June 3, 2019 Andie Gingrich

Question 1: Assume for a moment that you are 10 years into your teaching career. You

discover that there are many parents who are requesting that you teach their son/daughter

for the upcoming year. Students are also asking if they can be in your class. From a

parents’ perspective primarily (and students’ additionally) what are four (4) of the

attributes of your teaching that they so admire?

Fun - Fair - Passionate - Engaging

I hope that I embody the four attributes above when I am a teacher as I believe that a

good teacher can change the lives of their students. I can not recall a good teacher that I had in

any of my years of education that didn't embody all of these attributes. I have very fond

memories of laughing in my classroom with my teacher and peers. Some of the most memorable

content I learned, I remember because of little class jokes we came up with as memory tools. I

also think it is important to be fair. Children are acutely aware of when they have not been

treated fairly. To gain the respect of your students, they need to know without a doubt that you

will be fair to them and will allow them the opportunity to succeed that same as every other

student in your classroom. I also think one aspect of being fair is being able to learn from your

students. You need to be open and fair with communication because if I do not take the time to

be respectful of what they have to say, how can I expect them to be respectful when it is my turn

to speak to them. I also hope to be passionate. It is impossible to make someone care when you

are not excited and passionate about the material. I fully expect to be the kind of teacher that

stands at the front of the classroom and gets so excited by the material we are learning that I

dance around and speak loudly and become a bit crazy in the eyes of my students. I have often

had moments in the classrooms of my favourite teachers were I question exactly how nutty they

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are. I've always seen these teachers as passionate about the content and the students. I think

walking into a learning environment should feel like walking into a happy bubble of excitement,

support, and caring. Furthermore, I want to be an engaging teacher. I think this goes hand in hand

with being passionate. As a teacher, you need to engage your students with the course material,

but I also think you need to engage with them as individuals. I could tell that all of my favourite

teachers were engaged in my life and were invested in my success. These were the teachers that

asked me about my weekend or my skating competition or how another class was going and then

actually listened and cared about what I had to say. They mourned the losses with me and

celebrated the victories as well. They remembered what was going on in my life, and they

demonstrated that they cared so clearly that I never questioned that I was more than a student to

them. I hope that this is the kind of teacher I will become as I know for myself, this was the type

of teachers that helped to keep me whole during some of the more challenging stages in my life.

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Question 2: Discuss the statement: FAIR IS NOT EQUAL as it applies to the diversity of

students in today’s classrooms.

"Fair is not equal" means that all students need to be given a fair chance at success and

happiness. This doesn't mean that all students are to be treated equally, as not all students will

face the same challenges in their lives. Some students will face learning or health difficulties, and

some students will face economic challenges, while others will need to overcome complicated

family and home lives. Some students might face many of these challenges at the same time.

Treating the child who struggles with their parent's divorce that same as the child who escaped a

war-torn country will not yield success for either student because their needs and personalities

are inherently different for a thousand different reasons. What is important is that we as teachers

can evaluate these students needs, develop relationships with these students, and then function in

a way to support them in their unique situation so they can have a fair chance at being successful,

whatever that success might look like. My high school English teacher perfectly embodied this

approach. He taught at a sports school and as a result, would approach each student at the

beginning of the year by asking what their goals for English were. If the student responded that

they wished to achieve high marks so they could reach university, then my teacher would push

that student to become better at writing and reading. If the student responded that they only

needed to pass English so they could get their high school diploma because their parents insisted

that they finish high school, then my teacher worked to help that student pass. His ability to work

with the student by building a relationship and an understanding of the student's goal was a

unique approach that I only encountered in this specific high school setting. He was fair in his

support of all students but did not treat us equally because our goals, situations, and personalities

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were diverse. All of these reasons are why I think that "Fair is not equal" is very important to

understand in the diverse classrooms of today.

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Question 3: Based on your experiences with the practicum of ED2500, what do you see as

your significant strength(s) and your biggest challenge(s) in being successful with PS1

student teaching?

I think I am incredibly strong in my ability to converse with the children and to make

them feel as though I am hearing them and am engaged with them as individuals. I have had a lot

of opportunities in the classroom to work with small groups or with individual students that need

more support, and they have always been positive experiences. The students seem to like having

me there to help them, and they will listen to me when I am speaking. They are willing to try

things my way if I have a suggestion for another way to complete a task.

I also think that I am good at leading the students to the answer without handing it to

them. I do not believe it is helpful to a student to give them the answer, so I have sought to help

the students learn by asking them questions in return. For example, when a student asks me how

to spell a word they don't know yet, I begin by asking them what they think it starts with. We

progress through this process of sounding it out and thinking of words that rhythm. Once we

have reached a spelling or the final answer to their question, I am sure to give the students some

form of praise about their effort in reaching the solution whether it is a "Nice try but you are

missing a letter 'o' here," or "great job, you figured it out!" The smile on their face says it all. As

a team, we have achieved two goals; reached the correct answer to their questions while

empowering that child to feel good about themselves and how hard they worked to reach that

answer. This method helps them build self-confidence in their abilities.

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I think I will continue to struggle with being an authoritative figure in PSI specifically

because I am not always sure how to gain control of the students when they become too energetic

or excited or begin misbehaving. My TA will still step in sometimes to help me to regain control

of the students. I know how to gain control of my lessons when I am coaching as I am in a larger

space and can yell or hand out push-ups without being out of line. In a classroom, this is not

acceptable (except perhaps in gym class), but I have yet to develop more robust strategies to

regain control of the classroom behaviours. I have learned more strategies during my Ed 2500

practicum experience such as the songs that the Grade 2 teachers use and the cowbell used when

the students are outside. I also like the usage of quiet time with your head on your desk to allow

the students time to reflect on how they could have improved their behaviour during a situation.

Overall, I have gained more tools and a bit more confidence in these areas, but I still think this is

an area for growth for me.

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Question 4: What piece(s) of information during the seminars provided you with the

biggest ‘eye-opening’ appreciation for the role of teacher? Please explain specifically.

The ATA presentation was the most eye-opening portion of the seminars for me. I learned

how high the expectations are for teachers and how you must live your life 24/7 as a

representative of the profession. This was not a factor I had considered when I envisioned the

rest of my life. It does not deter me from wanting to become a teacher, but it does make me more

wary of how much information I choose to share online and how I choose to act in the public

sphere. I do worry about precisely what this will look like, but I think it's too large of an issue to

tackle so soon in my professional development. I believe this will become more clear over time.

I also think I learned about alternative ways of teaching from the micro-teaching

presentation day. It opened my eyes to a variety of teaching methods and also illuminated in

myself that I was approaching my presentation too much like a research paper presentation. I

need to learn to utilize more humour and audience participation in my teaching. I also need to

plan time in my lesson plans for conversations that go off track as I did not adequately organize

my presentation time for this assignment. Also, I need to learn to use different styles of

presenting information as Powerpoint presentations are not the only platform, nor are they the

most exciting platform for teaching.

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Question 5: What do I now know about myself as a potential educator that I did NOT know

prior to Ed2500?

I knew going into this experience that I love working with children of all ages, and I

knew that I was very good at it from the coaching perspective. I also knew that I am very patient,

but I've come to realize that I find the elementary school setting exhausting, as well as fulfilling.

This discovery surprised me as I had the previously thought that I would enjoy the youngest

grades and the high school age groups equally. I think the principle difference between coaching

and teaching young children is the time frame. When I am coaching, I am interacting with the

young child for 15 minutes, maybe up to half an hour. These interactions are short and

condensed, and I can become very intensely focused on that child for a limited time. When you

are teaching elementary school, you are with those children for hours. You must answer their

every question and attend to their every need. They are very entertaining, and I like to talk to

them and learn about their personalities and hear their jokes and silly stories. They make me

smile all day long, and I enjoy my time with them. I have learned so much and have loved the

practicum experience during Ed 2500. However, overall, I think that my take away is that I am

likely more suited to teaching more complex content to older age groups. As much as I deeply

respect and admire elementary school teachers, I do not think that I am destined to become one

of them.

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