Wow, what a busy and exciting semester!

Since I first decided I wanted to be a student in the Faculty of Education, I was excited (but nervous!) for fourth year, as I knew I’d get to do a four-month Internship. I knew it would be an amazing experience, and it turned out to be exactly that!

See photos from my first day below – a few days before students even got there! I got to have my first few PD Days, and get to really know my co-operating teacher. Although I had met her in the spring to answer any questions, it was very nice to be able to discuss the upcoming semester with her, have my own desk, and go over the plans I made over summer.

I hadn’t learned how to use Edsby & Google Classroom yet, so I had a lot to learn! Luckily, everything went smoothly and was easy to learn!

I was excited to start out teaching ELA 20, which is heavily focused on identity, and roles and responsibility. I had already known which novel study I wanted to do – Keeper ‘n Me by Richard Wagamese. My co-op, when meeting her in the Spring, had given me a big stack of novels from the book room in which I could look over for the Fall and decide which to use. I LOVED that Keeper ‘n Me was an Indigenous focused and written novel, as I really wanted to focus on Treaty Education & Indigenous Ways of Knowing as much as possible.

I had added all of the outcomes to my syllabus for the students – including Treaty Ed Outcomes, in which my co-operating teacher was very happy with. I really wanted my students to know that Treaty Education is embedded in the curriculum, and is not an ‘add-on’ that will be brought in once or twice and forgotten about.

Even before starting the novel study, we had Treaty 4 week, which I really wanted to embed the Treaty Ed Outcomes into. I had a Knowledge Keeper come in and speak to the students about what the phrase “We Are All Treaty People” should mean. I had each of them write questions on a sticky note and place them on the whiteboard, so the Knowledge Keeper could read them and pick the ones he felt most comfortable answering. The students really enjoyed it, and it was an awesome experience!

Speaking of Treaty Education, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the first annual Truth & Reconciliation event at Mosaic Stadium!

It was a very hot day, but didn’t take away from the empowering stories told by survivors of residential schools. I am so glad I was able to take part in viewing such an important event with the students.

Alongside the novel study, I made a ‘stay-on-the-board’ timeline of the main character, Garnet’s, identity journey. I got students to add quotes & drawings that they found to be beneficial for big events in the novel, in which they would later use for their argumentative essay, based on the Nature vs. Nurture theory.

We created quite the timeline by the end, which I believe is awesome visual learners such as myself!

On top of ELA 20, I soon picked up two periods of ELA 9. Both groups were learning identity & ‘doing the right thing’ through the novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. What an incredibly important message! It was recommended to me by my co-operating teacher, who had taught it in the past, and also had co-workers who had taught it in the past. We read the novel via audiobook, and watched the movie, and the students LOVED each and every minute of it.

Lastly, for my minor in Inclusive Education, I picked up a VAP English. I had experience in FIAP from Pre-Internship last semester, and was quick to learn that these two programs are actually very different! I was able to do a novel study with them as well, He Who Dreams, by Melanie Florence. This novel focused on an Indigenous boy who wanted to be a Pow-Wow dancer, but got made fun of by his soccer team, and also the other Pow-Wow dancers. The students were very empowered by this novel as well, and we were able to focus on real life scenarios of right and wrong.

On top of classes, I also helped out with several extra curricular activities. The first one I took up was the Truth & Reconciliation Committee, where students & teachers came up with ideas for events, activities and ceremonies to acknowledge Truth & Reconciliation. Next, I took up the position of Media in the school musical, in which I handed out posters to local businesses, and contacted news outlets to feature our school. I was even able to get a local TV news company to feature the musical! I also supervised the Newspaper Club, and helped with the publication of the first edition! Lastly, I helped supervise the Dance Club, which featured two Grade 12 students as choreographers of the club for various events.

I had a ton of fun in Internship, and learned more than I could’ve ever imagined. Thank you to everyone involved in making my experience a success!