The York Series (7)

Part 7: A reflection on the Concurrent Education Program at York University.

Lesson plans saved to disk.. unit plans tucked away.. interview portfolio put in safe place.. references updated.. 1 WEEK TILL CONVOCATION!!

Okay, it can finally be said that I'm DONE. I officially ended my final teaching placement yesterday. And that concludes this year's courses. FINALLY. I've never been so happy to be finished a placement. This year's was definitely not the most pleasant. I've mostly blogged about my English and Visual Arts courses at York but I haven't said much about my education courses. So here it is, the past three years of my practicum placements (teaching practise), in reflection:

Year 1 - My second year of university and I was accepted into the program - a big achievement because not many people get in on their first try and I was happy that I had. I didn't know what to expect really.. on the first day of classes I walked into the wrong class (and from then on I made sure my watch always had the right time). In the program I was in, regardless of your path of study (I/S -- intermediate/senior - grades 7-12, J/I -- junior/intermediate - grades 4-10, and P/J -- primary/junior - JK -6 ), you were given an elementary school placement for the year. The elementary school I was placed at in Mississauga was like a carbon copy of Cherrytree. The staff were the friendliest people I've ever met and the students in my grade two class were amazing (mostly because they thought I was the coolest thing alive hehe). I looked forward to Fridays (my teaching day), and could never stop talking about how wonderful my students were to my family and friends. Anyways, I had a fantastic time there and afterwards I seriously considered changing my program from I/S to P/J. But I decided against that and to see what the next year had in store for me...before making any decisions..

..Year 2 - Good choice. I instantly liked teaching at a high school just as much. I was a little unsure in the beginning because it was a Catholic high school, but I ended up liking it for that fact even more. Although, I wasn't entirely satisfied with the teacher I was assigned to for the first semester, my friend who was placed at the same school, agreed with me that we would switch teachers for the second semester -- best agreement I ever made. Great teacher second semester, and great classes, it was a wonderful learning experience. Unlike last year where I taught subjects such as math and science (yuck), this year was the real thing - I was teaching English - my main teachable - and it went really well. I began looking forward to my placement for my final year for Visual Arts (my second teachable and the one I'm leaning more towards with hopes for teaching).. little did I know that not all teachers are friendly, caring and warm people who welcome student teachers with great happiness into their arms and school (that's being sarcastic).

Year 3 - So obviously I wasn't happy with the person I was assigned to. You can tell when someone doesn't like you or respect you for what you are. The school however, was a great school and I really liked the students. A nice big school, clean, not too old, a somewhat diverse student body.. this began my dream for the type of school that I wanted to teach at. Even though I wasn't happy at this Missauaga highschool as much as I was at the elementary school or the Brampton Catholic one, my year ended with somewhat of a bang (and I don't mean a party like what the students gave me at the previous two schools). The bang was this which I'm sure everyone is quite familiar with now. Apparently some of the accused had attended this school and now it's become a centre of crazy media attention. The first day the school was mentioned in the Toronto Star (on the front page, line 5!) we had an emergency staff meeting in the morning and after school where we were told not to discuss anything with anyone. So I'm not going to discuss anything with anyone. But I had a second bang to end with too... the fact that on my last teaching day... I had an interview! - not at that school, but at a different high school school in Brampton! ... like yippee and oh no!

Yippee = finally someone wants me!
Oh no = I have 1 day to prepare .. and I'm not prepared! I find out the day before that they're interviewing the next day and I can either take this chance or leave it. So I rushed home, created a portfolio from scratch, tested my self on possible questions, and couldn't sleep all night.

What can I say, my first interview went by really quickly, the questions were really easy but I was incredibly nervous going in.. (It's quite nerve-wracking to have the principal and vice principal interview you at the same time). I first has to fill out a form that the secretary gave me, and that I'm certain I filled out wrong.. I then had an essay question to answer which wasn't too hard, and then came the questions. I'm quite positive I won't get the job because it seems like a million other people who are much more qualified than me are applying for it. Either way, I'm trying to look at my first real serious interview as a learning experience now, so that when I go to more interviews in the future I know what it'll be like.

These are the schools in Peel that have had openings for my teaching subjects. I've applied to all of them. I won't say which my interview was for!

1-Turner Fenton
2-Bramalea
3-T. L. Kennedy
4-Port Credit
5-Chinguacousy
6-West Credit

Schools do current teacher re-hiring first, which means they hire teachers who already teachers before looking at new graduates. I haven't heard from the 5 other schools yet..

I look forward to teaching with others who were in my program. And I can only smile when I think back to some of my education professors who read us children's storybooks that were so emotional that they began crying. Teachers can be very emotional. After my first placement I cried because I knew I was going to miss those kids like anything. I guess they'll be going to grade 5 this September (already!?). But then, after this year's placement I smiled when I left the building - and I guess that happens sometimes - you're happy it's over, and that you can (hopefully) start fresh the next year.

Overall I'd have to say that the Concurrent Program has been good to me although I'd recommend others to apply to the Consecutive Program, which means to do the B.Ed after their B.A or whatever they're doing. It's less work and that makes it much easier and less stressful. I think I did take too many things upon myself in university, but now I'm done... and today I have absolutely nothing to do. The feeling is a little unsettling.

CURRENT MOOD: Free to sleep in once again. Though out of habit from the past month I woke up at 6:30 a.m...