Pre Internship Day 3

I could definitely tell that there was a full moon this week. The kid’s were absolutely crazy! This week I got to teach a French lesson. They are learning about facial features and how to describe them in French. I came up with the idea to create a facebook profile page. The students had to quickly draw a “profile picture” in and they had to describe their facial features in French. I was so excited about this assignment. However, it did not go as planned. The student’s did not seem to understand the assignment and I was bombarded with questions. The coop teacher had to actually step in which was kind of embarrassing I must admit. However, the students ended up doing a great job and this was the first assignment that I have actually gotten to mark!

I am so excited every week to get back into the classroom and I can’t wait until next wednesday!

Pre-internship-Day 2

I had a really good day today. I absolutely love the grade 6/7 class and my co-op teacher at Lindale.  Today I had the opportunity to teach an art lesson. This class really loves art so they were excited when I told them what they were doing. I chose to do Zentangle art which is like a form of abstract art. As soon as  I told them this they became very excited and the room got really loud. So I did the “clap once if you can hear me” strategy, and that worked really well.  The theme that I chose was Fall/autumn and I asked the students to brainstorm words that are associated with fall that you would be able to draw. I then gave them the steps on how to do it. During this time the group became really chatty, and so I called upon random students to repeat a step and that caught their attention after a little while.

Overall I think my lesson went well. It was very simple so there was not much that could go wrong. My co-op teacher suggested that when the students are talking over you, to stop giving instruction and wait until they stop talking.

Once again, I was asked to help coach volleyball practice at noon hour which was so much fun. The boys listened to suggestions and tried to fix whatever  I asked them too right away. Taking part in extra curricular activities is a great way to meet other students and staff and to even get your name out there for future employment.

I am excited for next week but am a little nervous as I have to teach a French lesson. I really wanted to step outside my comfort zone and teach a more challenging class!

First Day in the Classroom

My first day at Lindale school in Moosejaw was an exciting one, for myself and for Dustan. As soon as we walked into the school there were kids everywhere whispering to eachother “Oh my gosh! Its Dustan Hlady!!” There were even children waiting to get his autograph. They did not think that we were in the school to teach, but they thought we were going to talk to them about politics. I was even asked what party I represent! It was very interesting to see how excited the whole school was about politics. The bulletin boards were filled with politicians and their promises. The grade 9’s in the school formed groups and came up with their own political parties and we took our grade 6/7’s to listen to each party’s platform and were able to cast our vote afterwards. I was shocked by what some of the “party’s” promised. There were many things that they said that were pretty controversial in a school setting. For example, one student said that they will legalize marijuana! But all things aside, I was happy to see that the school is transforming their students into engaged citizens!

The grade 6/7’s are definitely a handful, but they are a very eager group and are not yet in the mindset of: “I’m too cool for school.” Our introductory lesson was a hit. The students were so excited to talk about themselves and I definitely learned a lot about each student in that 30 minute time slot. My favorite part of the day was the Arts Ed. class, where the students are studying drama. Each student was asked to pick a cartoon character of their choice and they had to introduce themselves as that character. One student chose to be Map off of Dora the explorer. I have not laughed that hard in a long time!

The staff at Lindale is also very welcoming and so friendly. The principle said that we are not guests at the school, we are part of the school. If we want to take part in any school activity we are more than welcome to. That was very nice and refreshing to hear. I was even asked to help coach a volleyball practice at lunch hour and was so happy to be able to do that.

I cannot wait to return to Lindale next week with a fun and engaging Art lesson plan!

Treaty Education Course

I did not know what to expect going into the course. I will be honest and say that I thought the course was going to be really dry, but the facilitators and elders made the experience interesting and interactive.

After taking the course I feel refreshed and more confident in incorporating treaty ed into the classroom. Elder Noel was the first elder to come and speak with us. His approach is very straight forward and I found myself feeling kind of guilty. Afterwords I reflected on it and changed my perception. There isn’t a way to sugar coat Canadian History and residential schools. People need to become aware of the fact that a huge part of Canadian history was left out. Although Noel was deeply affected by residential schools, he has forgiven and healed. It takes a big person to say those things to a culture who has tried to destroy his people.

I absolutely adored Elder Lynda. She is such a nice, modest person. Her take on the residential schools was refreshing. It was nice to hear that everyone did not have a bad experience at residential schools. We only ever hear about the bad, so she made me feel a lot less guilty. She is someone who I would definitely bring into my class.

I am so thankful for all the resources that we were given. It helped me out a lot to see it all on paper and to actually come up with a lesson plan.

I not only walked out of course feeling refreshed, but I walked out with the confidence to incorporate treaty education into all the subjects that I teach.