Week 8: March 30th - April1st: The Learner – During my time as a pre-intern, I learned that no two learners are the same. I have always known this but now that I have spent time in the classroom and taught physical students, I am able to recognize the truth in this. All students have varying needs and strengths. Along with this, all students have diverse identities, diverse abilities and are shaped by their cultural, economic, ethnicity, family, gender, linguistic, place, race, and sex narratives. All students are different and unique which makes it so clear that we can't teach 1 way, there is NO such thing as a cookie cutter student. This is a good reminder that when we teach, we cannot expect ALL of our learners to pick up on what we are teaching with one simple technique. We have to adjust and make differentiations and adaptations for all learners. The classroom I was fortunate to be in was diverse in all aspects. I was able to learn their interests and build on those relationships. I am a firm believer that we cannot teach fully until we actually KNOW our students. It starts with knowing their favourite color is red, or that their Dad works at Wal-Mart, or that they are on level 10 on Fort Night. As Jody Carrington says, "teach from relationships first". The Teacher – For myself, I teach with compassion, kindness and from the heart, with empathy. I would say one of my strengths in my teaching is that I genuinely CARE. I want to hear each and every one of my students thoughts, opinions, wonders and questions. I want to understand where they are coming from and get on their level. I also take the time to listen and connect to their own personal stories. This is another way I build strong relationships with my students. When my students share their stories with me, I remember them and remember to check up with them on whatever topic they shared with me. Since I teach with a caring heart, this can also be a downside. It can be hard on MY heart to hear some of my students stories. Some of the children and students I have worked with come from tough background and their home-life isn't the easiest. This is where I sometimes struggle, it is hard for me to hear and see these young children go through more than I have/will ever go through in life. I have learned from co-op teachers and other people in the community techniques to help these children and my own heart. The Subject Matter - I have learned a lot about the curriculum. When designing and creating my Non-Standard Measurement unit from scratch with a little help from the Math Makes Sense textbook, I noticed a few things. The Grade Two curriculum connects with community and self. And I noticed that I could interconnect my measurement math unit to many other subjects that were in the same grade level. I created 11 lessons on non-standard measurement and 11 additional lessons that interconnected. Some of the additional lessons came from subject areas like English Language Arts, Physical Education, Health Education, Treaty Education and Social Studies. I also noticed that Science was an area I could interconnect to too. A big takeaway for me that I learned about the curriculum was how I could tie in many other subjects once I broke down the unit. The Milieu – This is one area I didn't get a chance to explore much. Due to COVID-19 restrictions I was limited to where I could go. Most days I stayed put in my Grade two classroom to limit the amount of exposure the primary wing got. With this being said, I didn't notice or see a lot of social justice ideals manifested in the school environment. The bathrooms near by were labeled BOY and GIRL and areas like that were still presented in the school. Although, I cannot be entirely sure this is certain for the entire school. I would have to go back into the school at a time where I can explore and note how inclusive this school was. In the classroom, I did not notice anything significant done to make the room inclusive.
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Week Two: January 19th-21st
I can't believe it is already the second week of this semester, I am slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. I am enjoying having a routine again (Winter Break always plays around with my routine). Although I am glad to be back into routine, I am also feeling very overwhelmed with the work load this semester. I think I have 4 different calendars and due date lists to ensure I am staying on track. This week in ESCI 310, I first read the featured poem, "Two Kinds of Intelligence" by Rumi. As stated in the write-up, "Rumi suggests that the second knowing is already within us, ready to flow out, but at The Reader we know that self-knowledge isn't always so forthcoming, sometimes you need to unlock it" (Rumi, 2021). I enjoyed reading through Rumi's poem as it shared the two kinds of intelligences. I could relate to this poem as a future teacher. I want to remind my students that the other kind of tablet it one that is already preserved inside of you. As Kumi says, "this second knowing is a fountainhead from within you, moving out" (Kumi, 2021). In ESCI 310 we also went through the "Etched in Stone" & "There Is No Truth" readings. Next class, we will be having a debate on these two polar opposite view points. Next blog post, I will share how the debate went and discuss my opinion, stay tuned! Week One: January 2nd-14th
I am excited to begin this semester, this is my LAST full semester of classes before my internship. This semester I am enrolled in ESCI 310. This course is titled, "Becoming Civic Science Educators". As I shared in my blog post on URCourses, I had a great high-school science experience. I loved biology, chemistry and physics. The main reason I loved them was because of what we were doing. The work was a lot of hands-on and practical experiments. Some of the experiences I had in high-school science class, still stand out to me. Due to this experience, it makes me, a future teacher, want to implement fun, hands-on, interactive, and engaging science material for my future students. The first week of ESCI 310, we were asked to read "Two-Eyed Seeing". This read was a method that was new to me. A good quote from the reading that "explains Etuaptmumk - Two-Eyed Seeing by saying it refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing ... and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all" (Cape Breton University, 2021). This method respectfully and passionately asks that we bring together our different ways of knowing. When we use all of our ways of knowing and understandings it leaves the world a better place. AuthorHaley Miller |