July 3, 2019

Final Full Circle Reflection Paper

Klim Ovzek - ED 2500

1. Down the line, from the perspective of parents, I believe that my four strongest attributes

as a teacher would be the following:

- My patience and empathy when it comes to individually working with students who are

struggling to keep up in class, which comes from my own history as an ELL student in

early elementary school.

- My strong presentation skills, including my abilities to read confidently to large groups

of students, and to inject a strong level of enthusiasm into lessons to make any subject

feel exciting to learn about.

- My ability to clearly answer questions from students and parents, and to make sure that

everyone is on the same level of understanding before moving on to the next topic.

- My willingness to integrate and teach about technology into my teaching, while also

being able to calmly troubleshoot a variety of technical issues as they pop up.

2. The statement that “fair is not equal” refers to the difference between equal treatment

and equitable treatment. Both of these terms refer to the same issue in relation to the

classroom; that some students have a more difficult time in the classroom than others,

and that some will require additional assistance in order to reach the same learning

objectives as everyone else. If this problem is addressed from an approach of equality,

then all students, regardless of their level, receive the same level of support from the

school. However, while it may seem fair from the perspective of the teacher to give the

equal treatment to every student, this approach can be unfair to the students, as

everyone’s needs are uniquely individual - some will require more help than others, while

some may not benefit from one style of support while others do. As an analogy: if

several people of many heights are unable to see over a wooden fence, an equal
 approach would be to give everyone an identical box to stand on - in this case, the

shortest people may still not reach high enough to see, making this solution unfair.

A more fair approach is to approach the problem from a perspective of equity - the level

and type of support given to each student should be proportional to their level of need.

While most students in a classroom may not need any additional help, some may require

intensive personalized support throughout the year in order to keep up with the class.

Going back to the wooden fence analogy, an equitable approach would be to give the

shortest people much bigger boxes than the taller people - while the level of support

everyone receives is unequal, it is much more fair as the level of support they receive is

proportional to their need. The equitable approach is more difficult to implement than an

equal one, as it requires you to really know your students and what makes the class

uniquely challenging to them, the approach is much more fair overall, as it helps get

everyone to the same level regardless of where they start out.

On another note, a third approach that can be even more effective than the equal or

equitable approaches is to identify and work on removing the systemic barriers that

cause students to struggle unevenly in the first place. In the case of the wooden fence

analogy, an implementation of this approach would be taking down the wooden fence

and replacing it with a chain-link fence, removing the issue of unequal heights causing a

difference in visibility altogether. This approach is much more intensive than addressing

student needs on a case-by-case basis, and may involve large, sweeping changes to the

curriculum or the structure of the school itself, but addressing the root causes of unequal

results can result in a school that is much fairer for all students.

3. Based on my experiences in the ED 2500 practicum, I feel that one of my significant

strengths as a student teacher is in my flexibility in a variety of roles. Because my

assigned kindergarten class is only in school for the first half of the day, the second

halves of my practicum days are spent in a variety of other classrooms, ranging from
 grade 1 to grade 5. Even within those classrooms, I have taken on a variety of roles,

such as supervising and assisting large classes, working one-on-one with specific

students to help them out with their projects, to helping out parents with tech issues

during a celebration of learning event. Over the course of the practicum, I’ve been able

to successfully adapt to comfortably working in a wide variety of scenarios, and have

noticed a strong ability to learn how to handle and confidently assist with new situations

on the fly. One challenge I’ve consistently noticed, especially when working with much

younger students, is classroom management. In earlier grade levels, a majority of the

teaching experience is simply keeping students on track, teaching and reinforcing rules,

and fostering a level of respect both in and out of the classroom. As I am not a person

who naturally finds it easy to strictly enforce rules or discipline others, this part of the role

is one where I notice I’ll really need to work on improving my skills through serious

practice. Fortunately, observing my TA and other teachers during the practicum has

taught me a number of routines and techniques involving a mix of positive and negative

reinforcement that will be incredibly valuable for improving myself in this area.

4. During the seminars, the subject that was the most eye-opening for me was the

discussion on the importance of building strong relationships between teachers and

students. A key point in the seminar was that students will generally refuse to learn from

a teacher they do not trust, or that they can tell is not being genuine with them. It was

emphasized that before students can even begin to be reached academically, they must

first be reached emotionally - a mutual level of respect between the teacher and student

is critically important in making sure that the student is able to learn what they need to.

This subject also relates heavily to the issue of the varied needs of learners in the 21st

century - any given classroom will be an incredibly diverse environment, featuring

students from a wide variety of backgrounds and with a broad spectrum of educational

needs, not all of which will be immediately visible or obvious. As a result, teachers need
 to be highly attentive in order to understand the context that the student is coming from,

which is critical for developing a consistent strategy for how to get them on your side so

that they sincerely want to learn from you.

5. After taking ED 2500, I now have a stronger understanding of what grade levels I would

be confident in teaching. Prior to taking the course I had some tutoring experience

exclusively with high school students, which left me with the idea that later grade levels,

which are generally seem more focused on teaching advanced material than managing

student behaviour, would be a more comfortable environment for me. However, to my

surprise, my practicum experience, which mostly involved working with the youngest

grade levels, has been surprisingly fun and rewarding so far. While I am still aware of the

unique challenges involved with managing younger students, I have also been able to

observe and pick up many strategies that make the experience look and feel much more

manageable, especially once you become more familiar with the students and the

routines of the classroom. This has allowed me to broaden my ideas for what sorts of

classes I could see myself teaching in my future as an educator.