~Educators engage in professional learning~

Throughout practicum 490 and 491 I have taken advantage of many of the wonderful professional development opportunities I have had access to and have also taken it upon myself to engage in my own professional learning through informal observations.

Over the course of both practicum I participated in “Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come Together” and “Lhatok – Where People, Place, and Practice Flow Together” which were both powerful professional development days that explored Indigenous education in BC. These days were very important to me as they helped me expand and familiarize my knowledge of the First Peoples Principals of Learning which I am continually implementing into my teaching practice.

I have also participated in three professional collaboration and development days with my coaching teachers where we focused on assessment. These days were extremely valuable to me as I was able to explore formative and summative assessment techniques in a safe environment. Not only were we able to focus on specific assessment that addressed each class I was teaching, but my CTs gave me strategies to start to explore and develop my own assessment techniques. I also attended several School Based Team meetings (SBT) and department (English) meetings throughout the course of my 491 practicum. These meetings allowed me to witness the process administration, teachers, and support staff go through to manage severe behavioral and academic issues in specific students that have been brought to attention by different teachers. IEPs are discussed in these meetings as well as many different strategies teachers and CEAs can use in the classrooms to start to manage these students. 

Lastly, I engaged in professional learning throughout both practicums by going to observe in other teacher’s classrooms. I have observed in outdoor Ed. (the Quest program), math, English, business, French, Social Studies, and Genocide. Observing so many different, subjects, teachers, and teaching styles gave me the opportunity to study the what I like or dislike about each particular style and each particular subject. Since one of my passions is Outdoor Education, I spent many hours observing and having conversations with the Outdoor Educations teacher/Quest founder about the program and how to get involved in it (or a similar version) when I receive my first contract. I found I learned much about assessment, classroom management, and ideas for assignments by simply observing “star” or “mature” teachers whenever I got the chance and of course would highly recommend it to any other practicum student wanting to take control of their own professional development.

I cannot wait for #EduFair2021 on April 12th!! This picture was from the previous EduFair which allowed me to virtually and synchronously collaborate with fellow teacher candidates. This year has been an extremely challenging but special year in terms of learning to adjust HOW we engage in professional learning as educators. I am so proud of teachers everywhere for stepping out of their comfort zones to continue to take part in GROWTH and continuous LIFE LONG learning.