February 8, 2023

Observations

My mentor teacher explained her emphasis on formative learning to me. It is important to her to explain assessment strategies to students and let them know how they are doing early on so they are not “hit over the head” with a poor grade when summative assessments come along.

I was inspired by one of her interactions with boys who were talking about sexist ideas during lunch hour. She took the boys aside and spoke quite firmly to them about not saying these things and how it makes female students feel unsafe. She talked about her frustration with online influencers and how there are not many positive ones for young boys. She then surprised me by encouraging the students to be influencers themselves. She said if they wanted to raise money for the food bank or make some sort of positive videos, she would support them in this and potentially even help them financially.

I also noticed that she likes to get to the bottom of problems in her class. She likes to know the “why.” She asks students to come to her desk and tell her what happened when something goes wrong. She asks “Why did you do this?” Or “What did they say to make you mad?” She wants to understand the root of negative behaviour to empathize and solve the problem, then address the behaviour after. She told one student something like “It was wrong for _____ to say this about you, but doing ______ is not an acceptable way to respond. Next time, use your words and tell a teacher what is happening.”

In conversation, my mentor teacher also talked about doing activities based on the students you have. She said that incorporating theatre is often a helpful tool for engaging attention through fun and applying their learning. Theatre can be integrated into many subjects like Language Arts and Social Studies.

Reflections

I liked my mentor teacher’s way of talking to the boys about sexism. Even if the boys do not become influencers, the teacher was inspiring them to become helpful members of society and reminding them that they do not need to conform to negative societal norms. She empowered them to be better and shape their identity into something they could be proud of. Although she was disappointed and annoyed with these students, she still believed in their ability to learn, grow, and benefit those around them. I want to be a teacher who makes students believe they are good people and can have positive impacts. I know a person’s beliefs about themselves are crucial for how their lives turn out, so I want to ingrain truths about positive identity.

In general, I think this teacher aligns somewhat with the Seganti model which I learned about in Dr. Etherington’s classroom management course. She doesn’t give detention exactly, but she is quite firm and often is not willing to argue with students. This class seems to have issues with respect, so this may be necessary. When she sees a negative behaviour, she calls it out immediately and does not let it slide. I think she knows letting it slide once will give students permission to disobey again and more strongly in the future.

I don’t know if I would be able to have her level of firmness in a classroom, simply knowing my personality. I can see myself having a more relational, student-led, and procedure-based classroom. But while I am under her, I have a chance to practise my firmness and see what it is like to teach in this manner. Firmness is definitely important in schools, even if I don’t have her level of it.

I like the teacher’s comments on including theatre. I like how this is inclusive for students with learning difficulties and who understand better through experiential and tactile learning, as I learned about in the Exceptional Education course with Moira. This is also more inclusive of Indigenous students as it is a holistic way of learning that implements story, creativity, and communal learning.