Week 11 & 12

During these two weeks we had two presenters, one who teaches chemistry and the other who teaches biology. I found both of these presentations very useful as the both gave me great ideas for the classroom.

The chemistry presenter, his name escapes me, did great experiments and P.O.Es. I cannot wait to be in a classroom of my own and do these types of experiments with my students. The one thing that worries me is the danger of the experiments. I would be extremely nervous to do any of it, especially since I haven't taken any chemistry since high school. The one thing that I do want to do now, is to get my chemistry additional qualification. Unfortunately, since I have not taken any university chemistry courses, I cannot do the additional qualification right away. Once I have two university chemistry courses I will definitely do the qualification, especially since I almost did a chemistry teachable instead of a physics.

I also really enjoyed the biology presentation. I loved all the ideas that Cathy said on how to get the students engaged in the classroom. I can definitely see my self talk about The Lion King  and The Lorax when teaching the grade 9 biology unit. Unfortunately, I am not teaching grade 9 this practicum so if will have to wait til I have my own classroom. Something that I might use in my upcoming practicum is talking about topics that students might be interested in, such as cloning or cancer. I might not ask the students to pick out a topic for themselves, but maybe do a survey and see what they want to learn about. I think that this is a really good way to keep the students engaged, even on the boring days.

In addition to the two presentation, we have talked about magnetism. I really enjoyed talking about this because I may have an opportunity to teach the grade 12 physics class this topic. So all the experiments/ demonstrations that we looked at gave me great ideas of what I can do.

In the upcoming practicum there are two things that I am nervous about. One is teaching the grade 10 biology unit, and the second is teaching the grade 12s in general. I'm nervous in teaching the grade 10 biology because I have never studied it past grade 10, so what I teach them is what I know. In the long run, the students have only just start the unit, so I get to teach most of the unit, which means that I will have lesson plans that I know will work and I can use in the future when I have my own class. As for the grade 12s, I nervous for teaching them because next year they are going to university, so if I do a poor job, I feel that they may have a harder time and its all my fault. I am also nervous because my host teacher teaches them by examples and demonstrations, however, I like to teach my notes. Both of the concerns for the grade 12s are silly, and I know with time and practice they will disappear, but it's the anticipation that make me more nervous. Even though I am nervous about this practicum, I am also excited about the experience that I will get to learn!