Reflections on Public Reflection

It has been almost a year since I last published a post on either of my blogs and nearly eighteen months since I last drafted a post. While I have been reflecting on my experiences as an educator in New Brunswick during the intervening time, that reflection has often occurred "on the fly" between classes or in conversation with colleagues.

Public reflection through a blogging medium has been productive in as much as it has helped me to organize my thoughts and present ideas in a more concise fashion than the essays I wrote for the majority of my university career. Upon entering the arena of public education, the immediacy of learning moments coming from a failed lesson or discussion with a mentor proved much more useful to a new educator trying to balance lesson planning, classroom management, the challenges of teaching to all levels of learners, and have some small form of a life outside of work.

The posts in my blogs are evidence of some of the challenges I grappled with as a student of History and Education during the last years of my own university education; however, these blogs in their present form do not seem suitable for reflection on my professional practice now that I have left the safe confines of the university campus. I imagine that successful reflection in a web-based medium would more likely come from sharing projects posted in a digital portfolio for review and discussion with like-minded colleagues. In the future, I hope that I can be a participating member of such a community.

For the time being, it seems a responsible choice to prioritize my professional responsibilities and the knowledge to be gained from mentors and colleagues above the creation of an intentional, thoughtful online presence. Though control of one's online presence will doubtless continue to be of increasing important in the coming years, I must content myself with the initials forays into such a goal that my blogs represent.

Thank you for reading.

More Classroom Management!!!

Though I really want a noisy class, my students here in Aleppo are going a little bit beyond my hopes and expectations. I fear that I will have to make an example of a few students this week and assign some lunchtime detentions. It will be my own brand of detention: lunch taken in silence followed by a debrief of why the students are staying in and making a plan to ensure they do not find themselves in at lunch again. (Lofty goals for a thirty minute lunch break!) I am somewhat hesitant to assign detentions though because I have observed that these consequences do not seem to stick with this particular group of students.

I think that these students need a tailor-made approach. I agree that they need to practice their listening skills and being respectful towards others, but they should be practicing these habits through opportunities that either play on their strengths or are so meaningful to these students that the kids cannot help but get tuned in and focused.

I have encountered a lot of middle-school aged kids as a camp counsellor, and there are always kids who are not listeners. When considering boys in particular – it is the behaviour of the boys in my classes that other teachers and myself are finding the most challenging – these guys can often be self-centered doers and jokers who feed off of one another. They like to talk, which unfortunately interferes with their listening. While I agree that these students can do some great work when they finally sit down and get to it, the fact that there is a regular struggle between teacher and student to get to that productive point suggests that these students are lacking buy-in. The typical presentation of the material does not jive for these students.

Some teachers manage this group by being strict disciplinarians and maintaining a rigid class structure. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a student constantly sent into the hallway or to the vice-principal is going to eventually start learning effectively, although the rest of the class might be kept in line through this one person’s punishment. I think that it is better to channel students’ energy rather than fight and contain it because the majority of these students are going to grow out of their self-centered behaviour anyways! Students receive countless reminders about listening to and being respectful towards other, but it is a lot nicer for everybody involved if students are praised for when they do listen instead of being reprimanded when they do not.

As I go through my last week of in-class teaching, it is my hope to put some of these vague notions into practice. Wish me luck as I try making up lessons for students who really like being at school but have trouble listening once they have an opportunity to start talking!

Happy Easter!

Culture Shock, Socializing, and Frames of Mind

I think that my culture shock, such as I have experienced it, has been mitigated over the past couple weeks by the fact that I teach in an English-speaking environment, I have a number of people from the school looking after me, and that I am here for such a short time. I have also tried to stay open-minded about the circumstances in which I have found myself, and I am continuously grounded and focused by thinking about the students that I have the opportunity to teach.

This past weekend was split between traveling with others and living on my own. While I definitely learned more with others - Bartering 101 with John and Wain, Passion processions in Azazieh with Berdj and Laura, and Armenian social life with Maria and Alig – it has been important to discover that I actually can function independently in a city where I essentially do not know the language. I can go grocery shopping, get from my apartment to the city center both on foot and by taxi, and deal with small bouts of minor homesickness. (Sam Roberts and Joel Plaskett were no small help this weekend)

I have heard from foreign hires who have taught elsewhere in the Middle East that Syria has been their most difficult placement because so few people speak English. It seems to me that there are a number of teachers looking forward to the end of their contract because the challenge of learning the Arabic language makes a deep integration into the culture much more difficult. While most teachers know enough Arabic to function, one individual told me that she felt it would take a much better understanding of Arabic to strengthen any of the relationships she shared with the Syrians she had met. The majority of foreign teachers therefore feel confined to a social circle of other teachers at the school in Aleppo and the scientists at the associated research facility.

In order to overcome the challenges of living in a small community and thrive on the international education scene, I think that a teacher needs to exhibit one of three characteristics: a solid knowledge of the local language that allows the teacher to participate fully in the host community; a true love for exploring cities, the Great Outdoors, and/or tourist sites; or a enjoyment of hobbies unrelated to teaching that can be done at home regardless of where “home” is. I want to teach abroad to engage with an entirely different community of students, but I know that I will need to bring other pastimes and interests when I take on a contract to teach outside of Canada.

Right now, I am really missing having a guitar to play. Music plays a big role in shaping my frame of mind and helping me to re-focus myself. Since I hugged my parents at the airport and said goodbye, I have constantly been evaluating how I am feeling and why I am feeling that way. I am happy to report that I have felt really good since I stepped out of the airport in Aleppo. It has been difficult to get to a phone or computer for a longer period of time, which sometimes weighs me down when I first wake up or when I am heading to bed, but as one of my associate teachers often said, the promise of “just another day in paradise” helps to both start my day and send me off to sleep.

The Dreams of Teachers

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit in on parent-teacher interviews last week with a Grade 7 and 8 teacher. Although I am sure I can look forward to many interviews in my teaching career where parents are angry, apathetic, or simply absent, it was pretty spectacular to start off my experience of the parent-teacher meeting by encountering so many moms and dads who are genuinely concerned and interested in the success of their children. I listened to parents who tutored their sons and daughters, parents who advocated for their children, and parents who took the blame for putting too much pressure on their kids to get high grades. I suppose I should admit that many of these parents are in high-profile positions and recognize the effort it takes to be academically and professionally successful; moreover, there were “power-parents” who did not show up for an interview, but from purely my own experience of the day: Bravo Parents! Even where the student needed to translate for his mother or father, it was a phenomenal opportunity for the teacher, parent, and student to get back on the same page and ensure that the student was playing at the top of her or his game.

When sitting down the other morning to my last prep period of the day, I came to a point where there was no other work for me to do. I essentially have all my lessons planned and prepared until we go to visit Crusader castles! This was an alien experience for me since I sometimes found myself scrambling to be prepared for lessons during my practica in October, December, and February. At this school in Aleppo, I, like all teachers here, have between two and four hours of prep time every day. From one perspective, it is wonderful to have all this time because it enables me to take advantage of my evenings in Aleppo. The flip side of this coin is that I am often teaching for only half of the school day; consequently, I find it difficult to keep my “teaching groove” from class to class and day to day. The time that I spend with students is always the most brilliant part of my teaching day and helps motivate me to come up with compelling ways to teach the next day’s lesson. When I only see the kids for two or three periods during the day, it is hard to keep up a full head of steam!

Managing Age, Language, and Education

What is causing so much nervous energy in my students? As I began teaching the Grade 6 and Grade 7 Humanities classes this week, I was fascinated, intrigued, and a little horrified at the constant motion these students demonstrate throughout a period. The students at this school are all very polite to teachers, and it is pretty wonderful when students go out of their way between periods to pop their head inside the staff room and say hello. On the other hand – wow! The effort it takes to get them to listen to me or each other once they are worked up is a little overwhelming!

As I have been putting together my lessons to teach these students about the Crusader castles we are visiting in just two weeks, I have repeatedly been considering where their motion, their energy, and their sociability flows from in the hopes of tapping into that energy rather than suppressing it! After working with kids of the same age at summer camp, part of me feels that these students are simply acting their age. Eleven- and twelve-year olds can be bad listeners and are very active. I also wonder if the fact that English – the language of instruction – is a second language to the majority of these kids plays into their behaviour. I can tell that a good deal of their discussion is the result of explaining something to a neighbour. Finally, I am also aware that I am working with kids who have been brought up in a very social culture. Students do not see each other outside of school and so class time seems to be regarded as another opportunity to catch up, play, and hang out!

We will see how the week goes, but one thing is certain – I do not need to get the students excited to learn at the beginning of each period. These kids are already firing on all cylinders. Maybe if I build up the excitement throughout the class, I will have a little more success harnessing that energy! On the other hand, the kids here are just as wonderful here as they anywhere else I have been, so I know that I am going to laugh with them in spite of whatever challenges they throw my way!

The Needy Traveler

I have a trying week up ahead: A full day of teaching on Sunday, a short day on Monday because of Parent-Teacher Interviews, a full day of teaching on Tuesday, and then a five-day weekend. (The government declared that the Prophet’s Birthday would be on Wednesday, but students, teachers, and researchers had already made plans for the holiday to be on Thursday, so there is no school that day, then comes the Friday-Saturday weekend, and Sunday is Easter!) Whew! It is going to be strenuous!

As I considered my traveling options for the weekend the other evening, I discovered that I am a bit of a needy traveler! I am perfectly willing to actually go from A to B on my own, but I am less than keen to spend a night in a hotel without a friend to talk about the day and the sights that I have seen. You may think that I am a sissy for not hoping to find another English-speaker with whom I can hang out in the hotel bar, but I simply feel like I need a daily shred of normalcy in a context that is completely different for me! This weekend might be a wonderful opportunity to visit Palmyra, but I am going to hold out until later in the month when I can find a travel buddy. (Most of the other teachers are going sightseeing in other countries, but as I have seen little of Syria itself yet, I would really prefer to stay in one country while I am here!) Instead, I plan on visiting Aleppo’s famous souqs, its Citadel, the many mosques and bathhouses that are more than a thousand years old, and nearby Apamea. I will be making my way through the twisty streets of Aleppo by myself, but at least I will be familiar with the area in which I am wandering. I should even be able to attend Catholic and Armenian Easter services with my new buddy Berdj. Yes, they will be in Arabic, and therefore no, I probably will not understand much of what is going on in the service.

Although I know I should be pushing myself out of my comfort zone, it is also incredibly important for me to be in a positive frame of mind in order to get the most out of my little adventures. (I will definitely be breaking new ground when I have to do my own grocery shopping with Arabic-speaking vendors this weekend!) I imagine that my students also want to have something familiar, even vaguely familiar, to hold onto when learning new material. Stepping into a new classroom, meeting a new teacher, or beginning a challenging new topic can be intimidating for some students, so I suppose that it is my responsibility to frame something brand new in a way that is somewhat familiar to these individuals.

So how do I ask in Arabic “What time does this bus return to the city?”

Chasing the Language

My first evening in Syria, I was taken grocery shopping by Lianne, the generous, knowledgeable host with whom I am living for the next month. I was not expecting to do any of the talking on this little adventure, but I when I was addressed by one of the grocers we encountered, I discovered that I had no way to respond. I did not even have the vocabulary to say no. What a bizarre experience to be unable to communicate in any way!

In the weeks and days leading up to my trip, I had considered trying to listen to some learn-to-speak-Arabic podcasts but simply could not find the time. When I was getting my passport stamped by Syrian immigration officials, four of the eight individuals with whom I spoke knew enough English to guide me through the process, but my experience in the grocery store indicated that I would not be so lucky all the time. While few of the foreign teachers at the school can speak fluent Arabic, it seems that almost all know enough key words to get around on a taxi, but groceries, and find their way through an evening out on the town. I spent a little time expanding my own vocabulary beyond Marhaba! (Hi!) While I have yet to test out my newly-learned words, I feel relatively comfortable saying la (no), na'am (yes) – at this point I am pulling out my little cheat sheet to see what other words I "know" – ana bah-ki inglizi (I speak English), ma bif-ham (I don't understand), and addaish (how much?). I am also pretty confident that I can identify the Arabic characters for zero though nine. I guess we will see how that goes when I next go shopping.

It seems that Syrians are very appreciative and patient with foreigners that are trying to speak their language. Are we so tolerant of non-English speakers in Canada? Store owners and security guards have bid me farewell in my own language, but I doubt that many cashiers even in Ottawa would make the effort to say au revoir to a francophone leaving their store.

Imagine how difficult normal activities at work, at school, and on the street would be if you were carrying them out in a language for which you knew only a few words. If a person was visibly annoyed or upset with you because of your inability to communicate articulately, how would you feel about improving your language skills after that conversation? What if that person patiently supported you as you struggled through the five words you knew and gave you a friendly salutation as you left?

I doubt that I will learn much more Arabic than what I need to get me through the next few weeks, but I feel very lucky that I am compelled to speak Arabic to carry out regular activities like buying groceries, ordering a falafel, or bargaining in the market. (Okay, well that last one isn't so regular) I hope this experience continues to increase the empathy that I will have for non-English speakers when I return to Canada.

Highlights from the Air

On my flight from Ottawa to London, I found myself sitting beside a woman who works for CIDA. I imagine that she was pretty high up on the ladder as she was traveling to the United Kingdom to represent the agency at a conference on implementing different development strategies. Initially I felt lucky to have found such an interesting neighbour for my flight, but I soon discovered that I was not going to learn much about projects to help the developing world. Sometimes the woman would give a longer answer to a question and other times her response would be curt. Her response might end a conversation, but out of nowhere she would ask another question three hours into our flight. Throughout this bizarre exchange, I often felt like my neighbour was only half-listening to me and cared little for her own work. It was a good reminder to take interest in the stories of students. (Yes – even though I am writing about my little trip to Syria , I will still be getting all reflective on you and relating my experiences to teaching!) I am also pretty satisfied to think that teaching is something that I'm willing to discuss ad nauseum

because I think it is so sweet!

Other events that deserve an honourable mention: the six eighteen-year old boys singing along to the Venga Boys while we were flying to London; discovering that the London skyline has not changed since Mary Poppins sang Chim-Chimmery; experiencing London at its soggiest, rainiest, chilliest, and greyest; and fighting off jetlag while flying across Europe by sitting with a very talkative and genuinely helpful Syrian.

Finally, I am especially thankful for the opportunity to meet with my friend Jenna, who was such a blessing in the end of a wet and tiring day in jolly ol’ England. My welcome to Syria has been very warm, but there are few things more wonderful than seeing a familiar face when you are facing the unknown!

Motivation in Leadership

I hope to someday serialize and post an essay I wrote for my Public History course regarding motivation and Grade 10 History students in Ontario, but time flies and I have still more ideas to write about. I am continuing to examine the motivations of students during my practicum, and in particular I am looking at the level of commitment that some students show towards leadership camps, which I have referred to in other posts. At these camps, students learn about the essentials of communication, group dynamics, problem solving, goal-setting, leadership styles, stress relief among other topics. Whether these participants in these camps actually develop into effective leaders is an entirely different question, but the organizers of the weekend have a high intrinsic motivation to make their camp a success. There is a high emotional attachment to the camp, many students feel that they change as a result of this camp and want to make a difference in the lives of others, and there is also some pride or status attached to being a part of this camp, which is of course an extrinsic motivation. I am not sure that educators are ready or really want students so interested in a particular course that they put off other school work, become almost obsessively focused on the work, and ignore even bodily needs of sleep when preparing for large activities, but it is interesting to look at how such motivation might be directed and harnessed for the purposes of education. While I suspect that one of the reasons that students devote so much effort to leadership camps might be because it is not a school activity, I think that this potential should nevertheless be investigated.

To Syria

In September, it was a possibility: “Yeah, Syria is one of the places I’m thinking about.”
When December arrived, it was a choice: “I’m hoping everything works to go to Syria.”
By January, the wheels were in motion: “So I’ve got my ticket to go to Syria!”
In February, I was assured: “I think you will be pleasantly surprised about traveling to Syria.”
This past weekend, I began saying adieu: “Check out my blogs while I’m in Syria!”

Being a somewhat less eloquent writer than some others, I find myself at a loss for the words to appropriately describe my intentions at the outset of my visit to Syria. The official reason for this trip is to gain experience teaching and learning in an international context. I have the incredible opportunity to introduce students the history of the Crusades and accompany these young individuals on trips to a number of the castles that were built during this period of history. As a historian, the prospect of traveling through one of the cradles of civilization where innumerable historic figures lived, fought, and traveled even now leaves me awe-struck. While I hope that friends will never peg me as merely the guy who will always be happy as long as you find him a museum, historical site, or dusty manuscript, I simply cannot wait to find myself surrounded by the walls of castles that once sheltered Salah al-Din and his armies or crusading knights from Europe.

To understand my most deep and fundamental desire to visit Syria though, my reader needs only to recall recent history, hysteria, and horrors. Despite its rich past, its cultural diversity, and its devotion to religious values, the Middle East has been characterized in black-and-white images as a haven for terror, a region of instability and intolerance, and a breeding ground for religious fundamentalism. This is simply an unfair characterization of a region inhabited by hundreds of millions of people. If it is the historian’s job to present and analyze information in a fair and balanced way, then this historian is seeking to address the imbalance in the story of the Middle East that is being told and retold in the media and in households today. If educators are responsible for preparing students to live well and make thoughtful and intentional decisions, then this educator believes that students need to hear an alternative narrative to the prejudiced, conflict-driven message that is currently being circulated. If there is ever to be lasting peace on this little planet of ours, that peace is going to come from understanding.

To this end, as I write over the next month and when I return to Canada after my trip, I hope to be an ambassador for Syria. I do want to describe the amazing experiences that I am having and reassure worried family and friends that I am indeed safe and sound, but it is my deepest desire to convince my readers and listeners that we need to consider these people – Syrians, Arabs, Muslims, people from the Middle East – as individuals who are our friends and neighbours rather than a faceless mass to be feared and contained.

I am not the greatest storyteller –I can never think of the appropriate story at the party unless it occurred in the last two months and often need to be reminded of events that happened only a few years before; consequently, my blog posts and the photos I take will help me to recall teachable moments and surreal experiences in the unlikely event that this trip does not leave a profound impression upon me. At the same time, I will likely comment on matters historical here and educational in Humility in Education, and some posts (like the one that you are now reading) will appear in both blogs, so please look forward to posts that are academic but hopefully not too irregular or uninteresting! When you read though, it is my desperate hope that you will also consider the serious purpose of my visit.

Syria-usly? Yep. Seriously.

Finally, I hope that you will share in my travels by commenting on my posts. Well-wishes and wish lists, comments and concerns, stories and suggestions are enriching for everybody who will continue read on.

“What’s new with me? Well, I’m going to Syria.” What an adventure!

Lesson Planning 2.0

When I am pulling together resources for a lesson plan, I usually read through the text assigned to students, read the pertinent sections from whatever books are a part of my secret syllabus for that course, and then start searching the internet for images, primary sources, black line masters, and activity ideas that can enhance my students’ learning experience. I always rely on my own resources first because I am familiar with my own books and notes, but I usually look to internet sources to avoid having to re-invent too many wheels.

At the beginning of the year, I decided that carrying a binder of photocopies and lesson plans through my career was not for me. I wanted to get with the times and keep my resources digital; consequently, I am always hopeful that the internet will provide me with helpful teaching tools. Sadly, I am frequently disappointed with the quality or availability of teaching resources, and I am sure that many of my colleagues often feel the same way. I imagine that they do what I do – lift the general concept and transform it into something that is actually engaging for students and will last more than fifteen minutes. (Because let’s be serious some of the online lessons promising to last for a whole period would not play for even half that time in the real world!) Unless the resource or lesson idea is superb, we really do not want to directly copy the resource; however, it is incredibly helpful to have digital activity plans and worksheets that can be adapted, changed, chopped into little bits, and made our own. In short, we need Lesson Planning 2.0 where lessons, skill practice, and content are collected together but in discreet packages that can be universally accessed and infinitely hacked. Lesson Planning 2.0 would challenge some educators to move beyond simply printing a worksheet off the internet and instead plan for their specific group of students, and our learners would benefit by receiving lessons that had been thoughtfully tailored to their own interests and learning needs.

The internet can provide teachers with ready access to the tools necessary for enhancing students’ learning experiences. Until we start advocating for dynamic databases that encourage users to continually add value to these applications, educators will limit the professional collaborative opportunities presented by the internet and Web 2.0.

Lesson Plans: To Share Around or Stow Away?

Throughout my B.Ed year, I have had the opportunity to share some really wonderful resources with classmates and come away with a variety of teaching and classroom management strategies. Perhaps more significantly, my Associate Teachers were willing to share their library of resources with me; however, they asked me not to pass these resources on any further. While I will faithfully use these resources only for planning my own lessons, I must argue that many teachers are overly worried about giving away lesson plans and resources. Like the chisel in the hands of a master craftswoman or craftsman, teaching tools will have the greatest impact on students when implemented by confident, competent, and reflective educators. The presentation and execution of an activity guarantees its success and value; when the activity is written down on a page, it has only the potential for creating a successful teachable moment.

I must admit that I did recently withhold complete lesson plans in favour of providing brief outlines of the activities I had led, but in the future I hope to be much more free with the content that I put together. Many of my best ideas are adaptations I have pulled from other contexts, so the lessons I create are only in part my own to begin with. If I take the time to type out, label, and organize my lessons, I should consider this a favour to fellow educators.

I suppose that sharing our treasured binders of lessons and activities strikes at the very heart of humility in education.

Leading the Way in Inconsistent Behaviour

The students who participate in planning leadership camps at my practicum school are incredibly passionate about and dedicated to creating a leadership camp experience that builds on the fantastic time that they themselves had as delegates only a few years before. At the camp that I helped to supervise in the late fall, I was stunned to learn that these students were willing and able to provide a quality camp to delegates when running on only a few hours of sleep. Their motivation in that moment was such that, whether or not this was a reasonable and healthy choice, they were willing to push their own physical limits in order to pull off the camp that they had been dreaming of and planning for the previous three months.

It was therefore so frustrating for me to attend a leadership planning meeting this past Monday to observe this dedicated group carrying on a multitude of side discussions throughout the course of their time together. Brainstorming was definitely less efficient with only part of the group tuned into the discussion, and the disregard that some students showed towards their peers was shocking. Were these the same individuals that had shown a united front dedicated to seeing through a quality leadership camp?

While many of the students involved in planning leadership camp have strong intrinsic motivations for directing considerable time and energy to this extracurricular activity, I wonder if the extrinsic rewards of being recognized as a member of the planning committee or validating the club to skeptical teachers are actually what focus the entire group to complete tasks. Perhaps these students acquire and demonstrate greater motivation as they are able to see the fruits of the labour. Because the group is so large, it may be that a consensus model is unwieldy for organizing such a large event. I believe that the energy these students invest into leadership camp can be directed towards other activities, but it is essential to identify and harness consistent sources of motivation rather than tapping unsustainable levels of commitment.

The Smooth Lesson

When I led Music & Drama sessions and Leader-In-Training sessions at Camp Kintail, it was always important for me to have quick, smooth transitions between activities in order to hold campers’ interest and attention. I also remember being told as an undergraduate student to work on smooth transitions between paragraphs in the essays that I wrote.

While observing my associate teachers and reflecting on my own practice, it occurred to me that leading a seamless lesson is every bit as important as creating smooth camp activities or essays. Students are given opportunities to lose focus when there are unexpected breaks between a mini-lecture and an activity or when certain lab materials still need to be pulled out. If I am mentally prepared for my lesson and have all my handouts and materials organized before the class, I think that I will be more successful in sustaining student focus on both teacher-centered and student-centered activities. Some students might be more motivated to engage in class work and activities if they feel that I am organized and not wasting their time trying to get my own act together. Other students who have trouble staying on task throughout an entire period might simply benefit from having a constant and consistent focus for the full seventy minutes.

The ability to lead a smooth, seamless lesson is thus not only a classroom management technique but also a pathway to success for students who experience difficulties learning in a classroom setting.

The Queen’s University Teachers’ Overseas Recruiting Fair

This time last week I was walking into my final interview of the day at the Teachers’ Overseas Recruiting Fair at Queen’s University. It had been an exhausting day: I had already prepared for and attended four other interviews, considered a job offer, attended presentations, and imagined myself working on three different continents. Over the course of the day I experienced moments of joy, anxiety, success, nervousness, confusion, compassion, relief, sadness, and clarity. I consider the day and the weekend a success in spite of these mixed feelings and the fact that I did not sign a contract before driving back home at the fair’s end. I had gotten what I wanted out of the fair: the opportunity to practice being in an interview, to gauge my marketability as a teacher, and to simply experience TORF and what went on there.

I fully plan on returning to the fair in a few years, and I expect that I will find a school that is the right fit for me. I would strongly encourage anybody interested in working abroad as an educator to attend this fair, as it is very well-organized and run by the Placement Office at Queen’s University’s Faculty of Education.

I felt I was just about as prepared as I could be for this fair, but there are definitely a few points that I would tell anybody planning on attending TORF, and so following is a list of things to remember before heading to the recruitment fair.

There are a lot of jobs available for a limited number of educators.
Being invited to an interview is exciting; being invited to a lot of interviews is overwhelming.
Remember not to feel pressured into taking a particular position.
Be aware of your gut feelings.
Come with a friend that you can check in with throughout the day.
Bring a laptop so that you can do some quick research about a school right before the interview.
Make time to attend information presentations put on by the schools since these sessions might paint a better picture of the school than the interviewer can during the interview itself.
Interviewers will start making their offers on the Saturday afternoon.
Ask about volunteer opportunities available near the school for which you are interviewing.
Know why you want to teach internationally, in the country where the school is located, at the school for which you are being interviewed, and the grade and subject for which you are being interviewed.
Listen to the advice of the interviewers.

Good Luck!

Motivating Students Through Extracurricular Involvement

With this revival of Humility in Education, I thought it would be best to start off with some posts that are fresh in my mind rather than bringing up concepts or challenges I encountered in the fall. Reflections on the fall will come with time, but let us examine the present for now.

As I returned to a school at which I have already spent two months teaching, I experienced a secret delight at being remembered by students I worked with or taught in October and December; however, it has been particularly fascinating to observe how excited the students I knew from a school leadership camp I helped to supervise were to discover that I would be their teacher for the month. It will be interesting to observe how their excitement is sustained over the course of this practicum as they get to know me as a teacher rather than as a supervisor for an extracurricular activity about which they are particularly passionate. In any case, their reaction to my presence suggests that building a professional relationship with students outside of the classroom can have an impact, at least initially, on student engagement in class activities. It is really affirming to know that participation in extracurricular activities, which can be a real joy for both students and educators, also has benefits that come into the classroom; consequently, I will need to make sure I get involved in the activities of whatever school I find myself at in the coming fall.

Time to Shine

Perhaps being a teacher-candidate is one of the few opportunities in which a person can make a first impression twice. Last week, I was introduced to students as the stranger who would be observing, helping out in class, and, eventually, teaching lessons. Tomorrow morning I will actually teaching for the first time, and in so doing I will be establishing the type of educator that I will be for at least the first seven weeks of my fledgling teaching career.

I wonder if I have given enough thought to how I actually want to act when I step into the spotlight tomorrow morning. Will I be able to move away from the tentative feelings that I have experienced during my first week of my practicum? Can I bring the confident and flexible attitude that I had as a Music & Drama camp leader to the classroom? It was a love of camp and interactions with campers that helped foster my desire to teach.

I imagine that my first class tomorrow will be difficult but that the second will go more smoothly. At least one of my two lesson plans will probably be a bit of a flop, but this flop will also be my first opportunity to learn how to be a better educator the next time around. I feel ready though – I know most of the students’ names, I am familiar with the school, and I have solid lesson plans. I cannot quite remember the best way to manage a class of fifteen-year olds, but hopefully those skills will come back to me.

So what will my second beginning, my second first impression look like? It will be relaxed and confident, welcoming and excited, and have a healthy blend of camp counsellor and professional teacher. Just as the memories of being a high school student came flooding back when I stood up for the national anthem on the first day of my practicum, so will the joy of teaching, leading, and learning return when I pick up my piece of chalk tomorrow.

I remember that joy.
I’m ready. As the great MC Hammer said, “Ring the bell – school’s back in.”

Welcomes, Warnings, and Wonderings

A year ago today, if you had told me that in the future I would be publishing on not one but TWO blogs, I probably would have given a horrified shudder at the thought that I could ever be so dorky.

After one year of blogging and one week of being a part of the Faculty of Education at Queen's University, it seems clear that blogging provides an opportunity to be a reflective practitioner of Education (...or History...or Chemistry...) and to control and enhance one's presence on the Web. With Humility in Education, I hope to consider compelling or challenging issues in education, describe my progress from teacher-candidate to teacher, and share thoughts on how to successfully engage with students.

If I know anything about myself, it is that I set high expectations for myself that I do not always end up reaching. While I hope to post frequently, I apologize in advance if I write no more than once a month. An ironic characteristic of my experience as a univeristy student has been that when I am most surrounded by fascinating concepts and compelling questions, I have been too busy to take the time to reflect deeply on what I am learning. Find yourself a solid aggregator so you don't miss a single pearl of wisdom!

As I look back on my very first post, it still seems relevant to mention a few more points.

The title of this blog is derived from from my first blog, Humility in History. Humility in Education is intended to represent a focus on educating students; furthermore, this title is both an acknowledgement and a reminder that I will make mistakes along the way. Hopefully we can all look back upon those mistakes and laugh!

Thank you for taking an interest in the challenges and successes I face as I grow into a better educator. I hope that this blog will give you a good sense of what I'm personally up to as a teacher and what my profession is grappling with more broadly.

Enjoy!