Personal Statement

WEEK ONE

Question 1. After sharing and reflecting on your lesson plans in class, what insights about lesson planning and lesson delivery will you carry into your next placement (eg, focus on improving the timing and pace of lessons, etc.)?

Turning to my Teacher Report Card, the aspect I was most concerned about was providing clear instructions to ensure that students would not get lost during the talk. I feared that I would go on too long, use overly complex language, or assume that the students had background knowledge they lacked. Additionally, this is my first time teaching Grade 7 and 8 pupils, and I was unsure how much content could be covered in a single lesson. This became one of the most significant challenges I faced during the placement. I realized that when my instructions were not fully clear, students repeatedly asked the same questions or went off-topic while waiting. I also observed that my explanations sometimes included too many details at once, making it difficult for some students to identify the next step. At times, I sensed that it was my fault for trying to clarify the confusion with additional explanations, but, unfortunately, it proved counterproductive. After I received my interim report card, I deliberately followed my professor’s action plan and made it a daily focus. I started using the different strategies that would help me to make my instruction clearer and more consistent:

Divided the directions into 2–3 steps at a time, using short sentences and pausing to check understanding before moving on (instead of giving everything at once).
Used a brief “I do / We do / You do” structure so students could see a model before working independently. I also made my language consistent: “I do now,” “We do together,” and “Now it’s your turn to…”
Posted the learning goal and success criteria on the whiteboard as well as the slides, and confirmed students understood what success looked like.
Provided students with more wait time and offered clues when asking probing questions. Built in quick checks for understanding before releasing the whole class.

These are the steps, including lesson plans and delivery, I will focus on and continue to implement in my next practicum

Week One

Week Four

WEEK FOUR

Personal Reflection on Land Acknowledgements at your Foundations I placement:

Question 1. How did your initial understanding of the land acknowledgements modelled and discussed in your first semester compare to what you observed during your placement?

I did not know about land acknowledgement until my first B.Ed. lesson at Ontario Tech University. At first, I could not understand why we needed to spend time on it, since my workplace, an education unit at the time, had not made any announcement about it. When I asked them, they just felt unnecessary. I started understanding the real meaning behind land acknowledgements when I was assigned a reading about learning history fact about Indigenous people and how they were mistreated in the past. By watching the videos and reflecting on my experience, I began to understand that land acknowledgement involves recognizing Indigenous sovereignty, ongoing colonial impacts, treaty responsibilities, and our role in reconciliation. We need to do something to prevent tragedy and unfairness to all races from happening again, and carry forward the ongoing relationships. As I learned more about land acknowledgment and the history of this land, I began developing my own land acknowledgment by incorporating Indigenous ecosystem values in my first-year Foundation Class.

To promote cultural diversity and equity, it is important to advocate for and implement this idea among our students. During my first placement, I noticed a gap between this deeper meaning and how acknowledgements were practiced in the school. The acknowledgement was usually delivered to students by the administrative office every morning. There was little engagement and response from the students. It was more routine for them. I am now in my 2nd-year Foundation Class. I think land acknowledgement could be improved by highlighting the land's beauty and the people who live here, as well as key historic moments. As an educator, I aim to make acknowledgements meaningful and respectful, and to connect them to learning about local Indigenous communities, ways of knowing, and promoting their valuable beliefs and practices, as well as our responsibilities as educators and students.

Question 2. What surprised or challenged you in reading others’ observations about land acknowledgements? Use at least one example from the Padlet activity this week.

Challenged by Responsible Kookaburra, who left the comment 12 days ago on the Padlet: "I think Land acknowledgements were given at my placement on a school-wide announcement every morning - played right before the national anthem. The land acknowledgement that they use is the standard one from DDSB, and it is a student who reads through it every morning. I did notice that students were not very attentive to it and treated it more like a script rather than truly reflecting on the land that we live on." I think land acknowledgement could be improved by highlighting the land's beauty, the people who live here, and key historic moments. I am now in my 2nd-year Foundation Class. As a senior student, I aim to make acknowledgements meaningful and respectful, and to connect them to learning about local Indigenous communities, ways of knowing, and promoting their valuable beliefs and practices, as well as our responsibilities as educators and students.

WEEK FIVE

WEEK EIGHT

Week Five

Week Eight

*At this time, I have my DLP completely set up. In week 9, DLP will be reviewed by my instructor who will provide some feedback to help my progress.