Educators contribute to the profession.
Part of teaching is helping out within the school community. While in practicum, we, as student teachers, are also expected to get involved within our school communities.
So far, I have only had the opportunity to work in the school communities in smaller ways and more of a supporter.
One way that I have helped out within the school had been supporting my CT (coaching teacher) with a presentation that he had planned within the library. During my 4 week practicum, my CT had brought in a few people to present on writing for some of the “younger” grades (the classes that had come had been in grade 8 and 9). I had supported my helping plan and getting to see the process of how he brought them in and I had brought food and drinks in for the presenters.
While I had only helped out in a minor way, it was really interesting to see the process of bringing someone in. I know this is something that I will have to do over the course of my career, and getting to see this so early was something that I think was helpful for me.
The other way that I had helped out in a small way is that I had supervised the movie night that had been happening at the school. The movie night had been organized by the leadership teacher and students, but what they had needed had been people to supervise. In the end, it had been a handful of student teachers that had been brought in to supervise. I actually had a lot of fun going to this and it was nice to spend time outside to school hours with my fellow student teachers. They had also watched Cars, which I have not watched since I was probably six, but apparently it is really popular with current high school students.
One thing that I kept in mind when I was feeling slightly bad that I haven’t done anything major yet. Many people in my cohort have experience in classrooms already and many people have gotten involved in large ways with their CT. I have to remember that they need the supporting people to make these things run. And just because I haven’t done something major yet, doesn’t mean that I won’t do something in my longer practicum.