For my full internship, I was placed at Michael A. Riffel Catholic High School in Regina, SK. I was placed alongside a co-operating teacher, who was focused on teaching senior level sciences. For the semester of my internship, she was teaching two Biology 30 and two Health Science 20 classes. During my time at Riffel, I taught two Health Science 20, Biology 30, and Science 9 (offered by a different teacher to give me experience in junior science) classes. All of which were rewarding and challenging, but extremely educational experiences.
I immediately began with one Health Science 20 class at the beginning of the school year. I was able to set my own expectations and gain the students respect quickly. The second class that I picked up was the other Health Science 20 class. I quickly realized that although the same course, both classes were very different. One class was always quiet and it was often difficult to get them talking. The other class would normally be talking and sometimes need to be prompted to get back on track. It was a good experience to teach the same class twice in one day. I was able to learn from the first class and make minor adjustments to the other class if needed. The third class that I picked up was Biology 30. I feel as if this additional went fairly smoothly, as I had previous experience teaching a grade twelve class. My learning experiences for this class came at the unit test. My fourth class that I taught was Science 9. This was a huge shift. Up to this point, I had to focus on ensuring I was prepared to teach heavier content, but less on classroom management. Moving from grade 11 and 12 to grade 9, there was less preparation for understanding content, but a much heavier stress on classroom management. It tested my patience, responsiveness to disruptions, and ability to react to difficult situations.
My internship experience was fulfilling, as I got to experiment with different learning styles and teaching methods. I am excited to continue to develop into my career.