Photo by Andrew Reshetov on Unsplash

Reflections on the first term

There are a lot of things to reflect on after one term of this program. First of I am approaching this program from a very different perspective than I imagined when I applied. As a recent grad, who at the time had not even really had any interviews, I was not sure how much I would be teaching during the start of this program. Then suddenly 1 week before the program started, I not only got a job but a full-time contract for the year. Further, I would be teaching Core French in primary, something not usually offered in most districts and a subject that the curriculum in BC only starts for in Grade 5…. As a new teacher this was a little heavy and daunting to say the least. All that being said I am coming at this program with a very different teaching perspective and with way more demands on my time than I could have imagined (I am back to how I felt working many years in the non-profit arts sector when everything is just go go go at all times). It is a bit of a challenge for a nerdy student like me who likes to put in the extra something to all school assignments to not always have the time to do that.

I have learned so much this semester, particularly from my own and other groups’ presentations and even via the process of putting the presentation together. Despite having gone back to school just over 2 years ago to complete my B Ed. through the PDP program, I still feel a little alienated and distanced from heavier research/journal articles, and this semester has shown me I need to get over this discomfort and quickly. I need to re-wrap my head around digging into research and that was very clear during our group project. I needed to not only read but quickly comprehend quantitative, qualitative and mixed research and re-adjust to looking up and learning unfamiliar vocabulary. And applying that vocabulary in a variety of texts/contexts. It has been a bit of a learning curve but I feel like my brain is remembering how to do it.

In terms of the subject area and our group presentation, I was fascinated with the research on using digital gamification in second or ‘additional’ language learning. As soon as we started to dive in we all wanted to learn more. I had suspected from my own observations that gamification could increase motivation, which some studies did indicate, but also that gamification can reduce anxiety around language learning, increase memory and test scores, and increase enjoyment. Some studies also discussed the benefits of online social interaction, which led me to wonder is there an additional benefit for those students who struggle with in-person interaction? And moving further to the classes presentations they only helped to confirm a fear I have, there are just too many intriguing areas of research in relation to education. I was especially interested in what people had to say about A.I. as personally I am intrigued and petrified by it. I could imagine many benefits, and my cohort demonstrated many more (I.e for planning!!) but I fear the repercussions of providing A.I. with more valuable information and connection and that could come to backfire against us one day, maybe…. I also loved seeing all the technology in the computational thinking presentation and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it ha. My key takeaway from all the presentations is the importance of the teacher’s role not only in the training and use of technology, but in the development, especially in relation to pedagogy, competencies and curriculum alignment,

My hopes for the future are to spend part of the holidays/early new year getting a little more settled on at least a broader topic area for my final project for this program and finalizing my organizational system.