As of Monday my fiance and I are both back student teaching at “S-School” full time for the next five weeks. Although I haven’t officially begun teaching yet as my cooperating teachers are finishing up their units and having their final tests before I take over using my lesson plans and resources. If you remember, my schedule looks like this: Here is what my classrooms look like! (In order of how they appear on my schedule). Grade 11/12 World Issues: I will be starting my unit on Indigenous Peoples on Monday. Grade 9/10 ICT: I will be… Read More
Fab Five 2012 Conference
Winnipeg Conference Poster: Our conference dates were different! This week I spent Thursday evening and all of Friday at The Fab 5 conference put on by the Manitoba Teachers’ Society. This conference is designed for teachers in their first five years of teaching (including student teachers) and it is one that I attended last year as well! The sessions cover everything from general classroom management information and curriculum specifics to personal management and special area groups. By far one of the best parts about this conference is the attendants, presenters and organizers! I feel so fortunate to have had… Read More
Richard Wagamese
The following is a short biography on an Aboriginal role model, Richard Wagamese, that my fiance and I completed for our Aboriginal Studies course. This biography could have easily been pages and pages but, as we are making a book out of our class’s assignments, we were limited on space. “Richard Wagamese is an Ojibway in search of definition through writing, living and reflection.” – Richard Wagamese Richard Wagamese has stated that if a student were to learn about him as an individual, the most important thing he would want them to know is that, I never quit. I… Read More
Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday! Student Teaching Thoughts
Student teaching is just a short 11 days away and I busily attempting to get everything together for the six units that I will be teaching to my Grade 4, 9, 10, 11, and 12 classes! Here is a reminder of what my schedule will look like: I mentioned before that I am going to, hopefully, be filming a video to submit for my WBT Certification while I am student teaching and I already have so many things to consider. – What class should I be filming? – Since I will also be using the video for… Read More
Come to Our School's Science Program!
This week we had an assignment in our Science Methods course to create a presentation that could theoretically be used during an open house to draw potential students to the school and enrol in the science program. My partner, Tyler, and I created a fictional school called the “Why? School” where all of our science curriculum was inquiry based and designed to answer the question, why. Here is a prezi that we used in conjunction with the verbal explanation of our program as well as an in-class science demonstration. Our presentation was meant to showcase some of the… Read More
Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday! Integrating Aboriginal Perspectives into Curricula
One of the classes that I am taking this year for my education degree is Teaching of Aboriginal Studies, which I’ve posted about previously over the past few weeks. (For my followers who are from other countries, this course has actually been a Provincially-mandated requirement for all educators in Manitoba since 2008.) Today we discussed Understanding the Integration of Aboriginal Perspectives through Theory and I was especially intrigued by our highlight of the traditional Aboriginal view of education. As I will be entering the workforce (fingers crossed) within the year this discussion really encouraged me to examine specific aspects… Read More
Science Course Outline
The following is a theoretical course outline developed for my Science Methods class. It is designed around the Senior 1 (Grade 9) Manitoba curriculum. Available on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwf6KR9URrBaeGFVWEpTTHlvTWc Some things I tried to incorporate while creating this outline: – “Backwards by Design” planning – Assessment breakdown that follows the new MB Provincial Report Cards – Incorporating information that speaks to views similar to those in the division I am student teaching in – Creating a culture of respect in the classroom This is the first course outline I’ve created so I would love feedback! ** It is important… Read More
8th Fire Documentary Series Wordle
The following is a Wordle completed for my Aboriginal Studies course which summarizes some of the main topics, issues and people discussed on the 8th Fire Documentary series. I’ve also written a Learning Log on 8th Fire as well as attended a talk at our university by the series’ host, Wab Kinew.
8th Fire Documentary Series: It's Time
The following is a Learning Log completed for my Aboriginal Studies course on “It’s Time“, a portion of the 8th Fire documentary series. “To the approximately 80,000 living former students, and all family members and communities, the government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this.” – Stephen Harper, June 11, 2008 As I watched the T.V segment “It’s Time”, from the 8th Fire documentary series, I found myself experiencing a wide range of emotions. I laughed along with Howie Miller’s comedic approach to some… Read More
Wab Kinew
It takes a specific set of skills in order to be an effective public speaker. I’m not talking about the teacher who stands in front of their classroom kind of public speaker, although that takes some skills as well! I’m talking about the kind of public speaker who can stand in front of a diverse group of people, deliver a powerful message on what can be a controversial subject area and have the audience hanging off their every word. This is exactly the type of public speaker Wab Kinew is. Last night my fiance and I were lucky… Read More