Ms. Morey

What is reconciliation? And what does it mean to reconcile?

I equate reconciliation with healing because I think that true reconciliation only occurs if thorough healing from the trauma has occurred. When working towards Truth and Reconciliation, we should really be aiming for the healing of the lives, souls, and culture of those who have suffered from generational trauma due to residential schools and colonization. Accomplished reconciliation and healing means that society as a collective has worked hard enough for an undetermined amount of time to undo the trauma caused by the European settlers while ensuring that the harsh history of our country does not go forgotten or ignored. I think that remembering and continuing to acknowledge the cause of the generational trauma is an important part of reconciliation because the goal is not to just sweep these historical events under the rug, but to understand and acknowledge what we have done to make up for it and that we have learned from our mistakes.

What I have learned throughout the course of the program and in the interwoven course of EDUC 446 is that true reconciliation will not take place by simply acknowledging that change needs to happen, we need to be the change. We can be the change by understanding and having compassion for our students and their families or communities who have suffered because of Canada’s dark history while practicing the First Peoples Principles of Learning in our methods of teaching. We also need to take what we have learned, either through formal education or experience within schools, about connecting with such families or individuals to ensure that we are connecting with them on a level where they feel safe and respected. If we had the mindset that all of our students and their families came from the same past, we would be leaving out an enormous population and would therefore be completely unable to develop true relationships of trust. Reconciliation means putting in effort to receive trust and respect, while holding compassion and showing our own trust and respect for their past and culture.

When thinking of reconciliation, it makes sense to compare it to a small-scale conflict. Imagine that you and a friend get into an argument because you cooked them dinner but failed to remember a food allergy of theirs. Now, they have eaten some of the food that you made with good intentions and are beginning to swell, itch, and become frightened because of what is happening to them. A response affecting them physically, emotionally, and mentally completely out of their control. Next, imagine that instead of feeling shame or regret at your choice of ingredients you begin to become defensive. You tell them that they should have reminded you that they were allergic, or that the ingredient is healthy for them, and they should just get over it. Or imagine if you told them that their allergy is not your problem and that it was up to them to fix it on their own and that they should be grateful that you even cooked them food in the first place. So, your friend leaves your house in distress and with longstanding issues because of the incident. If you did not believe that you need to reconcile, you might just ignore them and move on with your life, assuming that they got it fixed and that everything is fine, meanwhile leaving them alone to suffer the consequences of your actions. Or you can work towards reconciliation. Reconciliation in this example would take a long time because you were in the wrong. The first step is to recognize that you made a mistake that has affected someone else deeply, you will also need to acknowledge that because of this mistake you have deeply wounded a relationship. Reconciliation means remembering that this person has an allergy in the future, it means making sure their medical and emotional needs are taken care of going forward. It means understanding that the relationship has been badly damaged and might never be the same. These are all things that we, as a society and country, need to remember when working towards reconciliation with Indigenous members of our community. It will not happen overnight, and if we remember what our mistakes were and provide opportunity for love and care, we can ensure that we are always moving forward towards healing.

This concept of reconciliation relates back to our model presented in Block 1 of EDUC 346: The River Model. With this model, we equated the First Peoples Principle of Learning “Learning is embedded in history, memory, and story” with the river and its’ water cycle. We will learn from our historical mistakes. We will make sure that we remember to work towards reconciliation by keeping our memories active. We will actively work towards reconciliation in our classrooms by teaching and learning with traditional Indigenous values and storytelling. Like the river, we can weave our own pedagogy with the First Peoples Principles of Learning to better educate and heal our students, ensuring they feel cared for and safe. Then, once our actions have caused an effect, they can take their learning and connect it to self and place.

As someone who is not of Indigenous ancestry, I do not assume that I am entitled to trust and respect from my Indigenous students or their families. Historically, public education has not operated with Indigenous peoples’ best interests, culture, language, or values in mind and therefore I go into teaching with a complete understanding that I will have to earn trust and respect. I will have to prove that I am an ally and that I actively work towards including Aboriginal education in my lessons or activities as a method of reconciliation. While I am only one person, I can make a difference in our country’s journey towards healing by understanding that as an educator I am indebted to the Indigenous communities and families that have been negatively impacted by the education system. To reconcile means to not only fix our mistakes, but to learn from them.

Today I am grateful for my opportunity to engage in School District 57’s Professional Development seminar: Indigenous Day of Learning. Whenever I am a participant in Professional Development, especially when it comes to Traditional Indigenous ways of learning, teaching, and knowing my feelings are a mixed-up combination of motivation to do better (for my students and my community), guilt over my own white privilege and my safe upbringing, and being overwhelmed due to the sheer amount of Reconciliation that still needs to take place. I always end the seminar with the thought of: Will it ever be enough?

Will there ever be a day where systemic racism does not keep our minority members of society from there full potential? Will there ever be enough Professional Development days that educators all around BC or Canada or even the world can teach there students in a way and in an environment where their strategies recognize and incorporate different cultural ways of teaching and learning, a culmination of all the best techniques? The answer is, sadly, most likely not. At least not that I will live to see.

So, I spent most of my time while Ashley Callingbull was speaking feeling sad, sad for her past negative experiences and sad for our students and young members of society that face the same repercussions of generational trauma still to this day.

That all being said, our prompt for the day of “Make a commitment of action” has helped eased my feelings of despair because it is a reminder that I am capable of making change as a teacher. And, even though that change may be small, many small changes can eventually become systematic changes affecting the communities far beyond my own.

My commitment to action is to not let my sadness surrounding the generational trauma caused by the colonization of our Indigenous neighbours deflate my own ability to stay aware, active, and engaged in being an inclusive educator. Sadness will not get in the way of my ability to continue learning about what I can do better within my classroom, school, and community. Instead of the sadness acting as a block or deterrent, it will be my motivator to do better, learn more, and to use my privilege to enact systematic change.

Writing out my long-term goals for the EDUC 491 10-week practicum was really enlightening for me because not only did I have the chance to put my motivation and confidence into words, but I was also give space to reflect on all of the learning I have done over the past (almost) 13 months.

I have chosen my #OneWord for this practicum to be BOLD because in all the spaces and situations that have made me nervous in the past, I have finally replaced with the feeling of excitement and courage. Planning no longer intimidates me, the students no longer overwhelm, and, most importantly, my self-assuredness in my own capabilities have soared.

My goals for this practicum vary and have grown beyond what I ever felt capable of before. Instead of wanting a trusting relationship with my students, I am now aiming for a deeper understanding of their station and strengths so that they not only enjoy my company, but also the atmosphere of school. Instead of my goal being to create engaging activities, I aim for my students to participate in life long learning that turns information into knowledge that they can apply across many subject areas for years to come.

I am bold because I am going into this experience with my head held high knowing in my heart and soul that I will make an impact on these students’ learning journeys, and because by the end of these 15 months I will be prepared to take on a classroom of my own. My goals extend beyond anything I could have imagined I could accomplish 12 months ago, and I am incredibly proud of the trials that I have overcome in the meantime to lead me to where I am now.

Strengths

This course had many strengths and positives for me. What I learned most was from the assigned textbook for the course because it detailed case study scenarios, terminology, proper courses of action, and even how school community is vital to inclusive education. What I loved the most about the course is that I will be able to take much of what I learned into my further practice, with the textbook to help guide me through with nearly step-by-step instruction! I find it rare to find a textbook with such power. I think that this course will make me a stronger future educator because I have a much deeper understanding of the struggles my students might be going through, the steps to take to better their educational experience, and ultimately just how to ensure that my students feel seen, recognized, and accepted regardless of their strengths or stretches.

Stretches

All in all, my biggest stretch for this course is the fact that there was simply SO MUCH information to digest in 6 weeks. Add all of that information to personal life disruptions, course work from other classes, and beautiful weather right outside my window, I feel as though I would have to go through it all again another five times just to actually absorb everything that was taught to us. It is also difficult learning all of this vital information in Block 4 out of 5 in the program, because it forced me to reflect on my encounters and lesson planning from past practicum experiences. I understand that this whole learning experience is supposed to be a journey for myself to grow as I add each new tool in my belt, however it is hard to look back on what I have done in the past because I worry that some of my actions could have made my exceptional students feel excluded unintentionally. From this I know that I can only learn and strive to do better in the future, however it is still hard on the conscience to know that my naivety and lack of information in this vital field could have inhibited some students.

Next Steps

So, to take what I have learned, both content-wise and through reflection of past experiences, I have a lot to take into consideration for my next steps. I am aware that I need to put more thought and effort into my lesson planning and implementation for my exceptional learners in the classroom so that all students have not only a better education but also a more enjoyable learning experience. I also know now that the teacher/guardian relationship is so much more important, especially for the exceptional learners, than I had thought before because in order for a student to receive the full supports that they deserve, it takes a village to advocate and fight for them and their rights. With this new knowledge, I know that in my next steps as an educator I will engage in deeper consideration, personal learning, and advocacy than I ever have before, and I look forward to being there for my students in such a way that it sets them up for the best possible success and most of all happiness in the classroom and school community.

For this course we were asked to submit three journals throughout the course of the block, each of which focusing on a different topic as a way to tracking our learning progress. Therefore, I figured what better way to demonstrate my learning from this course than to input my journal entries. Throughout the journals, you can see that I started off my learning with developing an understanding of why it is important to learn how to speak a second as well as to fully teach a second language, and then you can see my journey evolve into classroom practice, next steps, and further inquiry.

The Why Behind the Language

EDUC 351 Journal #1

            So far, throughout this crash course of language learning, I have gained immense insight into not only how to learn and teach a second language, but also why. Second language classes in schools, whether they be elementary, secondary, or even post-secondary, often serve as something that students can optionally learn, regardless of their time spent practising. It is with purpose that students will begin to want to learn and retain the information. For students, it is imperative that they have reason behind their learning, otherwise it becomes redundant and is quickly forgotten. The Common European Framework of Reference states that

Statements of the aims and objectives of language learning and teaching should be based on an appreciation of the needs of learners and of society, on the tasks, activities and processes that the learners need to carry out in order to satisfy those needs, and on the competences and strategies they need to develop/build up in order to do so. (Council of Europe 2012).

The emphasis from the quote above is that the learning of a second language needs to come from a needs basis, as opposed to what most of our learners assume, which is simply a must. The difference, in my opinion, between a societal need and a curricular must, if explained to the students could entirely change their perspective on their learning and help encourage them to learn the content with purpose. Without purpose, students see much of their learning as a curricular must, meaning that they must learn the content simply because they are in school, and they feel as though they have to go through the motions and do what they are told. However, if the students can see that there is a societal need behind this new learning, they can begin to see how they can use the material in their day to day lives and how it can benefit them in the future with jobs, communication, travelling, and relationship building. The societal need that our students should recognize and be taught in their language learning is that there is so much more tied into language than vocabulary and grammar. Culture, traditions, history, expression, art, and so much more are forever entwined with language because while it can be translated, there is always emphasis lost due to the impact of a word being changed, or even parts of history changed during translation due to there not being word equivalence in the new language.

            What I find most important to remember regarding teaching a second language to my elementary students is that there is a chance that they would not have had experience with learning a second language until grade 5, and by the time they are in grade 5 they are already beginning to go through life changes which often are accompanied with self-confidence issues, a desire to be popular, and other subject material that is increasing in difficulty or larger projects than they are used to. During this time in their lives, it is important for educators to remember that this new learning of a second language will cause the students to put themselves in awkward or uncomfortable positions as they stumbled through new vocabulary and unfamiliar sounds. Explaining the why to the students and playing language games in class should help break this ice and give the students reason behind their learning as a way of encouraging them to persevere.

            Garbati and Mady  (2015) also provide some teaching techniques that can provide our students with their why behind their learning in their article Oral Skill Development in Second Languages: A Review in Search of Best Practices. The step that could help students develop their reasoning for their learning is “C. Providing Authentic Encounters” (Garbati & Mady 2015) in which it suggests giving the students the opportunity to be enriched in the culture of the language they are studying and giving them real life opportunity to practice what they have learned. This experience will allow the students to see that there is purpose and place outside of the classroom for the language to be used as a form of self expression, and that there is so much more tied into the language than conjugating and grammar.

References

The Common European Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. (2012). The Common European Framework of Reference. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847697318-002

Garbati, J. F., & Mady, C. J. (2015). Oral Skill Development in Second Languages: A Review in Search of Best Practices. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(9), 1763. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0509.01

Second Language Classroom Practice

EDUC 351 Journal #2

            Last week’s assignment of constructing a lesson plan to teach a second language has had me thinking quite a lot about what my own classroom might look like, be managed, and the methodologies which may be present in the day-to-day teachings and activities. The main thing that I learned during this activity was that teaching and learning a second language requires a much more diverse and well-rounded classroom environment than any other subject because language is so intertwined with more aspects of life and is more easily integrated into our students every day lives and their communication. Communication is such a vital part of the human life: it enables us to learn, love, build connections and relationships, and survive.

            By looking at my learning from the lesson plan, my thoughts then wander to think about what I would want to do in my own future classroom to support this second language learning environment and to ensure that my students are not only learning to speak a second language, but that they are also learning how to confidently communicate. An element of this course so far that has really interested me has been the Action-Oriented Approach because holistic instruction and assessment are strongly prevalent in my own developing pedagogy, and this form of instruction seems to fit in seamlessly. In my future classroom, the Action-Oriented Approach will recognize the students as the primary participants of the task or activity at hand and will hopefully be visible through speaking, listening, writing, or any other mode of communication between students. Instead of the classroom’s focus being on conjugating verbs, the main lesson of each day that we do French can be learning how to interact in a different social situation. With lessons like that, the conjugating, vocabulary, sentence structure, listening, speaking, and writing come along with it. This way they are learning the curriculum in a way that they can use, while avoiding busy work and rote memorization.

            No learning block of the day is complete without a learning structure with routines and expectations. These are also huge factors in the classroom environment, and are another part of second language learning which it vital to the students ability to learn and to avoid roadblocks in their thinking. Routines that I would like to implement into my classroom would be music and time set aside for casual or personal conversation or writing. For music, I can see myself starting each class off with a song and asking the students to write down words that are new to them (playing the song first just to listen, and then writing down the new words while playing the song for the second time). Then, after listening to the song twice, students can raise their hands to express one word at a time that was new. From there, we can work together as a class to find the definition and then add the word to our Word Wall. Time set aside for casual social conversation or personal French writing is also important because it allows the students time to decompress, practice their new learning, and reflect on their day. This is likely how I would finish each learning block. Even if just for five minutes at the end of class students can play with the vocabulary without the pressure of being assessed or judged, their skills can begin to grow into something more conversational. This then leads me to another imperative factor that I would like to see in my future classroom: no fear of “failing”.  It is so incredibly important to me that my students feel comfortable and at ease when playing with and trying out their newly learned language, therefore by not interrupting when they make an error and gentle correction at appropriate times, the students might be more willing to try. I have learned that community is ginormous when it comes to learning a second language, and hopefully this brainstorm will help me in my future classroom.

References

A Guide to Reflective Practice for Core French Teachers: The Action-Oriented Approach. (n.d.). French as a Second Language.

Second Language Assessment and Differentiation Strategies

EDUC 351 Journal #3

            Assessment for second language learning follows many of the same markers as assessment for other subjects. For example, teachers would still conduct formative assessment to help scaffold the students as they learn, as well as summative assessment to determine what the students had learned. However, what I find to be different between assessment for second language learning are all the “smaller” or “unseen” parts of their learning that are often not found in other subjects, such as the ability to communicate (auditorily, orally, and written), the culture and history that is entwined with the language, or how second language learning is incredibly embedded in cross-curricular topics and can influence their learning in other subjects (or vice versa). Because learning a second language requires a much deeper learning that just rote memorization, the assessment strategies also need to take more time and effort and need to be completely understood by everyone involved.

            Students should be involved in the co-creation of the summative assessment criteria because that way they develop a sense of ownership of their own learning as well as so that they fully understand what their goal is for practising and learning. When students help to co-create assessment criteria, they can each see their strengths and skills within the goal content, which would ultimately instill confidence in them because they can visualize themselves achieving whatever outcome they desire or are aiming for.

            Co-creating assessment criteria also helps students understand and accept differentiation within the classroom because they can have a say in and see the different stages of learning and then work towards hitting the criteria that works for them. Differentiation in a second language learning classroom takes place in two places: the co-created criteria represents the students view of the work being done in the classroom and the teacher implements differentiation into the lesson planning itself so that the ability to move around in their learning is available to the students when they start, as opposed to everything having to be adapted after the learning has already begun to take place. The Differentiated Activity Worksheets by Languages for All: How to Support and Challenge Students in a Second Language Classroom could be used by teachers for both steps of the differentiation process (planning and assessing) by reviewing the different steps of an activity in which differentiation could be added to benefit the exceptional learners in the classroom, as well as when co-creating criteria with the students. If students can see that their product, process, or even content can look different than their classmates then they are much more likely to engage in a more personal learning experience.

In A Guide to Reflective Practice for Core French Teachers Module 5: Assessment and Evaluation, they state that teachers need to plan with the end in mind and to ensure that we are creating “Assessment tasks that are meaningful for students and through which they demonstrate what they can do in French are open-ended and involve them in constructing a response.” (FSL 7). They also list out three questions to keep in mind when assessing a second language that I will carry with me into my own future practice:

• “What do we want each student to learn?” (FSL 5) – Differentiation in content
• “How will we know when each student has learned it?” (FSL 5) – Differentiation in product
• “How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?” (FSL 5) – Differentiation in process

References

Arnett, K. (2013). Chapter 5: Phase 4 Support: Differentiated Activities. In Languages for All: How to Support and Challenge Students in a Second Language Classroom (pp. 109–142). essay, Pearson Canada Inc.

A Guide to Reflective Practice for Core French Teachers: Assessment and Evaluation. (n.d.). French as a Second Language.

For my Capstone, I struggled to find a vehicle for my metaphor of learning. I have been going through a lot of heavy struggles these last couple of months in my personal life, thus making it difficult for me to find any sort of creative thread in my mind or soul. And then, just like that (as all great ideas do), it came to me: a short story! No drawing, cutting, gluing, or any other activities that were not speaking to me. Just good old-fashioned, fictional story writing. My original intent was to write a short story geared for students in Grade 3-5 about a character named Sasha who is trying to find something that she is good at. Throughout her journey she tries, fails, loses interest, and succeeds. However, once I started writing I found it difficult to stop. This short story about a girl trying to find a new hobby turned into a 3000 word story about Sasha’s self and community exploration, her struggles with anxiety, and even her finding her space within her new school with new friends.

While writing the story, the connections to coursework and my own sense of Self came naturally. Here are my story’s connections.

EDUC 401 Career Education

The underlying theme of Career Education that I followed while writing is the process of trial and error when finding your purpose, passion, or place in life. We all go through this, all at different stages of life, and all with varied results. I also connected my writing to Spotlight on the Chaos Theory of Careers article by Katy Jordan, specifically two of it’s standards: Change is a part of life and that setbacks are an opportunity to learn. Sasha, our main character, experiences both of these standards when she is thrust into a new school and community partway through her Grade 7 year. She learns that change happens and she maintains a growth mindset while taking what she used to see as setbacks as opportunities for learning and self-discovery. I also found connections in my story to another reading we studied in class entitled Hope-Filled Engagement by Gray Poehnell and Norman E. Amundson. The main part of their studies that stuck into my story was the differentiation between skill and strength, detailing that a skill is something that you can do (no matter how well), while a strength is something that you find yourself good at. Sasha discovers this difference while she is finding her place in her new school; she discovers that she has the power to harness many skills and the motivation to find and hone in on her strengths.

EDUC 402 Diverse Classrooms

To incorporate Diverse Classrooms into the story, I wanted to focus more on plot than theory. This is because diversity is represented through all of the minor and major differences between everyone we encounter in our day to day lives, so I wanted to represent that through the characters that Sasha meets and interacts with. From Seth the Soccer Star, a boy with a full head of bright red hair and a freckled face, to William, a boy in her school that has had to use a wheelchair most of his life, all the way to Bobby, a student exploring their sexual orientation and gender identity in the SOGI club. Sasha finds ways to communicate with each of the people that she meets while trying to find her place. She also recognizes that it is because of the diversity that everyone else in her school has been able to find a space where they are most comfortable, which was her goal as well.

First Peoples Principles of Learning

I connected my story to ““Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).” because through her journey of searching for her own sense of place, Sasha develops those reciprocal relationships, forms connections, and tries, fails, or succeeds at new skills. She learns soft skills like communication and courage, but also hard skills like fine motor skills and chess. Therefore making her learning holistic, reflexive, reflective, and experiential.

Self

To end my Capstone presentation, I wanted to connect my story to my own self by giving my 13-year-old self a message. To her I would say: “It really does get better from here. Change is a huge part of life, and you can either be the type of person who fights it OR you can roll with the punches and find the happiness in it all. Change is scary at first, but you get used to it, so be gentle and patient with yourself, take deep breaths, and trust that it will get easier.”

So, without any further ado, here is the story I wrote:

Sasha’s Self

“Sasha… Sasha honey, it’s time to wake up”.

Sasha slowly opened her eyes to her mother sitting on the edge of her bed, rubbing her arm. As her eyes adjusted to the dim early morning light she looked around and felt a tight feeling in her stomach. She didn’t recognize the room, the window was on the wrong side, her door the wrong colour. As her sleep wore off, she looked harder to try and ease her worries. The dresser, the quilt, the pictures on the pile of boxes in the corner. All things from her old room… her old home.

Her mom got up to open the blinds, chattering about how beautiful the snow looked out in the front yard, and how in the city there was no such thing as nice snow because it was always so dirty.

“Mom?” Sasha whispered, tucking her shoulders back under the covers.

“Yes, Sash? How are you feeling?” her mom replied, coming back to sit on the bed.

“Do I have to go today? I don’t feel well and it’s already December so it’s not like I’m going to be any more behind than I already am if I stay home for one more day.”. Sasha’s stomach continuing to tighten.

Sasha’s mom leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Oh Sash, you’ll feel better once you get there. It’s such a small school, you’ll have friends in no time.”.

But Sasha missed her old friends, at her big school in the city where she was supposed to be finishing up Grade 7. But then her mom got a new job. Her mom had already tried explaining that this was best for them both, but Sasha was having a hard time understanding how jumping into the middle of Grade 7 in a new town was at all good for her.

So, Sasha got up, got dressed, and got herself to the car where she would go to her first day of the last year of Elementary school where she knew nobody.

Once at school, Sasha felt like she was floating through the morning. Her teacher, Ms. McWalt, said something to the class about her being new to town, and every once in a while, she would catch the other students looking her way with polite smiles. Sasha kept her eyes on her hands and counted the minutes until recess.

When recess came, Sasha followed the group of students as they headed outside for some fresh winter air to run and play and refresh their minds. But, when that winter air hit Sasha’s face, the tightness in her stomach came back because when she looked around the schoolyard, she saw groups of other kids playing, talking, building snowmen, and walking around. Everybody in a group of friends, yet no groups with room for her…

Sasha turned around and went back inside. She kicked off her brand-new boots and mitts and stalked back to the classroom. The door was locked. She wandered the empty halls of the school, following the sound of voices until she peaked through a doorway and saw Ms. McWalt and a bunch of other teachers eating their lunch. Ms. McWalt locked eyes with Sasha and said “Sasha, is everything okay? You should be outside!”.

Sasha’s eyes stung with the beginnings of tears, but she swallowed hard and replied, “I’m just not used to it being so cold yet, is there somewhere inside I can stay to have my snack?”

Ms. McWalt and the other teachers looked at each other briefly and knowingly. She got up to meet Sasha at the door, guiding her down a hallway she hadn’t been before.

“The resource room is down here by the gym, you’re more than welcome to have your snack in here today. But Sasha, you should really try to spend some time outside! It’s not every day that we have sunshine AND snow.”. With that, Ms. McWalt gave Sasha a sweet smile and went back to the classroom. Sasha went into the resource room, avoiding eye contact with the resource teacher, Mr. Andrews, and had her snack alone.

Sasha later ate her lunch alone, again, in the resource room.

And she did so the next day.

And the next day.

On the morning of the fourth day, Sasha awoke to realize that something was different. The knot in her stomach was gone and her surroundings looked more like… her own bedroom! The pictures now on the wall and the boxes in the corner unpacked. It even smelled like her own room again. Instead of feeling nervous, she felt brave.

So, Sasha got dressed more confidently, looked herself in the eye as she brushed her hair and thought to herself: I am going to make friends.

Later that day while in the resource room, Sasha looked up from the table and blurted to Mr. Andrews “What do people around here even like to do?”.

Mr. Andrews glanced over top his computer to Sasha, his eyebrows creased from the surprise of Sasha finally speaking.

“Well,” Mr. Andrews said. “a lot of the other students in the school like to get involved in clubs or try out for different teams. It’s a really good way to make some friends and it gives you something to do outside of school.”.

With that, his eyes shifted back to his computer and Sasha went back to her granola bar, thinking to herself: Okay, so I can join a club, or try out for a team. But I haven’t really tried anything out before, how will I know what I’m good at or what I’ll like?

There was only one way for Sasha to find out.

After school that day, while Sasha was putting on her mittens and boot, she paid better attention to the groups of students around her trying to see what they were like, or maybe (and better yet) where they were going. As she looked around in a way that wasn’t obvious, she saw a group of kids that looked to be about her age with pinnies, running shoes, and soccer balls in their hands! Sasha quickly threw on her backpack and followed the group all the way to the gym. She stopped at the doors and looked around, there were a good handful of other students in the room, all putting their runners on and warming up by kicking the soccer ball back and forth with each other.

She peaked her head further into the room to get a better look and…

Immediately locked eyes with Mr. Andrews, who’s face lit up with a huge smile. He half jogged his way over to Sasha.

“So, soccer?’ he asked Sasha nonchalantly, trying to hide his excitement in Sasha’s presence.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think maybe I will just watch today and see if soccer is for me.” Sasha replied, heading over to a bench on the side of the gym.

“Nonsense! You’ll play. Seth here” Mr. Andrews said, gesturing towards a boy in her class with bright red hair and a face full of freckles, “is our soccer star! He’ll get you everything you need to get started.”.

Seth flashed a wide smile at Sasha. “Do you have running shoes?” he asked. Sasha smiled back and pulled her indoor shoes out of her backpack.

Sasha’s experience in soccer was… interesting. At first, she couldn’t get the hang of running AND kicking the ball with her feet, and then when that started to get easier, she found that people on her team were actually expecting her to try and score! She kicked, kicked, and kicked again but always seemed to send the ball off in a different direction than the net. No matter what she did or how hard she tried, the ball always ended up bouncing off the wrong side of her foot. Eventually, she began to feel discouraged, and she went to sit down and sip some water, feeling awfully sorry for herself.

Once Sasha sat, Seth came and sat down beside her.

“Wow!! What a great game! I love it when we all just play for fun and it doesn’t get competitive.” he said.

Sasha looked at him, feeling worse than ever about her bad aim.

“Yeah…” Sasha replied, “I just feel bad about not doing better. I can’t even get the ball near the net!”.

“Are you joking?? Nobody here can! It’s all just for fun anyways.” Seth answered. With that, he jumped back up and started playing again.

The next day, Sasha was so sore she felt as though her legs would fall off. Maybe no soccer for me today she thought to herself. Plus, she had a feeling that soccer wasn’t for her. She had fun, and definitely felt better about it all after she spoke to Seth, but she felt like her eye-foot coordination was still a little off.

So, Sasha spent another recess in the resource room with Mr. Andrews.

After having lunch, Sasha went back to the resource room to read while the other students played outside. She expected it to be empty, as it always was during recess and lunch but was surprised to hear voices… and laughter! She peeked her head around the doorframe so see a group of kids at her regular table doing a variety of activities: working on homework or projects, drawing, playing card games. Feeling more confident after the soccer practice yesterday, she held her chin up and approached the group at the table. They all looked at her, waiting.

“Um, hi. I’m Sasha, I usually spend lunch time in here.” Sasha offered, feeling her confidence begin to drain.

One girl, who Sasha recognized to be Daphne from the Grade 6 class, looked across the table at another student who Sasha had not met yet. The other student looked at Daphne and began to use sign language to translate what Sasha had just said to the group.

Sasha felt awkward because of the exchange, but still determined to make friends and discover her place in the community, she pulled out a chair and sat down.

“So,” Sasha started, looking at Daphne, “what are you all doing here at lunch?”.

Sasha waited while the other student signed her question and watched while the two had their exchange in amazement.

The other student said “We’re part of the SOGI club, we meet here once a week at lunch time to just hang out and play some games. I’m Bobby, I use they/them pronouns, by the way, and that’s Daphne, she/her, and over on the other side are Bruce, he/him and Samira, who is usually she/her but sometimes they/them.”.

Bobby looked at the puzzled look on Sasha’s face. “It stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, so pretty much it’s just a fun place to hang out once a week where we can just be ourselves and learn more about stuff that we have questions about. Mr. Andrews lets us play games or do homework or whatever while we talk.” they said.

“Oh!” Sasha exclaimed, “I get it. I’m Sasha, and I guess I am she/her. I uh, don’t really know if I fit in here though because I’ve never really heard of SOGI and I haven’t really thought much about any sort of orientation or identity.”

Sasha waited while Bobby signed what was happening to Daphne. Once they were done Daphne stood up and pointed to a poster on the wall that Sasha hadn’t noticed before. It read:

            Sasha giggled as she read the last line of the poster, which had obviously been scribbled down quickly with a marker.

            Bruce laughed and said “That’s Bobby’s writing, we just really like our group and sometimes other people aren’t very nice to us. They call us names and it makes Bobby really mad or the rest of us really sad… it’s not that we don’t want new members, it’s just that sometimes people are…”

            “Meat heads.” Sasha finished, smiling. “Can I hang out with you? I really like it here too.”

            They all looked at her and smiled, making room for her at the table. Sasha stayed, played games, looked at their art work, and even learned to sign her own name.

            Throughout the next week, Sasha tried to do something new every day. She tried to learn chess with a group that plays before school on Mondays but found that no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t remember the rules. Plus she didn’t really like it. On Tuesday, she asked a group if she could come with them to the horse club after school to try horseback riding, but when she got there her eyes got itchy and she couldn’t stop sneezing. Apparently, she had allergies that she didn’t know were there, people in the city often don’t see horses much, if at all. Wednesday, Sasha asked the Yearbook Club if she could help, but they told her they were full and turned her away.

Thursday she was approached by William, the only person in the whole school to use a wheelchair. Sasha wasn’t sure why but the way he manoeuvred around the dirt paths and tree roots told her that he must have had to use it for a long time. They had met a few times before when their two classes worked together on projects and he seemed very nice, so when he approached her that day after the students ate their lunch, she was willing to give another shot at friendship.

“Hey Sasha, you busy for lunch today?” William asked.

Sasha glanced down the hall towards the resource room.

“Umm, I guess not, what’s up?” she replied, feeling anxious about what William wanted from her.

“Well, our wheelchair basketball team is down a player, and I was wondering if you wanted to come and give it a try? I figured that if you’re willing to try chess then you must be up for a challenge!”

Sasha felt guilty, looking down at her perfectly capable legs. Her face went hot.

“Are you sure? I mean…” she lowered her voice and looked at her feet, “I don’t even use a wheelchair.”.

William laughed. A BIG laugh, turning himself around in a circle trying to compose himself.

“Neither does Jake, or Lauren, or Genevieve, or anyone else on the team. Our principal organized the team a few years ago when I transferred here so that I could be more included in sports. But it wouldn’t be much of a sport if I was playing against myself, would it? Lots of people around school play, you should come try it out.”

“Okay then…” Sasha replied, feeling nervous still but unable to decline.

So Sasha and William made their way to the gym, Sasha growing more and more nervous with each step. Once they reached the gym, she took a moment to breath in an effort to calm her nerves. Nothing can be as bad as sneezing so loud that you spook the horses, right?

William and the other teammates got Sasha set up and ran her through the rules. Easy enough, Sasha thought to herself, I can give it my best shot.

What Sasha didn’t expect, however, was that she loved it!! And not only that but was actually pretty good. She even got a few points for her team! Towards the end of lunch, Sasha was racing William around the gym, trying to see who could get more laps in before the bell rang.

By Friday morning, Sasha was feeling exhausted.

            She decided to take the day off from finding her place in this new town, feeling as though maybe she just wouldn’t fit in. Sure, she met some people (which is better than nothing) but they were probably just being nice, right?

            That recess, Sasha made her (now routine) walk to the resource room for her snack. As the door came into view, she stopped in her tracks.

            The door was closed. The door was never closed.

            Mr. Andrews was leaning against the wall by reception, talking to the principal about how his room could really use some new board games when he spotted Sasha.

            “Hey Sasha, I think today you might have to try going outside for recess and lunch. My room’s getting a brand-new paintjob. It’s gonna look fresh.” he said to her, grinning as if someone just told him that he got a brand-new car instead of a coat of paint.

            Sasha began to panic; this was not expected and not in her routine. Outside? But what was she going to do outside, without any friends? Stand there like a loser???

            Mr. Andrews went back to his conversation and Sasha turned to go put on her boots and mittens, trying to take deep breaths but that feeling she had on the first day of school was coming back. She slowly stepped outside into the cold winter air and froze.

            But then she relaxed.

            Because when Sasha looked around her, she realized that she knew people out there, she wasn’t alone.

            Over in the field she saw Seth with his bright red hair poking out from under his toque building a snowman with Samira. And by the trees she saw Bobby and Daphne and Bruce packing snowballs where the teachers couldn’t see. Over beside the school she watched as William slid his wheelchair across some black ice while his teacher hovered, and the other students laughed in excitement.

            Sasha took a deep breath, finally feeling the weight of her worries lift away like a tough grass stain. She had friends, people who she was comfortable with, people she tried new experiences with, people who didn’t judge her.

            Sasha could finally relax; she had found her place.

References

First Peoples Principles of Learning. First Nations Education Steering Committee FNESC. (n.d.). http://www.fnesc.ca/first-peoples-principles-of-learning/.

Jordan, K. (2020, March 9). Spotlight on the Chaos Theory of Careers. careers.govt.nz. https://www.careers.govt.nz/articles/spotlight-on-the-chaos-theory-of-careers/.

Poehnell, G., & Amundson, N. E. (2011). Hope-Filled Engagement: Creating New Possibilities in Life/Career Counselling. Ergon Communications.

The number one thing that I accomplished in my EDUC 490 practicum in regards to Fine Arts was through music! Which is hilarious to me because I have tried and tried again to learn various instruments with no success, and yet with a little manipulation on my part I managed to find a way. Throughout the process outlined below I was able to better connect with my students (and since they were grade 6/7, connecting is difficult), motivate them to stay on task longer, and even belt out lyrics together as a class to relieve some stress from being cooped up indoors on beautiful days.

The first step of my process was the Hand of Knowledge. This is where the students each trace their hands onto a blank piece of paper, and as a class, we decide on questions for everyone to answer and assign each question to a finger, and then one big question to the palm. The idea of the Hand of Knowledge is to get to know each other better, but I had ulterior motives because the question that I chose was: What is your favourite song or musical artist? I put this question in the thumb so that students would not suspect any importance behind the question. The other questions chosen by the students were: Your favourite thing to do (index), your favourite movie or TV show (middle), your favourite game to play (ring), your favourite subject in school (pinky), your favourite place (palm).

From there, I spend an entire prep block finding their songs, reading the lyrics (some of them were just… a bit inappropriate) and putting together a Spotify playlist. In addition to the songs they gave me, I spent time exploring the artists that they liked that I had never heard of before and found songs that I liked as well to fluff up the playlist a bit, given that art times were about an hour each and I wanted their songs to stay fresh.

The first time I put the playlist on for the students to listen to I was stressed because my laptop would not connect to the wifi at the school, I have a new phone so I was not sure in my hot spotting abilities, and I worried that at the end of it all they would not even care. BUT, as they started on their collages I managed to get the music going. The volume was lower at first and the students did not pay much attention because they were used to music being played in the classroom while they worked. Yet, as time went on and I circulated I started to see their eyes widen and whispers starting as they each, one by one, heard their favourite songs being played.

When I tell you that there is no better feeling in this world than singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody with 27 pre-teens, I mean it.

From that point on, the students and I each had at least one thing to talk about on a personal level and I cherished the moments that they would come to me with a new song suggestion to add to the playlist. It gave me quick snippets of time with them individually where they were able to request something of me, and I was able to oblige wholeheartedly and without hesitation.

English Language Arts is my jam! Not just because I have a Bachelors of Arts in English, but also because I have always had an unwavering love for reading and writing. However, in my last practicum I was challenged because my Coaching Teacher told me that the students needed for practice with their non-fiction reading and writing. Non-fiction is the one shadowy corner of reading and writing that I myself have always avoided because I usually much prefer imagination and creativity and had a difficult time figuring out a way to combine the two.

In this course I was introduced and encouraged to check out Adrienne Gear, and much to my pleasure I saw that she had not one, but TWO texts on non-fiction reading and writing, so away I went! I scoured her texts from front to back, looking for ways to get the students practicing their non-fiction reading and writing skills while also working towards some sort of a project, and I came across her biography section. In this section there was a lesson on writing classmate biographies, where they would use the biography planner provided in the text, interview a classmate, and then turn it into a good copy.

These good copies are by far my most proud achievement of my teacher career because I showed expert scaffolding skills by dissecting fiction versus non-fiction, looking at biographies, describing vital elements of non-fiction writing, interviewing, feedback, rough outlines, and finally good copies. Their final copies proved to me that the students learned so much about each other and I was finally able to learn more about each and every one of them. The time and dedication that each student put into this project also welcomed many of the students who tended to be disengaged because they still had creative freedom but with just enough structure to keep them on pace, so, even the students I was worried about produced an amazing good copy that they were proud of.

This literacy element of EDUC 400 provided me the resources I needed to launch me and my students into this project, a project that ended up being lengthy, intensive, collaborative, and rewarding.

For EDUC 400 Literacy with Ian Landy, we have been asked to put together a toolkit of reading, writing, and oral language resources for us to be able to refer back to as well as celebrate our learning from our Formative Practicum. As much as I would love to list ALL of Adrienne Gears’ work, here are a variety of resources that I have collected so far for literacy work:

Reading

Novel Studies

But not just your class novel study, a personalized version!! To personalize novel studies, the students can all choose whatever book they would like to study, and then present their learning however they want. The only constant between all the students are the elements of story that they need to be looking out for and reflecting on (themes, types of characters, genre tropes, etc.). Otherwise if they want to read a graphic novel and draw up a poster to reflect on their learning then go ahead! The important thing here is that they are looking at a piece of writing through a critical lens and reflect on what they are seeing/reading.

Literature Circles

I love the idea of literature circles in the classroom as well because it allows students to connect, communicate, and collaborate with a topic that they all have in common. This connection is really important in Intermediate grades because they tend to want to stick with their friend group, but by grouping students within their most comfortable reading levels they can relate with each other and expand their understanding of the text through discussion. The main focus of the literature circles (in my opinion) is to open up discussion within the groups, so the activity itself is very low impact and can be fun for students.

Word Walls (for all grades!)

In my future classroom I think I would love a word wall regardless of the grade that I am teaching because it would make room each day for the students to express that they have learned a new word and for the whole class to add this new word to their vocabulary together. A word wall would be amazing for when students are getting into new units, particularly vocabulary-rich units like in Science or Math because as the word wall grows, the students ability to reference it instead of avoiding the word grows as well.

Writing

Mystery Word Short Stories

A lesson I did up for a group of grade 6/7 was what I called a “Mystery Word Short Story” activity. I had 4 containers labelled adjective, noun, verb, and mystery. In each container held a bunch of words which fit the category (the mystery container was just a bunch of random words). The students would take one word out of each container and glue them all at the top of a blank piece of lined paper. From there, their goal was to write a short story (about 1 page) that contained all four words and had a clear beginning, middle, and end. This activity is fun because it has very little set up time and provides a structured free-write experience. It can also be done with very little set up or preparation once the words and containers are put together.

Story Cubes

These cubes have the same idea as above but leave a bit more room for creative expression and interpretation. They also offer more elements for the students to include in their writing and are more designed for strictly free write time. You would simply roll the dice and place them under a document camera so all students could see the images on the top of the dice, and then let them go ahead and write!

Classmate Biographies

This idea is from Adrienne Gears’ Non Fiction Writing Power text and I tried it out for the first time with my students in my last practicum. The process was really fun and it helped me get to know the students as well as helped the students get to know each other. The set up and preparation are fairly easy (the just need a biography planner out of the textbook) and a basic understanding of what a biography is! To be fair though, if the goal is to build the students’ non-fiction writing skills, this textbook is the way to go.

Oral Language

What If? In a Jar.

This resource is great for opening up group discussion, small discussions, or even debates within the classroom. The topics themselves encourage the students to think critically and apply any background thoughts, opinions, or knowledge to be able to state their ideas for the class. The process of thinking critically in order to convey your thoughts encourages students to slow down, think, and speak coherently so that their opinion can be clearly stated for the rest of the class to listen to and reflect on.