Reflecting on My Growth as a Teacher (PED3151 Blog 2)

Where I’ve Been: Theory and Practice

It’s April 2021 and it seems that this program has flown by in the blink of an eye. I can sincerely say that my experience in becoming a teacher has been unique as I have seen the best and the worst of both worlds (2019 versus 2020). Over the course of these past two years, I have engaged in theoretical and experiential learning that has contributed to the teacher I have become. If I look back on the past two years, I see motion pictures of the following:

The Grind, an all-day sports event,

where students dressed up and bonded over team games,

Strike Days filled with cold weather, coffee and Tim Bits,

Fitness circuits, timers, and sweaty students,

Obstacle courses experienced by all grades,

UROP with the InterActive for Life Project,

a student work placement with Ophea Canada,

obsession over my digital hub and what I look forward on teaching,

SO MANY IDEAS,

excitement, passion, and smiles when students have succeeded,

masks and hand sanitizer,

Google Meets, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams,

collaborative to independent seating,

classrooms with less decorations,

hybrid, synchronous learning environments,

extensive feedback and curious learners,

engaging whole-group discussions,

collaborative work at a physical distance or online using Padlet,

adaptive experts acting as role models,

job opportunities opening up,

interviews for occasional lists,

chats with students about mental health,

and collaborative, co-teaching approaches!

If you would like to view some artifacts from my placements, please see my professional learning portfolio here: https://cnyen095.wixsite.com/move-learn-live/teacher-portfolio. The password is CNAccessGranted.

During my second and final year of my Bachelor of Education program, I learned how to be “Teacher as Researcher”, in addition to teacher as innovator, teacher as adaptive expert, and teacher as passionate and caring individual. Although COVID-19 was unexpected and led to some unique challenges, it certainly presented me with some unique learning opportunities.

Community of Inquiry Model

At St. Francis Xavier, C.H.S I was a part of a community of inquiry where I collaboratively engaged in purposeful critical discourse and reflection related to teaching English, the OSSLT course, and History. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, I felt a part of the school as the staff and students were super welcoming. This established my Social Presence. I saw teachers who co-planned for courses and discussed success and challenges throughout the quadmester. I really did feel supported and welcome in my placement. Additionally, we attempted to make the students feel a sense of belonging by doing whole-school BINGO over MS teams and by having spirit days. I saw the cohesiveness of the staff translate into a positive environment, conducive to learning for the students. In my practicum placement, my Teaching Presence was expanded upon as I planned and carried out unit plans (e.g., The Great Gatsby Unit and the Class Magazine Project). Through backwards lesson design, co-planning, facilitation, and evaluation of student progress, the subjects I taught become more meaningful and educationally worthwhile for me and my students as I discovered innovative teaching strategies and related the content to real-world issues. Additionally, my Cognitive Presence grew as I reflected and asked for my associate teacher’s feedback on teaching strategies and styles. I reflected on what went well and what needed to be improved for the future. This back-and-forth discourse allowed me to recognize what was working and how to tailor the learning environment to my students’ needs. It also allowed me to recognize my own strengths and growth experienced as a teacher candidate.

Teacher as Researcher Model

Moreover, my development as a teacher has been developed by the Teacher as Researcher model. During my practicum placement I sought out my own inquiry on best practices surrounding student engagement through my Research in Action project. I was also curious to learn about meaningful assessment strategies in the classroom, so I did an annotated bibliography and investigated peer-reviewed articles on that. From these two inquiries this semester, I discovered what strategies are useful for increasing student engagements and motivation to learn and reasons why students may be disengaged. I also discovered what meaningful assessment looks like, what makes assessment relevant and meaningful to a learner, and how assessment can impact student learning. For more detail, you may view my Research and Action project and Annotated Bibliography on Assessment and Evaluation by clicking the hyperlinks.

Adaptive Expert Model

My development as a teacher was also influenced by the Adaptive Expert model. Adaptive Experts are able to flexibly apply knowledge to new problems and are not restricted by establishing routines of practice. COVID-19 created the perfect environment to test this theory out. Over the course of this year, I’ve had to adapt classroom management, engagement, teaching, and rapport building strategies to an online and hybrid learning environment. Coming from a close-knit Health and Physical Education environment last year where it was easy to bond through physical activity challenges and informal conversations, adapting to a classroom where students were seated in rows, and where I had to wear a face mask and face shield was definitely a challenge. I’ve learned to adapt traditional group work to individual, online-collaborative, or social-distance contexts so that students can still work together but apart. This environment has made me think innovatively and creatively about the content I teach and the ways I interact with students. With student engagement as an increasing challenge for online learners, I’ve also had to learn to create a welcoming virtual world that is also conducive to the learners seated in front of me too (as my practicum was in a hybrid setting).

My Professional Learning Journey

Professional Learning

The professional learning sessions hosted by uOttawa and partners influenced my beliefs and philosophy as a teacher. Some sessions I found especially influential were the Managing Challenging Behaviours through Supportive and Effective Classroom management workshop, Seize the pen! Writing Workshop, the Counselling in Education – Solution Focused Model (Secondary) workshop, Backward Design to Support Planning: A&E for Changing Contexts workshop, and Teaching with a Trauma-Informed Lens Worksop by Jess Whitley. These sessions helped me discover what I stand for as a teacher today. Please view my belief statements and teaching philosophy when it comes to teaching, learning, and assessment here.

Ministry Documents that Stayed with Me:

Growing Success: This is a document that I reference often to ensure that I am being equitable and assess according to the best practices. According to Growing Success student work behaviours should be assessed separate from their cognitive abilities. Moreover, students more recent work should be taken into higher consideration when determining the final mark. The mark should be reflective of the overall curriculum expectations and professional judgement is needed to determine which pieces are important in the evaluation. In adopting best practices according to this document and by adopting the practices of my associate teacher, I now:

· Have a three-strike policy for late work (see https://cnyen095.wixsite.com/move-learn-live/classroom-management) so long that this is supported by administration.

· Track students’ evaluations according to levels and the categories in the achievement chart.

· Provide multiple opportunities for assessment and feedback before evaluating a specific skill

· Use professional judgement when determining final evaluative mark, taking into consideration observations and class conversations of student learning.

21st Century Competencies: This document has also been burned into my brain this year. When I plan, I try to create as many opportunities for building critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation skills as possible. Allowing multiple means of submission, exposing students to various styles of projects, and centering course content around real-world issues helps students explore the curriculum in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them.

Modules that Contributed to my Growth as a Teacher

In my PED3151, I learned about creating supportive classroom environments by valuing and implementing student mental health and well-being strategies in the classroom. In reading Understanding Self-Regulation: Why Stressed Students Struggle to Learn. What Works? Research in Practice (2016) (Module 3), I was able to reflect on my observations of my classroom setting based on the contents of this reading. My initial observations about mental Health and Well-being within my practicum setting was that teachers are suffering with managing workloads, regulations, and were feeling overwhelmed. Students seemed to be better (those that are in person) but those online seemed less responsive and less eager to participate. In September, students were extremely quiet and fearful of any sound that resembled a cold. One mental health strategy that teachers used when the weather permitted was body breaks outside so they could have relief from their masks and get up out of their seats. As the year progressed, teachers had organized school-wide activities with student council like escape rooms and school-wide BINGO. This seemed to help students relieve some stress in a safe way. In my course readings, I learned that successful self-regulation is not something we are born with; rather, it develops slowly throughout childhood and into the mid-twenties as parts of the brain fully develop and connect. Some people are still developing self-regulation skills into later adulthood. Both teachers and students in my practicum have faced struggles with self-regulation this year. Some strategies that I have learned to use to help with self-regulation include:

• Remembering that stress takes many forms and students respond in unique ways. For example, students who have experienced trauma may present themselves as “manipulators”, “attention seekers”, or as “lazy/unmotivated students”. This may just be masking their needs for connection, control, or the fact that they are having trouble managing stress and self-regulating.

• Knowing your students (their strengths, needs, interest).

• Teaching children to be more aware of their arousal states. Help them to understand their brain responses to stress, their stressors or triggers, and how they tend to process certain emotions. Also help them know & understand their fight, flight, freeze strategies. The frontal lobe is not completely developed until early adulthood. Executive functioning in children is less robust.

• Teaching children Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills and embed SEL skills into class activities. SEL, traditionally in Health & Physical Education, is important to embed everywhere. These skills include identifying and managing emotions, coping with stress, positive motivation, building relationships, deepening their sense of self, thinking critically, and creatively.

• Relationships! Form them with students. Focus on relationship building between students and between teacher and students. This will help create a social support network. If online provide a “recess” or “lunch hour” so students can chat with friends.

• Teaching metacognition skills.

• Knowing that student self-regulation starts with teacher self- regulation!

• Using down-regulating strategies when needed.

• Practicing self-regulation skills in the classroom and make them part of the norm (e.g., mindful moments, calming corners).

• Using up-regulating strategies when needed.

• Understanding that successful self-regulation takes a long time to master.

Moving forward, I will incorporate the following strategies in my teaching practice:

• Mindfulness to both students and staff

• Deep breathing

• Body/physical activity breaks if that is something that appeals to the students

• Designated snack break (since class is 2 hours long)

• Co-creation of evaluation criteria or mediums of submission for assignments

• Yoga

• Keep the classroom schedule predictable

• Reassure them – use the word “yet” and foster a growth mindset.

• Class inicitive/wellness challenges

• Showing empathy and understanding when they come to me with a problem, missed deadline, etc.

• Get students outside when I can

• Begin a staff wellness group

• Create a class Pinterest Board of positive affirmations or a board on the wall in the classroom.

If I teach English in the near future, I would like to create a reading corner in the classroom, so students have a place to relax and read. I’d also like to decorate my class so that it feels happy and exciting upon arrival.

I also learned about working with parents through the course readings in module 7 (for example, Parent Engagement. Working with Families/Supporting Student Learning, Parent Engagement on the OTF website, and Bringing Marginalised Parents and Caregivers into Their Children’s Schooling. What Works? Research in Practice. (2012)). Working with parents is concept I have considered deeply over the past two years. Through course readings above and observations in my practicum placement, I have decided that I will communicate with parents through a class newsletter, by maintaining a professional twitter, and by informing them of their child’s successes AND failures. Open channels of communication for students and parents will look like the table below.

As for points of communication, at the beginning of year, I will focus on building healthy relationships by sending a letter home with a personal introduction, something I enjoy about the student/something the student does well, and a “feel free to reach out/my door is always open” to inform parents that if there are any issues, we can work through them together. Throughout the year I will also create opportunities for parents to contribute to school life by involving parents as volunteers for field trips and fundraisers. I will also maintain relationships by informing parents of student progress throughout the course (this may be individual or general through the form of a class newsletter).

Where I’m Headed: Continued Challenges & Future Goals

Challenges:

Looking back at year 1, I found it hard to establish my identity as a teacher. I found gaining students respect and establishing authority was a challenge. Now, I feel like I have overcome that challenge because my confidence has grown. I am concerned less about what students think of me and am concerned more with helping students reach their learning goals and what they think of the actual activities being enacted in the class. One challenge I still face is getting those exceptionally quiet students comfortable sharing in class. I will continue to create a positive environment, and learning situations (e.g., small-group work, pairs, or one-on-one) so that these students can slowly feel more comfortable sharing in my class. Additionally, I have a hard time maintaining a work-life balance. I become obsessed with lesson planning and inundated by ideas that I can implement and a lot of the time I forget to practice what I preach and take 60 minutes to do some physical activity. In the future, I may have to plan these moments for me into my date and hold myself accountable to them.

Teaching & Learning Goals:

• Continue to monitor student engagement by asking for student feedback, incorporating student interests, and making learning connected to the real world.

• Try new teaching strategies that will reach different types of learners.

• Inspire students to become lifelong learners by facilitating the learning process (e.g., help students set goals, self-monitor, encourage students and help them develop strategies to establish responsible learning behaviours that will contribute to their future success).

• Be available to students to support them in their learning by offering extra support sessions (e.g., Microsoft Teams Chat or lunch help sessions).

• When COVID-19 is over, implement a cross-curricular experiential learning project based on curriculum and the outside world (e.g., The Garden Project).

Classroom Management Goals/Strategies for future:

• So far, I have been blessed with really good classrooms full of students who genuinely listen and who are open to learn. With my own class in the future, I would like to help students self-manage by beginning the class with organization and time management skills (e.g., keeping to-do lists and agendas). I would also like to create classroom expectations, rules, and consequences alongside students so that they are held accountable.

• Create routines in the classroom that include Daily Physical Activity (even in high school!) Help students become more independent in managing their own work behaviours. Proactively reduce occurrences of unwanted behaviours by having a consequence ladder and holding true to it.

• Over time, develop leadership styles that create a positive learning environments that hold students up to high standards.

• Provide students with powerful, engaging content and a variety of instructional methods so that they are ready and interested to learn.

• Maintain eye contact and lower self to student level while talking or explaining to them. This will ensure a connection with the students and maintain openness to communication.

• BE POSITIVE, this will promote mature conversations with adults and promote high self-esteem in students.

• Offer help with students who are observed as having difficulty with assigned work or those who are sitting on their own during group work.