Practicum One

Practicum placements came out the Friday before Thanksgiving around 3:30pm. The school did this for 2 reasons. One, to give us enough time to check out our school before we started and make any travel arrangements necessary, and two (and most importantly I'm sure) so that by the time we got our placements they were out of the building and wouldn't be back until the following Tuesday, which means no dealing with students unhappy with their placements.

I didn't really know why people would be too upset with their placements until I got mine. Apparently there was a placement set up for me in Hamilton and at the last minute the teacher backed out or something and they needed to find somewhere new for me. I was hoping to teach in Hamilton for a few reasons: 1) to build a relationship with as many people as possible in the board, 2) to save money on commuting, and 3) to stay home with my husband who is my support system. I looked up my placement and my heart sank. I had been placed in Scarborough - the east end of Toronto and about as far from home as they could place me. I was very frustrated as I knew the school had a commitment to not place me more than 1 hour from my home and this would be a good 2 - 3 hour drive in traffic every day each way. There was no way I could do this. I contacted the school to let them know I couldn't do this and they said I could petition the decision. I didn't want to rock the boat and I started looking at options.

I went on the website for the high school I was placed at and looked at the Music dept's webpage. This school was incredible. There were 4 full time music teachers plus another one teaching music part time. There were 26 sections of music. The average high school in Hamilton had about 6 sections, maybe 7 - 8. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be at this school. I arranged to move to Toronto away from my husband for the month (missing part of our one year anniversary as a result) and decided to suck it up and keep the placement. I am so glad I did.

I learned more from those four teachers in those four weeks than I have in a long time. The kids were fantastic. It was a very academic school with very motivated kids, which was fun to see. It's not the norm, but it was a good experience to see full band, vocal, and strings and midi programs along with a small guitar program. I came away with some great ideas, references, and colleagues who I would be honoured to work with again.

During practicum you are being watched most of the time. It can be a bit disconcerting, however I found when the teacher was out of the room to make the most of that time - build relationships with students so when the teacher comes back you are more comfortable working with them, and they with you. One day a few weeks in my Music professor from OISE came to watch me and give me some feedback. During this time my associate teacher was also watching, as was the other student teacher, a very talented teacher and musician. I was nervous enough with these three, but the other three music teachers would wander in and out at any given time. To top it off, at one point in wandered the Principal to have a peek. So practicum can be stressful, but it's a fantastic learning experience. It's also great for references and networking. Don't burn bridges during practicum, it's not worth it!

I had a lot of friends that said they had bad experiences in practicum. The more they spoke, for the most part, the more it sounded as if they were coming across like the brilliant teacher who needed to be taught nothing. I have a feeling they shot themselves in the foot when they walked in the room. As a new teacher, you don't really have any right to be cocky and arrogant. Sure there may be things I know that a veteran teacher doesn't, but chances are there is so much more I can learn from them than they could learn from me at this point, why not take the opportunity and learn what you can? I have so much to learn still, even after graduating. I think to lose sight of that is to short change your students before you even begin.

With first practicum behind me, it was on to finishing the semester and attending the conference, and that was an eye opening experience!