Reflection and Goals
Studying in the Junior ABQ course has been a whirlwind of learning and extremely illuminating. I am thankful to have had the chance to study with a cohort of dedicated professional educators from whom I have learned much. To organize my reflection, I will review and reflect upon my learning in each of the eight modules we have studied in this course.
Module 1: The Junior Learner
During this module, I had the chance to review and be exposed to learning theories as well as information regarding the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of Junior Learners. I was glad to discover that in my past 13 years working with Junior learners abroad, my experience has provided me with an accurate understanding of where Junior learners are developmentally speaking. This affirmation of prior knowledge provided me with great motivation to continue into the modules that followed.
Module 2: Meeting Diverse Needs
In this module, we examined student diversity from many perspectives. A lesson on Universal Design for Learning was the part of this module that I found the most interesting. Engaging with UDL principles and learning about how they allow teachers to meet diverse needs through intentional planning and instruction was enlightening and empowering. Another lesson that I found very engaging was related to Aboriginal Education strategies. Despite living and teaching abroad, as a Canadian citizen I am interested to learn more about how educators within my home country are working to meet the needs of Aboriginal students. Having the chance to look at the documentation produced by the Ministry of Education and use it to create a cross-curricular science lesson made me long to return to Canada to try to do my part to provide inclusive, culturally-sensitive to students in my home country.
Module 3: The Learning Environment
The most important learning that I experienced in this module was related to the importance of scheduling lengthy literacy blocks and being intentional about timetabling throughout the week to allow for this. Another meaningful lesson allowed me to reflect on how student character growth is being supported in my school. What I have learned about both topics, scheduling to support literacy and character education will undoubtedly influence my actions going forward in Junior education.
Module 4: Literacy/Math Programming
The initial lesson in this module was one of the most valuable lessons in the entire course for me. The course work on shared reading was a great chance to interact with the valuable resources that were provided. I have already shared links and resources from this module with colleagues at my school, and am creating professional development materials on reading and writing workshops for the teachers I serve in South Korea. Next year we will be completely revamping our literacy program to focus on the skills and techniques presented in this module.
Module 5: The Curriculum
This was another module that I found to be full of excellent resources that I will continue to use and share after the completion of this course. Of particular value were resources related to literacy workstations and backwards design. During conversations with faculty earlier this year, many teachers in my school expressed interest in implementing literacy workstations in their classrooms but were hesitant due to being unsure of how to begin. I have already shared resources with them from this course, and intend to provide more focused PD in the future once I have had the opportunity to study further.
Another topic covered in the module was backwards design. This was of great interest to me, as we are using the Understanding by Design framework to unit plan as we implement a new curriculum over the next few years. Being exposed to other resources related to this useful practice in unit design helped me to draw connections in what I already knew about the subject.
Another topic covered in the module was backwards design. This was of great interest to me, as we are using the Understanding by Design framework to unit plan as we implement a new curriculum over the next few years. Being exposed to other resources related to this useful practice in unit design helped me to draw connections in what I already knew about the subject.
Module 6: Assess and Plan I
This module was the first of two units on planning and assessment. Assessment is a favorite topic of mine, and I really enjoyed reading more about the complete spectrum of assessment from diagnostic to summative culminating projects. I enjoyed combining previous learning about UbD and Performance Tasks with the information I was exposed to in this module to create a culminating project for an interdisciplinary science unit.
Module 7: Assess and Plan II
Having reviewed and learned more about assessment tools, principals, and types in the previous module, I enjoyed the chance to focus on evaluation and reporting in this second module devoted to planning and assessment. The chance to take a close look at the Elementary Provincial Report Card and critique it was extremely valuable to me as I lead a complete curriculum, assessment, and reporting overhaul at my school. Comparing the current Ontario Report card to the one being implemented in B.C. gave me the chance to reflect on how we will evaluate learning and report that information to the students and families that we serve in my school.
Conclusion and Future Goals
My experience over the past weeks in this Junior ABQ qualification course has been very enriching and rewarding. Despite having taught Junior Division students for many years, I found that I still had a lot to learn and feel empowered to continue learning once the course is complete. I had three goals upon entering this course:
My current goal is to use what I have learned to vastly improve our grade 4 to 6 program at the school I serve as an administrator in our curriculum overhaul. I am confident that I can achieve this goal, as some of the resources provided have already been shared with the teachers in my school and are improving instruction. In addition to applying what I have learned in this course to my professional practice, I hope that being able to reexamine the Standards of Practice will help me in upcoming doctoral studies that I am slated to begin in September.
I can say with complete honesty that I have exceeded my expectations for learning and more than achieved my learning goals in this course. It has been an enlightening and rewarding experience that I know will improve my practice for the rest of my career.
- To update my knowledge of current best practices in Ontario and Canada;
- To build a broader base of knowledge to combine with my previous learning and experience, and;
- To learn instructional techniques and practices to share with my colleagues at the school I serve.
My current goal is to use what I have learned to vastly improve our grade 4 to 6 program at the school I serve as an administrator in our curriculum overhaul. I am confident that I can achieve this goal, as some of the resources provided have already been shared with the teachers in my school and are improving instruction. In addition to applying what I have learned in this course to my professional practice, I hope that being able to reexamine the Standards of Practice will help me in upcoming doctoral studies that I am slated to begin in September.
I can say with complete honesty that I have exceeded my expectations for learning and more than achieved my learning goals in this course. It has been an enlightening and rewarding experience that I know will improve my practice for the rest of my career.