Finding a Job

When I start to think about finding a job in education I have a couple of emotions spring to mind.  The first is utter and complete excitement because I will FINALLY be done with school and start my life as a professional.  The other emotion that I feel isn’t as pleasant, because the idea of finding a job in a tough job market scares me.  I was really happy that we covered this topic in Professional Teacher because I think that most of my classmates would agree that we all feel these ways to certain degrees.  In this post I want to explain some of the things that I learned about job searching.

One thing that was pretty obvious but still very crucial is that I have to have a killer resume.  Jackie stressed the importance of this in class as well as shared some great ideas about what to include.  After this class I know that I am going to have to go over my resume and give it a tune up.  I need to format it in a way that highlights my strengths, especially the ones that have any connection with children.  I have always had a concern over how few jobs I have had in my life, but Jackie helped to put a positive spin on this and said that it can show employers that you are willing to stick with a job for a long time.  I am planning to revamp my resume and then get some feedback from someone in the profession to make sure I have produced something that will get me to the interview stage of the process.

Ah yes interviewing... another lovely thing which will probably not help me in the long run is that in my small community everyone just knew me so I always just got the job on reputation alone.  Now that I am in the real world, I really need to hone my communication skills and let the interviewers know all the wonderful things that I can bring to the table in their schools.  I often have a hard time talking myself up or selling myself, but I understand that it is important to do within an interview.  The mock interviews that we held in class really helped me focus in on the proper ways to respond and also showed me the type of questions that will pop up.  Being able to watch my fellow classmates answer the questions made me more confident in my abilities because my answers often followed along with their own.  I am hoping to take a couple of workshops in the future to help with interviewing anxiety and nerves.  I also want to make sure that I am prepared for my interview and know the points I want to get across.  I want to have my educational words memorized so I will understand the questions (i.e. discuss your summative assessment practices), and I want to have certain things to say in my answers that will point out my strengths as a teacher.

I came out of this class hopeful that I have the ability to get a job if I just push myself and conduct the best search that I possibly can!

Long Range Planning

This week we discussed something that I was eagerly anticipating... long range planning!  I would be lying if I said that the idea of planning a whole year isn’t daunting and a bit terrifying but this class helped me to relax a little bit.  Something that I took out of this class that is really beneficial for me, is the idea of breaking down the year.  Instead of thinking of planning an entire year and every single lesson, think of the bones of the year.  For this blog post I want to discuss some of my personal ideas on the long range planning and what I plan to do when I get my first teaching position. 

Well first off I would want to know which grade I would be teaching and then dive into the curriculums and make sure that I know what I need to be teaching these students.  Next I would want to look at the breakdown for the school schedule (i.e. how long are the school days, holidays, in-service days, etc).  If a schedule is already set into stone for the entire school I would work off of that, or I would create a schedule for my class individually.  When creating my individual schedule I would have to check the Manitoba time allotments for all of the subjects to make sure that my students are receiving the proper amount of time for each of the subject areas. 

After I had these preliminary steps laid out, I would then start to build up my themes for the year (starting in September).  We discussed in class how units and themes can be interchangeable when planning, but I just prefer to do the themes first.  After the themes are in place for the year, I would start to develop my unit plans for all the subjects.  I would then make sketches of the lessons within each unit and cross reference them with the curriculum objectives to make sure that everything falls in line.  During this whole planning process I would like to be networking with other teachers for great ideas and also searching the web for lesson plans and ideas that will make my life easier. 

I really believe that if I follow these steps and do thorough long range planning that my life will be much easier.  I already know that teaching will be stressful but this will allow me to have plans in place and then be flexible within these plans!

Finance

During our discussion on finance in our Professional Teacher course we discussed at length the breakdown of how our public education is paid for.  Approximately 60% of the money comes from the provincial government, while the rest is produced through local taxes (property tax).  I was surprised to find out that the federal government does not contribute to the funding but I was more shocked when we discussed the inequality that this funding system can often create.

What I am referring to in my “inequality” statement is that the urban schools will gain more funding because they have more people to tax and gain their money through.  Also property taxes in cities are higher so the schools gain more money in this manner to.  There are a few strategies that the government uses to combat these issues, such as giving rural schools operating grants but I think more needs to be done to ensure that rural students are getting the same opportunities in their education.  I am from a small rural farming community and I can see firsthand that the educational opportunities that I had were not as fulfilling as the learning experiences that urban students had at their disposal.  For example, my school division could not draw on enough property taxes to equip our schools with the latest technologies and many of our programs and teachers were cut to try and save money.  Before I even entered high school they had already cut the Art and Spanish programs, and in my grade 12 year they tried to cut the band program as well until the community rallied and found a teacher for the position.  I believe that the education system is strong in our province, but things may need to be tweaked in order to give all students the same level of excellence.

Another thing that I learnt about finance during our discussion was how hard it is to find money to cut when forced to downsize the budget!  We preformed an exercise where we had to look at a school budget and cut out 1.2 million dollars.  The task was easy enough when skimming a little off the top of all of the programs/professionals but when you got into the big group the conflicts began happening.  Some people were really passionate about technology so that could not be cut, but then other people said the arts couldn’t be cut, etc.  This really pointed to the problems that administration have when doing budget cuts, every single person has their own opinions about what is important in a school system.  This exercise really opened my eyes to the complexities of budgeting... and I hope I never have to set on a board and make these tough decisions!

Governance

When I first saw the topic “governance” on the slides for our professional teacher class I was less than eager to start learning.  Government has never really interested me and I find the multi-layers to be confusing to navigate but in this post I will try my best to explain how the government affects our public education system.

In Canada, the provincial governments are responsible for the programming of schools.  They oversee all of the programs and hand down mandates if they deem the education system to be lacking in some manner.  An example of one of these provincial mandates would be the initiative to bring up the math scores of Manitoba students, which were recently shown to be low among the Canadian provinces.  The Manitoba provincial government follows the Public Schools Act and governs accordingly.

The next level of governance is the school board which sets the policies and budgets for the school division.  An interesting fact about the school board is that it is composed of members of each given community and the people are elected.  It is at this level that the Superintendent sits, and he acts as a liaison between the school division and the schools themselves. 

At the school level, the principal acts as a liaison between the teachers/ community and the superintendent.  One of the discussions in class brought forward the fact that teachers are supposed to work hand-in-hand with the principal to ensure that the initiatives of the province are being met and reported back to the provincial government but this is not always the case.  It was disheartening to learn that teachers are often left out of the governance equation because they are in essence at the lowest level of the totem pole.  I believe that this points to something that the new generation of teachers must really focus on... building strong relationships with administration with open lines of communication.  I think that people must work hard to keep these relationships positive and they must always check back with one another with the best interests of the child always in the forefront of their minds.  

After the classes covering the material on governance I can honestly see why it is important to know but I still think the subject matter can be rather bland.  In my future career I will be taking a closer look at the government structure though, because I think it is important to know my roles within it and what is expected out of me if I ever decide to take an administrative position at a different level.  

History of Canadian Education

I finally have the opportunity to put my undergraduate degree to use as my Professional Teacher class has started to look at the history of education (and people told me I would never use those skills again!).  I have learned bits and pieces about the educational system of Canada in previous classes, but this was the first time that it was really the main topic of the conversation.  In this post, I hope to hit on some of the key historical traditions found in Canadian history and then address the topic of Aboriginal education.

First I want to explain to people my beliefs as to why this information is relevant and important to know and understand.  As any historian or really any person will tell you, if you cannot learn from your mistakes you are bound to repeat them.  In my opinion, you cannot simply forget the old days because they are an integral part of the current educational system (it is based upon their forging!).  Our current education system was formulated through the mistakes and foundations of the early Canadian settlers so to truly understand the system, you must know the history. 

French Tradition – Within the French tradition, male children were given the superior position within society so they received a better education than the females.  The two genders were separated and taught separately by the Catholic priests of the communities.  The children were taught not only educational basics (i.e. reading & writing), but also religious practices and doctrine. 

English Tradition – The school systems in the English tradition were separated by their class structures.  While the Church of England was in charge of the education system, the rich and poor were educated differently.  The children of the rich were sent to public schools, while the poor children were educated by the church or “Dame Schools” run by widows and wives.  The difference in education, helped to keep the social classes intact even in the new land.

American Tradition – After the American War of Independence, the British loyalists moved into Canada because they wanted to live in a British settlement.  Their views mostly fell in line with the other British immigrants, with the rigid class structures still trying to be withheld in this new society.

Scottish Tradition – The Scottish tradition is probably the foundation that best reflects our current education system.  They believed in the equality of education (both primary and secondary); this was in regards to both gender and social class.  They infused the curriculum with both art and science subjects and they tried to offer them to all students. 

I am now going to turn my attention to the often uncomfortable discussion revolving the education of Aboriginals within our school system.  Even within our own classroom full of excited pre-service teachers, you could have cut the tension with a knife when we started the conversation.  I think that this tension is due to the fact that with the power of hindsight, we see the damage that the residential schools did to not only our relationships with Aboriginal people but also to the people themselves.  We are now caught in a relationship which is uneasy, with lines of communication often closed off and no real sense of trust within the educational system.  I personally think that we must now try to move forward past this horrible experience, because if we live in the past we will never see a brighter future and the students will be the ones to suffer. 

When I become a certified teacher, I want to help all of my students.  I do not want to look at a student and only label them according to their ethnicity and color, but I want to see them all as individuals and explore their culture with them and include it within the classroom.  I love the ideas of units based around the cultures found within a class, so all of the students can learn about one another and reflect on their own heritage at the same time.  I also want to use the resources available to the Aboriginal students to help them succeed in their educational careers.  Show them the path to success, and try to break the chain with the new generation.  

Code of Professional Practice

The Code of Professional Practice is the path that every teacher must follow, no matter how hard some of the points may be to comply with.  In my personal opinion I think that the code is very helpful, especially for new teachers.  The code gives us the guidelines needed to know how to handle some tough situations that teachers are unfortunately put into quite frequently.  I find that the code is written in an "easy to read style", and that the points are pretty clear.  MTS does a very good job of explaining each individual rule and I know from a quick internet search and the information that we received at our education orientation, that they are more than willing to answer questions about the code if you are having any kind of dilemma with one or more of the rules.

I now want to take some time to highlight a few of the points out of the Code of Professional Practice.

4. A teacher speaks and acts with respect and dignity, and deals judiciously with others, always mindful of their rights.  

This is a very important point within the code because it reminds teachers that they are at all times a professional.  Teachers do not have the luxury to be a teacher for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Even though some teachers may not agree with the casting, once you put on the teacher hat you are forever going to be a teacher.  This rule helps up to be mindful of our professional duties as well as how we must choose to live out all of our life since we have taken on the immense responsibility of becoming a teacher.

10. A teacher makes an ongoing effort to improve professionally. 

I like the fact that this is one of the rules found within the code because it means that the profession is always trying to keep up with the latest technologies and advance with the times.  For example, technology is booming right now and it is quickly becoming an integral part of our school systems.  In order for the teachers to improve themselves professionally they must take courses and learn how to use these new advancements, thus mastering some new skills so they can in turn teach their students new and exciting innovations.

1. A teacher’s first professional responsibility is to her or his students.

Due to the very nature of the teaching profession, this is the number one rule on the list.  Teachers are in a unique position with children, because they are sometimes like a second parent to the child and the students spend the majority of their time in class with a teacher.  Trust needs to develop between the teacher and student in order for the relationship to be strong and healthy.  For early years teachers especially, this responsibility can be very hard to handle because you must become the advocate for the child because they cannot always defend themselves or know what is right or wrong.  

Favorite Teacher

I have been very blessed throughout my educational career to have many wonderful teachers that helped positively shape my experiences as well as inspire me to become a teacher.  In this post I am going to tell you about the woman that I believe inspired me the most to become a teacher, Mrs. Emilson.


Mrs. Emilson was my Grade 4 teacher and I think she was the first to really fill me with the desire to become a teacher and with the belief that I could become someone of importance in the world.  She was and still continues to be the teacher that everyone in the school loves.  Part of what I think makes her such a wonderful teacher is her kind/caring nature but also the way that she makes every single student feel special and worthwhile.  She was never one to turn a child away because she was busy and was in a rush to complete one of her many jobs.  She would always listen to whatever ridiculous story that I was dying to tell her, not because it had any importance to her but because it was something that I cared about.  I think another thing that really helped me to connect with Mrs. Emilson was our mutual love of music.  She really helped me to become more confident with my vocal abilities and often gave me sheet music and advice because she had a music degree from the University of Manitoba.  


For our Evaluation and Assessment class in first term, we were asked to conduct an interview with a teacher to find out about their evaluation practices.  Lori was in the forefront of my mind right away for this assignment, so I sent her a facebook message and she agreed to email her responses back to me.  She was very helpful and provided thoughtful answers to all of my questions and at the end added a personal sentence just for me: "I think you will make a great teacher by the way :)".  This one sentence filled me with so much confidence and literally put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.


Since I am from a small town I still know and am in contact with Lori.  She still cons me into singing at functions whenever I go home, and always asks my parents how I am doing in school.  I have never actually told Lori how much of an impact that she made on my decision to become a teacher, but if ever she stumbles upon this blog I want to express my feelings of admiration and thankfulness that I had the opportunity to be one of your students.  I hope to emulate your best qualities in my own teaching career, and pray that I can become a wonderful teacher just like you!


"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carol Buchner