Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Fifteen

Today is the last day of my undergrad placement! It was once again a super chill day, we had grade 9s first period and they had a work period so I just read the yearbook because it was being distributed that day. Next period was grade 12 which was also a work period and I just went on the computer and did some coursework. Next was lunch and it was extended a bit longer today because of a BBQ. There was a hilarious discussion about where would you go if civilization fell and they were all like I'd go to the zoo to eat the animals there. I honestly would've just let myself die because I don't want to fight against other people, and natural selection would take me out anyway. After that was grade 12 again where I just did my own coursework and answered a few questions about university. At the end of the day I left during Prep because there's nothing more for me to do. I gave her the book "Milk and Honey" and Reese's and she really liked it. Good year of placement!

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Fourteen

Today was a really good chill day. Started off the day with grade 9 English and it was a work period so I just read some of the essays that the grade 9s handed in that were already marked. I think it's quite laborious to mark all those below average grade 9 essays because it's all the same and mostly 75% quality. There was this one kid who said the sweetest thing, he said, "I miss Miss. Zhang's lessons" and I died. It's because they had to work on their assignments and couldn't play games with me. After that was grade 10 English and the first half of the class was a work period and the last half we watched Napoleon Dynamite. There is a kid in that class who is basically Napoleon, an uncanny resemblance. It was a pretty funny movie, surprised that I haven't seen it before. Lunch was chill and I was so glad because I was so hungry. After lunch was Prep where I just did some coursework. Last period was grade 12 and the first half was a work period and for the last bit I showed a Worth It Buzzfeed video and they loved it. One more day!

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Thirteen

Today was an incredibly chill day, mostly work periods. In first period we had grade 12 English and it was a work period so I just went on the computer and did my own course work. I completed my long list of vocabulary words and formatted my Google docs until it looked just the way I liked. Next we had grade 9 applied first period and I didn't help too much because they were doing their summative. I didn't think that I could help too much because I think it was meant to be an independent assessment but I was able to watch more of "Stand by Me" which was great. During lunch we had some pretty funny conversation topics, all of which I cannot recall right now. After lunch was Prep where I just did more coursework and talked to my host teacher. During last period it was grade 12 English with the same work period. So I worked on my coursework for Health again which was pretty productive.

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Twelve

Today I got to teach 2 lessons! We had grade 10 English first period and I just observed and did nothing basically. During second period I was able to teach grade 9 English and I taught a lesson about graphic texts. I started off by showing a Buzzfeed video about bullet journals and showed how it was related to graphic texts. Then I gave a handout with an infographic on it, read it out loud and also made a really cute worksheet that I read out loud as well. Gave some class time for them to work on the questions and then took them up. Finally, I gave them some time to practice bullet journal styled writing and doodles which I think was fun. Most of them didn't even know that they were low key learning because I think that they enjoyed it. After that was lunch which was nice, and then the period after I did the same thing all over again. Had some pretty great exit cards which had things like complimenting my personality and how I made English fun which was quite encouraging. And during Prep I did nothing because there's nothing more to do anymore. Fun day!

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Eleven

Today was a pretty chill day, we had grade 9 applied English first period and they worked on their presentations and then presented them. Honestly it was so adorable because some of them were so nervous and had shaky voices and all, I couldn't help by smile the whole time. After that we watched a movie called "Stand by Me" and it was so good! We only watched maybe the first third of the movie but I really enjoyed it so far. Next period was grade 12 and we continued to watch the Marshall McLuhan documentary which I found to be quite intellectual and interesting because we related media and technology to how we are today. After that was lunch which was good, and then during fourth period we had grade 12 once again and I watched the same documentary. Last period was Prep and I made my handouts for tomorrow's lesson. I'm kind of nervous and not at the same time it's difficult to say. It took me forever trying to understand the printer and the ink got all over my arm because the paper jammed, but it all worked out and I'm ready to teach!

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Ten

Today was one hectic day! I taught every lesson today at school. So starting with period one we had grade 9 English and I taught a lesson for the whole class, which basically was an article about the refugee crisis in America. I made one student at each table read, and if they were unwilling to read I made a spinner that was lettered from A-D which each student was assigned to a letter. That allowed fate/randomness to choose who would read because they would be unwilling if I made them. After each paragraph I roughly summarized what happened in case they weren't paying attention. I had 4 stations with questions and activities where they had to use what they learned from reading the text and apply it. Finally, I had a trivia round where I gave each group a whiteboard and marker and they had to answer questions and were assigned points. That got really competitive but I think there was a good response from the kids. At the end I had exit tickets where they could write one thing they learned or leave a message for me and I saw some pretty sweet ones like "you're a really good teacher" and "I hope you teach here at Bethune." Although, I haven't taken a look at all of them yet, those are the ones that I took a peek at.

Next period was grade 10, and I prepared a little lesson about coming of age stories, so I played hangman for the word "bildungsroman" and then I explained what that was, and then I had a short interview round where the students were free to ask us any questions. I guess that was sort of fun for them because they didn't have to work and they also were able to hear about us. Next was lunch which was a good break, at Prep I didn't really do anything. And for the final period, it was grade 9 English again where I had to do the lesson once more which was hard on my voice I guess because I lost it by the end of the class. I gave out candy at the end, and received some pretty awesome notes. How exhausting it is to be a teacher!

Until next time!
Suzy

Third Year Teaching Placement: Day Nine

Nope, you are not mistaken. Day eight doesn't exist because I was sick yesterday and had to take the day off. I was just completely bed ridden, head throbbing, sore throat, aching body, and all that jazz. So I decided that it would be in my best interest both physically and mentally to take the day off to rest. Today was a pretty standard day, started the day off with grade 12s and we just watched a documentary about Marshall McLuhan "the medium is the message" all that fun stuff about technology and society. It was quite advanced materially actually and I vaguely remember talking about it in first year sociology. Second period was grade 9 applied English and we finished some questions, read the end of the novel, and then I went around helping students with their summative assignments. Next was lunch and it was quite regular, less teachers today for some reason. A little bit of teacher gossip happened and I was like wow I'm in on the dirt. Just kidding, but it was funny. After that we had Prep where I just prepared for my lessons tomorrow, still need to get the white boards from Moderns tomorrow. And last period ended with grade 12 English again where I had the pleasure of watching the same documentary. That's all! Tomorrow I teach all day!

Until next time!

Suzy