Educators engage in professional learning.
As a teacher candidate I am always learning and always engaging in professional learning because I did a lot of leaning on my coaching department. I call it a coaching department because I was so blessed to have a department that took me under their wing in the beginning and helped guide me through the beginning stages of teaching. I had daily conversations with the department and multiple conversations a day with my coaching teacher to help me be the best teacher I could be.
As I maneuvered my way through the Bachelor of Education Program, their were many opportunities to engage in professional learning through workshops led by professionals in different fields. One piece of knowledge I will always remember and carry with me is the saying “learn, unlearn. relearn”. This means that learned early in life are outdated ways of teaching and learning because education is always evolving. So I must unlearn what I learned to make room for the relearning of my new ways to take place. This does not mean taking all your values and throwing them away this means looking at what does not work in the education system anymore and exploring new approaches, more holistic approaches.
In week 7 of my practicum I took part in a Pro D Day event that looked at nurturing a growth mindset in high school through entrepreneurial thinking. I chose this particular workshop because of the LD opportunities within SD 57. I have applied for an LD that has CLC11 attached to it, and I wanted to know more about how to encourage students who have an entrepreneur attitude or mindset. I want to be able to support them in anything they want to do. This workshop looked at what an entrepreneurial mindset was and listed things that students had to constantly practice, and they apply to any classroom.
- Comfortable with uncertainty
- Collaborator
- Problem Solver
- Speaking with purpose and passion
- Comfortable with uncertainty.
This workshop helped me realize that I can support students in their career mindset not just in a career-based course like CLC 11/12 or Career Life Ed 10. I can weave these types of mindsets into any classroom.
The leader of this talk went through a few obstacles and how to create opportunity for the said obstacles. When she said it is hard to practice failure, she pointed out that as students age, they are less likely to be vulnerable and worry more about embarrassing themselves. An opportunity to work on this obstacle is to create a challenge for them! If they “fail” it is okay because it is not a failure if you learned from it.
This sparked something in my mind, teachers usually want all their students to do well. In my practicum I wanted students to do well BUT I also wanted them to use their failures as learning opportunities which is why I would give second chances and re writes on quizzes. A point the lady in the workshop brought up was the idea of “fumbling forward” I really love this because it shows that failure is not about taking two steps back because you are still learning from mistakes. This Pro D opportunity gave me a different mindset when I look at high school students and how I can shape classrooms to help them think about their future.