First week of teaching

Two weeks ago I began my practicum at Teacher's College. Wow! What a change from the corporate world!

My first placement is at King Edward Public School in Walkerville, a storied neighborhood in Windsor. Walkerville is the home of Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, and to my favorite alcoholic beverage, Canadian Club (Rye Whiskey). On brewing days, the smell of rye is surprisingly strong.

I'm splitting my time between two Grade 6 classes, teaching Gym, Science and Math. No where in that list does it say History, my teachable. In Grades 1 - 6 History is better known as Social Studies. It doesn't look like I'm going to have a chance to teach Social Studies or Language Arts this time around but I'm enjoying the challenge none-the-less.

Science has been the biggest challenge so far. It took me a while to figure out what to do to open up a series of lessons on the Five Senses, part of the Human Body unit. Eventually I decided to build on an idea a couple of my classmates came up with in History class… spices.

I dolled out 10 different types of spices in plastic sandwich bags and asked the kids, in groups of 2 or 3, to analyze each spice based on the five senses: see, touch, taste, hear, smell. In the second class, I had each group come up to the blackboard and write their responses in a chart I put on the blackboard. The kids seemed to like the activity and I think it worked to set up the following lessons which will focus on the parts of the body that do the sensing: ears, nose, eyes, tongue, skin.

Since this past week was my first time in a classroom and as a natural disciplinarian (not :) ) , the one problem I've had was to keep the class noise level below a dull roar. Not having any kids of my own I'm not familiar with the psyche of children, other than to remember back to my own childhood and Grade 6.

Dave (Cajka) and I were a handful for our teachers in Grade 6. I don't think our parents really knew what we were up to because our marks were always good enough to keep suspicion to a minimum. I remember being kicked out of French class on a regular basis, tumbling books and book cases (attached to 4 lbs test fishing line), a whole lot of note writing, and Street Hockey every day after school... no matter how cold.

So far though, I’ve found the kids to be great. While they fool around all the time, get up from their seats far too often, never listen unless punished and generally cause havoc to my lesson plans, I find them to be good kids learning how to become reponsible citizens despite the many challenges they face. Most are eager to participate – hands shoot up like arrows every time I ask a question.

Childhood for me was pretty easy in comparison to what some of these kids have to deal with. Broken homes, alcoholism, learning disabilities, ADHD and Ritalin ...the list goes on. One wonders when life became so complicated for young people.

My goal, in the short time I have with these kids is to try to make an impression on them as to why it is so important they engage in the learning process. I hope to connect in some way with each student even if its just a smile in the morning.

Wish me luck!