The field experience really made me question whether education was the right path for me. I was met with many challenges that I thought I was not going to be met with. When I first went to my placement school, the principal warned us that this school deals with many children with behavioural issues, physical disabilities, and many children come from low income families. This really opened my eyes because I realized I was not only going to be teaching students that came from high income homes, who had two parents, and had constant support from everyone around them (Like I have). I also questioned education because my host teacher was using different teaching techniques that I would use. It was not until I was able to go into a different classroom that I realized, education is for me, I just do not want to teach the way my mentor teacher is teaching. This really allowed me to make a mental list of things I wanted to incorporate into my classroom and things that I would be sure to leave out.
The abrupt ending of my field placement, due to COVID-19, was really hard. I felt as though the fifth week, although it had its challenges, I had really started to form connections with all the students. It was very unfortunate to not be able to go in the last week although schools were open, I felt as though I needed to go into the classroom and encourage the students about the positives that were happening. My partner and I going into the schools became a routine for the students, and since everything else in their lives were going sideways, I felt as though we should have been there to try and help a little bit of the confusion they were experiencing. That being said, I am quite sure the teachers all helped their students try to understand the craziness.
The entire course really connected everything well. It was easy to follow because first you would learn about the subject and how it might look in one classroom, then you would learn about how your seminar leader worked it into their classroom and then finally you went out and experienced how it looked in the classroom. The focus question also really helped because as you worked in your classroom, you constantly were able to think about the question and really look for it in the classroom. It also gave you ideas for what a classroom should really look like. I feel as though if those questions were not there to guide me I would not have taken such a in-depth look at what was going on inside the classroom.
It was interesting to see how my mentor teacher was teaching because she has been an educator for 21 years, and her techniques were very different then what I was learning. Why do educational techniques change? Do they change because of teachers or students?