January 20, 2024 – Reflecting on the Week

I am super grateful for the educators in School District No. 57 (Prince George). It’s been 5-years since I have joined the University of Northern British Columbia at the School of Education. If anything, it’s been a journey… a pedagogical one. I say that, but maybe it was more of a transformative one. On January 18th, I received an email acknowledging my years of service and 5-year milestone at UNBC. I took a huge leap of faith, embroiled with fear, uncertainty, and angst. My life was about to change and I was welcomed to the community by my former math students. I never expected that I would have an instant community when I first arrived.

With this leap of faith and the wonders of Twitter (the former version) and social media where I had a professional learning community in Prince George already. From virtual to in-person, I started meeting people in School District No. 57 with my work at the university in Teacher Education. Where my gratitude comes from is the enthusiasm and willingness by teachers in the school district of whom I’ve met over the years who want to collaborate and share their expertise with teacher candidates. Last week, we had two district numeracy teachers visit my EDUC 400 class in numeracy and I took my EDUC 421 class to Harwin Elementary for in situ.

We are learning about Assessment and Motivation in EDUC 421 with “real students” in real classrooms with the support of the classroom teachers and school administrators. You cannot get better formative feedback. The students will tell you if they were motivated to learn and they will also tell you if the learning target was clear and if the assessment plan was appropriate to assess their learning. What I learned is, the teacher candidates learned a tonne in a very short time. We are returning back to Harwin for 3 more weeks. We first started with the Career Education Curriculum and next will be Arts Education. Fun!!

Teacher candidates are focused on real learning experiences in the teacher education program. I appreciate this collaboration and partnership with Harwin. This “in situ” learning experience will be my third time enacting this way of being that I first learned about when I first came to the teacher education program from a colleague who was also willing to share and collaborate to keep this legacy (or pedagogy) alive within the teacher education program. The numeracy class and visit from the numeracy teachers was also a new experience, but I feel that this relationship will continue within the program and possible research projects.

My love for mathematics (and numeracy) is reignited. I felt that way when I attended the WFATE Conference 2023 last year ant attended a math education workshop. It was so thought provoking and innovative. One step after another, I am learning that I just love mathematics and I want to pursue more work that is focused on math education, math efficacy, and professional development. It may also mean revisiting my dissertation and getting my work out there through publications and a replication study with all grade levels, focused location, and different approach to recruit participants. Overall, it feels good to be reunited.

The elementary teacher candidates will be making a math game for Parent Night. This initiative is part of the imagination of one of the numeracy teachers and I can definitely tag along and support them with scaffolding the learning, providing frameworks for design, and emphasize the importance of numeracy for parents, students, and themselves. I am very excited to see what the teacher candidates come up with. Part of our learning is connecting these games to BC’s Curriculum and what we are learning in the course. We will design, play, and implement. If anything, teacher education has been an excellent way for me to lead for change.

This blog post has been a free-write. I had intended to write about EDUC 400 and EDUC 421, but it became more about my love for learning and my career choices. What a wonderful way to celebrate 5-years at the university. It’s been an learning curve from the beginning and there is something to say about “getting it” or finding your FLOW at the 5-year mark. We say it to new teachers, but it also applies to when you start a new job. I feel like I’m in my flow and I’m really happy. There will be a celebration coming up to celebrate my 5-year milestone with a certificate in the internal mail system, my name mentioned, and a snack or two.