I am currently completing my third practicum in a Catholic school. I completed my second practicum in a Catholic school. But I am not Catholic. In truth, I don't practice any faith.
Admittedly, I was apprehensive of teaching in a Catholic school for my second practicum. Was it drastically different from a public school? Would I have to do "Catholic things"? What if I terribly offended the religion, or those that practiced it? What if I had to teach "Bible stuff"? (P.S. - Before that experience, I really had no understanding of how religion worked at all.) I spent that practicum learning a lot about how religion and education could be combined. In a nutshell, I learned that:
So that practicum taught me the basics about being in a Catholic school. When I received the news of my placement for my third practicum in a Catholic school, I was glad to know I was somewhat prepared for what would happen here at Our Lady of the Assumption School. There would be prayer several times a day, religion classes that I certainly would not have to teach, and occasionally, church services which I would respectfully attend. Okay, I thought, I can do that. I was thrown for a bit of a curveball when my administrator asked me during the development of my Professional Goals to include a faith-based goal. What was I supposed to do? Discover a faith for myself? If not a faith, then discover some sort of spirituality? Learn for myself the grand understandings of religion as a typical cultural/social foundation? Let God into my heart? I panicked. The first draft of my goals very much reflected some sort of amalgam of all of the above questions. And I hated it. Because it was not true to myself, and I really couldn't see myself pursuing it. I didn't want this area of my professional development to be a chore, because I really, really love professional development. I am not Catholic, but ... I wrote a set of goals which aimed to look at what life lessons from the Catholic rituals I observed in my school could teach me even if I am not a Catholic. You can view those goals here. This week, I would like to focus on one key learning from the Catholic Faith: Gratitude. Every morning, and before each recess, our entire school says thank you. Sometimes, it is expressing thanks for the weather, for a restful weekend, for the food we are about to enjoy. Sometimes, it is for support, guidance and love. Other times, it is for exciting learning opportunities, good friends and family, or the very basic fact that we have the privilege of attending school. Gratitude is such a simple thing, but such an incredible one, too. Taking time to acknowledge the good things in our life is rarely emphasized, but incredibly important. For one thing, it is very good for our health to be able to bring such positive thoughts into our hearts, especially in such a rushed and stressed society. For another, showing appreciation for how others touch our lives builds upon our relationships with those people and enriches our life. Expressing gratitude regularly shows us not to take advantage of things. It teaches us not to overlook niceties, etiquette, goodwill and well-wishing. It demonstrates that yes, there is a bright side of life, if only we take a moment to look at it. Alright, stop blathering, bring it back to the classroom! What has expressing gratitude taught me in working with my students? It has shown me that praise for concerted effort, neighborly assistance and good cheer, and positivity should not be overlooked in my classroom. It has helped me work with students who struggle to see the silver lining by helping them to realize the good things around them and practice expressing gratitude as well. Practicing gratitude reminds me to always be smiling and laughing, because even at the end of a bad day, I have so many things that are good in this life, and those things can be celebrated with my students! What does gratitude look like in your classroom? I would love to hear your thoughts!
0 Comments
As part of a class assignment, I want to take some time to answer the following questions about parent involvement in classrooms:
In all of the teacher preparation work I have done so far, the topic of how to work with parents effectively has only come up recently in class. During my PS1 and PS2 experiences, I had the occasional opportunity to work with parents, but I hadn't had much time to really think deeply about what dealing with parents would "look like," how to best go about it, or how truly important it was. In the past, we had simply discussed parents as one of many contextual variables we must consider for every student in the classroom; textbook readings relied on a average, yet nondescript student whose parents were unfailingly attentive and supportive. In other words, there wasn't a model for my own behavior, and there hadn't been any discussion about its true significance. I personally felt that this was quite an oversight, and ended up doing some research on my own (that's a link to my pinterest board), as well as attending a three-hour PD Workshop on the topic. In my Behaviour Disorders class recently, I was asked to write about which Teacher Variance Approach I feel best represents what I currently believe about children with behavioural or emotional disorders. For anyone who knows me well, they will know that I often end up sitting on the fence, or saying "it's a mix of A and B" ... and I almost regret to say that this is the case again! I have 300-500 words to make my case.
The Teacher Variance Models my professor had us consider were the following:
While my first inclination is to say that each student is motivated differently, and so we might employ the strategies and understandings of a particular model to assist that student, it is very likely that answer, while perhaps appropriate, really does not constitute the completed work of an assignment. Of course the considerations surrounding each student are inherently situational. What I think my professor is trying to ask is, "what is your general understanding, a blanket understanding, if you will, of children with behavioural and emotional disorders?" For that, I feel that it lies on some point of a combined spectrum between Psychodynamic/Interpersonal and Ecological/Systems. Human beings are inherently social creatures. We construct knowledge socially, we depend on others (especially in early years) for our survival, and we crave a variety of different relationships with any number of people in our lives. This, of course, shapes the personality of the individuals who come into our class (the phrase "contextual variables" might be running through your head at this point). More directly, and perhaps more noticeably, it is likely these relationships which would directly affect exactly how students walk into our classrooms each day (i.e.; the parent who spends the morning with their child and drops them off at school versus a child who missed breakfast because mom had already left the house for work). Because of this, I think we would be very much remiss to consider the Psychodynamic/Interpersonal Approach as a factor which influences student behaviour. Furthermore, it is to this sort of model that we can attribute at least some aspects of a student's motivation in class. Depending on the sort of relationships a student has, and the life experiences shared as a part of those relationships, a student might be driven to succeed in whatever they pursue, or, on the flip side, driven to attend school as a safe space because home is not such a place for them. Closely tied to the above model, in my belief, is the Ecological/Systems model. This model relies partially on interpersonal forces, but it also lends some consideration to the sort of learning environment a student is in. Perhaps too optimistically, I think a positive, safe and inclusive learning environment can bring a student above and beyond whatever barriers they might otherwise face in their quest for education. Following that, I think a teacher who creates a classroom community that is inviting, accepting of difference, strengths/weaknesses and inclusive to all backgrounds and walks of life offers each and every student the chance to relax, find support and ultimately focus on doing their best work. In conclusion, I think the best approach we can take is one that addresses the immediate factors influencing a student's behaviour: interpersonal events and ecological climate. Among the plethora of things educators must think about as they prepare their classrooms for a new group of learners, the creation of a safe, supportive and productive learning environment should be of top priority. But what exactly is a “learning environment”? How do we make such a thing safe, supportive and productive? Why should this be top priority?
For me, the term “learning environment” describes not only the physical space a class takes place in, but also the emotional and psychological climate a teacher fosters and maintains throughout the school year. When these two aspects of learning environment work together to produce a space conducive to learning, growth, inclusion and support I believe the potential for student success is maximized. Firstly, on the topic of learning environment as physical space: the importance of this as an aspect of inclusivity in a classroom is incredibly important. A teacher must strive to create a physical space that looks inviting (in terms of décor, desk arrangement, and the like), fosters interaction with the material (i.e.; in an elementary classroom, you might find an interactive word wall or reading centre), allows for ease of movement and transition (for students in wheel chairs, students who are blind or visually impaired, or for other students who experience difficulties with moving), and recognizes the diverse population that constitutes his or her classroom (i.e.; décor which includes aspects of individual cultures, motifs, and interests of each student). As if these factors were not enough to carefully configure, a teacher must also think of the students who might become easily distracted or overwhelmed by all that the classroom can offer: is there a clean, well-lit, minimally decorated area where students can work with a clear mind? Additionally, should the teacher wish to change the layout to his or her classroom during the school year, he or she must consider the impact this might have on some students; specifically for students who are blind or visually impaired, a change in layout means unpredictability, meaning that student is at risk of getting hurt when, say, a bookshelf has been moved into a path they once knew to be clear. A teacher who can diligently attend to the carefully crafted composition of his or her physical environment demonstrates that she can address the very basic needs of a learner: to be in a clean, decluttered environment where the focus is truly on learning. Students understand they can move safely, access learning in different forms, and share their interests with their peers; most importantly, this is something they can discover as they discover the classroom itself. Secondly, on the aspect of learning environment as emotional and psychological climate: this might be perhaps the most important of the two aspects of learning environment, because as many studies have shown, the negative emotions a student might feel (such as feeling unsafe or unincluded) shut down the areas of the brain for higher order thinking, preventing the student from learning. Attending to the emotional and psychological climate requires a teacher to lay down rules and expectations for a classroom community of learners who are accepting of difference in ability, strengths and weakness, and interests, among other things. It also requires a teacher to be prepared to address the contextual variables each student comes to school with every day (this from KSA #1). Additionally, approaching teaching, and having students approach learning, with the belief that everyone can learn allows for each individual in the classroom to take the risk of learning in a safe environment (this from KSA #5). This requires a teacher to meet each individual’s needs (KSA #7), while maintaining their dignity (KSA#8) and differentiating instruction and approaches to learning based on those needs (KSA #9). As you can see, this is a lot of responsibility and a lot to balance, especially with increasing class sizes. However, I believe this aspect of learning environment is the key to students’ success, because it directly attaches to the concerns that I think most students have. These are things such as: “What if I’m no good at it?”; “What if I get it wrong?”; “What if other students in the class see I need a special tool to do my work?”; and other such inquiries. Removing a student’s need to worry about how they learn allows the student to focus on the learning itself. Last night I was very fortunate to find in a class reading the second chapter from Peter McClaren's Cries from the Corridor. He filled it with poignant anecdotes from his final month as a teacher at a suburban inner city school in Toronto. These stories, simultaneously heartwarming and tear-jerking, had me crying the whole time I read them (I'm tearing up just thinking about them). It felt like I knew the kids from his classroom, and I wept at the thought of all the challenges living in such poverty created for them. Where McClaren used this anecdotes to seemingly count reasons to quit (his heart hurting too much), they represent for me some of the very important reasons that I am an educator. McClaren's writing reminded me that the child comes before the education. It is important to teach to the curriculum, and of course I will always do my best in that regard, but before that can happen, a teacher needs to know the child. A passage from "The Suburbs Was Supposed to Be a Nice Place..." demonstrates the way a teacher needs to get to know it's students: ... Tell me, what are your pupils like?" Through his writing, you can come to see just how much McClaren cared for the kids that passed through his doors. He recognized, repeatedly, what sorts of challenges these kids would face. He especially recognized the challenges they faced even in just returning home after the school day.
From Barbie-doll play that might have indicated domestic abuse, and admissions of being a victim of current and ongoing physical abuse, to visiting the parents, student letters of appreciation, and visits from past students, McClaren demonstrates just how much these students mean, and just how far he would go to help these kids succeed. He knew of the odds stacked against inner city schools, but he recognized the great potential and great character of every student he met. Reading this passage inspired me, because it emphasized what I think is one of the most important parts of a meaningful classroom experience. McClaren paints a picture of a safe haven, of sorts. He demonstrates just how flexible a teacher can be - and reminds me that I can be just as flexible. McClaren reminds me that there is always more than meets the eye, and that children are incredibly resilient. It reminded me that even in the direst circumstances, a safe classroom can be achieved, and even though a teacher may be helpless to do anything, an invested effort and heart can go a long way to change the lives of kids like these. The thing, I think, that still leaves me crying about this is that I can easily see myself in McClaren's shoes. I think most educators can. I struggle to think about how helpless I might be in the future to help kids like these in my own classroom. I can imagine how worried a teacher might be over what might become of these children as they grow. I think it's safe to say that we want every child that enters and leaves our class to have the whole entire world, and the painful reality is that this will be hard to achieve, if it is attempted at all. It makes me want to take each child and safely bring them to wherever they want to be in life, but it seems like there's no realistic way to do that. It's incredibly heartbreaking. On a different tone, there was a film I watched recently that mirrors this text very well. It's called Detachment, and it was made in 2012. Well worth the watch. This is a book that will soon be finding itself on my shelf. I am coming off a wonderful high of especially spectacular group work and collaboration today. This morning was primarily spent participating in the microteaches of fellow classmates. Shout out to Dan Lafferty, Lauren Grover, Andrew Crabbe and Ian Cooke for doing such a wonderful job! Let's talk about this group work, though. The microteaches were all centered around a different KSA that we as teachers have to work towards and adhere to in our teaching career. In every instance, our teachers did not simply rattle off some information about these KSA's to us for 15 minutes -- they had us work together to learn it ourselves.
- considering formative and summative assessment results in my classroom; if students are continually struggling with material, repeated difficulties and stumbling blocks apparent in formative/summative assessment will indicate where my teaching needs to be improved - accessing my PLN or other teachers in the school to evaluate/audit my teaching
Then, I topped my day off by spending 3.5 hours with the lovely Kim, Johannah and Cheyenne working on a group lesson that is sure to be informative and thought-provoking -- the No-Zero Debate! If you haven't heard anything about this, Google it. I'll even make a pause in this wall of text for you to take a moment and Google it. This is a picture of what your screen should look like right now. I'll give you a moment to come back to me. After that refreshing Google break, let me tell you why all of this rocked my socks.
I have spent the last few weeks among a group of inspired, passionate, motivated people who are all looking to better the world with their existence. It has been absolutely rewarding, entirely insightful and extremely refreshing to be around this kind of enthusiasm all the time. We are students, teachers, colleagues and friends. We are on level with each other. From this group of people come some super juicy ideas, viewpoints and perspectives I had never considered and resources and strategies that I would love to make my own. I have so much to learn from these people. The group projects we have now and the group projects we'll share in our future are going to have me always reconsidering my stance - am I truly being fair and just? Can I incorporate that method to make this lesson better?. It will force me to consider whether what I bring to the table is ultimately the best professional I can present. This group of people will constantly be making me think about how I can be a better teacher. Similarly, I look forward to (and have already enjoyed) the ability to help my fellow students be the best they can be. How lucky I am to be a part of this |
Meagan Fullerton-LeeMeagan is an aspiring teacher, voracious reader, tentative motorcyclist, and passionate gardener. In all things she sees education. Here she shares her passions. Archives
January 2021
Categories
All
|