Housekeeping: I started a Tumblr! Apparently Tumblr was so 2009 according to one of my friends, but it gives me a place where I can just dump the hundreds of pictures that I have on my computer, so it works well for me. Plus it's on my life list to have a site that I update daily. I started January 1st and I will be adding (at least) one picture everyday, guaranteed. Check it out at www.inpauseinpoise.tumblr.com.
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As most of you know I spent
my last semester in my practicum teaching Gr. 3 students. It took up a lot of my time and was pretty exhausting, but also
just really awesome. I got so lucky to have an incredibly positive experience
where I learnt so much. I
learnt that beatboxing is an incredibly effective classroom management
technique, that the ‘Beaver Crawl’ works as a suitable reward incentive, and
that, if you’re going to do a lesson on building your house upon the rock, you
should not try and bring in the largest rock in your neighbourhood as a demonstration. My TA was relatable and insightful, the school staff was
ridiculously welcoming (despite mocking me for bringing Alphagetti in a can to
work on a daily basis), and the experience as a whole was really stretching. I taught
a lesson in every different subject and discovered a new passion for Science,
was reminded of why I love English, and maintained my general lackluster
attitude towards Math. Oops. I was able to present some of my favourite camp
songs to the entire student body and even got to debut my acting career in the
school’s Christmas production. The production went great until
I came on and realized that I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to do
with my face. Amongst thoughts of remembering my next line all I could think
about was: Is this how my lips normally
look? Am I smiling too much? Maybe if I open my eyes wide enough people will be
able to tell how into this I am. NO NOT THAT WIDE you just look creepy. Stop
twitching your eyebrows frick I hope nobody can see that my ears are shaking
WHY ARE MY EARS SHAKING?? (and on and on and on). Acting is not my strong
suit.
BUT as any unintentionally
cheesy and sincere teacher will tell you, the best part of the job is
the kids. I loved working with children mostly because:
Ready for a barrage of
heart-warming anecdotal quotes? Move over, Chicken Soup, you’ve got nothing on
these Grade 3s. (Italics are 100% direct quotes from the kids.)
See, there are many things
that I love about Gr 3 kids. At times they are filled with great insights such
as “If dices were alive they would be
sooo dizzy” and “Did you know that if we went to another planet WE would be the
aliens?” It was always entertaining to watch them grow in awareness,
witnessing the light bulbs turning on. “Orange?
Why that’s my favourite colour! Why… WHY, THAT'S MY FAVOURITE TASTE!!”
Their sense of competition
always intrigued me. “I’M THE FIRST
PERSON WHO MADE ENOUGH SPIT FOR A BUBBLE!” one student yelled across the
room in the middle of a (non-spit bubble related) LA class. Immediately a
student from across the room loudly retorts
“My cousin can make a bigger bubble!” Take that kid, your spit bubbles are
only mediocre. Or, my personal favourite comeback, which came out during an
argument about who was in line to go indoors first: “I was in line first!” “No I was!” “Do you even HAAAVE Facebook?”
He’s got you there, Jimmy.
Sometimes their logic would
be too sharp for their own good. I fought with a student for almost an hour
once because, as he rationalized, “No one
ever DIED because they didn’t use capitals!!” You think lesson planning is
hard? Try convincing a defiant eight-year-old that capital letters are
important.
Other times their logic was
thoroughly fallible. While creating an acrostic of their names, the students
were told to find letters that described themselves. One student had a ‘J’ in
his name. “You could be jolly!” I recommended. “You’re just trying to trick me!” he responded, offended. “Jolly means fat!” Another student came
skipping up to me, thesaurus in hand, ecstatic about finding the missing word
for the letter ‘A’. “I’m aggressive!” she
exclaimed, “Yaaaaaaay!”
Gr 3s are entertaining. Gr
3s in a Christian school are substantially more enjoyable. Nowhere else, when
you have worn an Obi-wan costume to school for dress-up day, do you get
mistaken for Jesus on multiple occasions. On another occasion, in Social class
the teacher was talking about how we have freedom because of the soldiers who
fought in WWI and II. The student closest to me loudly whispers, “I thought that was because of Jesus.”
Or, in LA class when I’ve assigned each of the students to create a superhero
that has powers and motives. In amongst the bundle of ‘Marshmallow Man’ and ‘Mr
Stupidhead’ was this gem: “My superhero’s
power is that he takes bad guys and puts them in jail and then tells them about
Jesus. He’s called the Fisher of Men.” Take that Satan.
Their simple confusions are
endearing: “Knock knock” Who’s there?
“Under” Under who? “Uhhh…………. Umm knock knock who’s there
UNDERWEAR!” Nailed it. Or “Is Canada
the biggest country?” one student asks. “No stupid! It’s Calgary!” Almost, buddy, almost.
But most lovable is their
warm and caring hearts, which come through with compliments such as “My brother
Luke has humongous hairs on his arms just like you!” One student even went
out of her way so that whenever my TA mentioned that I was a student teacher,
she would come up to me, pat my arm consolingly and say, “You’ll get there” before returning to her desk. What’s funny is
that I actually felt a little bit encouraged every time.
And sometimes when it comes
to kids it’s their beautiful simplicity that gets ya. On Rememberance Day they
were instructed to fill out a handout as to how the memorial service made them
feel. One student succinctly wrote: “I
feel sad and bad and free.” I loved it.
One of my favourite
moments from my practicum is a bit longer than an anecdotal quote. There was a boy in our class who had autism and who wasn’t very
comfortable with change or new people. Despite having been in the classroom for
almost two weeks he wouldn't talk to me or put his hand up when I was teaching.
One day, the school had a theme dress day where everyone was supposed to come
as their favourite Disney character. I came as Obi-wan Kenobi (because the only
better than a wicked awesome costume is a topical wicked awesome costume).
Throughout the day I noticed that
this student was watching me closely, even when I was just sitting at my desk. During
my lesson he put up his hand and he even came and talked to me during recess. I
couldn't for the life of me figure out what had changed until his Educational Assistant
informed me that he had a HUGE obsession with Star Wars and that it was all he
talked about to her. He loved my costume so much that he asked to do a
photo-shoot at the end of the day, so we went out into the hallway and took a
bunch of pictures together.
Every day
after that, even if we don't have class together, he would make a point of
coming into my classroom and giving me a high-five. What a way to brighten my
day and what a great lesson on the power of finding relatable material for your students.
And the most
powerful moment of the practicum came when I was not really expecting it at
all. Going into it, I didn’t even know
that I had the option of doing my practicum at a Christian school, but I’m so
glad that I did. One example of this was in Chapel one day. It was first thing
in the morning and Chapel had begun with worship. The kids were not really into
it and were quite distracted (and with the young ones they couldn’t even read
the words on the screen so they just stood there). Nobody was really singing
along until the worship leader started playing the song 10,000 Reasons
by Matt Redman. I was completely overwhelmed by the chorus of
children that were suddenly all paying attention and singing loudly. You may
have heard it before, but the song begins with the verse:
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Hearing the kids
sing louder than the worship leader was such a powerful experience. I
understand that a lot of the kids didn’t grasp the gravity of what they are
singing, but their child-like faith was so encouraging. The next verse follows
describing the characteristics of God.
You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find
Again, hearing these truths being sung from the mouths of children somehow made them so much more powerful. When the final chorus came about, I could not help but be overwhelmed.
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
Six months before this event my grandfather had passed
away. As the children sang, my thoughts immediately turned to him. As I listened to the kids sing I began to cry. (This would have been fine
except that this was actually the same day that I wore my Obi-wan costume--the
last thing I wanted was for one of the students to see a great Jedi in tears :P).
But one of the students did approach me after and asked why I had been crying.
I thought about it and responded as truthfully as I could. I was crying because
what they were singing was powerful and the way that they sang it brought a
sorrowful joy to my heart.
All I can say is kids are ridiculous and
difficult and entertaining and inspiring and awesome. They definitely make me
reconsider my desire to be a high school teacher.