EDTL 3100

Teaching and learning 3100 was one of the most valuable classes I have taken thus far. This was one of the first classes in the education program that allowed a real glimpse into teaching. In this class, groups were assigned to present on different teaching methods. I remember being really nervous about this, but I was able to remind myself that we were all in this program because we wanted to be educators, and this greatly calmed my nerves. Besides practicing being teachers through presentations, we also created teacher toolboxes. These turned out so well that I plan on using mine for years to come. Our teacher was able to give us great ideas, strategies, methods, and tools that we can use in our teaching practice from classroom management, making groups, attendance, assessments, activities, manipulatives, and many other amazing things that will help us as teachers. I loved that we were able to share ideas with each other and add new things into our toolboxes. This was an extremely valuable assignment, and I am excited to continue to add to it and use it throughout my teaching career.

EDIE 3100

This child development course opened my eyes to all the possible ways to learn. We looked at things from how students learn, to helping students that struggle, to creating lesson plans that include all learners. The psychology connected to child development in this class was an extremely helpful connection to my learning. One of my favourite assignments in this class was a lesson plan analysis. By taking a lesson plan and looking at each section of it, I was able to pinpoint the sections related to the terms we had learned in the class. We defined these terms and talked about why they were important in our lessons, why teachers should incorporate them, and how we could do a better job implementing them next time. I think it is extremely important to be able to critically reflect on your work, and I enjoyed being able to reflect on my lesson plan to show exactly why important details were included. I aim to keep this strategy in mind in all my future lessons to allow for greater growth.

EA200

I took my Early Childhood Educators Assistant course outside of TRU, yet it has had a great impact on my educational journey. This course was focused on child development, from birth to about eight years old, and it has taught me a lot about development and growth. Children go through a lot of different stages in the first eight years of their lives, and this course opened my eyes about how different and crucial they are to children. It also taught me that children grow and develop at different paces, and it is important to know how to support them through all stages at any age. I think that understanding this is extremely important as a teacher, because I will have a classroom full of thirty students in the same grade, but it does not mean that they will be in the same place emotionally or mentally. I think this will have an enormous impact on how I teach because I strongly believe that students need to develop at their own speed and it is my job to assist them so they can do so, without interfering.