If you ever wondered what I look like while sitting in class, this is a good example:
Category: Teachers College
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Convocation
“Oh, they’re taking our picture?” 
“I’ve done this before. Purse lips. Should I bear my teeth?” 
“I did it. I got my picture taken.” -
Speak Up, Stupid!
I’ve been practice teaching in a grade five/six combined-class for the last three weeks, here in Mariposa. It’s been an interesting experience, and a lot of work. It’s all good work, but it’s a lot.
Anyway, today was my mid-point review, and so I’ve decided to take the night off and write about the last three weeks.
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Tomorrow’s Visualisation Exercise
Holy busy, Batman!
Sweet mother of all things human, I’m busy. Even taking the ten minutes to write this post feels like I’m cheating on my commitment to learning how to teach students.
Did you know that I have every minute of every school day mapped out for the next three weeks?
Anyway, tomorrow at 9:30 am EST I will be conducting a visualisation exercise with the students to introduce the science unit on space. I wrote it up, so I thought I’d share it with you, after having left you so lonely for so very long.
Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Worker_ant_carrying_leaf.jpg Here it is:
Imagine that you are an ant. You wake up in the morning, and stretch out your six legs. First the three on the left, and then the three on the right. You fall over a little bit, because you’re still pretty tired. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.
You grab some breakfast, a nice fresh bit of leaf that you found yesterday while you were out. It’s a bit dry, from having been in the anthill overnight, but it’s still refreshing. You are starting to feel better about the day ahead of you.
You wish the Queen Ant good morning when she walks by, and she smiles at you. You finish up your breakfast, brush your mandibles, and put one shoe on each foot. Then, you begin the climb out of the anthill, following your buddies.
Once you reach the top of the anthill, the sun beats down on you, and it’s warmth feels nice on your back. You are ready for the march ahead.
You’ve reached your destination for today, after a 100-meter long march. It’s a large, green, leafy plant that you’ve only ever seen from a distance. You notice that one of your shoes has come untied, so you lace it up before climbing the stem.
You keep climbing, and climbing. You’re getting pretty tired, and you look down to see how high you’ve climbed. You’re almost 30 cm in high! You can’t remember the last time that you’ve been so high. Only five more centimeters to go.
You’re there! You’re on the strongest branch, with the most leaves on the entire plant! You march confidently out to a leaf that is glistening in the sun. You know that that is what you’re going to take home with you tonight.
You walk, carefully, out onto the leaf. It’s shaking a bit, and your feet are feeling unsteady beneath you. You start cutting the leaf free from the branch. It’s pretty hard work, but, then, the best leaves always are tough to cut away.
You’ve almost cut the leaf away, when suddenly, from out of nowhere, a gust of wind comes rushing by! Woosh! You close your eyes out of fear.
When you open your eyes, you look around and realize that you’re floating, high, really high, above the ground. You peak over the edge of the leaf, and see the world below from a bird-eye view.
Don’t you wish that I were your teacher?
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“Hey Bernard, Want a Teaching Job in London, England?”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tower_bridge_London_Twilight_-_November_2006.jpg “Hey Bernard, want a teaching job in London, England?”
“You know, let me think about it for a day or two. I also have a few questions for you about the position.
“It starts in September, right? And, it’s a guaranteed-pay position, yeah?
“So, I’ll be living and working in London, England? As a teacher?
“Even though I was a half-hour late for my interview, because I drove for over two hours on a Sunday morning to meet you for 10 am, and I didn’t know that there was a marathon running in town blocking my access to the hotel where the interview was being held? You sure?
“Yeah, let me get back to you. I just want to think about a few things, but I’ll be sure to let you know in a day or two, here.”
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In Class Assignment
In teachers college, we sometimes pretend to be the students we will teach one day. Today, we pretended to be grade one students writing Valentine’s Day cards. I was the only one who wrote to his/her pet, when asked to write to a loved one.
Riel can’t read yet, so we’re still working on high-frequency words.
Sometimes, this is what we do in class. -
Transitioning to Pencil Use
Becoming a teacher is an arduous process. I mean, it definitely has its rewards, but there are certain demands placed on teachers that I never realized existed until I started my practicum. Forget about all of the lesson planning (the hours spent planning lessons), and the early mornings (I’m up before 5:30 am everyday of the week, if not earlier), the shitloads of materials that I have to carry around with me (I need a rolling backpack for Christmas), and the patience required to deal with the students when you’re having an off day (the early mornings don’t help this). I have to use pencils. (more…)
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Blogging As A Teacher – Professional Considerations
I’ve spent much of this afternoon culling my online presence, and reading guidelines (Advisories) issued by the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) on the topics of social media and electronic communication.
While I’m no further ahead in figuring out what I should do about my blog, what follows are some thoughts about my online presence. (more…)
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First Day at Teachers College
Today began like most other days do: I woke up. My darling mother, worried that I would sleep through my alarm, called me at 6am (4am where she is) to make sure that I was awake and ready for the day. She also reminded me to eat before I left for school.
So, I woke up. Went through my morning routine, more tired on this particular morning. Then, I found myself running late. I’m always running late. (more…)
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Tomorrow Is the First Day of School
I start teachers college tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for tomorrow for about six months now, and it’s finally come. I wasn’t feeling at all nervous, until about 15 minutes ago. It’s after 11pm right now, and my first class starts at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow will hopefully mark the beginning of more than just teachers college. (more…)
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Math That’ll Mess With Your Head
I just went into the school’s office to register for a brush-up session for Primary/Junior (K-6) math. You see, as part of my program, I have to sit an exam that’ll test my competency in math. I believe this is Ontario’s way of ensuring that teachers actually know math, before they teach it. (more…)
