ECS 311 has greatly impacted and expanded my understanding and knowledge of instructional strategies. Through this course and from my peers, I learned several helpful strategies that I can use in my practice as an educator. However, through my field experience as a pre-intern, I learned that these strategies do not always go as anticipated. Going into the field, I knew which instructional strategies I was passionate about and wanted to explore; however, I learned that the instructional strategies I use should be determined by who my learners are. I quickly learned that choosing which instructional strategies to use revolve around the students and how they learn best and not by which strategies I am most comfortable with or I am most interested in. Although it is important to be confident when teaching, it is also important to step out of our comfort zones to reach our learners.
During my pre-internship, I taught a lesson on music genres. I took this as an opportunity to have the students work in groups to research on a specific genre of music, create posters, and present it to their peers. I had high hopes for this lesson, however, it did not go as expected. There were students doing most of the work for the entire group, students who went off task, and the lesson went 3 days longer than expected. Upon completing the lesson, I could identify which students learned and benefitted from this teaching strategy, but I could also identify those who, I believe, would have benefitted from another form that involved less group work. With that, when selecting teaching strategies, I took the approach of finding out how these students learn best and what they are used to – this meant direct instruction. The main form of instruction that these students have experienced is teacher-led and worksheet based. These forms of instruction are some of the ones that I am not so fond of; however, I will do what it takes to ensure that I am reaching each student and that each one is learning. With that, I taught a lesson on health that was teacher-led and worksheet based and it seemed to work better with my group of students.
In terms of envisioning education for social and ecological justice, I believe that it is my responsibility and role as a teacher to provide students opportunities to engage with nature and to have themselves and their backgrounds reflected within the classroom climate and lessons. This can be done by taking the students outside to learn from the earth itself, as I learned in ESCI 302; bringing the outside in through indoor gardens or vermicomposting, as learned in several of my ECE classes and ESCI 302; or by practicing ecologically friendly practices within the classroom, such as reusing, recycling, and reducing waste. In terms of social justice, it is important to ensure that each student is reflected within the space and that students are exposed to differences to help them develop open-mindedness – this can be through literature, activities, inviting families or other experts, such as elders (ensuring that proper protocol is followed), individuals from the LGBTQ+ community (as discussed in EFDN 306), or other people with diverse backgrounds. I believe that by doing this, students will also feel safe in our classroom space.