Catholic vs. Public School

I had the chance to go to both Public and Catholic high school, there are many differences between each of them, although many people might say one is better than the other, I believe that is all about the student and where they feel more comfortable. I started my High School experience in a public school and for the first two years it worked out perfectly for me but at the beginning of my third year I decided to change to a Catholic school. Here are five things that made the biggest difference between the two schools.

Community involvement is big in Catholic schools, at least in mine it is. This is something I love, giving back to those in need, it is the most gratifying feeling one can have. At St.Pius X there are numerous events which go on throughout the school year in order to give to those who are less fortunate, or to help local charities and programs. For example, St.Pius holds the annual Terry Fox run to raise money for cancer research and to spread awareness about the disease, the canned food drive and Christmas hampers where students bring in canned goods and items for those who are less fortunate in our school community. I believe this to be a positive factor not only for our community but also for the students at Catholic schools.

As high school students we go through ups and downs and a support system can really make a difference in a teenager's life. The Catholic board has an amazing support system for students who need help not only in the academic aspect of school but also in the mental and spiritual one. At St. Pius X, we are very lucky to have Richie to talk to when we need spiritual guidance, he is always ready to listen and pray for us and give us the best advice. Although the public school board also had guidance counselors, in my experience the Catholic board counselors look out for our best interests and advise us in our choices. They get to know us and help us feel comfortable with our choices. In the public board they are more concerned with having enough credits to graduate and get into university.

Catholic Schools are more of a community, school, church and family should come together for the benefit of the student and to have a more rounded and guided education. Throughout the school we have different liturgies that help us come together as a community and help students have stronger bonds, and support one another. In my first two years of high school, when I attended a public school the assemblies all related to school nothing spiritual. This makes students stick to the friends they already have and not get involved and help those who they are not familiar with. At St. Pius X, we always have a Liturgie at the beginning of the school year, this helps students put their school year in God’s hands and to ask for a better understanding and guidance in their classes. Throughout the school year we are lead in prayer every morning and we also finish the day with another one, I believe this helps set a good tone everyday and it reminds us that God is with us at all moment and if we ever need better sight of our day to day we can go to the Chapel, kneel down and communicate with God.   

Values are taught by all the teachers and have a place in every classroom, in Catholic schools values are taught to students as universal ones and every teacher implements them in their classes throughout the school year.  In public schools teachers don't touch on the subject because it may infringe on someone’s rights. They treat values as different for each person. I believe, as a religious person, that teaching students the principal values throughout their high school experience benefits them a lot. It forms their conscious (the voice in the back of their heads) and because of these values students usually to do the right thing or at least know what the right thing is!

As a grade 12, graduation is something that stresses us more and more as we see it right around the corner. The difference between the Catholic and Public on graduate expectations was very clear to me once I changed school because at the Public board the only expectation of a graduate is to successfully finish high school and move on to university, while in the Catholic Board we are expected to do more than that, we are expected to be the best we can, not only in the classroom but everywhere we go.   

As different as the two boards are, I don’t think one can say one is better than the other, I believe that it depends on the student and what they prefer to be part of. For me the Catholic board has worked better, I can see it in my marks and in my involvement on school activities, but for someone else the Public board might be a better fit.

Personality Types

This assignment has made me reflect on myself, and on my personality. After taking the Keirsey Temperament Report I came across a lot of things that really apply to me, but that I had not really thought about and that maybe didn't realize I should work a little bit more on. My personality type is "Guardian (SJ's)" that is describes as: "the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply -- and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses". 

The Keirsey report, pointed out that I was Dependable and trustworthy. I consider myself this was and think this is very accurate, I can see this with my friends as they can come to me with their problems and know that they can be sure that their problems will stay only with me. 

In my mentorship experience I can see the trust from Ms. De Souza and Ms. Valois, sometimes when Ms. De Souza is busy she has the confidence to let me go on my own to classes or stay in the resource room and work with those who need help.

Moreover, a characteristic that I believe it's really a strength and really helps me on a day to day basis, is the fact that I am really Down-to-Earth. I think I gained this from my mom, as a single mom she often had to be at work long hours to be able to be successful so my siblings and I had to take care of each other. I also think it is very helpful in the resource room as it makes me really practical and it benefits my involvement with student. It helps me understand them better and be more relatable. 

I think one of the most important qualities to work in the resource room, in my opinion, is to be able to understand that everyone that comes in has different need, different weaknesses and straights. The Keirsey Report described me as "On the job, you seem to innately understand how to create smooth, working processes in your environment. You can excel at directing others to fulfill their duties", as a mentorship student in the resource room, I often work with students that have special needs. When I first started my placement here I had never have the experience on working with this kind of students, but I understood as soon as I sat down to work with them that the work that they needed to do couldn't be done in a traditional way. Without having to read a book about it or even having to get instructions from my  mentorship teacher I was able to be successful and help them as much as I could, realized, after reading the lesson, that being a feeler plays a big role on how successful I am at my work in my mentorship placement and consider myself really lucky to get the chance to experience this side of myself. I still have a lot to understand and to become better at, but i believe that I am doing a good job and with the help of my mentorship teacher and the student I will be able to do the best possible. 

Change can be a good friend but it can also set you back, although I don’t hate change and sometimes I even look for it I am really cautious about it. I like to look into every single outcome before I am prepare and ready to move on from what I am familiar with. At this point on my life change is inevitable, as much as i want to graduate and start an “adult life” it is still very scary to move on from what is so familiar. Being open to the possibility of maybe moving away is something that frightens and it is why I have decided that the only place I would move is to somewhere I have a already live and know, as it said on the report I am not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails. 

   

Technology in the Classroom

Technology is such a big part of our society that it would be unwise to not take advantage of it. Technology, when used in the right way, will have a positive impact in classrooms, as it can greatly benefit students' learning. Technology allows students to actively think about more information, make choices, and execute skills that they will be able to use in the workplace. Computer skills will help with learning - researching information, grammar, spelling and organization. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress.

Although technology can help students in their learning process, there is always a risk of students going off task and going on social media or playing on their computers. During my mentorship program I often see students become instantly distracted by electronic devices, such as cell phones, iPads  laptops, etc... and it can become a major issue for many students. However, I have also seen students benefit greatly from it, in the resource room there is a lot of student that have trouble with their grammar and spelling, typing their projects, homework, etc... helps them a lot as it can correct their mistakes. 

There are students in the resource room that have laptops, chromebooks and ipads, they have them because their psych-ed assessment states that they need one to access the curriculum. It allows them to be successful in their subjects. Programs like Dragon or Read and Write can help students that have difficulties typing, this gives students a sense of independence as they can now write their own notes, assignments and test instead of have a person scribe.   

I believe technology should be present in classrooms as it benefits students, but it should be monitored by the teacher to make sure that students are doing their work, and staying on task. Teachers should also walk them through the process of using the programs and navigate through the internet. 

Lesson Plan

World War II- CHC2P
Lesson 3

Expectations

• To understand the significance and impact of this major battle on Canadian History and military (Heritage).
• Analyst the external forces and input of other troops on Canadian performance (Communities, Conflict and Cooperation).
• Asses Canada's participation in the war and contribution (Communities, Conflict and Cooperation).
•  Analyze how this might have influenced Canadian identity and militarism in the present day (Identity and Heritage).

Materials

Fill in the blank sheet

Learning Activities

• Have students brainstorm about the battle of Dieppe, see what they know and why they think it's so important (5-10 minutes).
• Discuss, as a class, why the battle of Dieppe is important in Canadian History (10 minutes).
• Distribute a copy of the lesson sheet, teacher will tell the students what happened on the battle of Dieppe and they will Fill in the blanks as the lesson is taught (25 minutes).
• Talk, as a large group, about the new discoveries about this battle. Discuss what the students think about them, and find out how they think these was found so many years after the battle (15 minutes)
• Make sure that everyone has the fill in the blank sheet full and that all the words are on the right spot, give the students the time to ask questions if they have any and clarify anything that they don't seem to understand (10-15 minutes).

Spencer West Talk

One man can move a mountain. I believe this after hearing Spencer West speak. It is extremely inspiring how one man can accomplish so much, and do so much to help people that truly need it. I am grateful for the unbelievable opportunity to meet Spencer West. He made me realize that I can do anything I want no matter what others say. He is a clear example that the only thing that can stop someone is themselves, not even a disability.

In the last few days, we have all been stressing out about university applications, trying to get into the best one and to eventually get a good paying job. Listening to Spencer saying that he had everything, a nice house, money and basically the "American dream" but he was still not happy made me rethink everything that I had been considering these past few days. A good paying job, having money, a nice car and house is not everything I want for the future, I want to get involved and help people that really need it, nothing is more satisfying than giving someone a reason to smile when their lives are not easy. For years I have always wanted to go on a volunteer trip, but I have never had the courage to go. Or I never got around to raising the money to be able to go because, I ended up spending it on less meaningful things. Listening to Spencer made me realize that volunteering would be an amazing opportunity and that it would be truly life changing.

Spencer West's journey is very inspiring, I consider myself very lucky to have have the chance to meet him and listen to his inspiring story. Through his presentation I was brought to tears when I listen to his stories about his trips and I truly hope that I get the chance to volunteer on this kind of project.

 

Multiple Intelligence Assignment

Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard University, has identified seven distinct intelligence's. This theory has emerged from recent cognitive research. According to this theory, "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Where ndividuals differ is in the strength of these intelligence's-the so-called profile of intelligence's and in the ways in which such intelligence's are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains. Dr. Gardner proposed eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential, these intelligences are:

1. Linguistic Intelligence: Deals with an individual's ability to understand both spoken and written language, as well as their ability to speak and write themselves.
2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Deals with an individual's skills at deductive reasoning, detecting patterns, and logical thinking.
3. Spatial Intelligence: Deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye.
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Deals with an individual's ability to manipulate objects and fine-tune physical skills.
5. Musical Intelligence: It involves how skillful an individual is performing, composing, and appreciating music and musical patterns.
6. Interpersonal Intelligence: Deals with the ability to understand and interact effectively with others. It involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: Deal with the ability to understand themselves, appreciate their own feelings, fears and motivations.
8. Naturalist Intelligence: Enjoys and is curious about living things and the planet.

In my opinion, when a teacher has trouble reaching out to some students, it is often because they have the tendency to teach the most traditional ways (linguistic and logical). The theory of multiple intelligence suggests that teachers should try to teach in different ways so everyone gets the same level of understanding, that being said, there is sometimes not enough time in class for teachers to do so. Teachers can vary their teaching from day to day. Using visuals and allowing students to do activities and work in groups will benefit all learners!  In my placement I have noticed why the resource room is so important for those students that are not very strong at the two most traditional intelligences. The Resource teacher will try to bridge the gap or try a different way of teaching the assignment. I believe it's truly sad that experiential learning is not happening more in Canadian schools, as most students would profit of a greater learning experience, but also understand that this kind of teaching takes more time and effort than the traditional way, time that some teachers and students don't have or don't want to put into it.  In the past, I have never really thought about what type of intelligence I use the most, so I took two different tests and these were the results:   
    

The results of this test are somewhat accurate, I think I'm pretty good with words as well as with people, but I don't think I'm very good with numbers and with nature. In total, I think this describes me to a point, the musical aspect if definitely accurate! The second test I took, I think is very good, it completely fits me

Teaching the Whole Student

I have made several observations throughout my time in the classroom during my mentorship program.  I believe that it is extremely important that educators remember to teach and help develop not just the academic or intellectual piece of student's but also the social and creative part of students. The term holistic education means cultivating the whole person and helping individuals live more consciously within their communities and natural ecosystems. More recently, educational psychologists have proposed that holistic education is aimed at helping students be the most that they can be, or referred to as “self-actualization.”  The idea of education with a holistic perspective is concerned with the development of every person’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and creative potentials.

Mrs. de Souza believes that academics are important however, if the student is not with you emotionally then they are not ready to learn. Students arrive in your class physically but, you don't know what happened to them before they got to your class. Did they eat, did they sleep how is their home-life? These questions are part of a teacher's role. In a Catholic school we also look at their spirituality. 
Being in resource Ms. de Souza and I focus on executive functioning skills such as, organization  time management, work habits, and ability to interpret and understand instruction are all skills which will aid one in being a successful member in our society.  These are functions and skills which I believe should be focused on more heavily within the classroom while students are also being presented the academic information. Checklists and simple instructions written or visual help all students not just resource kids. I believe it is really important that the curriculum includes this way of teaching, although the academic part of school is extremely important, social skills are indispensable to be successful in and outside school, and for that reason I believe every teacher should look into this and find a way to include it in their classrooms from grade 9 to 12. 

Halloween

For My Mentorship Class I am usually in the resource room and with Ms. De Souza (My Mentorship Teacher), we often go to a grade 10 applied class, lately that class has had some behaviour issues so Ms. Valois (The History Teacher) has decided that they do not deserve a reward for Halloween but she kindly invited me to tag along her first period ESL History class.
Ms. Valois had the amazing idea to carve pumpkins with her students, many of them have been in Canada for a short period of time and have never carved a pumpkin before. To be honest, I have only carved a pumpkin once, so it was nice to do it once again. Surprisedly some of the students were very talented, they carved very nice pumpkins which in my experience is very hard to do. After they took out all the guts from the pumpkin, we separated the seeds from them and we roasted them, some of the students were very skeptical to eat them, but after tasting them most of them were very surprised of how good they were.

 

Create a Space

After 

In the bulletin board I was given, I chose the create a space where everyone, that came into the resource room, can take a little advice on how to be more positive. In my mentorship class I often see that students come in discourage about their classes when they don't understand or don't want to do their assigned work, I believe that attitude is a big part of the amount of work someone can get done and by being positive a lot more can be accomplished. Throughout the year I want to change my advise from what the students think to what they should be thinking. I also came up with the idea of putting a nice quote everyday beside the classroom door, to lift up those you are having a not so good day!

Every Kid Needs A Champion

This is Essential

Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as "learning through reflection on doing". It is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. I believe everyone learns differently, some people like sitting in classroom listening to a teacher, but other like to be more hands-on and that what experiential learning is all about. At Pius X we have different ways to get this kind of learning to students, one is our Co-Op program where students have the opportunity to go every afternoon or morning to the workplace and experience what the job is really like, We also have a program called Destination Employability (DEP) Miss De Souza is the coordinator for our school this year. The idea of the program is to give students concrete examples of possible careers. They will have an opportunity to watch what the career entails, think about how they could possible do the career, possibly get to try/practice the job and then eventually set up a plan to get on that pathway.

I believe this kind of learning is very effective, it really gives the students a chance of knowing if they really like a specific job by trying it, and if they don't they have the chance to look into other career paths before it's too late. I had the chance of doing Co-Op last year and it helped me realize what I wanted to study and be in the future. I recommend trying some sort of experiential learning to everyone, it really helps you with your career choices, I think as grade 12s it's very important to have a clear understanding of any career path we might want to take and programs like co-op and DEP are perfect opportunities to do this.     

Behaviour Assignment

The student I chose for this assignment is very chatty, often doesn't listen to her teacher, doesn't write the notes and is the teacher's pet. I will be referred to this student as Lolita. I've had the chance to see Lolita in class for over two weeks now and I have noticed that she craves attention not only from the teacher but from the other students as well. As she is the teacher's pet she sits in her desk in front of the class so everyone can see her which makes it difficult help her change her behaviour.
I believe the behavioural theory that applies better to Lolita would be wanting attention. I have noticed that she craves attention from the teacher and other students in her class, although she has an assigned desk she likes to sit in front of the class, in the teacher's desk, she also talks a lot either to the hole class or to any student around her.
Often teacher's solution to this kind of misbehaviour is to ask the student to leave the classroom, or mentally tune the student out, but in this case the teacher doesn't know much about her craving for attention which makes it hard for me to handle it. When I come into the classroom I try to stand near Lolita without speaking  to her, so she pays attention to the teacher when she teaches a lesson and doesn't distract other students too.
In this case, I believe Lolita needs help from her teacher as it is hard for me to ask her to leave the class or to ask her to sit in her sit when the teacher lets her do pretty much what she wants, but I am doing my best to help her by standing beside her without looking at her and stop talking to her after I have asked her to stop talking and instead going beside the other student she's talking to.    

I think assessing students' marks separately from their learning skills can have a very negative impact on these students. High school is when we prepare ourselves for the adult world, where being late or handing in papers late will not be forgiven so easily as it is in school. In my opinion, absences shouldn't be punished only if they are approved and handing in work late should have consequences if the students doesn't have a valid reason for why they didn't submit their work on time. I think the curriculum should change this way of marking as this is affecting students in the long run, making the curriculum more strict will help the students prepare for the future, this will help them be more successful in university and their workplace.     

The perfect teacher

We all have that favourite teacher we will remember forever, that teacher that we never wanted to miss their class, and the ones that made us sad when they were absent. The question is, what made them be so great, and win our hearts. Well here are the five qualities I believe make the perfect teacher. 
As obvious as it may sounds, a perfect teacher must know all there is to know about the subject they are teaching. This is sometimes overlooked as it happens that teachers are require to teach different subjects, but a great teacher commands respect through their wide knowledge and enthusiasm for the course.
Make a class fun can't be easy, but an enthusiastic teacher can make any course interesting and will get more students involve. Although a class can't only be games, a teacher can make it enjoyable by involving students in lessons, changing the way they are thought and involving students in every step of the way. In my experience in the resource room, I've had the chance of seeing miss De Souza help students to get into the subject they didn't want to study to begin with, and I believe her enthusiastic attitude is what allows this happen. 
Organization is key to make a class flow smoothly through the content that must be thought. Although we can't expect a perfect smooth class because their will always be bumped along the road, in my personal experience a class is more pleasant when your teacher has an outline of what is suppose to be done in a timeframe. Having their lessons planned and organized doesn't only help get the class started faster but it also helps students to be organized as well and this all will lead to better studying methods and it will be shown in excellent marks. 
Being approachable couldn't scape this five qualities, as it is indispensable for a student to be able to communicate with his teacher for a better learning. Teachers that make students feel as their are equal to them are much more relatable and in my opinion make the students want to do better on their class to live up to them. 
Last but not least, a teacher most know their audience. Teaching a grade 9 class is not the same as teaching a grade 12 in my opinion. Over the years grade 12s have developed qualities that grade 9s probably hasn't, they have different interests and expect different things from a class. Some teachers may forget this, when they go teaching grade 9s in first period to teaching grade 12s in the second, but it is very important as makes students enjoy the class and also respect their teacher. 
In the resource room I've had the chance of seeing different teachers, and students in different grades which has made me realized that what might make a teacher for me and some of my classmates in grade 12, is not the same for students in different grades but for what I've seen, I believe that perhaps the greatest trait a teacher can have is to be comfortable enough to show that they’re human. They celebrate success with students, show compassion for those that struggle, tell stories from their own lives, share their quirks, laugh at their own mistakes and are not afraid to be imperfectly human in front of students

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated Instruction 

Differentiated instruction is the different ways a teacher can explain a concept in order to meet students' needs. It asks teachers to know their students well so that they can provide each one with experiences and tasks that will improve their learning. Teachers often tend to teach using the same methods they themselves experienced as a student. However, this leaves many student clueless about many subjects. This is why in the past few years differentiated instruction has been more present in school. Although this way of teaching is great for students, as it allows everyone to understand the different concepts in class, teachers are often faced with the struggle of missing content that must be taught because of the lack of time after explaining the same principle many times but in different ways. 



In my opinion this is the best way a class can be taught. I believe we are all different and learn in different ways. This doesn't mean one student might be smarter than the other, it simply means that one might learn in a completely different way. In my past three years of high school I've seen different ways of teaching and different ways of learning between students and this has helped me understand more about this concept. So far in my involvement in the resource room, I have seen the improvement of some of the students when the teacher explains a theme in various different ways from how they first explained it. Ms. De Souza uses different approaches like exit cards, for corners and mostly co-constructive criteria, where the student and the teacher fill in the gaps one an another. 

In conclusion, differentiated instruction is the best way to teach a class, as it allows everyone to fully understand everything that is being taught and therefore have better results. I have seen the impact this has in students, the positive impact on students and firmly believe that every teacher should at least try to implement this method in their class rooms.