The most recent seminar was of particular interest to me because as I was actually applying for this teaching program, one of the things that I said was most important to me was granting my students a sense of agency. I always remembered one of the things which made my high school French teacher (Mr. P) the best was that he gave his students so many choices. Whether it came down to letting us pick our seats, if we wanted to work individually or in a group, or what kind of evaluation method we wanted (video project, essay, or test), the freedom he gave us made us feel empowered and made learning so much more enjoyable.

What guest speaker Trevor Mackenzie said about how students “vote with their feet,” aka express their enjoyment for a class with their attendance, really resonated with me. At my school there were two French teachers, Mr. P who’s class everyone loved attending, and Mme. S whose class was a favourite period to skip; it just goes to show how much attendance rates have to do with the class/teaching and not individual students after all. I aspire to be a teacher like Mr. P who makes room for his students’ preferences and allows them to pursue their interests (free inquiry).

Trevor’s mention of the concept of vertical learning also had me thinking about what kind of teacher I would like to be. I hope to incorporate vertical learning into my classroom and get students out of their chairs and actively participating… since I always had a hard time just sitting still and listening when I was in their position.

Finally, I would like to emphasize how much I appreciated Trevor’s method of giving student feedback since I would love to adopt this practice myself. The idea of handing out written feedback prior to dispensing letter grades is genius because it’s so true that everyone automatically looks to those first. I’m sure by dedicating specific time to reflect on feedback students improve a lot more than if they only focused on a letter.

In all, there were many takeaways from this lecture for me and, even though I don’t typically read for fun, I was genuinely hoping to win one of Trevor’s books to hear more about what he has to say.

PS. Here is a video project that I made in Mr. P’s grade 10 French class. He let us choose to write a paper using what what learned or make a video… Thanks to my choice I have this hilarious Youtube video as an awesome memory from that time 🙂 https://youtu.be/2kHZ1T8jBEg?si=yIz4E-U8mZXolPVu