I learned so much in my first week as a teacher candidate at North Kamloops Secondary. Time seemed to fly by as I connected with the lovely faculty, administrators, and students. The biggest thing I learned was that teaching and the classroom are dynamic environments. No two students, classes, or teachers are the same. There was no clearer example of this than the difference between my teacher mentor’s two classes: Calculus 12 and Workplace Math 10. The Calculus 12 students are extremely focused individuals. They are very motivated by learning and easily engaged. They will not hesitate however to call you out if you make a mistake. Bill Morgan, my teacher mentor, deals with this class very well and I tried my best to carry it forward into my lesson. I think I was successful in doing so for that specific class in that environment. Mr. Morgan’s Workplace 10 class on the other hand needs more reminders and tricks to encourage them to prioritize their learning. They also require a lot of additional support emotionally. Some of them would get visibly uncomfortable and frustrated when presented with worksheets. I really enjoyed seeing Bill’s method for easing the student’s anxiety by creating similar questions and giving the students a choice between two of them. I believe it gave them a sense of power over their learning.

In my time at North Kamloops Secondary I also visited many other classrooms and teachers. Similar to how different classes needed different strategies, each teacher had their own teaching style that fits well with their personality. Some of the softer spoken teachers controlled their classroom by being extremely likable. Students wanted to learn from them and you could tell they were well respected. It also emphasized their point anytime they did have to speak up to manage a class. Students would stop in their tracks in shock and know that the teacher is serious. The teachers that were naturally more commanding were able to use that to keep students engaged and participating. Overall, I felt like I learned so much in my first week of my practicum. I cannot wait to go back on Monday and explore more classrooms and ideas to engage students.