Professional Competencies after 4th Field Experience at Summit School

Professional Competency 1: To act as a professional inheritor, critic and interpreter

of knowledge or culture when teaching students.

While teaching at Summit School, I had to particularly work on this competency.

Although I was teaching ERC once again, this field experience I was teaching a modified
curriculum of the secondary program. I quickly realized I could not teach the same amount of
information as I would do in a mainstream school. While teaching these students I had to focus
on the practicality of the information being transferred to them. Aspects that they can take back
and apply in their everyday lives. I understood the limitations that were presented in front of me,
and if I only focused on the general information or the technical aspects being transferred to the
students, then I would have failed them. Thus, this stage as helped me with evaluating what
knowledge is suitable and right for students to learn, and what should be left out.

Level: Thorough

Competency 2: To communicate clearly in the language of instruction, both orally and in writing, using
correct grammar, in various contexts related to teaching.

During this field experience, I continued to work on the second professional competency.
Dealing with this new population of students, I had to switch up my style when it came to
expressing the course content to the students. I could not simply expect students to understand
certain words I used or that we saw as a class while reviewing material. Whenever a word
seemed unclear or may have appeared to go over the heads of my students, I had to make sure I
checked their learning, and properly explain what the students either just heard or saw. As well I
must continue to improve my written work, as for a few of my lesson slides, students had a hard
time understanding what I meant or noticed an error. With this population of students, I noticed it
was important to be very clear and precise, if not they would not understand what I wrote or take
my mistake literally and not the general idea. Thus, this field experience allowed me to realize
the true importance of communicating properly with students in a classroom setting.

Level: Acceptable

Competency 3: To develop teaching/learning situations that are appropriate to the students

concerned and the subject content with a view to developing the competencies targeted in the
programs of study.

For this field experience, I had to create my own mini-unit that I would teach over a five
week period to the ERC classes that I was handed. I created a small unit on world religions with
a concluding activity at the end. The toughest part of creating a unit for this field experience is
how I had to evaluate which information was necessary to teach and what I can leave out as to
maximize the students learning in regard to world religions. For the most part I thought I was
successful in creating a unit which flowed from class to class leading to culminating activity.
However, when applied in class, some difficulties arose, such as some classes were slower than
others or some classes needed re-explanations concerning certain topics, something I did not
plan. I had to then plan on the fly, deciding which lessons to merge together or skip over, but still
being able to lead the students learning towards the culminating activity. The final activity
involved students creating their own pilgrimage and tie in certain aspects they learned from all
the religions in the unit. Thus, this field experience helped me further practice building my unit
around an end goal, and picking and choosing the topics that will help the students get there.

Level: Thorough

Competency 4: To pilot teaching/learning situations that are appropriate to the students

concerned and to the subject content with a view to developing the competencies targeted in the
programs of study.

With regards to this competency, I consider it a success, but that required much trial and
error. A few examples would be the first lesson I taught to one of my class sections. Immediately
after the lesson, I would take note of which parts of the lesson I would have to re-explain, if I
should choose another video to show to the class, if I had to add images to help their
understanding, or re-vamp my lessons. After this re-evaluation I did after all of these first
lessons, I was very successful in teaching the same lesson to the next group with the few
switches I would apply, and I found the student learning was much higher. However, I would
feel bad for the first group who would experience the initial trial lesson. Going forward I shall
work on making the first initial lesson less flawed. As well I quickly identified throughout my
stage which students needed one on one aid with a support staff or during group work, which
groups needed teacher support as they had trouble working together. Thus, during this field
experience I continued to develop my professional judgement when it came to in class
interventions and tactics to better the learning environment.

Level: Thorough

Competency 5: To evaluate student progress in learning the subject content and mastering the related
competencies.

An effective method I always find valuable when it comes to checking students learning
is asking them to re-explain what they just learned in class. Near the of every lesson I would ask
to re-explain certain terms or topics they just learned, and depending on the answer, I would
decide if I needed to step in and help re-explain what was just learned. As well I would clarify to
the students what aspect of the lesson is what they should take away back into their daily lives.
This is very important as part of the ERC competency is helping students develop their sense of
citizenship and community. Therefore, clarifying and insuring students know the main part of the
lesson that they should take back into their practical lives is essential. As well, I would
implement a small quiz at the end of the week to further check the students learning to evaluate if
they succeeded in remember the essentials from the lesson. Thus, the importance of this
competency truly came to fruition during this stage as involved students applying what they
learned in a practical sense one day in their lives.

Level: Advanced
Competency 6: To plan, organize and supervise a class in such a way as to promote students' learning and
social development.

This competency should be always under development and re-evaluation, as in every new
school, or even a new school year, new methods must be applied. At Summit, being smaller
classroom and plenty of support staff was very helpful in dealing with all the specific needs each
students had. For the class as a whole, it was very important to list the class outline and what was
going to happen throughout a lesson, students really appreciated the fact they knew what was
coming next. As well it was very important to list my expectations for each lesson, ranging from
what had to be accomplished to what would be tolerated or not in class. Given students this
knowledge, they knew exactly what was appropriate or not, therefore the onus was on them if
they slipped up. The aid of support staff was very essential with this population of students as if
student needed a break outside or one-one attention they would accompany them, allowing for
the continuation of smooth and positive learning environment. Thus, I quickly adapted to the
environment at Summit, and picked up on affective strategies that would create a positive
classroom environment.

Level: Advanced

Competency 7: To adapt his or her teaching to the needs and characteristics of students with
learning disabilities, social maladjustments or handicaps.

Summit being a resource school meant that this competency was very much at play.
Throughout my placement, I was introduced to different classes and students who all had various
needs and behaviors. I made sure to get myself informed about every student, asking my CT
what works when it comes to intervening with certain ones on a social and academic level. I
received a lot of good tips and knowledge when it came how to handle this population of
students. Besides specific examples, the main thing I learned was to have patience, both with
their learning and behavioral traits. The expectations in this setting must be brought down
heavily, the main focus of the lessons should be on what students take away and can use
practically in their lives. Even every school should provide knowledge to the students, the main
thing Summit provides as a professional is working on the student’s behavior and how they can
improve.

Level: Thorough

Competency 8: To integrate information and communications technologies (ict) in the preparation

and delivery of teaching/learning activities and for instructional management
and professional development purposes.

With regards to this competency, I do believe I still have some areas I need to work on.
For almost every lesson, I would integrate technology in the classroom, such as using the
Smartboard, using PowerPoint or showing videos. As well for the culminating activity, each
student had to use a laptop to create a presentation. This required to hand out instructions and
expectations for students to follow, and things for the most part went smoothly. Granted students
were trained at the beginning of the year how to use Office 365 and the laptops before I arrived
for my placement. In general though, I do feel as if I am only touching the surface when it comes
to using technology in the classroom, and if I were to expand my knowledge in this realm, it
could be very beneficial for future lessons and students going forward.

Level: Acceptable

Competency 9: To cooperate with school staff, parents, partners in the community and students
in pursuing the educational objectives of the school.

During my fourth field experience there were two instances where I developed this
competency. I got involved with this school play, even earning an acting role in it and helping
with the general production. The play involves students heavily, and I helped them with line
memorization and with the general building of the set. As well I started a small radio club during
my brief time at Summit, where we recorded a short radio episode with a few students and
worked on editing the final project together. Overall, I had a lot of fun aiding in these two school
driven projects, as like in any school, it is great to see students get enthused by projects outside
of the classroom.

Level: Thorough

Competency 10: To cooperate with members of the teaching team in carrying out tasks involving
the development and evaluation of the competencies targeted in the programs of study, taking
into account the students concerned.

Throughout my teaching stage, I was provided with many opportunities to working with
members of the staff for the development of the students. At Summit, for English and math, the
students are split off into different small groups throughout depending on their skill level.
Therefore each class teachers had to be in constant communication with the progress of their
students, and letting their homeroom teacher know if they are having any problems. As well at
Summit, there is a lot of support staff, such as the education consultant, psychologist, behavior
tech, social workers, occupational therapist and so on. That means day in and out, all the staff
members must be in constant communication to insure the well-being of the students and their
success. Being placed as a student teacher, I had to familiarize myself with everyone on the staff
so as to be I communication with anyone if any problems arise throughout the day.

Level: Thorough

Competency 11: To engage in professional development individually and with others.

There were many facets of my professional identities which I developed throughout my

teaching stage. I constantly sought out advice from CT regarding lesson and discipline advice.
This ranged from asking my CT how I should modify my lessons, and simplify it for my
students. I learned many valuable lessons when it came to simplifying my lessons for the future,
not only for resource schools, but for any school I may teach at in the future. I as well picked up
valuable lessons with dealing with students from this population, and how patience is one of the
greatest tools to have.

Level: Thorough

Competency 12: To demonstrate ethical and responsible professional behavior in the

performance of his or her duties.

I believed I succeeded in demonstrating ethical and responsible behavior throughout my stage.

My CT left me in charge of her classroom, in which I was able to bring in my own style,
however I made sure to respect my CT’s request and expectations. No matter what, it was always
her classroom, so by making sure her rules were followed and I always made sure to report back
to her after every lesson. As well, with the class, we went out into the community a few times to
go bowling or visit the auditorium and we had to take public transit, therefore I had to keep an
eye on the students to make sure they were safe and were acting appropriately.

Level: Thorough