Bowen Island: What does coming together in a setting like the one we experience today bring to a community?  Why and how will you use “place” in your teaching?

September 6, 2017

              Today was the first day of the last semester of PDP.  The emotions I am feeling are both really excited on how close I am on achieving the goal that I have had since high school, but at the same time I doubt myself and ask, “Am I really ready for this?”  Especially that I am one of the few student teachers who still haven’t received their placement. 

              For the first day, finding out that we were going to Bowen Island I wasn’t too excited about it due to the trip and extra cost for the ferry.  First and foremost, the scenery was breathtaking and I would want to plan a trip back to enjoy and explore the island further.  Therefore, having experienced the day now I would not trade it for a regular day and preferred being outdoors rather than being in the classroom. This makes me question, how many of students feel the same way?  During EDUC 404 I have learned the positive effects of placed based education and outdoor education towards building a community.  The mood that the outdoors create is much more relaxed compared to the formality that a classroom has.  Therefore, students may feel more open and may provide more opportunities for students to get to know and mingle with one another.  Secondly, I personally use the outdoors to get inspiration especially during 404 when I learned about inquiry.  Sometimes when I find it difficult to come up with an inquiry question, I look to my surroundings.  For example, during the trip we took a walk down the community board walk near the water.  We saw marine animals such as a couple of starfish, small crabs, and even a jelly fish.  A few of us initiated a discussion on movement of jellyfish and the capacity of which this jellyfish can maneuver against the waves or if it simply just goes with the flow of the water.  I can’t help but reflect on quantitative approach to environmental education, and how I can potentially relate the movement of this jellyfish to math due to its sinusoidal wave.  Even with the starfish that were on the edge of rocks, one can inquire about the amount of force that each of the tube feeds create to hold its position.  Last but not the least, we looked back at our community agreement that we as a group created in January 2017.  One of the key points in our community agreement was to be authentic, and a point brought up by our faculty associate made me question, how authentic am I or are we really being in our practicum?  An article that I’ve read by Shawn Michael Bullock titled “Learning to Teach and the False Apprenticeship” relates well with the student teachers’ ability to be authentic when we are in a system where there is high importance in your school associates and faculty associates observation and perception on you (the student teacher).  Therefore, as a human being you automatically want to become, create, and take on the role of that person that they are looking for, or what they perceive as the “ideal teacher”. 

              Our trip to Bowen Island was well worth the time and money.  I was happy to be all together back with my module and see everyone.  Lastly, I am thankful for the community that we have established and continue to grow within our module, because just like our faculty associate mentioned, we are going to be our biggest support system now and beyond graduation.