Starting Over

Hello friends,

I have spent the past year working on other sites, as well as focusing on my education. I had the privilege to meet the most amazing people within the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge. I have spent the past year surrounded by amazing, inspirational people who motivate me and encourage me to do better at all times. It is amazing what a support system can do for you. Over this past year I have taught in a grade 2/3 split as well as art at the grade 10-12 level. This was perhaps the most eye opening thing I have experienced.

I have learned this year that fear does not mean you will fail. I went into teaching High School art completely intimidated and terrified of failing, and I came out with a complete love of teaching High School. We forget that our teenagers need just as much love and care as our kids, but also need the respect of an adult. They are going through a tough in-between stage, and we need to be there for these students, no matter what their situation is.

Going into this grade level, I was worried about my competence as an artist and mentor, but I quickly realized I have a passion for this program and these students. I am so excited to see where the future brings me in my teaching career, as I could never have imagined the joy and satisfaction this year has brought me.

This summer took courses to ensure I graduate in Spring, and I am extremely excited to graduate and begin the next step of my journey in the school system, but I have been feeling waves of nostalgia washing over me lately. I have made life-long friends in this program and I almost wish I could do it again. It has been such a fantastic experience. One of the biggest lessons I have learned support is absolutely necessary. Support of your colleagues and the openness and ability to share lesson plans and resources with each other. We are all in this together, and the best ideas come from multiple brains. We cannot forget to appreciate our fellow colleagues in this adventure!!

Going into Professional Semester III just continually emphasizes that without these amazing people we work with, we really wouldn't have the amazing ideas that we get from collaboration!

Growing

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I've spent the semester learning the tricks and trade of being a teacher. I spent hours learning, working on group projects, and finally, the golden egg: practicum. I was very lucky to be placed in a smaller community in a school with many needs and behavioural obstacles. I have never loved a school as much as I loved that one. I got the perfect placement for me. Every day presented itself with a new challenge and often new stories. I fell in love with each child in my class and I learned a thousand different things every day. I have never been so sure of my career choice as I was every single day walking up to that school.

Yes, I had to get up early every day and I was absolutely exhausted. I have never experienced bags under my eyes like during practicum. I learned that under eye cream is essential, no matter what age you are. I also figured out how to cover those bags, because I was not revealing the secret of my exhaustion to anyone. I went from no coffee a day to 2, sometimes 3, cups a day. When teaching staff tell you coffee will be your lifeline, they are not kidding. I also learned how to dress comfortably and professionally with ease. I have never been so organized, while simultaneously unorganized, in my life. The amount of piles and to do lists just grew with each day. And yet I have never been happier in my life. I had so many moments where I was so close to tears because I was finally doing what I truly felt I was meant to do. Teaching is truly my life and my passion. This experience just reaffirmed every feeling.

Although I learned many tips and tricks that will help me in every class in the future, and I gained many resources that will be continuing with me, my biggest learnings were in some of the saddest moments.

I learned that the schools that need literacy the most often don't have the money to invest in it. I learned that I have a love for grants and will one day hope to compile a list of grants for schools that will help with the areas that are often neglected. Literacy is in absolutely every subject and everything we do, and yet it is sometimes very difficult to access.

I learned that the art curriculum needs to be changed and rearranged. When teachers don't understand the curriculum and have a difficult time teaching much more than crafts, there is a problem and something needs to be changed. I fell in love with art all over again watching the students experience the process of art. We made our own salt dough and to watch the students engaged in what they were creating was so rewarding. We need more of this in schools.

I learned that when you just love kids, they will trust you and believe in you more than anything. Despite any behavioural challenges, when you deal with children in a gentle and calm, but firm manner, you will gain there respect in tenfold.

This semester has brought me to tears on multiple occasions and I fell in love every day with the teaching profession, the late nights, the copious amounts of coffee, and the failed lessons. Each day is a learning experience and I don't think that will ever stop. There is something new you are always going to encounter and when you are teaching kids to love learning, I think it is impossible to stop learning.

I think I will create a student teacher binder for my future uses, and hopefully to help other students in their practicum. After this lovely break, I will be starting my second practicum semester in my major, and I cannot wait to start learning again!

Mornings have never been a happy time of day for me. I naturally wake up grumpy and unhappy with the world. It doesn't matter what time I wake up, just waking up makes me grumpy. Now, this makes it almost impossible to make a good and productive morning when learning or teaching. Over the past year or so, I've read almost everything possible about becoming a "morning person" and making your mornings more productive. I have to say, a lot of it has worked! Let's be real, I still have my mornings where I am extremely grumpy just for the main reason of waking up. But I have slowly taught myself to enjoy that time of the morning. I feel like this is an appropriate topic with so many schools starting this and next week. I myself start classes next week, and it's time to once again enjoy the cool, crisp, darker mornings. So, for people out there like me who find mornings to be the bane of their existence...here are some tips that I find help me out in the mornings!

1. You've probably heard this one lots, but just get up. Don't lay in bed on facebook or instagram, as soon as your alarm goes off, roll out of bed. 
2. Make your breakfast and lunch the night before. I prefer to make them before I eat dinner, I generally have a better appetite and more correct sense of what I would like to eat. After dinner I am not hungry and don't want to eat anything. This little trick really helps me every morning. 
3. Pick your clothes out the night before. I never realized how long I actually take to choose out my outfits in the morning until I started picking out my outfits in the evening. It is such a relief to step out of bed into a nice, fresh outfit.
4. Plan out your week/day. I have anxiety and having everything planned out and ready to go really relieves the stress of the day and makes me want to get up and accomplish things. 
5. The simple act of washing your face, even if it's just with water. It is refreshing and wakes you up immediately!

I hope this helps the early mornings in your life!

Alternative Teaching - Spoken Word

I absolutely love different ways of learning. It may be, perhaps, one of my favourite things. I enjoy sitting down and watching the benefits of certain ways of learning, I love teaching a subject in multiple different ways, I just feel that all students (including adult students) learn in different ways, and if there is some way that helps every learner in your classroom, why not take it?

I myself tend to turn to ted talks on a regular basis. I love taking a break from life, sitting down, and listening to an amazing individual tell me something new...or maybe something I already knew. Ted talks are familiar and comfortable, and they make so much sense! I believe that an individual grasps a concept when it's taught in a form they love. If a learner loves dance, they will often understand the breakdown of a concept when comparing it to dance much greater than if it is just given to them. I myself often struggle with concepts, and have learned that there are so many ways to gain an understanding of something, that I prefer to teach things to myself in this way. I write notes in a way that work for me with examples that I can relate to and understand. Now, this is getting slightly off topic, but when I talk about alternative teaching, I really want to focus on spoken word here. I know there are so many ways of alternative teaching, but while scrolling through ted talks one day, I found my niche. Spoken word. If you have never heard spoken word before, I strongly recommend you look it up. It speaks to my soul like a cup of coffee at 5 am. I stumbled upon the amazing and talented Sarah Kay. I find her absolutely brilliant. I have listened to almost all of her pieces many, many times since I found her.

Why do I think this is an amazing way of alternative teaching? She embodies spoken word and knows how to make words flow together in such a way, that it makes me want to try it. She discusses the process of writing poetry and her process. Not just Sarah Kay, but spoken word in general, requires a few things. First, it requires a written aspect. A creatively written piece, a skill students are constantly building. Second, it requires oral presentation. Another skill students are constantly building. And finally, and what I feel to be the most important, it involves passion. When a student is passionate, they put 110% into their work, they feel a sense of ownership and responsibility to it. The work they are handing in is not half-hearted or done just because it's 'homework'. It's done because they wanted to finish the work to show a little of themselves. The pre-thinking period requires a silent journal of ones self and ones likes and dislikes.

I just love the incorporation of passion with learning. The more passionate you are, the more you will unknowingly learn. I love when learning is fun and easy!

And really, I just love spoken word, so why not teach what I love?

Bathing Suits to Leather Boots

It's that time of year where the scent and feel of the air changes. Tomorrow is my final day of my summer job, and I am off on the new adventure of the education program. I don't know if anyone else notices it, but I find August brings with it a little chill in the air and a crisp smell of September. This is one of my favourite times of the year. It means back to school and back to routines. I love the feeling of new school supplies, new clothes (because I still do that), and new classes. I absolutely love this step back into routine. This time of year brings a happy mixture of nostalgia and excitement. I feel that there is nothing better than this feeling. It is a lovely thing, and perhaps one of the many reasons I want to become a teacher, I never want to leave behind that excitement of mid-August.

Good luck to everyone going into their first week of school!

Summer Reflection

This summer I have had the wonderful opportunity to work in a library as a Summer Reading Program coordinator. It has been a wild ride. Today was the final sessions and after 7 weeks, I cannot believe my time with the kids are done. I feel like self reflection and assessment is so important in the teaching field, if you aren't constantly learning, how can you teach anyone to enjoy learning?

This summer has been the fastest four months of my life, filled with frustrations, craziness, laughter, and love. What I have learned working with kids is that there are going to be times where they frustrate you, where they do not listen to save their lives, and where you go home absolutely exhausted and drained, but there are so many times when kids entertain and love that it makes it so worth it! Though this summer I have had some difficulties and have doubted my abilities, I am ending this summer sad that it ended, but so glad that the kids walked away happy. Our Finale is in two days and I am so excited to award the kids with their certificates for the summer. They deserve every bit of it! I think one of the most important things I have learned this summer is that no matter how many things go wrong or how many time I feel I have failed, if the kids never want it to stop, I've done absolutely everything right! I have also learned that remembering kids names is really special. I've always managed to remember kids, it's a skill I am very proud of, and it has served me well. Remembering kids makes their experience each day so much more special and the love and joy you get in return is so amazing. Ultimately, this summer has been a filled with chaos, tears, laughter, shouting, love, and finally, a lost voice, and it's been a real adventure!

As I enter my first practicum semester of three, I am a ball of nervousness, terrified, and excited. Throughout this summer I, as per usual, questioned my abilities and my choice. I tend to waver between absolute confidence in my love and passion of teaching and complete terror and questioning. As this summer ends, I know that this passion is real and that this choice I've made is definitely the right one (because a highly recommended into an esteemed education faculty is not enough apparently). I have realized I will always have days that I question my abilities and I will always finish satisfied and in love with the path I have chosen for myself. I guess a decision and dream made at three years of age is one of the best decisions and dreams to stick to.