Yes to Miss Yogalingam

 This weekend, I worked on the Summative Evaluation for my student teacher. She has given her consent for me to mention her here by last name, as well as to publish a few photos. 

I have a confession to make: I was really nervous about accepting a teacher candidate this year. I worried about introducing another body into the classroom and another potential exposure to COVID. (We are very, very cautious in our school and no one enters unless they have to come in. Why take the risk?) I worried that, since I had a completely new teaching assignment this year, I wouldn't have anything to offer. (How do you teach someone how to do something when you are only just learning parts of it yourself?) I worried that there was too much uncertainty and it was unwise to introduce another element of possible chaos. (Heck, I wasn't even sure that I would still be teaching Grade 5-6 by the time she started her placement on February 16!) 

I am so glad and grateful that I said yes to having Miss Yogalingam! I like her even more than my last teacher-candidate from 2020 (don't tell!). Miss Yogalingam has been exactly what the doctor (PhD in Education, maybe) ordered. 

There are so many positive things I can say about Miss Yogalingam. I'm going to try and keep it to my Top 4, even though my documentation is 14 pages and growing and my evaluation is already 2000 words long.

She Takes Her Time

Miss Yogalingam does not rush through her lessons or explanations. It would be quite tempting to do so, especially when she only has four weeks of time with the students (and this week, March 8-12, is her final week with them). For instance, for the Grade 5 science unit, When I've complimented her on how thorough and methodical she's been in her teaching of the math and science units she's adopted, she just reminds me that if the student does not have the foundation established firmly, it is difficult for them to proceed successfully. For instance, expectation 3.2 is "identify properties of solids, liquids and gases and state examples of each". Some of the students were confusing properties with examples. Miss Yogalingam has been reinforcing the differences between properties and examples of solids, liquids and gases in every lesson since she realized that they were mixed up.

She Chunks Her Concepts

Even our substitute principal (who was an absolute treasure and came to watch one of Miss Yogalingam's lessons) commented on how well Miss Yogalingam breaks down complex ideas into manageable bite-sized bits. Whether it is dance, where she reduced all the steps into small sections to attempt, or the creation of a graph on an infographic in math with every necessary component earning attention, Miss Yogalingam was able to reduce tasks into parts that were comprehendible and possible to undertake. I really admire that about her, because my own teaching style is much less directed/guided and much more exploratory. Students need many different types of methods and they received a healthy variety when they had both of us in the room. When Miss Yogalingam is no longer in the room, I'll remember to divide tasks into small portions more often like she did.

She Looks Back on Her Lessons

Miss Yogalingam is a very reflective practitioner. She has a notebook that she writes in a lot. Sometimes it's something I said, or something she noticed from a student. Often it's thoughts related to the lessons she just taught. I used to joke about the amount of reflections we used to have to write in the Faculty of Education, but to be honest, reflecting on my teaching is what makes me a better teacher. It's is such an honour and pleasure to have someone to reflect on the class experiences with together. Miss Yogalingam and I share observations, consider perspectives, and brainstorm alternatives or next steps. Sometimes artifacts help us with our reflections, as we look at a photo that was taken, a video that was recorded, or a whiteboard that was written or drawn on. Miss Yogalingam does things with those reflections too. She makes changes, watches some students more closely, or does something different to do better. 

She Adapts Her Approaches

Always willing to try things, Miss Yogalingam recognized her strengths and did not constrain or contain herself to them. I'm teaching puberty for health right now and I know that she was relieved not to tackle that challenging topic, but she was willing to act as a scribe when we brainstormed our "ground rules" for creating a safe and inclusive classroom when discussing human development respectfully and sensitively. She agreed to read a picture book aloud after some preparation using the document camera, even though she claimed that she was intimidated by my read aloud skills (but as a former/shelved teacher-librarian who has been in the job longer than she's been alive, I have a bit of an head start on honing those talents!). After the picture book experiment on I Read Canadian Day, she altered the way she delivered a lesson and used the document camera, not because it was more comfortable for her (it wasn't) but because it was beneficial for the students and more accessible. She switched up the homework assignment she had originally planned so both grades would have the same task.

I learned so much from having Miss Yogalingam in our classroom. We are definitely going to miss her when she leaves this Friday (March 12). Thank you so much to OISE for placing her with us!

PS I'm not the only one who has accepted a student teacher into his/her/their class environment. My friend Sarah Wheatley (happy belated birthday, Sarah!) who is teaching virtually has also had a wonderful experience with her teacher candidate.

My amazing student teacher had our students looking at school Twitter accounts to see who they follow, and deciding what values that shows. What a great discussion we had. Which voices were missing? What could we learn?

— Sarah says Wear A Mask🐱📖 (@ksarahwheatley) March 5, 2021