Module 4

 
At the opening of this module, and with the very first activity discussing IEPs and Transition Plans, I was fortunate enough that my Summer School teaching partner is the Department Lead for Special Education at A N Myer in Niagara Falls. It was really refreshing to be able to have a conversation with him regarding the DSBN policies and how our students are taken care of. I found it really reassuring to know that the needs of our students are being met to their fullest abilities and that those who are in place to advocate for the students rights and needs are caring enough to ensure that they are being met.

The first part of this module that I am planning to make sure I am discovering new ways to fully implement into my teaching practices is how to enforce the Growth Mindset within my class. I really found this part helpful and really informative. There were bits and pieces that I am already implementing, such as personal reflection and providing feedback. However, I do believe that I need to focus more on the initial education on how the students can provide feedback to each other, and specifically on how to accept the feedback from their peers. I think that social media has created a disconnect in the way that society provides and accepts feedback, and I want to make sure that I am looking to educate my students to make sure that this is a life skill they are able to take with them once they graduate.

I have noticed in my classes, and in life, that the skill of problem solving is not something that come naturally to make people and needs to be reenforced in our education system. I found that it was really helpful working through creating my infographic on Inquiry Based Thinking has helped me to understand how I can encourage and engaged the students to become stronger at problem solving and take more of a curiosity and hands on approach to their learning.

Reading through the articles and resources provided on adolescent development and teaching with a holistic approach were really helpful for me towards my overall teaching philosophy. I have taken the holistic approach to my teaching in my HPE classes and as mentioned, sometimes it is really nice to see that there are areas of my practices that others may look at as unnecessary, but that actually will go a longer way to encouraging my students to living a long healthy active lifestyle, rather then just being active while they are in class and stopping once the course is over. I was aware that there are different stages of learning for our students, and it is something that I teach in the PSK4U course, however looking at it in greater details about the various changes that the students will go through in all aspects of their lives was really helpful for me to look to use when planning my Healthy Living lessons. As I shared in this module, teaching about the whole student such as sleep and hydration, sexting, mental health, resilience and stress, are components that I consider when planning my lessons, but it was helpful looking through the Equity and Inclusion guide. This provided me with ideas and a refresher on how I need to reflect on my teaching to ensure that I am taking some extra care when planning my lessons to look and making sure that all the cultures and voices of my students are being heard and represented in my class.

The final resource that I will be using from this module to help me in my class is to make sure that my students are aware of the safe use of technology. In the health and wellness world there are so many technologies now that are available that can assist us in tracking our health and fitness, however there are many technologies that are being abused, such as social media or ChatGPT. I think that my making my infographic visible for the students and making sure that they understand what I am talking about in it will hopefully provide them to pause and consider if they are being safe and healthy when using the internet.