan to show every single letter of support to Faculty Council. As the next meeting of the council is on December 13, I ask that letters please be sent by December 10 at 10:00 pm. I understand that we are busy with practicum at present, but even a brief email to keepthehonourlist@gmail.com would bolster support. Please take the couple minutes to do this.

Thank you for reading this whole email, which I assume you have done if you are reading this particular sentence. I look forward to your responses.

Sincerely,


Jason Athayde
--
Jason M. J. Athayde
Senior Stick, Education Student Council
Faculty of Education
University of Manitoba

thats it, I'll keep every one up to date on further info on here.

Early Mornings Tip

Ok so this is just a golden nugget which has been working for me. I have troubles getting out of bed early in the morning, so before bed i drink 2-3 large cups of water. This way when my alarm goes of instead of snoozing it for an hour straight i HAVE to get up to pee!

Christmas Party

Hey

Just want to make sure that I got all my bases covered for the Christmas party stuff. So this Saturday Dec 11th at the Pony Coral on Pembina at 7 pm. Please rsvp me on facebook, email, or comment on here by Thursday. For those that want to keep partying that night, we can head down to Area night club afterwards. Hope to see everyone out.

Mitch

9 days left and I cannot believe it's almost over!

First, I just want to say how glad I am to read everyone's experiences here and to see how diverse they are. I was worried at first that some people would get amazing placements and others' would suck, but, at least among people who are responding here, it seems that everyone is having a really good, but fundamentally unique time. This gives me a tremendous amount of hope that wherever I end up in fall 2011, it will be at least as good as where I am now, which is a tall order to be sure.

As with everyone it seems, I have had a single evaluation from my faculty advisor; it contains a superfluity of positive comments, and nothing negative or critical. He did mention one or two points of constructive criticism to me verbally after the lesson that was evaluated, but nothing major. I consider myself lucky though; my kids are in complete violation of Redekopp's First Law: they are, at least to a first approximation, like me. They're a joy to teach, ask insightful questions that always seem to contribute to their understanding of whatever I am teaching, and are fairly independent learners. The most notable aspect of the style of teaching I have implemented with them is that they are given a great deal of freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.

One thing that is a constant source of frustration though is that I see them for about 3 hours every week, depending on the days of the cycle (plus or minus 30 minutes): as I have been charged with the teaching of an entire unit, 3.5 weeks is absolutely not enough time to both teach as much as I want to teach, and teach it in a way that will engage them. I kind of have to pick the topics I care about and focus on them to the ultimate exclusion of everything else. It's just as well: my CT has never taught the unit I am in charge of (The Earth's Crust) in his class. With 1.5 years of science to cram into 1 (this is the advanced class meant to finish 40S science courses in grade 11 so they can do AP in 12), he has been using this teaching model (great depth with only intermittent coverage) for years.

I have also had 3 periods a cycle of younger kids (10 and 11 year-olds), which is a lot of fun (somewhat unexpectedly!), and am helping the grade 8s and 9s in their exam review, and the 9s in their preparation to start learning physics.

My schedule is open enough that I have been able to observe and participate in a whole variety of other classes, from science to gym to english. It is truly amazing how much expectations vary between teachers: some are so much more authoritarian, getting into the perennialist philosophy, while my CT is a fairly obvious progressivist. I suppose you have to expect perennialism in a religious school, but it really surprises me that in an environment where knowledge is valued so much, perennialism exists at all.

Anyway, I'd better stop writing now, I have a class in 20 minutes and while I have an idea of what I'm doing with them, it's pretty vague. I hope everyone's practicum finishes on a high note; it would be nice to hear from some of those who've been silent so far too...I'll write again before this is over I expect. Later, educators of the future!

Mr.Ross

Hi all sorry I have been so absent from this blog. My last few weeks have been interesting. I have had some very good lessons and had a lot of fun teaching. One of my most interesting lessons so far was getting a class full of gr9 students to focus on taking notes about human reproductive anatomy.Last period of the day, with twenty 28 or so 14 year old kids, in a dark room discussing sex with a licence to ask questions. Interesting barely covers it. Did I mention I was being assessed by my faculty advisor. Oh yeah that to. This has been nice I feel like I'm in my element when I'm up in front of the class and lesson planning has been fun. I wonder what it will be like when I have to do it everyday? Hope you all have a great practicum and I can't wait to hear your stories in person.

Mr.Ross

Middle Years is fine by me

Hi Everyone,

It really is great to read everyone's posts. It makes me feel less isolated from you guys. Please keep writing. I know we're all getting quite busy, but I think it's important for us to share this stuff.

The biggest thing I've learned so far is that teaching IS A LOT OF ORGANIZING, and REORGANIZING, and RETHINKING what you are doing and where you want to get to!

By the sounds of things, we're each having very unique experiences. I can't wait to sit down with each of you for a coffee back at the university and exchange stories. Like most of you, I too have been assessed once by my faculty advisor. His feedback seemed completely canned. I had no classroom management issues (thankfully), but almost all of the 'debriefing' time was spent talking about making sure I had a strategy when I needed to regain the class' attention. I have to be honest here. I'm really liking Justin's clapping trick. It seems quite age appropriate in the middle school, so I'm hoping it still works in the high school as well. By the sounds of things (Mitch), it does.

I've dabbled a bit with the odd lesson, activity, or demonstration up to the beginning of this week. Now, I am teaching anywhere between 2 and 4 forty-minute classes per day (mostly science, but some math). I find the fractions in math quite easy to teach, but not very interesting. The science, where my interest lies, is providing me with a continuous challenge. The lesson plans I've generated for the unit seem to be appropriate for about 60 minute lessons, so I'm not getting nearly as much done as I anticipated I would. So basically, I've had to re-jig my lesson plans (for about the 3rd time). Between this and student absences, interuptions, professional development days, and seasonal activities, I'm beginning to realize that I won't be able to accomplish as much as I'd hoped with them.

I'm also struggling with assessment in science class. The kids are VERY focused on whether something is for marks. I know we should be assessing constantly, but it's not as straight forward as it is with math. Teach, give a worksheet, check their understanding by walking around or having them hand it in, then give a quiz. With science, I'm giving them the opportunity to work in groups and create something to show their understanding of what we're learning in class. It's group-work, but it has been suggested that I shouldn't give all of the kids the same grade. I want them to hand something in that they're all proud of, and that they want to share with the other groups, but they seem reluctant to embrace the idea if it isn't 'for marks'. I'll be having them perform a scientific investigation (in groups) soon. Each student will be handing in a 'report' that will be graded. It's tough to assess them on their cooperation within the groups though. It feels wishy-washy to me. Some are obviously working well together. Some are obviously not, but most are in a very grey area in between. Maybe the water will become less-muddy once the reports are actually in.

Keep on writing. It's great to get a glimpse into your lives.

Mr. Larkins experience at MMC.

Hey! So here is how i'm doing in bulleted points for easy reading:

• Taught my first math lesson today. It was probably very boring for the students but overall a successful-ish day of teaching. Taking a page out of Ralph with that one (but without the awkward inappropriate humor).
• Phys. Ed is awesome. I love the gym. Doing fitness testing this week and the kids are great, work hard, behave fairly well.
• The MMC students put on a play. I went to see it. It was phenomenal. I'd say that it compared favorably to a play by the Black Hole Theater (but these are high school kids!)
• Currently running a fundraiser for Winnipeg Harvest (Just finished today). Selling T-shirts from Hot 103 with all proceeds going to Harvest. Managed to sell 33 T-shirts! (10$ for each student/staff to buy one, with a generous former employee donating $330(hopefully!) to make up the difference since the shirts cost $20). So that means we were able to raise $660 for Wpg Harvest! Awesome!
• Also joined a group called the Key Club which has weekly meetings and runs various fundraisers/charitable events. I like it a lot, and they actually appreciate my help =).
• Finally Chris P. is also at MMC and from what I can see he is doing awesome!

Ok so my burning question for all of you is: Have you had an awkward moments not knowing whether to say "Mr., Mrs., Ms.," or just someone's first name?

I have, a lot. In the staff room say first name, in class or anytime students are around say Mr, Ms. Or Mrs. For me the worst thing was in class when there was a sub I was talking about a point my Cooperating Teacher had made the day before. I said "remember that Colin said ...." One of the students glared back at me and said "you mean MR. MCDONALD!". I felt really redicilous! But live and learn!

Best of luck to everyone with the 2nd half of their practicum!!! (that's right we are halfway there!!!).

PS: Pics of my beard/fun shave job will be hitting facebook soon, feel free to creep, comment, and/or like!

Justin 'jurassic lark' Larkins

Week Three Already?

Hi all!

The concert was last week, and it went really well! It was at Jubilee Place at MBCI and my piece was first on the program. The students watched me very well and everyone came in when they were supposed to, they looked sharp, and we made lovely music! It was much less nerve wracking than when I perform on my own. By the time the students perform, it's pretty much out of my hands, I am simply there to guide them, if they let me.

Now, I am on my own with the concert bands. My CT is observing and taking notes that we discuss at the end of the day. So, that means I have grade 9, grad 10 and grade 11-12 concert bands to myself! I chose the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro for the older groups and a piece called "Wind River Overture" for the 9's. I had my first rehearsals with them today, handed out their new music and preliminary worksheets that I had written out last night (musical themes that occur throughout that they can play in unison). The day was successful, except for the the 9's at the end of the day who gave me a run for my money. I will simply have to find ways to keep the class moving along at a quicker pace since they are ALWAYS going to be the last class of the day. I only have 6 more classes with each of them before the break.

As for Jazz Band, I'm still having to learn sooo much. For now, my CT has me learning valve trombone and sitting in with the students. Pretty hillarious. I think I hit three notes last week and attempted to improvise a solo (wow, it was NOT impressive). But, since their jazz concert is on the 8th, I'm not getting time in front of them. Just absorbing as much information as possible.

That's it for now, have a great week everyone!

Joanne

so far so good

So I had my first evaluation on Thursday. I was a couple of classes in to my unit so I was feeling pretty good. The students also knew I was being evaluated so I think that helped a bit. I know all of their names so I have no problem calling them out on anything. We were wrapping up a section on earthquakes and volcanoes so I had some solid videos to show them. The class went really well. No issues with video and everyone that showed up late (maybe 10 of them) was respectful of the rest of the class.

When I sat down with my advisor afterwards I got the comment 'you are ready to be teaching already, that was great' Obviously, I was pretty pumped on that comment. I know I still have a lot of work to do in order to be successful, but I am moving in the right direction. I'm still having a blast at the school, we just had an inservice. We were broken up into 5 different groups to discuss some teaching principles. My group got assessment. It was pretty funny to see a bunch of other teachers talking about assessment for the umpteenth time over the past few years. Our discussion didnt last too long. Afterwards I got to see more of the admin side of inservices. We met as departments and tried to find ways to get more developmental time and resources. NOTE: always ask for twice as much as what you want. you will probably only get half of what you ask for.

that's pretty much it for now. big day with basketball tryouts tomorrow and another evaluation the next day. keep having fun folks and we'll see you soon

A Day I Will Never Forget!!!

So I have finally found the time today to read through all the blogs and I was happy to read everyone's experiences so far. I do not feel so alone lol. So as many of you know I am at Dakota Collegiate, My first week was great. I am assigned with two art teachers for the entire block. Both teachers are so different so it has been a great learning experience observing their different teaching techniques and classroom managment plans. I am student teaching 3 classes, grade 10's, grade 12 (football boys who are there for the easy credit), and grade 9's. I was having a blast helping them on their painting and multi-media projects and going on field trips with them. One field trip we went on was to the park where we had a bond fire/bbq and some students were aloud to bring their artwork to burn it in the fire as a celebration of finishing a project that they struggled on. It was very interesting and almost spiritual lol.

All was good until my first evaluation day on Monday nov. 22nd, with my grade 12 boys (shaking my head). It was the first time I had introduced a lesson to an actual high school class ever! And no one else at my school wanted to go first so I took one for the team. So of course I was nervous, and my teachers warned me that my advisor was very traditional and did not understand how an art classroom worked, as they had trouble explaining it to him in past years. Now my grade 12 class is unqiue, alot of them have failed a couple times so they are 18/19 and I am only 2 or 3 years older than them. Some of them know my friends which is scary too. Alot of these ppl took this class for an easy credit, so there is no motivation and no respect for art in general. My teacher has completely given up on them since they dont want to work and never hand anything in. Alot of them come to class stoned out of their faces, So he lets them go get food to snack on during class and lets them chat up a storm because they manage to work a little more when they talk.

So Monday comes around and I introduce a plasticine project, my intro was shortened from 10 mins to 5 becuase they were just not paying attention and were talking or texting so by screaming for attention constantly I gave up after 5 minutes. So thats fine in art classroom because once they know what to do they are supposed to go and work, because art is not about lecturing for a long time. Well as soon as I gave them plasticine they were whipping it at eachother's faces behind my back, swaring constantly, grabbing food from the caf, and picking on eachother! At one point I thought two boys were going to stab eachother with pallette knives! No matter what I said to these 2 boys they just did not take me seriously. So i tried to control the situation the best I could and and for the most part all of them accomplished to finish 1/2 of their project because I would push each one of them to work. So my advisor tore me apart in my evaluation! I wanted to die inside while he was talking to me. He wanted me to be like Mr. Wayne and to crack the whip on these boys. He said at one point that he wanted to grab the 2 misbehaving boys out of the room and give them the lecture of a lifetime. So I felt terrible and I felt like I was going to fail the entire thing. I was too nice and not firm enouigh with them, because I didnt know how to!

So The next day I called out their behaviour for 10 minutes! Me and my teacher just got so mad at them, it felt so good to vent. I told them I was being evaluated and they said to me (including to 2 bad boys) "Were so sorry miss G, we like you and we didnt know that you were being evaluated, we thought he was a foriegn exchange teacher who was just observing!" I was thinking WTF! Why didnt I tell the class before hand that he was comming to onserve me? So I told them that he was coming back in 2 days because he was concerned so they promised me they would be on their best behaviour. After the talk they felt bad, I could see it even in the two boys, I was honest with them and they respected me back. Thursday comes around and they were complete angels...... I only had to comment on a few sware words that slipped out, and kick out random ppl who walked into the class. My advisor was so happy that he saw improvment and I was saved. I do not have any more evaluations in that grade 12 class anymore so I know I will be great in the other 2 classes. But it was an experience that broke me, and I had to build myself back up... it was an experience that I learned from and will never forget.

Week 2 Update from Westgate

As I was in early to shoot with some students yesterday, the vice principal came in and told me that he's been hearing some complaints about me. I was quite shocked as he had a pretty serious look on his face. I responded "really" in a crack voice. In a serious face he said, "I hear that students are having TOO much fun in gym class" and quickly smiled after he said that. It took me a second to realize that he was joking around with me and once I figure it out, I smiled and replied "well, is that a bad thing?". As he went to leave the gym, he said "thanks for all the great stuff you've been doing here." It was really pretty cool to hear this. It helped me be a bit more confident going into my science lesson about the heart. Which by the way, I was prepping in the staff room before the class and 15 mins before I was to do the lesson, my advisor walks in. Lesson went well and got some good comments for my advisor and CT. During the lessons I quietly said to a girl sitting in the desk right in front of me "I'm a bit nervous". She whispers back to me "dont' be, you're doing fine". It made me smile and relax.

I've been going into shortly after 7 to work with potential basketball players on their shot because they want to make the team. It sucks that I'm going to most likely cut a few of them and they are the ones coming in and putting in the effort. One mom came up to me after practice last night and asked if her son had to come to all the practices if he son made the team. I didn't quite answer at first but said that anyone that makes the team will have to attend all practices because I didn't know who's mom she was. So I asked her who her son was and it was a kid who's runners were so old that he looked like he was skating when we ran lines. The mom said that he's getting new basketball shoes and that she's so pumped to see him out for something outside of school. I feel bad though because I'll be cutting her son next week and she'll probably go out and get him new shoes this weekend. As much as I'm excited about coaching, this is the part I hate the most. I love to see the enthusiam but when it comes down to it, I can't take everyone. Wish that there was more time in the day so I can do something for these kids that want to play but aren't good enough to make the team. So many kids call me Coach and are going out of their way to be nice to me. They really want to make the team and I know they won't think I'm as cool after I cut them. That will be interesting to see.

Justin, I must give you the credit that you deserve for this. I do your clapping thing in every class. And at the start of class, it takes about 3 or 4 claps but if I ever have to do it during class, it takes 2. Once people hear that first clap, they are kind of trained to be quiet by the time the 2nd one comes around. So thanks, I tell the teachers that I got it from you cuz I can't take the credit for such a brilliant technique. Thanks buddy.

Teaching has been pretty fun so far. I've been getting to know more and more students and they are starting to open up to me. When I get bored I start walking around the school and talk to students and teachers we are also wandering the school. I've found that once I talk to them outside of class, they tend to try harder in the next class I have them in. It's like because they know me more, they are more willing to try out my ideas. Today I spent more than 3 mins in the staff room after lunch. I haven't been in there much b/c I don't know too many other teachers. Today another student teacher was there so I decided to hang out a while longer than usual. There was about 7 of us in there and they were talking about first jobs and it was really neat hearing thier stories. So many I'll start to hang out there a bit more now.

So that's my week. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to get up the video tour of the school. Hope that everyone is doing well. Can't wait to see you guys again.

Mr C / Mr Catacutan / Coach / Mitch / Hey You

So walking through the library the other day and stop to admire a whole school photo. Notice in front there is this little chubby kindergarten kid with hand covering half his face to block the sun. For any of you counting it was me around 19 years ago. Wow time passes fast.

Well after a couple weeks of mostly watching my CT it is my turn to teach as I have the Grade 9 Trans math class for at least the week, probably starting some Grade 12 consumer and then will finish the year teaching a unit in Grade 11 Physics. As weird as it sounds I think the physics will be the easiest. I always find it is easier to teach the “smarter” students than the ones struggling in the class. It should be a lot of fun.

During the semester we have heard how teachers have to be professional in and out of the classroom I saw teachers come to school in the dirtiest clothes, weird looking costumes and their pajamas. Yes this week was spirit week and some of the teachers go all out. It is a good time. Also got to join the staff of both the colligate and elementary for their Christmas party and saw a different side to the staff.

Hope you are all enjoying your practicum as much as I am and looking forward to hearing more from each of you.

Keith

Just Another Video

Some Dancing at Westgate from Mitch Catacutan on Vimeo.

So here's what the fuss is all about at Westgate: this new guy is getting kids to dance!!! Here's proof. We did some jive one week and then I did a hip hop lesson where they picked cards that had dance moves on there (shopping cart, robot, grapevine, etc) and they had to come up with their own routine. Best class ever! They've been asking to keep on doing dance in class. Pretty exciting.

Mr C

*sigh*

So today was my second day on the job, I'm teaching phys ed every day until christmas, and social studies a couple times a week. I'm more excited to teach social studies now since the gym class I am assigned to teach has 37 students... WHYYYYY?? how am i supposed to teach lacrosse to 37 students!? about 35 of them hated it and said it would be better with contact. there were tons of subs in the game which goes against everything we learn in phys ed.

overall the students at my school are great. my social studies class is full of awesome students and we are currently doing a unit on diversity and pluralism... you mean.... yatta actually taught me something useful? im excited to start teaching social studies, and like i said my gym class is ridiculously over capacity. in my gym class i also have two deaf/hard of hearing students (who are among my best students as I have about 5 students who don't even bother to change or participate... why bother coming...) and one exchange student who does not speak a word of English.

I will update you guys again next week after I'm done teaching a couple classes of social studies and am observed by my advisor :/

Miss you all!

Ms. K / Special K