What have I learned about assessment?

As I look back on my time in ECS 410, I can now see how little I knew about assessment coming into this class. When I first entered this course in Janurary, I thought that I had a handle on the ideas of diagnostic and formative assessments, and hoped this course would help me to learn more about the ideas around summative assessment. I assumed the course would help me learn about how to mark and how to write a test, both important skills for becoming a teacher. However, I come away from this course with more questions about the ideas than I started with. This is not bad thing! In fact I am extremely happy that this course has allowed me to think more about implications of assessment, and how we can be equitable in assessment when we have students with such varied backgrounds.

For me, I found that my philosophy around assessment only really started to formulate in this course. For some reason I had never thought about assessment, and the theories around it, before coming here. If anything, I thought assessment was things such as tests or the writing of essays. I have come to understand that such activities are actually evaluations. One of the big ideas that I learned early on in this course was that an assessment is a way of seeing what students understand, and the teacher then using this information to influence their teaching. Assessments can be something as simple as a hand gesture a student shows you, to a quiz, to a worksheet. An evaluation is used at the end of a unit, and it is used to see what the students have learned. This can be something like a final test or an essay. It is also important to note, an evaluation can be an assessment because a teacher can use the results of a test to see what students understand, and can then influence the teachers practice.Another way to think of it is that an evaluation is an assessment “of learning”, while an assessment can be used “for or as learning.”

This rethinking of what assessment is was a major change for me. I had always thought of assessment in a classroom as something that was very formal. Assessment had to look like students working on a set of questions, handing those in, and then marking these assignments. Now, I can see that something as simple as having students raise their hands or not can be a form of assessment. This shows a teacher right away where their students are at with a skill, and what needs to be done there after.

Many of the ideas we spoke about in the class I agreed with pretty easily. I agreed that our assessment should be more student centered, and that we should try to give students opportunities to show their learning in ways that they feel they can best show. One specific piece I can point to for changing my ideas about assessment came from the Classroom Experience videos we watched for class. When I first started watching these videos, I was skeptical. I had seen a small piece of the video before, the part about the Popsicle sticks, for a previous ECS class. I was pretty against the idea of calling out students at random to answer questions. It just didn’t seem fair to me to call on students if they are not prepared, and I thought that it could lead to students feeling like they are stupid if they could not answer the questions. However after watching the entire documentary, I found  many of the ideas the presenter had actually made a lot of sense. One such idea was that a teacher should be providing feedback over grades to their students. As someone who hopes to teach high school English, this idea really spoke to me. I hope to be able to teach students about writing and how they can become better writers. A great way to do this is to provide feedback to their students, and to then have their students use this feedback to better their work. As well, watching the video showed me certain things about how to provide feedback. The feedback that is provided to students should not be overwhelmingly positive or negative; it should highlight what the student has done well, and what they can improve on. If the feedback is overwhelmingly positive, a student may rest on their laurels. If the feedback is overly negative, a student may simply give up and not want to try anymore. This is why the feedback we provide should be able to let students feel good about themselves, and still give them areas to improve on.

These ideas are also presented by Kelly Gallagher in the book Teaching Adolescent Writers. In this book, Gallagher writes about how a teacher should have a student write four times before they are evaluated. This allows the teacher to have ample time to provide feedback to their students, and for their students to improve their work, before they are evaluated on this work. As well, Gallagher writes about how he would create the rubrics that he used to evaluate his students based on the feedback he provided. He knew what areas his students struggled with, and what they were doing to improve, so evaluation became easier.

Aside from the video, the other piece of this course I think changed my view of assessment came from the presentation we had about creating rubrics. When the presenter spoke about creating rubrics that are outcome based, and not predicated on numbers, it really opened up the world of rubric making for me. It may sound strange, but it made rubric making easier for me. After hearing about creating rubrics that were centered around an outcome, it let me know that  I didn’t need to necessarily fret over the numbers associated with a project, but instead I needed to see whether or not a student reached an outcome. This made the creation of rubrics so much easier for me, and it is a practice that I found myself doing in the field.

Speaking of which, now is probably a good time to transition from what I learned about to how I actually used it in my pre-internship.

THE FIELD

Once I actually entered into the field, I found that my new ideas about assessment didn’t exactly match up to what .was in the field. Though I found myself using assessment everyday in some form or another, whether that be through discussion with students or more formal forms, but there were somethings that just didn’t always work. One of the best examples I can think of relates to the idea of extensive feedback. I had the opportunity to teach Creative Writing 20, and I believed this would be the best chance I would have to use this method with a class. Since the class was filled with students who loved to write, I assumed they would want to hand in their writing to me whether or not it was for marks. However, I was very wrong when it actually came to having students getting us assignments. I made it clear to the class from day one of us working on this assignment that there would only be feedback associated with the assignment, no marks. It seemed like once students heard there were no marks associated with the assignment, they no longer cared about it. It was as if as soon as we told them they would not receive a formal grade for their assignment, that they decided it no longer mattered. Students were very slow to hand in their assignments, and in some cases were surprised that we even wanted them to hand it in.

It was at this time that I began to see that my class liked that external motivation  of grades, and that is understandable, they were Grade 11 students. They had been in school for a long time, and grades were important to them. However, external motivation was also something I needed when I worked with my Grade 9 ELA class. In that class, they were split into teams and were in competition with one another. Every day there were challenges where their teams could win points, and the winning team received a pizza party at the end of the unit. I found that whenever I assigned points to an activity that the students were much more likely to be engaged with it. In a way, this was disheartening to me. I didn’t want everything that I did in class to be associated with points to get students engaged. I wanted to use different ways to engage my class, but at times I felt boxed in by the competition format.

However, it was also my Grade 9’s I had one my proudest moments in terms of assessment in the field. It was in this class that I was able to create an outcome based rubric for the class. At first, my coop was a little confused seeing a rubric that did not have any numbers associated with it. Eventually, I relented and included numbers on the final rubric, but I still loved making it. After I made the rubric and went through it with my coop, I showed the rubric to the class and went through my expectations with them. I believe doing this was good for the entire class, as they were able to get a good idea of what I was expecting from them before I had them do the assignment (it was a Character Profile for a Romeo and Juliet character). The completed rubric can be found below.

Character Profile Rubric

	Developing (0-2)	Progressing(3-4)	Meeting (5-6)	Established (7-8)
Visual (8 marks)	The student has presented a picture that is not a clear depiction of the character. This image may be like a stick figure drawing. As well if the student decided to make a digital image, it is clear that the student simply took an image from the Internet and did not attempt to create their own image.	A clear, original picture of the character the student wishes to depict.The picture may be either handdrawn or created digitally, but it is clear this was created by the student. However, the student may not have included colour or shading to the picture.	A clear, original picture of the character the student wishes to depict,  that includes eye-catching elements such as colour or shading. The picture may either be hand drawn or created digitally, if the student so wishes.	The student has provided a detailed picture of the character the student wishes to depict. The image includes innovative use of colour and shading, and the student uses these elements to enhance their image. The picture may be either hand drawn or created digitally, if the student so wishes.
Selected Quote (4 marks)	There is no quote provided.	Included with the visual, the student has presented a quote from the play. However, this quote may not provide any insight into the character. As well, the student has not provided a citation in MLA format.	Included with the visual, the student has presented a quote from the play. This quote will either be: a) a quote spoken by the character, or b) a quote that describes the character. With this quote, there will also be a proper citation presented in MLA format.	Included with the visual, the student has presented a quote from the play that shines new insight into the character. This quote will be either: a) a quote spoken by the character, or b) a quote that describes the character. The quote will be cited in MLA format.
Descriptive Paragraph (8 marks)	The student has presented a paragraph about their character that is incoherent and vague. There is no evidence of organization of the piece, and the paragraph contains little in the way of biographical information about the character. None of the descriptions in the piece are supported in the play, and there has not been an attempt to include a quote in MLA format. The piece contains frequent spelling and grammar errors.	The student has presented a descriptive paragraph about their character. However, at times this paragraph can become unclear and vague. There is some organization of the piece, but only has some pieces of biographical information about the character. Some of the descriptions the student has used are textually supported, but others are not. Also, the student has not included a quote from the play presented in MLA format. The piece contains occasional spelling or grammar errors.	The student has presented a clear, concise, descriptive paragraph about their character. There is evidence of organization of the piece, and includes biographical information about the character and more descriptive elements. This can include at least one point about the character’s physical description and at least two points about the character’s importance to the plot. This can include who the character has relationships with and what actions they are involved in.. All of the descriptions used are supported by the text. As well, the student has included at least one quote from the play presented in MLA format. The piece contains minimal spelling or grammar errors.	The student has presented a concise descriptive paragraph that shows their understanding of the character. There is evidence of organization in the piece, and there are multiple forms of biographical information provided. All of the students descriptions of the character are supported by the text. There are multiple quotes included in the paragraph, and all of the quote are presented in MLA format

In the end, I found myself mostly relying on the traditional assessment strategies that I was used to from when I was when school when I was in the field. This was a little disappointing for me, as we have spoken so much about student centered assessment this semester. I wanted to try and use these in the field, but I ended my just going back to what I was comfortable with when I went to the field. In particular, I used a lot of observation of the students as a tool of assessment. A lot of the time, I would watch what the students were doing and try to figure out what the students understood based on these observations. If there is one area I would like to improve for my internship, it is to use a wider variety of assessment strategies when I go back to the field.

Where will I go from here?

Obviously, I have a lot more to learn about assessment for when I go back into the field for my internship. In particular, I would like to learn more about inquiry based learning and what this actually looks like. At time I was confused by the idea of inquiry. I didn’t know if inquiry went students were free to do whatever they like for a project as long as it met the outcomes, or if it just went student choice about what they are learning? The reason I ask is because the two descriptions have very different connotations. The first area is very student based, with students having almost all the control over what they are doing, while the second still has a great amount of teacher control, as a teacher can create a project and let students select the topic. What makes the first area inquiry and the second not?  How can teachers keep control over the first scenario? These are areas I would like to learn more about as I enter the internship. Also, I want to continue to learn about how to use a wide variety of assessment strategies in the classroom. In my three-week block, I found myself using only a few assessment strategies repeatedly. I would like to learn how I can use a variety of assessment strategies. Doing this will help to keep my classroom continuously fresh and interesting.

It is because of this ECS 410 class that I have been able to create ideas about assessment. Though  I do not believe that assessment is in anyway easy, I now can see that assessment is one of the most vital parts of education and it is because of this class that I am able to understand how assessment affects teaching. There are three key learnings I have taken from this class that will impact my teaching:

1) there needs to be assessment everyday in a class

2) feedback is key for student improvement

3) what our students are learning should be key when we are creating rubrics

The last two points will have the greatest impact on my teaching. This is because I hope that my classes would not be so focused on student grades, but have student learning and improvement at the core.

Wrapping up the Inquiry

Looking back on when I began my quest of researching engaging EAL students, I can see how misguided I really was. At the beginning of this inquiry project, I believed that EAL students could be a major obstacle for teachers. They can barley speak English, if at all, so how am I supposed to teach them in an English class? I mean, how can I expect someone to write an essay about Macbeth when they can barley say a sentence about play? Now that I am at the end of this project, I can see that EAL students are no more obstacle than any other student in a classroom. Like with any other student, it takes a strong relationship to break down that obstacle and find an opportunity.

The biggest resource I have been enlightened to for both teachers and students is the EAL resource teacher that can be found in most public high schools in Regina. For additional information click here, but to keep it short most of the schools in the City offers supports to EAL students in the form an EAL support teacher in the school. This teacher will usually run an EAL tutorial class, and help the students become adjusted to the City. For teachers, these supports can help provide resources that can help EAL students in particular. In many cases, EAL support teachers have an extensive background working in this area, usually carrying a Masters in EAL, and will have a wealth of resources that one can use in the classroom. These include books an English teacher can use that still reflect the mature themes we want to teach our students, but use simplified language. As well, these teachers will have the best idea of where your students are at and what kind of supports they will need. The EAL support teacher has usually spent a good deal of time with your student and will know what this student may need in the classroom.

For the student, the EAL support teacher can help to create a sense of community in the school. One thing I never thought of before doing this project was how diverse the EAL population of a school is. The EAL support teacher I spoke with illustrated this to me. She said in her classes she has had everything from homestay students, whose families pay for them to study in Canada, to refugees, who may have never held a pencil before. So, it is understandable that students may feel uncomfortable here. A student may have had no say in coming to Regina, and may have no interest in being here. But, it can be the EAL support teacher can be the most important thing in the students time in the City. It can be this teacher that can help to create a sense of community around that student, because the EAL support teacher has students that are all in a unique situation. It is this teacher who has a class that is full of students who have come from diverse places to this country, and they may feel like outsiders here. It is in the EAL support class that these potential outsiders can create a safe place all their own. They can find a place where they can relate to students that are in a similar place to them, and it may make their experience in Regina all the better.

Though the EAL classroom is important, it is also important to learn about techniques I can use in the classroom. One of the great resources I used in the inquiry project was “Words, words words: Reading Shakespeare with English Language Learners” by Christina Porter (2009). The article was a great resource to get me thinking about how I could engage EAL learners in Shakespeare because, as an English teacher, I will probably be teaching Shakespeare for most of my career. It was in this article that I began to see how important words are in English. It sounds silly but I really never thought about it before. As a native speaker of English, I always took my ability to speak this language for granted. For this reason, I never thought too much about how my students could simply struggle with words while they were working with me.

The two big ideas I took from Porter was to provide vocabulary words for your students at the beginning of class and to provide scene summaries at the beginning of scenes for your students. With the vocabulary words, Porter spoke about writing out two or three words from the Scene you are reading that day, and have students find these words in the Scene and then have students define the words and talk about how they were important to the Scene. As well, students could define the words before reading the Scene, and then make predictions about what the importance of the words. For the scene summaries, Porter suggested that a teacher provide summaries of a scene for students before they read a Scene. This way, a student can read about the Scene in a language that they can understand and they can prepare themselves for what is going to happen in the upcoming scene.

As well, it was suggested to use multiple forms of Shakespearean texts, and not only the original texts. This includes using a parallel text version of the play, which has a translated version of the text, and graphic novel versions of the text. Many schools have both of these forms of Shakespeare, and they are already used in classes by all students. This because many students like to have a more visual interpretation of the text, that can be found in the graphic novel, or the modern translation of the text, that can be found in the parallel text version of the play.

It was at this point in the inquiry project that it hit me, making adjustments for EAL students is probably good for every student in your class. For all we know, every student in our class may be struggling with Shakespearean Englih, so what harm could it do to provide a summary to your students before you started to read again? Wouldn’t it just set your students up to be better prepared for a Scene if they knew what was going to happen in it beforehand? This was a major shift in thinking for me, as a no longer viewed EAL students as a strange group within the class, but simply as other students in the class.

As I began to go through the other resources I used for this project I began to see links through them all. With the book I used and the two videos I watched, the idea of knowing your students really stood out to me. This seems like something that should be obvious to teachers, but for some reason this stood out to me. You cannot group your students by their language skills if you do not know who can work well together in groups. As well, we need to be able to work in smaller groups with our students so we can know how are students are progressing individually. Also, we have to be willing to build those relationships with our students to know what supports they need. We may know that their is a student in our class that is EAL, but what does that mean? What level of English is that student at? What experience with school did they have before? It is our job to find out about this.

From this project about EAL learners, I have learner how important the relationships we have with students are. We have to build relationships with our students so we can know what kind of supports we can provide for our students to make the classroom experience better for these students. As well, this project has let me see how a change we can make for an EAL student would not be beneficial for the entire class. Why wouldn’t students enjoy reading a graphic novel version of Romeo and Juliet alongside the traditional text? If it can help at least one student in the class it can probably help even more. Because, as has been stated in class many times, if it is good for one student, it is more than likely good for many students.

Inquiry post 5

Today, instead of reading an article on the topic of engaging EAL students I watched a video on the topic. The video, Teachers TV: Engaging EAL Learners, focuses on one teacher in England and her science class, which includes a large group of EAL students. As the teacher goes through her lesson, she is watched and coached by an EAL ‘expert’ in a study. Additionally, the expert commentates on how the teacher is teaching and what she is doing well.

Many of the techniques the teacher in the video used were ones I had read about before, but seeing them in use in the classroom was very gratifying. The first big thing the teacher in the video did was repeat words that were key to the lesson. In the first portion of her lesson, she repeated words like “particle”  or “atom” many time so her students would be able to pick up on them. Also, as she said these words she spoke slowly and clearly so her students could understand what she was saying. Will saying the words to the students continuously is good, it may also be useful to write the vocabulary words on the board so that these words can read the words throughout the lesson. This may, students will not have to guess what the vocabulary words for the day are, they can just read them off the board and begin the lesson.

As well, another important thing the teacher in the video did was use her students as a resource. When a student came late to the class, the teacher had another student explain the lesson to them. Then commentator believed that doing this gave the student the opportunity to take some control of the class, and be able to use their native tongue if they can. The commentator said that a student may be able to use their native language to explain the lesson to another student, and a teacher may even bring a student to the front of the class to explain the lesson to their classmates in their native language.

The final big thing that the teacher did here was not having the students write much, but giving them other ways of getting to the lesson. In this lesson, the students were first creating compounds with manipulatives, and then having them draw the compounds they created on whiteboards. In a subject like science, the language can intimidating to any student, and they could fear improper use of these new words. Letting students draw a compound instead of writing about it, takes some of the pressure off students who not feel completely comfortable with the language yet.

The other video I watched dealt with using literacy skills in a History classroom. The video, found here, shows the viewer how a British history teacher and an EAL support teacher run a History class with a sizeable EAL population. Once again, it is the use of words that is vital to the class. At the beginning of the lesson, students have to think up words that they believe relate to first a hero and then a villain. Students then write their answers on a mini whiteboard and hold it over their head for the teacher to read. Then, the teachers complied a list of words that the students believed matched the two original words. The words were then used again, as students had to find words that they believed were either positive or negative. These skills are vital for EAL students, as it allows them to expand their English vocabulary, and, once again, it allows the teacher to use the students in their class as a resource. It is the students who are generating the words, so this can also be a valuable assessment tool.

The teachers in the video also used different literacy skills when the students were given their activity. Students were assigned to do a paired reading of an article, then decide if it was a primary or secondary source, and then students had to explain their thinking about why it was a primary or secondary source. I find the important part here to be the paired reading and group work. Here, a teacher could use groups based on their students language backgrounds. Then, theoretically, students could work with students who have a similar language background to them so they can make the work more manageable. Once again, the teacher can let their students become a resource for each other as one student who has stronger could translate for another, and possibly support the other student with their English.

What I found from both of these videos is that students can be a valuable resource in the classroom. If you have students who can speak more than one language, try to find a way to use that in the class if possible. If you are in a class that has multiple speakers of, lets say Mandarin, maybe allow for times for your Mandarin speaking students to work together. The only major problem this could bring up is the possible alienation of this students from native English speakers. This is why though teachers should allow students of similar language backgrounds to work together, it is also important to have all students, regardless of background work together. This way one can build a more cohesive classroom.

Using my inquiry project in the classroom

The interesting thing about my inquiry project is that I didn’t need to use it too much when I actually went into my pre-internship Of the two classes I taught, only one of the students would be classified as an EAL student. So, it made it very difficult to use these strategies in a big way, but I did use the strategies to try and teach as broad a spectrum of students as I could.

The thing I tried to remind myself as I was teaching was that just because I was teaching primarily native English speakers, this does not mean that they are necessarily “proficient” in English. This is particularly true because I was teaching students Romeo and Juliet, and it is usually said that Shakespeare can be another language to teenagers.

One of the things that made me the happiest about how my coop was teaching the play was that she decided to use a graphic novel version of the play on alternating days. This was a great joy for me, as I was able to give students who simply needed that visual stimuli of a graphic novel an outlet for their need. Also, I knew that the one EAL student in my class consistently used the graphic novel, so I knew that student was using a format they enjoyed. As well, we also watched the film version of the play once a week. This was another way of giving students a way to get a visual of the play. In addition to playing the movie, my coop and I made sure the subtitles were playing so students could be able to follow along with the language if they were having trouble following the speech.

One of the suggestions I was not able to use was giving students a summary of the Act before we read it. This was because students had to fill out scene summary sheets as they were going through the play, and I thought giving them summaries of scenes before reading the play would defeat the purpose of my coop’s activity. However, I made sure to try and summarize what we read everyday, both to make sure my EAL student was at and where the class at large was at with the play. As well, whenever we would do word activities in the class, I would use words that had come up in the play the day before.

Though I may not have had a large EAL population in my classroom, but it was nice to try and use some of the strategies I have learned through this project. It was important for me to remember that making changes for an EAL population is just not good for the group of students, but it is good for the class at large.

Inquiry post 3

As I have gone through the journey of learning about how to engage EAL students in the literature classroom, I have goen through many books that present many similar ideas. If there is one thing that all of these ideas have in common, it is that to properly teach EAL students you need to have a good relationship with your students. While this is not exclusive to teaching EAL students (it should be true when we are teaching anyone), but there are certain applications that can be used with EAL students.

One of the ideas came from Nancy Commins and Oflen Miramontes Linguistic Diversity and Teaching (2005). The book attempts to give advice to teachers about ways that they can engage EAL students in any class, not only English. The  idea I am writing about in this post deals with grouping students based on their language capabilities. Commins and Miramontes point to three groupings that teachers can use, which are groups of native speakers, heterogeneous groups of first and second language learners, and groups of only second language learners. Each of these groups have certain necessities, but  can also bring problems as well.

Native Speakers: This group is described as the the “easiest and most comfortable instructional setting” (151) for teachers to work in. This is because in this setting both teachers and students are fluent in the language of instruction (151). Now, it is important to point out here that when “native speakers”  are spoken about, the authors are not necessarily speaking about English. They are talking about students being ale to learn in their native language. So, if a student’s native tongue is Hausa (a widely spoken language in Nigeria), the student would be able to spend some of their day learning in that language.

Obviously, this sounds fantastic in theory, but has limitations. At this point your grouping is limited to the languages in your classroom and your school. It is completely feasible that there would only be one speaker of a certain language in your classroom. What do you do then? How can you make sure that this student is getting time to learn in their native language? At this time, teachers move into the second group, the very common heterogeneous groupings of native and second language speakers.

Heterogeneous groupings: The grouping of heterogeneous groups provides the biggest challenges for teachers. At this point, are trying to balance the needs of their native speaking students with the needs of their second language learners (152). Also, in this style of group additional language learners may be much less vocal than native English speakers, as native English speakers may out compete others in whole group question and answer sessions (152). This could potentially make additional language learners feel that they are a lesser part of the class and not wish to participate further in the class.

However, this group also provides opportunity for EAL students. The opportunities come from EAL students getting “authentic opportunities to communicate in English not available in other settings” (152). This is very important if students wish to become fluent in English. It is easy to understand that a good way to learn a language is to have authentic conversation with people that are fluent in that tongue. However, EAL students need additional time to practice vocabulary and grammar specific to English. At this time, teachers can utilize second language learner groups.

Second Language Learner groups:  These types of groups are where teachers are only working with EAL students in the language the students are wishing to learn, in this case English. It is important to note, “students might not understand all of their instruction and … teachers will … need to use strategies to make instruction more understandable” (152). Though teachers will have to use different strategies, in these groups students “can focus on their English language learning without having to complete with students who are already proficient in English” (152).

This strategy has an obvious advantage to both the students and the teacher. In these groups, teachers can see where their EAL students are at, and provide them supports in a smaller setting. Students may feel more comfortable sharing their struggles with English in such a setting, as they will be able to talk to their teacher one on one about their struggles. This type of teaching is most likely to be found in something like an EAL tutorial class.

The interesting part I have found about going through some of the different strategies for teaching EAL students is that it is exactly the same as someone teaching any language course. I think, at times, English teachers forget that we are lanugage teachers. We get lost in the literature that we are teaching, or how we are teaching students to write stories, and we forget that some of our students still need supports to learn the language. It is at this time that we need to us techniques that are used in a Spanish or French class. We may need to slow our speech so students can digest the language more clearly. As well, we may need to provide more visuals in the class as we are speaking so students can understand our lessons. It is for this reason, that it may be useful for those of us who wish to become English teachers to try and reach out to other language teachers to see what they are using in their classroom.

Commins, Nancy L., and Ofelia B. Miramontes. Linguistic Diversity and Teaching. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2005. Print.

The book can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Linguistic-Diversity-Reflective-Conditions-Schooling/dp/0805827366

It’s all over now

Well, I have come to the end of my pre-internship and, somehow, I have survived. It has been the most exhausting, exhilarating, exciting, and enriching experience I have had during my time as an education student. There were days when I just wanted to pre-internship to be over, and now that it is, I’m going to miss it.

For much of my time in the school, I didn’t know if what I was doing was actually getting to any of my students. In fact, I spent many days wondering if my students liked anything I did at all. So, on the last day I had the students give me feedback about how they thought I did. The comments that struck me the most were the comments I got from my Grade 9 class. This is mostly because this was the group of students that I taught by myself, I also taught Creative Writing with my partner. My Grade 9 class were my kids, and I got attached to them. So, seeing what they had to say about me meant a lot.

It was very impactful for me to read their comments, and each one of them really struck me. The part that surprised me the most was that they actually liked me, for the most part. It may have just been that I didn’t assign much homework, but most of the students had a lot of positive feedback for me. It seemed that they appreciated my more laid back attitude, and that I was willing to joke around with them a little bit. One of my favourite comments from a students was that I was able to make Romeo and Juliet fun for them. This was something I had worried a lot about going in to the class. I had not read the play since I was in Grade 9, and having to teach the play was a little intimidating. But, knowing that at least one kid had fun while I took then through Shakespeare made the experience rewarding for me. It let me know that I can take students through Shakespearean works, or any work for that matter, and let them have fun with it. And, in the end, isn’t that what we want from all of our classes? To let the kids have fun with it?

A truly powerful experience

As opposed to my last post, about the worst day of my pre-internship, this post will be about a more positive experience. Ironically, it also comes from Creative Writing 20, but doesn’t deal with writing at all. My partner had wished to do lessons with the class about oral literacy, and the importance of listening. She had begun to notice the week prior that students were not listening attentively when we were sharing pieces we had written, and she wanted to do something about this. So on Monday, she had a lesson about the historical importance of oral storytelling, and on Tuesday we had a guest come to speak about their tradition and we had a talking circle.

It was during the circle that we experienced one of the most powerful experiences of the pre-internship. It was a risk to do the circle; we didn’t know what the students were going to tell us. We didn’t know if the students were comfortable enough with us to tell us the stories from their lives, or even talk to us at all. But, the circle began, and it was very surprising.

I was the second person to tell a story, and I decided to tell an emotional story from my life. As a teacher, I have been told many times about the importance of modeling skills to students, and I decided to model telling an emotional story to the class. The story I decided to tell dealt with the night my father had a terrible injury, and how he spent the nest year in hospital recovering. This was a very emotional story for me to tell, and I even cried in front of the class. I don’t know if it was professional for me to do this, but I think my emotional outburst helped the class. I wanted the class to be comfortable with the idea of telling us more uncomfortable stories, and I believe that my crying I was able to tell the class it was ok if they wanted to share something more personal. And, some of the students did decide to tell the group a more personal story from their life, and it was a powerful experience because of it.

Later in the day, my partner and I were sitting in the faculty lounge when one of the teachers in the school came over and spoke with us. She told us how one of our students was in her homeroom, and he spent most of the class talking about how much he enjoyed the talking circle. Apparently, this student loved the circle, and the teacher wanted to tell us about the impact it had on him. I never imagined when we decided to do the talking circle that it would have an impact on anyone. Actually, I was worried that no one would want to talk. But, knowing that doing this activity actually spoke to some of the students was  the most rewarding part of the pre-internship, and that experience will stay with me for a long time.

A tough day at the office

I now it is a little bit strange to be writing about an experience I had two weeks ago now, but this is something that has stuck with me since it happened. Two Mondays ago, my partner and I had begun  to think we had got the flow of things as we team taught our Creative Writing 20 class. We had given the students an assignment where they would have to re imagine a famous story in a different setting, and had set aside that days class to give the students a chance to workshop their pieces. We were excited to hear about what some of the students had written, and thought we were prepared for a great class of workshops. Then the actual class started.

From the get go, things didn’t go well. We had an uneven set of students and our idea of pairing them off didn’t work anymore. Then, we wanted to have the students find their own workshopping groups, and that didn’t work either. But, this was not the biggest problem. This came when many of our students came to class without a completed draft. This is when I really started to get frustrated. I was disappointed in many of students at this point. We had made it clear that the class was expected to have a draft completed by Monday. We had given them ample class time to work on their drafts at school. Then, Monday came and many students were not done.

By this time, I was panicking. What were we supposed to do now? How were we supposed to have a workshopping class without having anyone ready to workshop? I begun to pace around the class and worried that the students were going to start questioning me on what we were doing, because I didn’t know.

It got so bad, that my co-op came over with some of the writing challenges she was going to use with the class. We decided to use one of them, and the class ended. This was without a doubt the worst class I taught, but it was also probably the best learning experience I had about my own teaching. Through this class, I saw how I have to prepare for any scenario that can happen in a class. I assumed, because it was a Creative Writing class, that my students would have their drafts done. It didn’t cross my mind that the wouldn’t have their drafts done, and I had no plans for what to do if they didn’t. This is what caused my biggest problem of the day. It was my lack of preparation that caused my panic, and it was my laziness that created the worst day of my pre-internship.

I had always heard people say “prepare for the worst, and only the best can happen.” It was my bad day in Creative Writing that made me take these words to heart.