I've had the pleasure this past summer to run this neuroscience camp for students in grades 6-11 for three weeks! The daily schedule begins with some ice breakers each morning, before we delve into a short (yet interesting!) lesson on something related to the brain. We intersperse mindfulness breaks in between the blocks of time, and after lunch, we usually have a guest speaker come in and engage the students with their life stories and lessons. For two weeks, we also had the pleasure of collaborating with Summer Up, an initiative designed to bring Black youth into the science field.
To me, this is what school should be about. I loved seeing how excited the students were to learn about the brain; to ask questions that they may not have been able to ask in class, and to learn about topics that aren't readily covered in a biology course. Neuroscience has this "jargony" and "exclusive" atmosphere to it, such that many students had this misconception that it's only meant for the elite. Throughout the week, the students get to work in a group that shares a common research question and work together to deliver a stellar presentation to their parents/guardians, the instructors, their peers, as well as the principal of UTS (Bright Lights in the Lab is a UTS collaboration). It was amazing seeing the types of controls each group thought about and how to make their experiment more fair. These critical thinking skills are transferable to any experience in the real world too. What was once thought as "rigorous" school work and "homework" turned out to be a fascinating experience for the students where they get to take control of their own learning, design their own experiments, make mistakes, and know what science is really about. It's not about getting it perfect. It's not about scoring that next Nobel Prize. Science is messy; it's about investigating the unknown, and it all starts with a curious mind. When school typically attaches a grade to certain assignments, students can feel discouraged from trying something new and failing at it because they don't want a low grade. Here, students are only led by their imagination and creativity. Many presentations wowed even the most "sciency" of guests, only leaving much to be desired in the Q & A section. There was a guest speaker who delivered the take home message to never say "I don't know." No one knows the answer to everything, but it's important to give an answer based on what you do know. Who knows, you can be closer to the answer than you may think. Learning happens when there's a surprise factor and/or discrepancy between what you know, and what is learned, not when the brain is a blank slate and teachers fill it with content. This is how school should be, and it's something that we should nurture in our students. Lastly, I also learned how to tag-teach along with 3 other instructors. One other instructor was my colleague, while another was the camp director who has been with Bright Lights for 7 years, and the last was a recent teacher graduate. I loved working with teachers from all different backgrounds and seeing how we mesh together as a team. When one of us may have forgotten something, the ZOOM private chat feature is nice because it allows something to be clarified without addressing the entire audience. 4 brains work better than 1. The coordination was interesting to work out in the first week especially as we got used to each other's teaching styles. Pretty soon, I could predict what the actions of my teaching partner was such that I could help them out. For example, if the next activity was break out rooms, I could create that through ZOOM while they were teaching. It was also brilliant when my colleague was put on the spot and delivered a lesson using a slideshow I had put together. I think it takes neuron connectivity (pun intended ;)) to synchronize together. I can imagine that it really helps in the classroom as teachers can help each other with notes, lesson plans, homework, tests, and forgotten material. Triangulation of test marks, and effective pedagogy is really useful here. Since I didn't have an actual practicum, this really helps me feel like I'm teaching in a classroom with a community of teachers behind me. My solo lessons as the main teacher for each week were the "Learning and Memory" lesson as well as the "Anatomy of a Presentation." I really wanted to engage the students in each of the lessons that we had as they've had a year and a half of online education already such that they must be pretty used and even bored of lectures. I recently got a puppy (who loves to learn absolutely everything I teach him - must be the power of positive reinforcement!) and decided to use him as a live demonstration during the "Learning and Memory" lesson with classical conditioning. Pavlov's dogs were a classic such that I could easily turn it into something engaging and practical for the students. It's always easier to learn when the instructor is engaging and there are practical examples to follow. For the "Anatomy of a Presentation" lesson, this was where we show students how they can jazz up their presentations as by this point in the week (Thursday), students would have already have most of their slideshow done in terms of content and experimentation. To drive the point home, I showed the students a video of the "Worst Presentation Ever." I thought the actor in the video was quite comical and his presentation was so bad (long blocks of text, back faced the audience, monotonous voice, disorganized slides, slides he wasn't sure why they were there etc.) that the students also found it amusing because they gave me plenty of responses as to what a great presentation should entail. During this part of the lesson, I changed it up each week depending on the age group of the students. For the youngest age group (grades 6-7), I provided a brief overview of the different types of graphs (circle, picto, bar, line) and what we can learn from it. I encouraged them to use a bar graph (hand written or through Google Slides which an instructor walked them through it individually) to display their data if possible. For the oldest age group (grades 10-11), I provided a Google Sheets tutorial on how to make different types of graphs. As we live in a world of digital literacy, it is important for students to know how to use different types of technology and the appropriate method to display their findings. I loved how each student shined in their own unique way. Some were very outspoken and wanted to be interviewed by UTS, others clearly explored and did research on this topic immensely on their own time, and others excelled at presenting. Each group walked away with a certificate at the end of the presentation focusing on the six global competencies. This was the toughest part of the week; selecting which group should receive which prize as every group truly was phenomenal either through their slide show, their presentation skills, their collaboration skills and how they helped each other conquer challenges along the way, and/or their research design. Who says scientists belong in the lab only? Who says they are older people who have experience in research? As long as students are curious and are eager to learn (something we should do a better job of promoting in the classroom), the world is their oyster. Link to "Learning and Memory": https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V7FyYeIwKR9uGo0LuxvGjX8GrMGZ1aVnjZEyUqVidbE/edit#slide=id.gde98051ef8_0_1867 Link to "Anatomy of a Presentation": https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vqCMeaMzoWev7VFEBxULcP888R9zAEpga2vGCDGH0kw/edit#slide=id.g6bd56c9061_0_750 Link to "Intro to memory" lesson where I created the slide show but someone else taught: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1__gtCwx615c9a5eX7LhuX-yl1J21IHoHYvrW16LUig4/edit During the summer of 2015 (the year of the Toronto Pan Am Games), I had the privilege of working with children in a non-academic setting. This was also my first paid experience working with children ages 3-14 and when I was first introduced to the greater responsibilities that come with a paid position.
I have volunteered with summer camps before then but my duties were mainly to ensure flow of activities and having that extra pair of eyes to watch out for danger signs. As a staff member, my additional responsibilities included filling out accident report forms, creating daily schedules, and planning with other counselors to coordinate use of communal spaces, just to name a few. I would get to know my new camp members every week on Monday, but because we had to submit our weekly planned activities on the Sunday evening, it was difficult to adjust the activities in the specific venues because it was booked ahead of time. Thus, I struggled a lot at the beginning of the summer where I was new to the planning aspect but over time, I saw some familiar faces and I learned to plan flexible activities that did not 100% depend on venue. This allowed me to stay in tune with my campers and incorporate their ideas into the rest of the week. On some mornings, campers may feel super excited and awake and thus an outdoors game such as Capture the Flag might be more appropriate. However, on days that I have booked the soccer field for my group, and my campers are not so awake, we can do circle games such as Squirt and Broken Telephone. I got very creative one week with older campers aged 12-14. This group of girls loved mystery, and so we spent many days in different rooms of the community center, including empty locker rooms, the library, party rooms, and the staging area to engage in escape rooms I have designed for my campers. This way, my campers are enjoying themselves, while I adapt to their needs and preferences. On some weeks, I also have campers with special needs. Usually that camper has a support worker with them and thus getting to know the camper is easier because of the background information provided directly to me. On other weeks though, I am not so lucky. However, regardless if I got information or not, it was important for me to treat the child like any other camper and include them in discussions of what they would like to do for the rest of the week as well as any dislikes. Some campers with special needs adapt best when I provided them with a schedule ahead of time as they like the establishment of routine. For these campers, I generally them tell the location we are going to and the type of activity we are doing. For example, I might tell them that we are going to the library tomorrow for some computer time, followed by the soccer field for some games, then the terrace upstairs to do some crafts. By the end of the summer, I got into the habit of informing all my campers about the gist of the day so they can also gauge their energy levels and adjust accordingly (hopefully). With the accident reports, at first I was filling in about 10 per day because children running around tend to run and trip often, or get a paper cut doing crafts. I was so nervous that parents were going to be angry at me for letting their children fall that I was thinking of planning no outdoor activities and/or activities that require intense running. The mother hen in me just wanted to protect the children but I could tell that they needed some activity to vent off their excess energy and I could not keep them still for very long. Just like learning to ride a bike; if someone gives up just because they had a fall, they may never learn to ride a bike. If someone answers a question incorrectly at school, does that mean they will drop out of school? Even when I kept the days to exercise-limiting activities, I would still fill in accident reports due to sporadic incidents beyond my control such as nose bleeds. As much as I cannot prevent a nose bleed, I can also not prevent children from their very energetic nature of running around and just being children. I believe as a future educator, it is important to know when to let go; to let my students experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them so they can grow to be more resilient critical thinkers in the future. This peer mentoring volunteering position I tried in high school was my first experience working with students who were very different than myself and the group of people I interact with. I went to an IB high school where my peers and I competed for that top score and 100% on every assignment that we did. Our parents were very supportive of our education and generally provided all the resources that we would need to excel. With Big Brothers Big Sisters, I realized that the world was very different. In fact, people like me are more of the minority where we "figured out how to school" one way or another.
It was the first time that I felt tremendous gratitude for my upbringing and acknowledged my privileges growing up. I really enjoyed the one-on-one times I met with the younger students, allowing them a chance to open up to me, be their friend, and ease the stress that they felt during the days or weeks. It also showed me what a vast difference one person can make on the life of an individual and especially as an educator, I have the privilege of influencing 90 students (3 classes) for 4-5 months at a time in a typical high school. This tremendous power doesn't come without hardships and I'm beginning to understand why being a teacher is a full time job. We are 100% dedicated to changing the lives of the students for the better and knowing that privilege in this world also comes responsibility; this is the ultimate realization for an educator. 2 teach is 2 learn 4ever, but also 2 teach is 2 dedicate yourself to your students 4ever. It was about the time I thought I needed a change in my first business that I found Primerica and started to build my second business. I would describe this business as a financial education one, educating families on financial literacy in the comforts of their own home, or virtually, in these days. This was, and still is, a difficult business to run due to many factors.
For starters, like the traditional scientist, the image of a person that does finances is someone who is White, male, and older in age. I do not have any of these attributes and thus as a young adult, I found it very difficult to find families to talk to. This is a free service and thus there is nothing that the families could lose, but still my other business partners who fit the bill of a financial educator have no problems with trust. I think this experience really allowed me to work with older learners who I would have never had a chance to in a school setting. Since adults have ideas and biases which they conceived throughout their years of living in society, it is very difficult to treat them as blank slates and have them trust you off the bat. I really enjoyed this challenge though as I know if I can earn their trust, I can earn any student's trust, which is so crucial in the classroom. Students with IEPs can often be misunderstood, just like those who live in neighbourhoods that are not are fortunate often carry around a stigma that is hard to shake off. Even families living in affluent neighbourhoods with prestigious cars, driveways, and gardens, many are living paycheck to paycheck and their spending habits come more from just the status quo of the neighbourhood. The first step to building trust is to show vulnerability and relate to the individual. This will boost some likeability ratings with your student so that teachers are not seen as someone unreachable and are humans who have human emotions. However, with the families that I work with, it's very difficult to relate to them since I do not own my own house, nor do I have children to provide for, and bills to pay. I also find it difficult to show vulnerability since I am already disadvantaged when it comes to the financial world in terms of my race, sex, and age that I should not demonstrate more uncertainty in this field to the families. Instead, how I try to gain trust is by sharing information about myself, from my accomplishments, to my travels, to how I got involved. Since I have a diverse background in many fields, careers, and stories, I always find there is at least one event that is common to the families that I am talking with and this is how we start building trust. Just like in a school setting, not every student will respond to my attempts at rapport building but it is important to think of new ways to engage the students. I believe that hard work will lead to results, and eventually, a community can be built. For some, it just might take time to get to know someone, and only time, not anything else will get them to trust and open up to you. This parallels Allison Bailey, the business and French teacher from DSSS with 11 years of teaching experience who often tries to find ways to create the "noisy classroom." Friends and social networking are so important to everyone and it's our bodies' natural desire to connect on a social level with another person. In fact, social media sites rely on this desire for their successes and popularity. As awesome as ZOOM is, it cannot replace that intimacy factor which we so need as students. Thus, focusing on the student, perhaps going off on a tangent to allow relationships to be developed is as important in a classroom as delivering content. For 2 years in high school, I got involved with an activity in Peel called Family Literacy Program. What was intriguing to me was teaching young toddlers and infants (ages 0-6) the basics of literacy even if they were non-verbal at the time. Early literacy begins not only with the child, but also with the parents.
This was my first time working with such a young age group and I found myself to be very nervous and unsure about what to expect. On top of which, the other volunteers I was working with were all adults and many had children of their own to draw experiences upon. The program was in a centralized location in Mississauga in which volunteers lead the workshops each week with no supervision. Looking back, I think this experience really boosted my confidence levels and allowed me a rare chance to work with very young children. In the workshops, we made up rhymes, read books, made cards, and even performed skits based on topics that the participants chose. The goal of the 10 week program was to teach parents how to introduce literacy to their children at an early age and for the children to develop self-interest in literacy. After all, the best type of learning are those that are self-guided in order to arouse curiosity and motivation. This experience was also one which allowed me to work with those who may not be as fortunate as others. Volunteers were provided with gift cards which were used to buy healthy snacks (fruits, yogurt, water, granola bars etc.) to supply the families and provide education on the best types of brain food. It is so difficult reversing the cycle of poverty, yet so easy to incorporate these lessons into my own lessons so awareness can be brought forth, which ultimately can lead to change. I remember the day I first started tutoring. It was shortly after I got Champ, fresh into high school and I was asked by Mr. Burton (my grade 9 math teacher) to help another student with a math problem. That one student turned into a group of students and pretty soon, I realized I had a whole crowd of people surrounding me which eventually turned into "math club." I didn't realize my actions were considered tutoring at the time, and I also didn't realize I quite enjoyed it. Someone your own age explaining a concept to you in terms that you understand, and using analogies and examples that were relevant to the teenage mind, was quite astounding. Now, 10 years later, I've decided to turn that passion into a career.
I've always had a preference for numbers. My mom started teaching me my times tables before I entered preschool. She told me that I loved numbers and somehow they just seemed to click in my mind. However, I didn't always agree with her because I thought she was just giving me praise since I was her daughter. Looking back, I found that I naturally remembered people's birthdays, had a sixth sense for time, and can perform mental calculations with ease. I really wish I capitalized on this passion of mine when I was in high school and when choosing university programs. Like many children of immigrant families, my parents had high expectations for me and urged me to pursue a career in the sciences. Growing up, I also thought that this was my passion once upon a time. It was only until after undergraduate that I realized I was not a huge fan of science, in particular, biology due to its heavy reliance on memorization. However, I was told that since I was good at memorization, I would prefer courses that contain heavy memorization but coming out of university with a Bachelor of Sciences, I realized this was not my true purpose and passion in life. Being good at something is futile if one does not use that knowledge to benefit the world. As humans, we are social beings who have an innate sense of belonging. We pass on our knowledge, either though writings or oral traditions or any other medium and through that cycle, we continue to develop and thrive as a culture of beings who are intellectually superior in this universe. I believe that anyone can speak to another person, but explaining to someone causing them to internalize and understand the information is a special trait. If we keep all our knowledge to ourselves, then the world will not grow. The world will not benefit and eventually society will remain stagnant, ultimately leading to our demise. It is with these thoughts in mind that I became a peer tutor in university and entered Liberty Tutoring as an in-person tutor and nowadays, online tutor for math and sciences from grades 6-12. Through these years, I've witnessed curriculum changes along with pedagogical changes, but the one factor that always remained the same, was the mentality that students and parents share. Some students want that 100%, while other students are content with a pass. Some desire versality and will only turn in work that is interesting to them. Regardless of the student, working at Liberty for the past 4 years has taught me that every student is unique and thus lesson plans should also be unique. Although I do acknowledge that being a one-on-one tutor is very different than teaching a whole class since I have to divide my attention to everyone and cannot solely focus on one student, I believe the overarching goal of teaching is the same; to help our students become positive contributors of society. Whether this means helping them find their passion, or showing them a concept in a way they never thought of before, I need to keep this goal in mind while teaching. Regardless if the class goes on a tangent, or we run behind schedule, when the students leave my classroom, I don't want them just to remember polynomial division, but rather why they learned that today and how the underlying goals of teaching can help them in the future. If I could translate my passion for math and chemistry into a language that speaks to the individual student so that they can also share my passions, then that's a mission accomplished. It was a sunny day when I signed up for a summer entrepreneur position that ended up being the most challenging 2 years of my life! It was here that I learned all about customer service and teaching young adult learners. This was a very different experience and arguably the most challenging yet. As I walked away from the business back in 2018, I realized that my personality type didn't suit those of an entrepreneur, but I did have a passion for teaching, whether young or old, teaching is teaching!
I hired mostly undergraduate students on a temporary contract basis for the summer season. I've gone through many potential recruits, and ended up letting go quite a few. While at first, it was very difficult to let go of people after I took lots of time to carefully train them, I learned that just like me, some might not be suitable for a certain position and rather than forcing them to accept a role that they will not enjoy, it is most likely a better option for them to go find another job that they can enjoy even more. Although this is different than in the classroom, I think the resounding rationale behind teaching stays the same. In a classroom setting, students have different learning styles and rather than forcing students to adopt a traditional lecture-type learning style, it's up to the teacher to cater to student needs allowing them to find their own paths in life. This is the versatility that school allows. With a job, it is typically the duty of the employee to follow the path set up by the company and employer and carry out their duties. Since children are not legal to work in Ontario, I think this suggests that aside from the safety concerns, children may not know how they work best in different situations and thus should not apply to jobs not knowing what their learning styles are. Undergraduate students are adults, and most would know if they would like a painting position for a job, or at the very least know how to paint. For example, I know I need to get up and get active during my day, and thus a position as an office worker is one I will most likely never apply for unless exceptional circumstances compels me to apply otherwise because I know that is not suitable for me. Rather than going to work with a frown, not enjoying my job, and potentially dragging down the whole work environment, I prefer to thrive in an area where I enjoy and can contribute in a positive manner. However that's not to say that trying new things is not a good thing, rather if I were to try something out, I would do so in a volunteering position where temporary positions are very common. Having the uncomfortable conversations with my employees after a week on the job was what made the job that much more difficult. It was important for me to stress the needs of my employee, making sure that they felt valued for their work that they contributed to the company. I offered them some other types of employment with different companies such as Mr. Lube and Pizza Pizza, since they were my clients that I had painted for in the past and know the work ethic of my employees. I think this marked a major stepping stone in my path as an educator because as a teacher, I need to have uncomfortable conversations with students on occasion, whether about marks, about their behaviours, or even attire. This is a crucial skill to have in any position and I know it was thanks to my business that I got this experience. If I keep in mind my employees or students well-beings in a classroom setting, I know I will have the confidence in conducting these uncomfortable conversations, albeit, if I do not want to, because it can be for their benefits and protections as well. Teaching adult learners was very different than tutoring younger children and teens because like I mentioned above, most already know what their preferred learning styles are. I also had to keep a fine balance between "lecturing" (providing instructions) and independent work because being so close in age (I also had a couple of painters who were older than me, and were in the painting profession for years before I was), I had to be careful not to belittle their abilities and ensure autonomy as well. I developed a coaching strategy that I thought worked pretty well in which I would demonstrate how I would perform a certain action, for example, making cut lines, and I would demonstrate how I would hold my paint brush and why I would do so in a particular way. This way, the purpose and the most efficient way to do this (in my opinion) is shown to them and if they believe there is another method that is easier, they are free to try it out. I also provided ample time for them to practice, walking about the entire room of painters, and making myself approachable on an individual basis if anyone has questions or other things that they want to try. I think working with the older students especially, this would be a great method to teach as I know with UDL, DI's and inquiry based learnings, students learn better if they take control of their own learning and find their own ways to do something. Many times, I found that a new and improved method could be used to add to my repertoire and continue my growth as an entrepreneur and educator, after all, 2 teach is 2 learn 4ever. |
AuthorHi! Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey. I hope you can take something from my experiences and share yours in return. Don't be shy! Archives
September 2021
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