Wow, today was more fulfilling than I expected. I was nervous, but everyone was so welcoming. All three of the teachers I observed each had their own unique, and excellent teaching techniques; I can’t wait to discuss them after observation. One aspect I found fascinating was that I managed to pick three classes, with three different teachers, that coincidentally covered some of the same topic, but in many different ways, and at different levels. I know in my science methodologies class, we have discussed that each science topic is taught in a spiral outline, through out a student’s education. In other words, each year the curriculum returns to the same topic, but is expanded upon with more detail. It was nice to see the build up of detail, and depth in science 9 and 10 before I decided to observe physics 12. In every one of the classes teachers discussed how the Earth’s poles might reverse any day now, and it really got the students to start great discussions. Did everyone have a great first day at school? I’m excited to go back tomorrow.
I started off the same way as you Crystal, nervous, mainly because it is my old high school. The principal was welcoming, took me to meet the vice-principals then to my first mentor teacher in a Socials 11 class. I spent second block with my other mentor teacher in a French 10 class, 3rd block in a French Immersion 10 class with another teacher and the last block with 2 teachers on their prep, one who has been teaching for just over a year, and one who is on a temporary contract who did her practicum last year, both younger females like myself so it was nice to be able to discuss some of the realities of the job. I can't wait to go back tomorrow, both my mentor teachers have given me resources to look at and told me that I should spend time with as many different teachers as possible, younger/older, male/female and other subjects which is nice to get a broad view. Hope everyone else had a great day!
ReplyDeleteObsrevation has been great so far. I wasn't sure what it would be like, but this is such a valuable experience. The teachers and students I've met so far at Vic High are all pretty much really good people. Today, I sat in on a class in the Learning Centre, which is for kids who have learning disabilities and/or have fallen behind for one reason or another. I was able to help a girl with her Social Studies homework for most of the class (my first student!). It was a very rewarding experience, the first of hopefully many. If I can, I plan on returning to the school as often as possible after our observation period is over. I'm hooked!
ReplyDeleteI Hope everybody else is having a great time as well.
Hi everyone. I hope that your observations have been going well.
ReplyDeleteI'm at Lambrick Park (in Victoria) and it has been going really well. I've gone to a bunch of different classes. Today I got the chance to sit in on parent-teacher interviews. It as really interesting. I had expected it to be angry parents defending their children, but all of the parents were just looking for ways to help their children succeed at school and were interested in how their kids were adjusting to their new class/school.
I've had a few chances to talk with students in classes as well and help them with their work. Today I talked to some international students. It was interesting to hear about challenges that they face coming to a new school. One girl was telling me about the system in Brazil, were they have 27 different classes with 27 different teachers each week!
After the first few weeks of philosophy and discussion in my classes it was interesting to observe how classes are being taught. In most of my classes at UVic we seem to talk about getting hands on experience and using alternative teaching methods. In many of the science classes I am visiting they are really short on time due to the amount of material in the curriculum and the pressure of provincial exams and grades. In the physics 12 class I attended today the teacher told me they do not do any labs, just some demos, as there is no time with all the material they have to cover. I found it was a bit of a reality check. We can teach thinking and use hands-on learning, but as teachers it is (unfortunately?) our number 1 responsibility to cover the curriculum and make sure our students are prepared for grade 10 and 12 provincial exams.
(Also, while provincial exams are being phased out for grade 12s, every teacher I have talked to says that they still have to teach to it)
Hey everyone,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a lot of us are having a positive experience so far. I've been able to sit in a handful of classes for 4 teachers. Its cool to see the different styles that teachers have.
I sat in a health science class today that my mentor teacher taught. The curriculum for the class is not regulated by the ministry. My mentor teacher developed the whole curriculum for it. Since the class has gotten smaller (used to be 24 now about 16 students), she can have some more flexibility with it. She asked the students to come up with a topic that they really wanted to learn about. This way its more of a directed study course where students, in a way, decide what they study. It reminded me of what we were talking about in philosophy.
I also got a chance to help out with a DNA extraction experiment today. It was fun because it was a great way to interact with the students. The teacher let me mark the quality of the DNA that the students isolated. Although most of the groups were successful at isolating some DNA, there were a couple who were not able to extract any. According to the teacher's marking scheme, I had to give those groups a mark of 0. It was hard and a little bit heart wrenching.
This is just a quick little note. The two most valuable experiences i got on this first week were;
ReplyDelete1.) Seeing the exact same lesson taught by two different teachers. If you have a means of seeing this, do it! For me it seemed to almost exponentially increase my understanding of what makes a lesson really hit hard!
2.) Spend a couple hours hanging out in the Principals office. This was such a sobering experience. In the short amount of time I was there, I saw some really eye-opening shit go down. Even if its a slow day, your principal has all the news on union stuff, realities of the job, and insights that you can't get from other teachers or at the uni.
Thats it thats all!
GO BARBARIANS!