My Final Thoughts-Grade 2 & 6
Unfortunately due to Covid- 19 my field experience was cut short. I still feel like I really benefitted from it though. There is so much more to teaching than just making sure kids know how to read and write. Being a teacher comes with a huge responsibility that falls on your shoulders. You have to worry about the child as a whole, not just their academic ability. This class really taught me about being open minded and respectful to differences. Both of the teachers I was able to shadow showed me their acceptance to each child as an individual. The grade six teacher allowed each child to pick a story that interested them to do a report on vs making them all write about the same book. She allowed their individual interests to shine through. The grade two teacher kept everyone together in the class, but allowed them to work at their pace and their level. She didn’t have some kids slow down or make others speed up. She allowed the children to be individual learners and adapted her plan to them so they could all succeed. This was something that was really different from my schooling experience. We always had to be doing the exact same thing and if you couldn’t keep up to the fastest student then you were secluded from the classroom. We weren’t given the opportunity to learn how we wanted to learn. This is something I really appreciated seeing during my placement. Every child was given the opportunity to learn the way they learned best.
I also was able to see how important teamwork and building a strong community is. Both of my shadow teachers collaborated with other teachers within the school. I was able to see how beneficial this was for both the students and the teachers. I initially thought it was just going to be a gong show trying to get grade 6 to work with grade 2, but it wasn’t a problem. The grade sixes were able to learn about more responsibly while the grade twos were able to build strong relationships with the older children and have someone to look up to. Time spent in the staff room was warm and welcoming. They all really supported each other and felt like a really strong community. I wish I would have been able to see the school community in action when Covid-19 was really starting to affect them. This would have been a huge moment to see how important community is. Teaching has so many aspects that people on the outside don’t realize. It isn’t just handing out homework and taking summers off. It really is a 24/7 hour job. It is endless hard work, but it looks really rewarding and I am excited to be a part of the teaching community.