The unexpected information I learned at Westcast

Wow, well I just attended an amazing conference for university education students.  The conference is called WestCast and brings together education students from all over western Canada for 2 full days of networking and professional development seminars. I would love to talk to you about what I learned in each of the seminar but I think something more interesting is what I learned from the fellow students that I talked to.
I never realised before this conference that each University has its own very unique set up to teaching new teachers.  When it comes to student teaching in the classroom every University has a defferent scheduling.  To start I think it would be best to explain the practice at the university that I go to, Brandon University.
Here in Brandon you enter the Faculty of Education after you have completed at least one undergrad degree.  From there you have a 2 year program where you will spend a total of 25 weeks in the classroom in something that is known as a placement.  A placement is a time where you are not attending University courses but are in public schools, observing qualified teacher and teaching students.
The 2 years of your schooling are split into 4 terms, 2 terms per year and there is 1 placement per term.  Each of our placements you go to a different school and work with different classroom teachers and students.
Our first placement is 5 weeks and takes place in the middle of our first term. The second is 7 weeks and lands at the end of the term. The third one is split, we spend the first week of the term in the classroom to see what it is like to start a school year then go back mid term for 5 weeks. Our last placement is 7 weeks at the end of our forth term. We are expected to take on 25% of the teaching load in the first placement and then 50%, 75% and 100% in the following placements.
I enjoy this set up, it provides a lot of variety and gives you an opportunity to work on your skills in placements that are long enough to get to know the students and practice but not too long as to cause anxiety.
What came as a surprise to me is how many differences there are in programs across Canada.  For example at the University of Saskatchewan students in their first 2 terms spend every Friday and then 2 full weeks at the end of term in a classroom. During their their third term they spend 16 straight weeks in a classroom where by the end of their placement they are teaching full time.
The University of Calgary offers another interesting approach,  There they have 4 placements similar to Brandon University but in their first 2 placements they mostly observe and in their third placement they go to a school with 3 or 4 other students and observe and teach as a group.  In their final placement they teach full time.
These are just 2 examples and they are from programs where you first need to have a degree and then enter the Faculty of Education as an after degree program.  There are some school that offer education as a concurrent program,  The University of Winnipeg is one of these.  It a 5 year program.  Here you take courses in both your teachable area and education throughout your 5 years. They also spend their first year going to classrooms one day a week observing.  In your second year you get a block placement where you are mostly observing.  In the following 3 years you have block placements where you are actually teaching working your way up to full time teaching in your last placement.
On the contrary the University of Calgary offers a concurrent program that is also 5 years and but you only take education classes and do placements in your 3rd and 5th year.
Another very different program comes out of Ontario.  Here it is only a one year after degree program with a one month placement at the end of it.
Though all these are very different I can see pros and cons to all of them.  I do have personal preferences and that is one of the reasons I am at Brandon University but to express those would be unfair as I have not experienced what it is like to be involved in other programs.  I do wish that there was some consistency across Canada so that all teachers were trained the same way and that our degrees were transferable across Canada.  To do this we would probably need to have a constant curriculum across our whole country, which  we do not, and that is whole bigger issue.
I invite any one who is reading this to share with me the training that is required in your country, province or school to become a teacher. I also wish for you to share with me your feelings about that program.
p.s. My explanations of the programs that I have shared are from my understanding of what the students told me at WestCast and brief readings on the University's website. To the best of my knowledge they are correct but by no means should you hold my information to be 100% correct. If you want guaranteed information I invite you to call the University in question and ask them about their program directly.

Making Connections

Think back to your first day of high school.  If your childhood was anything like mine you remember being nervous about whether your new clothes were the right fashion and if you would have someone to sit with at lunch.  For the most part you just wanted to fit in.  By the end of the first week you had made a few new friends and by the end of the year your new friends had become the people you did everything with.  You had made new connections and ones you thought would last a lifetime.

Looking at your friends now, some may be from that group you had in grade 9, but most of them are new.  They may be people you met in University, or at a summer job.  If you are older then me they are likely people that you work with or have kids that are a similar age to yours.  Either way they are the people that surround you and support you now.  These people are important for you to be successful and happy in life.

But what about your teaching life? Who supports you here? It is obvious that your co-workers do but I want to look bigger.  I can say in my student teaching experience, the internet supports me in finding great resources and lesson ideas.  This support is not very personal, and this is why I have been on a mission to make the internet a personal support. Joining twitter and adding local educators, I have been able to share with them resources, readings, and ideas.  If I am struggling with a unit plan or lesson idea I can just reach to my phone tweet it and within minutes have a bunch of people tweeting ideas back to me.  It is awesome, you never feel alone in planning and you never should.  Many teachers before me have had the same problems that I am going to face.  Anything from classroom management issues, to what poster should I hang on the wall can be solved by collaboration with others.  Twitter also allows me to connect with organizations like MTS (Manitoba Teacher Society) who keep me up to date on PD opportunities and news stories related to education.  

Starting a blog, though it seems very one sided, is a great way to connect with people.  Once you start blogging, you start checking out other people's blogs and learn that there are a lot of people out there talking about issues that are of importance to you.  You find ideas, strategies and perspective you never would have thought of on your own.  The blogging community is very supportive and always willing to give advice.

If you are not wanting to go so world wide, starting profession learning networks(PLN) are great ways of sharing information between teachers that are teaching the same things in your division or province.  They allow teachers to collaborate and with collaboration you are able to use the creative minds of more people to create a lesson that students will love.  The whole 2 heads are better then 1 saying!! If you are looking for a PLN right now I suggest looking into www.classroom20.com . It is a great place to learn and share.

So get out there, join twitter, start a blog and develop a PLN, you will not regret it and your students will thank you for it!!