Olympic Pride

This week was very successful. I was challenged in many ways such as changes in the schedule, last minute lesson plans, Olympic interruptions and surprise observations. I am well into my addictive substance, independent novel study and public speaking units and can confidently say that the students are engaging well.

            One of the most powerful moments this week for me was the feeling of community that is present in the school and in my classroom. On Thursday morning while the Canadian women were playing the gold medal game, our class was a little distracted as the crowd forming in the front foyer was getting louder and louder. After I finished up my post conference I went back into the classroom to get ready for the afternoon but was drawn to join the crowd. When the ladies scored the winning goal in overtime, everyone went wild. When my students came back into the classroom some were more excited than others so we held a medal ceremony and I drew a popsicle stick to see who would get to change the number on our medal counter bulletin board. The students all stood and sang the anthem and we discussed what this meant for Canada, linking it with terms of society and nationalism which they are discussing in Andrew’s socials class. Reflecting back on the afternoon I wished I had started more Olympic discussions earlier because I found that not all of the students were as into it as I would have thought. I then remembered that the students would have been either 6 or 7 when Vancouver hosted the Olympics so they may have not caught the “Olympic Fever” that many did during that time.

            This week I depended on my mentor more than I have before. As she does not favour communication over the weekend there were a lot of late afternoons spent at the school and early morning meetings. I am finding that the further I get into my units, the more I change them to adapt to the students’ needs. I recognize that this is all part of the process and it was very humbling. In this sense, I am realizing the value of reflection and feedback as it is reducing my stress and planning time.

            At the end of the week I was also observed by my Principal. I was very nervous as it was a last minute addition to my week but it was certainly welcomed. I was also nervous about the nature of the lesson that he was observing as I knew it was going to cause a lot of interesting discussions between the students. The theme of the lesson was the second half of alcoholism and I was finishing drinking and driving and covering foetal alcohol syndrome. As the students have not done their puberty unit yet, I knew there may be some awkward questions asked. Luckily nothing was asked that I couldn’t handle and the observation went smoothly. My post-conference with my principal was equally successful as he was overall pretty impressed with my classroom management and the level of engagement of the students. He also complimented my use of technology as I had implemented something he had just learnt about that week at his principal’s meeting. Overall, I had a pretty solid week and look forward to starting my third week of full immersion!