To put it frankly, this program has been one heck of a ride so far. Not only have I felt challenged both manually, and physically I have also learned new things about myself and the amazing thing that is the Canadian education system. Some of these realizations forced me to reflect and reconsider the way I see myself and the direction that I want to go in terms of my future. In both cases, I feel I have made great strides in figuring out my priorities and determining what I really want to get out of my teaching career. This is exciting as previous to this I had an idea of where I wanted to go but was not sure if I would like that path once I got on it. These fears have been alleviated by practicum and I now feel better than ever about my future.

At the end of the first semester, I felt unsure if students would learn from my instruction. What if I explained things in a way that was confusing? What if I taught something wrong and in doing so, set one of my students up for failure? Although sometimes I still have these fears when I consider my future career, I am comforted by the experiences I encountered in my first practicum. During my practicum, I was able to teach effectively and students were able to understand and learn from my instruction. Adding to this, I have come to the realization that every lesson does not need to be perfect. Sometimes lessons will have issues and sometimes they will not work at all. This being said, there is usually time to come back from instances like this. If the lesson does not work the first time, reassess and try to find a better way to help students understand the concept that you are trying to get across.

At the start of this program, I was huge on summative assessment. Because of this, I was a firm believer that all students should be given the same chance to do the same work and that that work should be collected upon completion, marked, and used to create a letter grade. I think I was so devoted to this system because it was the system that I grew up in and it is a system that I myself am comfortable with. Over my time in this program, however, I have learned about the benefits and beauty of structured, formative assessment and differentiated learning. In this, I now see the merit in giving students work that meets them where they stand in terms of their learning journey. No longer should students be pushed along with the other students (slowly sinking as they go). We can do better now and can, as educators, work to ensure that all students are successful. This change in thinking is a huge shift for me and I now think very differently than I did at the start of this program. I am happy to have had my thinking changed. I think it is important to stay open as a person and be flexible in terms of what you believe. If an idea comes along that is better than one that you hold, it is important to be flexible and try to understand and incorporate this new idea.

Moving forward I aim to do my best to stay open to new ideas and teaching strategies. I recognize that teaching is a huge and diverse profession and I aim to learn as much as I can to ensure the success of myself and my future students. We will have to see where this education journey goes, however, I am sure that it will only get better, the more I understand end engage with the process.