It's almost time!

In less than a week I'll be starting my first of two school experiences (practicum) for my Teacher Education program. I'll be in a grade 7 class at a middle school and will be working with two teachers and their classes (a pod which contains 60 students). For this first practicum I'll be following one teacher and for my second practicum (Feb-May) I'll be following the other.

Neat little twist - this pod is the only one of its kind in the entire school - for most of the subjects the students are split by gender rather than division. So, that means I'll be teaching two Language Arts classes, but first to the boys and then to the girls. Same goes for Math, PE, Social Studies, French, and Health and Career Education. Boys and girls learn differently - who knew? ;)

The first school experience is five weeks and the second one is twelve weeks. The first one shouldn't be too intimidating but the second one will be full immersion, with me teaching everything, assessing everything, and reporting on everything. Thank goodness for the short experience so I at least get a chance to get used to the idea of teaching ;)

I'm quite excited and can hardly believe that I'm finally at this point in my education. I quit my jobs back in July of 2007 for this exact purpose -- to become a teacher, and now here I am... on the verge.

*wild eyes*
It's going to be great!

UFV's Teacher Ed Program -- some of the things I've done so far...
1. before shot - Chicken Catching

2. after shot of my sister

3. after shot of me

4. a fuzzy shot of me and Piaget

5. where I spent a lot of my lunch hours... hanging out in the grass, basking in the sunshine