Stories From The Field

Final Reflection

As my placement comes to an end, I find myself reflecting upon my initial feelings and expectations entering into the field. I was placed into a Pre-K class even though I am in secondary and my knee jerk reaction was “This is going to be quite a change but a valuable experience”. I couldn’t have asked for a greater opportunity to expand my horizons and gain knowledge and experience through working in such a niche environment. Many observations I clued in on were passive observations but the true aspect that really made me more observant were the focus questions. 

Approaching each week with a new learning objective, it challenged me to be more direct and meticulous about the specific examples I needed to be aware of in the environment I was placed in. The correlation between students, teachers, parents, and community become more clear with each passing day as we slowly weaved each individual stroke of realization until my canvas has been completed. Our roles as educators factor into more than just reading to the students, showing them numbers or just allowing them time to burn energy. It is about providing an environment for them to explore their creativity, providing them tools in order to help them succeed, a safe space to encourage them to freely express themselves, an environment for them to be social and flourish in interpersonal connections, and a place to develop the fundamentals to go forward and be successful on their own terms. Small factors as integration of technology and students, diversity in the classroom according to gender, sexual orientation, race,etc., inclusive education, curriculum, and access to resources are all things that a school can provide to enable students to succeed in these environments and as educators, it is important we ensure we are striving towards maintaining all of these in our schools. Our schools play the major factor but are also directly involved with the surrounding community, being influenced/influential impacting how each operates. A successful union of the two can create a flourishing and positive space for all to succeed in.

As a personal take away from this, I was absolutely enthralled and fascinated about how these three and four year olds taught me. In a classroom completely opposite to my intended area of specialization, I found complete comfort and tranquility once immersed in the environment. As we taught these children through different mediums (play, dance, song, etc.), it became evident about how differently the approach must be for each individual. It challenged me to get to know these children on a personal level, learn their personalities, and try to direct the learning in a way they could become more engaged with. The pure innocence and blunt nature of these young students parallel the same personalities many are beginning to show and discover in the secondary programs. Luckily I was able to experience such incredible examples of inclusive education and celebrating diversity with the placement teacher having such a diverse class. I had many opportunities to learn about different customs and beliefs that each child celebrated along with the other students.

Even though these challenges brought me insight, I was still left with many questions. What will my classroom look like to provide a safe space for students? What can I include in my lessons to keep students engaged? What can I do to be proactive in making positive change in my environments? I was also challenged to remind myself that we are allies and educators to these students first, and we must keep that integrity. Discipline has always been a particular weak point of mine, and working with the students this young really challenged me when having to be stern. This was a great experience to bring that weakness forward as an area of improvement I will need to find success in the classroom. Overall, the experience was an incredible opportunity to not only challenge my readiness for the field, but also my perception of who and what are involved in the progressive education of our youth and the role I play in it’s development. I know my journey is far from over, but I am incredibly excited for the experiences and opportunities that lie before me to shape me into an impactful  educator.

One thought on “Stories From The Field

  1. Excellent ePortfolio designed in a professional manner, easy to navigate and included key pieces of your story of learning! It’ll be easy for you to continue to build throughout your program.
    Strong I Believe statements to continue to reflect on as they strengthen/weaken along your journey. Photos from the Field is a page that you can add to.

    Your final reflection shares how you view the interconnectedness of learning in class and in the field – well done. I think you found you have found your way to a career that you’ll work hard to challenge yourself all along the way. You took the weekly focus questions seriously and wrote excellent posts. Appreciate your attention to reading and responding to your peers – well done. Your experiences working with diverse learners and being open to learning about different cultures/contexts is a great beginning to becoming a social justice teacher. Sometimes we can learn the most about teaching and learning from our little ones – glad you experienced this learning environment. Have fun on the road ahead, Blake.

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