Second Year Teaching Placement: Day Eight

Life is good, life is so so good. Today was one of the best teaching days ever! So we started off the day counting all the students and getting them ready to get on the school bus for the field trip. Then once they all loaded on the school bus very calmly and obediently, I sat in the front with Diane and we chatted the whole way there. We talked about her husband and we talked about my boyfriend and a bunch of super cool stuff. She is so easy to talk to and is so nice to talk to at the same time. When we arrived at the ROM we went straight to the Mexican clothing exhibit and I learned a lot there. For example, I learned how Mexicans create yarn from wool and the various plants and things they use to dye their yarns with in order to create the different colours. I learned that Mexicans use clothing as a form of self expression to differentiate themselves from the other tribes as well as an outward expression of their religion and beliefs. Then Diane and I walked around for a bit and viewed the other exhibits since the Mexican one was so small.

Eventually Diana suggested that we share a coffee because she was feeling quite tired and I was happy to share. So when we got to the check out we explained that we were using two cups and splitting it and the woman didn’t look like she understood English but didn’t object so we just kept doing whatever. But then when we went to the coffee bar to put in the milk and sugar, we split the cups and the lady came rushing over like no you cannot do that. But we explained that it’s just one cup of coffee split into to cups, but she would just not have it. I guess she thought we were stealing or something but we weren’t! In fact, we wanted less coffee not more! So she actually poured back one of the coffees into the other cup which I thought was so rudely funny and then we were like uh okay… and left. It was so bizarre but hilarious at the same time.

Next we met up with all the students and we walked over to Kensington Market. I trailed at the end of the class and spoke with some students the whole way. They were really nice, they talked to me as if I was a classmate and taught me a few Spanish words. This is what I learned “El sol es muy caliante” meaning the sun is very hot! That’s all I’ve got… Then we arrived at Kensington Market and all the students split up to eat lunch. Diane and I went to some Spanish food place and she got something (I don’t remember but it was very Spanish) and I got a burrito. Since her food came first she went to find a spot for us, then I went to join her and noticed that she was sitting with a bunch of random people that she just befriended. It was such an awesome experience! We talked about all our different lives and where they came from and a bunch of random stuff. One of the ladies was in her 60s and the other looked like she was in her 40s, and I noticed that we were all different ages and ethnicities. That’s the cool thing about Toronto, how multicultural it is! After we finished our food, we parted ways and said our goodbyes. Something super memorable was when she was retelling me the story of why she sat with them, she said “I’m waiting for my friend” as in me and I died! I didn’t know that she would even consider putting that label on us, because we’re not exactly co-workers and I’m not her student teacher. But I don’t know, that just stayed with me and it’s so nice.

Next, we went to Fika and I got an iced coffee and she got an Americano. My iced coffee was funky. There was cardamom in it which tastes like an essential oil and then when the guy put a piece of mint in it, he smashed it with his hand and then we both look at each other and die of laughter. But not in front of him of course. After that, we meet up with the students and head back on the school bus so that we can go back to school.

It was such a memorable day for me! I’m so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to go on a field trip again this year, and every year during my Prac. It was an invaluable experience and I will definitely try to take my classes on a bunch of trips when I become a teacher.

Until next time!

Suzy

Second Year Teaching Placement: Day Seven

Today was a good day at school, and I was on time! We started off the day with a grade 10 French class where I did my normal duties as a student teacher. I observed and helped out where I could, nothing too special or anything that stood out to me. However, one thing I must say is that I really like incorporating the chalkboard, where students write their answers on the board. It gives them the chance to get up and stretch their feet and gives the teacher the opportunity to asses their level of understanding.

Next period was Prep and I just looked for resources for my lesson plan on Friday. Most of the period I spent looking at the collection of French board games in the office. There’s a lot of cool stuff like this Snakes and Ladders type game where you have to answer questions in order to advance in the game, and there was also Boggle which can be a really cool game.

At lunch I ate in the office, then I went on a “power walk” with Diane and one of the office admins. That was a really cool opportunity to talk to the other teachers as well as enjoy the beautiful weather outside. After lunch I followed Heather to her last 2 classes. The first one was really fun, it was a grade 11 class and the entire class was basically for discussion and group work. I stayed with this one table that I thought was more rowdy in order to keep them on task but we did stray a lot. They asked me a ton of university related questions and how to get into a good school, my views on summer schooling English, and a ton of questions. It was honestly so fun being able to answer and talking with them. So because this class went so well I expected the last class to be fun but it was death. All we did was read Romeo and Juliet, and by we I meant Heather. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Heather but I feel like there are more fun and more interactive ways to read Shakespeare like role playing. But that concludes my day! Tomorrow’s the field trip and I’m stoked!

Until next time!

Suzy

Second Year Teaching Placement: Day Six

I am not a fan of Mondays…. It’s just hard recovering from the weekend and all the beauty of chill days, only to be faced with the dreadful work on Mondays. Today was a bad start, I arrived on time to school which meant I was late in teacher time. Amélie was sort of mad at me because I could tell that she wanted to go through her lesson plans for the day with me before school started but couldn’t because I wasn’t even there. I could tell that she wasn’t feeling 100% this morning, so I felt super bad that my tardiness was just another thing to add to her down mood. Then when I asked to use the washroom I could tell that was the cherry on top of annoyance but when we were doing the mindfulness walking I apologized profusely. I’m just a chronically late person and honestly it’s terrible, and I need to make a conscious effort to change my bad habits. Anyway, she taught a grade 9 class and asked if I wanted to teach the Bingo portion so I said yes of course. It started off as super slow but then I kind of made the children get up and walk around and that facilitated a bit of discussion which was nice. Seeing them interact with each other was nice since it allowed them to communicate with each other in French. After that was a grade 10 class which was generally the same. I walked around and helped the students and one of the students asked me a bunch of questions like “how long did I do French for?” What would I be teaching if it weren’t for English and French?” Which was all super nice because I like that kind of interaction, and I told her to keep French just for fun because she was already getting good at speaking it and it’s always so helpful to speak another language.

Next was lunch and I just stayed in the office. Diane (Amélie’s office partner) asked if I wanted to go on a field trip with her on Wednesday! I was so happy because it’s a field trip! It’s for a Spanish class and it’s okay because I don’t need to speak in Spanish. It was just her and 35 students and since Amélie was going to be absent anyway, it all worked out in the end. We’re going to an exhibition at the ROM and then we’re going to Kensington Market which will be so fun!

After lunch I stayed in the office and marked a bunch of writing assignments which honestly took so long. I did not expect marking papers to take an hour but that’s just my first time marking that kind of writing stuff so it’s okay. After that I joined Diane’s class for observation and her way of handling a class is so much different than Amélie’s. First she started by introducing me and making a bunch of students ask me some questions like “quel est ton couleur préféré?” “qu’est-ce que tu étudies à l’école?” and stuff like that which was fun for me. Then she made a lot of activities like stations to write and conjugate –ir verbs. So basically she wrote the verb on each paper and the first group had to conjugate it then after rotation the other groups had to write examples using the verb. She played music at each station and when it stopped that meant that the groups had to switch. It was all very interesting, I think I’m going to incorporate that in my teaching for sure.

                                                                                                                                    

It was not a bad day overall, although the start was rough the end was definitely better.

Until next time!

Suzy