Being a professional teacher means that you not only represent oneself, but the entire school that the teacher is working at as well as the education system that school is under. Because of this, it is important to maintain appearances both during and after school hours. A teacher will always be a teacher to their students regardless of what hour it is during the day. Teaching is not a nine to five job, it lasts until retirement.
During my four weeks of my field experience at Sacred Heart in Moosejaw I learned a lot about how a teacher should behave and act to present both a welcoming and warm environment, but also keep a professional distance from the students as well. The first thing I noticed was how every teacher seemed to know most, if not all, the student’s names and would use those names whenever they were in conversation or just casually greeting the student. This small effort shows the student that the teacher cares enough to remember their name. The second thing I noticed was how the teachers conducted their classes: they managed to strike a nice balance between engaging the students and their opinions, and making progress in the class work. The last and most important thing I noticed was that all the teachers seemed to genuinely enjoy working at the school and teaching these students. This passion seemed to rub off on the students as well, and made each classroom feel that much more inviting and welcoming to be in. Below is a display I created that summed up my experiences during my four week internship.
While attending the University of Regina, one of our classes had us make an aesthetic representation, and I drew an eye as the main focus point inspired by the phrase “the eyes are the window to the soul” and the belief children often learn through observing the adults interact in the world. The eye serves to question: what does the world see when it looks at me? What values am I showing? Have I made an effort to see and understand what has happened? The eye also serves as a representation of looking at what has occurred in the past, and a desire to
no longer turn a blind eye towards what has occurred. The iris has been replaced with the colors’ for the medicine wheel, an Indigenous symbol for health and healing. Tears flow across the base of the eye with the core indigenous teachings of love, courage, wisdom, humility, truth, and respect written within it. This shows a surface level of understanding being gained for indigenous teachings, and the sorrows the Indigenous people have faced both past and present. The pupil has been replaced with orange to represent orange shirt day and serve as a reminder that every child matters.