My #oneword2020 was “resolute”. I chose this word because I felt that it captured the conviction, determination, and passion I was hoping to bring to my EDUC 491 practicum experience. I think I set a reasonable goal for myself. While I have very high expectations for myself, I felt this goal was a nice balance between stretching and extending myself without grinding myself into the ground. My #oneword2020 resonated with me throughout my EDUC 491 practicum experience, and continues to. I am very proud of the work I did during my final practicum, and I think that I remained resolute throughout the six weeks.

My #oneword2020 was not burning into the forefront of my consciousness throughout practicum. I did, however, pick this word for a reason. Working extremely hard during 491 was a goal that I had set for myself long before being required to select my #oneword2020. Overall, with respect to my #oneword2020, I feel that I did very well. I was usually the first one in the building each morning, and one of the last ones to leave each evening. In the mornings I would mark all student work, as well as give detailed feedback, and would prepare curriculum and materials for the upcoming weeks. I was always completely prepared 3-4 weeks in advance, but would tweak and adjust materials closer to the date I taught them to meet the needs for the specific groups of learners I had the privilege of teaching. I made myself available before school, during lunch, and after school to support students, which resulted in higher quality and more meaningful student work, as well as formed stronger relationships with learners. I would also try to connect with educators I had met via Twitter that were in my building. They were gracious enough to give me feedback on a number of my materials. Based on feedback from my Practicum Mentor, my Coaching Teachers, and these other generous educators, I was able to fine-tune a number of my materials to further meet the needs of the learners, resulting in more meaningful learning experiences. While I absolutely worked my butt off, in hindsight, I might have been beneficial to pump the brakes at times.

A downfall of always being in my room working, and making myself available to the students, is that, beyond the educators I knew from twitter that I sought out, I did not really meet anyone. I feel that I missed out on an opportunity to fully embrace the school community, and will use this as a learning opportunity for when I am fortunate enough to be hired in a full time teaching position. I think the rigid framework I was given to work within over my practicum fit nicely with my #oneword2020, however, I do feel sometimes deepened learning was sacrificed to merely “get through things”. There were a number of things in all of my classes that had to be done at certain times, and large tasks to be completed by certain dates, whether the students were ready to move on or not. While I am proud to have “gotten through” everything, I really wish I would have had more time to dig deeper with students, and let some of the learning marinade before moving on. I am really looking forward to the prospect of having my own classroom. One of the unfortunate realities of EDUC 491 practicum is that one has all of the responsibilities of the regular classroom teacher, but nowhere near the level of autonomy.

Thinking about my #oneword2020 and my practicum experience, I feel I learned a lot about myself as an educator and lots about my students. I learned that I am more adaptive than I previously thought. I knew I had the capacity to be adaptive from previous work experience and teaching on call, but it was a whole different ball game during practicum. When one is teaching on call it’s easy to throw caution to the wind when adapting on the fly, since someone else will likely have to pick up the pieces if it does not go well. In practicum, however, when a curveball gets thrown at you, and the whole lesson has to go out the window, it was a really valuable learning opportunity to handle this when I knew I would be the one in the room the next day, something I feel I handled well throughout my practicum. Probably the most impactful thing I learned about my students was actually something I assumed would be the case prior to starting practicum. The most impactful thing I learned from my students was the joy one can have from working with the same learners for an extended period of time.

If I had the opportunity to go back and choose a different #oneword2020 I do not think I would. I thought overall “resolute” was fitting word for my EDUC 491 practicum experience, however, I do not feel that my #oneword2020 defined it.

Janet Chow’s presentation on EdTech, while not necessarily presenting anything new to our class, reinforced a many of the common themes from our presenters.

I really enjoyed the activity that we did in groups, making a physical representation of where we are in our journey as educators, and where we want to be. It was great collaborating with two people I have not had an opportunity to work with yet, and see what their mindset is.

I loved what Janet had to say about creating experiences, and not lessons. I really agree with the idea of meaningful, experiential learning for students. I also really agreed with Janet’s notion that purpose drives experience. This really tied into what our group talked about – place-based, meaningful experiences for learners (think global, act local).

While Janet briefly touched on it, I also agreed with what she said about assessment, and it role being to motivate and inspire.

I really wish we could have had more time with Janet, and her enthusiastic passion for education.