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!
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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. |
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
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