About Me

About Me

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Blog!

Hello everyone my name is David, I graduated last year from Brock University’s teacher education program. I’m qualified for Primary/Junior, and recently completed an Additional Basic Qualification in FNMI studies, so I’m also qualified for Intermediate. I’ve also completed AQs in Special Education, Reading, and Teaching ELL.  Overall, I’m relatively early in my teaching career. I have a little over 7 months of full-time work. Last summer I decided to make the jump to teach in the UK. I was definitely underprepared for the harsh realities of teaching in a city where students battled severe early childhood traumatic experiences. Coupled with my own personal battles, I soon realized it wasn’t the right fit, so I came home.

I made it a point to not quit teaching, and I was fortunate enough to secure a long-term contract in Toronto, teaching a grade 3 / 4 split. It was here where I was able to meaningfully develop my skills as a teacher, and most of all my awareness of the job, in a local context. The class had a high amount of needs; emotional, academic, and physical. I was working with students who had developmental learning differences and ELL. So, teaching required a lot of planning; something that frankly, made me quite anxious given how unfamiliar I was with the curriculum and the needs of my students. What worked well for me was weekly collaboration with a mentor, and grade team partner. We helped each other create culminating tasks, we bounced ideas off of each, and we supported each other in times of stress.

Regarding Instruction and Assessment, I found it was too easy to teach subjects in a vacuum. I tried to structure learning around gathering the triangulation of evidence (conversation, observation, and product). Since I had many IEPs to consider, at times I struggled to balance small-group instruction, one to one support, for most of my students. It was very hard for many to work independently and/or in small groups. My goal was to check-in on my students, one on one, at least once a week. Assess them through conferences and online in class tools. Obviously, distance learning threw a wrench into the plans. Gathering accurate evidence of learning was next to impossible. However, it benefitted some students. Still, it was clear who needed the school environment; the same was true for me.

Moving forward in the course, I will consider myself as a sponge. I’m excited to learn from seasoned veterans and newer teachers, alike. I plan to incorporate my new understanding of Holistic FNMI education, where the aim is to develop the Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, and the responsibility to act on one’s learning. Hopefully, my lessons are based around gaining knowledge, discussing that learning, creating products (not simple quizzes or writing tasks) to demonstrate learning, and teaching/presenting. This in essence, allows for students to become learners and teachers, just as we are meant to be. In other words, I want to better inform my Planning, Instruction, and Assessment so that the classroom becomes a place where we focus on learning and progress, instead of academic performance.