Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.
Bachelor of Arts (Psychology Major)
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from UFV. I believe psychology was a great degree to have as background knowledge for working with children. This degree expanded my understanding of behaviours and mental processes which has been very valuable for me during my teaching journey. Before you can do any teaching it is important to know and understand your students. Psychology really compliments the core competencies embedded in the BC curriculum.
Bachelor of Education (Elementary Years)
Of course throughout my Bachelor of Education program, I have grown to become more comfortable with teaching various subject areas at an elementary level. From time to time I still struggle with certain material but I have always made sure to contact an expert in that field. For example, during my first practicum I struggled with teaching bar graphs but I connected with the math advisor at the school and she supported me throughout my lessons. We will never be experts in every subject matter but it is important to acknowledge this and ask for help when needed; we work better as a team anyways.
Some examples of what I have taught throughout my education journey:
Math: I taught bar graphs at Mission Central Elementary where the entire class was standing and working on the whiteboards as part of the thinking classroom. This was a new yet very interactive technique of teaching math for me.
Language Arts: I taught a mystery unit at Mission Central Elementary where we learned the steps to solving a mystery and then found clues around our classroom to solve the mystery. This was such a fun activity!
Social Studies: I taught rights and responsibilities at McMillian Elementary where we discussed our own right and responsibilities and how they can differ from one another. At the end of this unit, students created their own lands out of modelling clay where they created their own rights and responsibilities.
Science: I taught forces and motion at McMillian Elementary. As a class we did lots of fun activities such as creating an inertia tower and making a hopper popper. The highlight of this unit was that I invited a presenter from Science World to come in to create balloon rockets with the class.
Physical Education: I taught my class at Terry Fox Elementary how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with hula hoops and they loved it! The entire class was engaged and they learned how to work together as a team and motivate each other to reach a common goal. Some of my students would show others how to play during Recess.
Careers: I taught my students at Terry Fox Elementary the difference between a wish and a goal. We first read a story on achieving a goal and then we created our own bucket lists of what we want to accomplish.
Art: My class at Terry Fox Elementary was learning how to be present so I decided to take the class outside for a nature walk where we could be present in nature. We used all of our senses and we took pictures along the way. We used the pictures to create a collage for students who needed some extra support. Once we got back inside we recreated what we saw outside through q tip painting.
Second Language: I taught Sign Language at Terry Fox Elementary. As a class we signed the alphabet and then students created their own name tags in Sign Language. We hung up our name tags in the classroom and students would use these as a reference when they wanted to sign their own name.