Standard Six

Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.

Educators understand the curriculum and methodologies of areas they teach. Educators teach curricula from Canadian, First Nations, Inuit, Métis and global perspectives. Educators build upon student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect. Educators cultivate the values, beliefs and knowledge of Canada’s democratic and inclusive society.

What did I learn? Why does it matter?

One thing I know I will struggle with, and have to get used to, is the fact that I am not all-knowing and there are areas of science and math that I will not be perfectly versed in. As a teacher it is not an expectation for me to have every bit of knowledge there is before I start teaching a course. It IS the expectation that I will do my best to fill in any knowledge gaps, continue learning, and ensure that I am prepared with a knowledge base for each lesson I teach.

During my first practicum, I spent hours receiving my subject matter and ensuring that I had a strong understanding before teaching it to students. I still fell short in some ways and made many mistakes but I am grateful for patient students who were able to speak up when I missed a negative or wrote the wrong number in an example. I had to remind myself that it is ok to make mistakes and for students to see that I make mistakes. They will happen no matter how prepared and well-versed I am in the material.

What’s Next?

During the weeks of the second semester before practicum, Emily HM and I decided to commit one hour (though it was usually 4-5) per week to review the curriculum and content of higher-level math and physics courses. I am grateful for the time we spent reviewing concepts because it was beneficial to me when I started my practicum teaching grade 11 Pre-Calculus. Once practicum 2 is over, I would like to resume this routine throughout the summer months to continue building up my skills and understanding of concepts that take time to review and understand.

Standard Three Artifact:

My artifact for this standard is my note set on factoring that I gave out for my first lesson. Factoring is a concept that is taught in grade 10 and several methods can be used effectively to factor an expression. I was familiar and confident in ONE specific method, however, my CT informed me that it would be best to go over the 3 different methods he sees regularly used by students. I am grateful for this advice because I went home and spent a good amount of time learning the different methods and putting together this note set so that my students could use it as a reference in the future. This is just a small example of a time where I had to broaden my understanding to be able to help students in their different processes and preferred methods of solving problems.