Throughout this course we posted our work to a blog. Including several partner projects, looking at curriculum design, philosophy, as well as engagement with several professional communities. It is a chronological look at how we moved through the course, as well as our reflections on our growth throughout the course.
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Reflection
Reflection
Prior to this course I had never really taken a moment to discern my philosophy towards education, nor my ideas and beliefs about curriculum design. I think when you are a new teacher, there is a blank slate. We learned the pedagogies and the theories but until we are in an actual class with actual students it doesn’t mean much of anything. Now, almost a decade of teaching under my belt I find I have a lot more confidence in what I feel education should be, as well as my own ideas and beliefs when it comes to my planning and instruction, and that it something that only comes with experience.
When this course started, I knew very little about curriculum design, I understood my own practice to a degree, but having finished this course I can now put a name to what I am doing. I also have a deeper appreciation and understanding of what I am doing when I plan my courses.
In this course, and though the professional communities I participated in I have been able to reinforce that fundamental truth of teachers; we need collaboration to survive. Teaching is a team sport, it’s not an individual one, and sometimes as teachers we need to be reminded of that.
In my own practice, I want to be more cognizant of my planning and instruction. I want to move away from being so subject centered, I recently read an article about ‘teaching against the text’ and I really liked the idea. While I may be somewhat stuck in the middle as a history teacher in a STEM school, I think I can start questioning myself when it comes to my instruction. Move away from lectures, and standard assignments, to challenge myself and my students to inspire a love of history.
September is coming, and I have a new course I’ve never taught, and two that I have, but do not feel as if I was as successful as I could have been there is so much more I can do. I am over halfway through my PME program and I already feel I have grown a tremendous amount in my practice. I am happy to take the lessons I have learned from this course and apply them to my practice going forward.
Thank you everyone for an enjoyable experience, and all the collaboration we were able to do.
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