The ninth moon of creation is the Corn Moon, during which time we learn about the cycle of life. Each cob of corn has thirteen rows of multicolored seeds which represent all the spirits waiting to begin their Earth Walk. These will be the future generations of whom we must prepare.
THE LAST STRETCH IN YOUR FIRST, HIGHLY UNUSUAL YEAR OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Here we are in the second-last week of practicum for so many of you, and for six of you, the beginning of a long-awaited spring practicum.
You have worked hard and persevered through highly challenging times. Like your associates and so many others, you have learned and shown adaptability, understanding, resilience and restraint. You have felt the joy of a great class session and the stomach-punch disappointment when something does not work out. It is all part of your learning and developing.
Some of you have gone through hard times personally and emotionally. We admire your strength. You are all coming to a major milestone – the end of the first year of being an educator.
Take this week to catch up on rest, exercise – whatever you need, planning for next week, and your Faculty of Ed. assignments.
Please do not forget to acknowledge your associate teacher(s) in some way to show appreciation and thanks. For those of you who are starting your practicums on the 26th, breathe deeply and plan. All will be well.
This is our second-last blog. We will see you all on Friday, April 23rd at 9:00 am for our last PED 3150 H/HH meeting. A second-year orientation session with Tracy and your profs will follow at 10:30.
For those of you who are celebrating Ramadan starting this week – “Ramadan Mubarak”.
Below: logistical information and links to reports, evaluations etc.. And some good news, and nourishment for mind and soul.
REMINDERS for PED 3150: Due on April 23rd: Final report completed by your AT sent by YOU to the practicum office and to your faculty advisors, Heather and Paul. If the final report will be late due to extenuating circumstances, please let us know and we will approve a short extension. Just let us know, please. Due as well: Self-Evaluation/Self-Assessment, Blog Two and your updated PLC chart.
Final Practicum Report: Reports should be sent to the Practicum Office at practic2@uottawa.ca. Practic2@uottawa.ca is an inbox specifically for evaluation reports. The documents must be submitted electronically in PDF format. The Practicum Office cannot issue a final grade without the completed reports in PDF format. ATs can provide candidates with hard copies or electronic versions, but it is the TC’s responsibility to submit it as a PDF. TCs are reminded to keep a copy for their own records, and please remind your ATs that they need to make a copy of the form/report before completing it.
PLC Chart– a great artifact to be added to your Digital Hub. Hopefully, you have kept it up to date throughout the year. The form can be found here.
BLOG 2– Description below.
BLOG 2: Continuing to use Timperley’s “adaptive expert”, the Teacher Education “Communities of Inquiry” frameworks and the OCT Standards of Practice, discuss your growth as a teacher candidate at the end of Year 1 as it relates to your Practicum experience and your course work. How has your understanding of what it is to be a teacher changed over time? As you move into Year 2 what are your lessons learned and goals for continued growth as a teacher?
This blog post at the end of your Year 1 consists of your reflective observations from practicum and/or your class readings to build on your understanding of the “communities of inquiry” and the “adaptive expert” model. To support this process we have provided guiding questions each week (please refer to your reading logs since January). In responding to these questions in your learning log you have gradually built a record of your own professional learning that you can draw upon.
Using the communities of inquiry conceptual framework, teacher as professional and the adaptive expert model, describe your professional practice to date. Your professional practice includes your past experience, your current practicum experience, the readings from this course, and your class learning in the B.Ed. program.
You can use the following as resources:
OCT Criteria in the Teacher Education Guide- self-assessment
The course syllabus has a description of the communities of inquiry, teacher as researcher and “Adaptive expert” model.
Course readings, Ministry documents.
SUCCESS CRITERIA: Your submission should include
clear statement of how the communities of inquiry, “teacher as professional” and the “adaptive expert” model are linked to your learning as a developing teacher
clear links to experiences in your practicum classroom and previous experience to your future practice as a teacher.
evidence of course readings, Ministry documents, class activities and/or professional learning.
evidence of reflective practice- what I know at this point and what I continue to struggle with and the link to goal-setting for practicum and further action.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PINK, APRIL 14TH, 2021:
GOOD NEWS
from Michael – thanks! Oh and my good news for this week is that almost all my students from both courses that I am teaching did very well on their final unit assessments! On average, each student’s marks have gone up since I started teaching them 🙂My AT let me know they think this was due to me being able to connect well with the students and I made the math relatable for them!
from Megan – thanks! My good news for this week comes from some kind words said to me by my students and thanking me for my help. It was truly the most wonderful feeling to hear that feedback from my students!
.