Pre-internship Weblog

Today was a great day! I left a half hour early, hoping to avoid the early morning Regina traffic on Ring Road. Luckily, it only took me 15 minutes to drive to the Regina Huda School, the location for my pre-internship. I was filled with excitement at what today would bring. Not knowing much about RHS, or Islam, I couldn’t wait to see the inside of the school, meet the staff and students. Knowing the students come from diverse backgrounds; some born in Canada and others who have immigrated, I knew the culture within the school was going to be unique.After arriving and meeting our cooperating teacher, my partner and I were given a black robe we could wear while in the school. Our co-op proceeded to introduce us to the staff as we met them in the hallway. Before I knew it, we were in class, greeting students for first class.

First class of the day was math, during this time, our co-op was preparing students for an Exemplars Exam. Having some experience with this from Math, I was able to assist students by probing them for important questions they can ask while reading the questions and preparing to answer them.

Second class was accounting, in which the 2 students present were writing and exam. During this time, we discussed with our co-op which classes we would be able to teach. It had been decided I would teach the next unit in Math 9 and work on the excel unit with the IP 10’s. Eventually I will do accounting when my partner has finished up with her unit.

During the prep, our co-op was driving her career and work student to his work location. There was a presentation in the library by the Canadian Blood Services, which was interrupted by a fire alarm. Needless to say, out the door we all went.

Not long after lunch, the students prepared for the afternoon wudu and prayer. This takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. During this time, we observed the procedure.

For psychology, the two students present were reviewing an action plan they were developing. It was really interesting to hear some of the terms used in my Ed. Psych class, here in the classroom.

For the final class of the day, Food Studies, the students were working on a test. During this time, we observed our co-ops interaction with the students. Since she was leaving for an appointment early, I asked if I could help any of the students with the exam. Don’t worry, I don’t mean give them the answers. I walked around the classroom to make sure students didn’t need any clarification with the test questions. Once all students were finished, one student came up to me and asked me what 1 +1 was. I simply answer “2, last time I checked”. He then proceeded to explain his theory on what the answer could otherwise be. Finding it intriguing the students seemed to enjoy some deeper thinking, I did some geometry work on the board with them, explaining some fundamental theorems in Euclidean Math, trying not to go “over their head” with the explanations. This ended up bringing up some other questions from students. Our co-op said they were a bright bunch, but to actually see how bright they could be was really neat.

Over the weekend, I plan on preparing for my math and IP unit. It is kind of neat to actually be taking the information that our teachers have been giving us for the past two years and actually using them in the classes we have been trained to teach in.