My First Teaching Block

As part of the teacher training program in the College of Education at Brock University, the teacher candidates are mandated to teach in three teaching blocks to put their teaching methodologies into practice and gain experience as a teacher in a real classroom. Each teaching block is four weeks long and every teacher candidate is assigned to an experienced teacher (the associate teacher) who teaches the same teachable subject as the teacher candidate, in a public school. But prior to that, there are four observation days on four consecutive Fridays to observe the associate teacher and gather information about the classroom, teaching styles, resources, lessons, etc.

The school I am assigned is a High School in Burlington and I am very lucky to have a motivated, energetic, and enthusiastic female teacher who teaches high school chemistry. She has graduated from Brock University several years back. My associate teacher has her own classroom, where one half of it is the chemistry laboratory. I found it very convenient for both the teacher as well as the students. The classroom is equipped with an overhead projector, a TV and video player, and of course a SMART BOARD. Although Smart Board is new to me, I presume it will be a very useful and effective tool in terms of presenting my lessons efficiently and successfully to my students.