I did my practicum at the ideal minischool. Har har har, puns!
But this school really does deserve the name and after spending two weeks there, I wish I could work there and send my kids there. It's an amazing school. Not because it has much to offer (it's resources are very limited) but because it operates on the human scale that we all crave.
I don't really have much to write about the first lesson I taught. It was a quick and awkward experience. I learned a few things, of course, and I got comfortable enough to teach another lesson. The first lesson wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't a success. It just was. It deserves no further comment.
But the second lesson was incredible. This is what I want teaching to be like. I got to teach physics to a small class (only 11 students). The lion's share of the class was taken up by a big group activity and the whole class was interested. They got out of their seats to gather closer to the center of the action and spontaneous discussion sprang up about the nature of physics. It was easy, it was natural, it felt like a gathering of philosophers in the park.
Of course, I found ways to make it awkward by having a novice lesson plan and generally being a n00b. There were many things that went poorly and need to be fixed for the next time. But the core of the lesson, the spontaneous emergence of interested discussion and the look in their eyes when they had that "aha!" moment were truly magical and reassured me that I'm doing the right thing with my life.
Then there was Churchill. Compared to Ideal, Churchill is a big noisy impersonal city. The character of the students was noticeably different between the two schools. The group at ideal was very diverse, in ethnicity and character. Many students had their hair dyed, many wore extravagant clothing. There was an incredible diversity of styles and interests, and every student brought something special that made the school a better place.
At Churchill, it was a melting pot. I saw no dyed hair, I saw no extravagant dress. I saw nary a peep of a halloween costume, few and far between. Nearly every student at Ideal wore a costume. The children at Ideal were loud, involved, and passionate. The children at Churchill were quiet and subdued. They were passive receptors, while the children at Ideal were full of life. I have no idea what happens at Churchill to produce such a stifling atmosphere, but it made Ideal all the more vibrant by comparison.
I observed a gym class at Churchill and it was shocking. The students were told to stretch, and they stretched. They were told to warm up, and they warmed up. They were told to sit and wait, and they sat and waited. They were told to take their turn, and they took their turn. Never in my life have I seen such an obedient gym class. They weren't chasing each other in circles, they weren't goofing off, they weren't fighting and hardly even competing! I was not the only person to notice this, another student teacher commented on their unusual passivity. What I saw really worries me. Why are these kids not acting like kids? I saw nothing of the sort at Ideal. At Ideal, each student was energetic and full of life. Perhaps the small environment helps them develop as individuals. I'll be looking into this in my long practicum.
It was great opportunity for you to go to different schools and to see their differences. As a teacher on call, in the last few weeks, I went to different schools in Vancouver. It was a very good opportunity for me to know the schools, the stuff, and the students. I also learned a lot from their differences. For example, in a school, when the students need to go to washroom, they have to get the “Hall Pass”—a small board, with them, which I had never seen when I did my practicum and worked in other schools. However, I finally found that the “Hall Pass” really helped me to control the students to go outside of the classroom one by one because there was only one “Hall Pass”.
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