My Teaching Practicum
By: Blake Galligan
The 12 week clinical practicum at Moreland University has been extremely beneficial for me and my teaching career. I have learned so much about teaching just these past 12 weeks and really my last 7 months as a whole at my school “Jumpstart Education” as well.
13 months in 33 months. That’s what my Masters in Education Technology Degree at Moreland has morphed into overall. It has been a long intensive journey and even longer than I intended when starting the program at Moreland. There have been a lot of twists and turns along the way. 5 different cohorts, 4 different schools, and 6 delays in total for a variety of reasons. But after all the delays and roadblocks I have come up against, I am finally finishing my Masters in Education and teaching practicum at Moreland University.
The most practically useful and sticking knowledge I have learned from Moreland has taken place during these 12 weeks of the practicum. I feel I really have grown as a teacher in this time period. It is an experience and accomplishment that no matter what I have achieved in my life or will achieve in the future, that will go down as a huge achievement I will treasure forever.
The inTASC standards are really a fantastic guide to fulfilling our responsibility as a teacher of creating a good teaching environment and making good lessons that affect and aid our students now and into the future for many years to come. The video lessons we have done are invaluable tools that can be a great go back to if we have trouble in the future with our teaching, and also to reflect upon how far we have progressed as a teacher up to these teaching practicum videos, and when in the future we look back on how much we’ve progressed further afterwards. I will keep them safe and secure on my computer and in my heart (okay that last sentence was a little cringeworthy i know lol).
I also need to give a shout out to my mentor Jean Yang, who has been invaluable to me throughout this program and is one of the most intelligent teachers I’ve ever met and who I wouldn’t have rather had a better mentor to be there to guide me along the way. Hoping to make you proud one day.
So in closing, thank you Moreland for this opportunity to improve my teaching a lot, and thanks for all of the support and amazing instructors and activities along the way. 33 months, don’t they go by in blink.
Practicum Video Series
Scavenger Hunt
1
An academic article on the hurtles international teachers may face in the future
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3 Our Yoga Project
4
Our Christmas Show
"Frosty the Snowman Skit" and "Like It's Christmas Song and Dance"
5
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Our band Fireball
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My Biggest Learning Challenges
My biggest learning challenges in the program I would have to say include a couple.
First off I would have to say the challenge of having to use a plethora of new tech and building your own website was a big deal, especially with WIX. I had to learn how to run a lot of new software and how to get more efficient at buildling my own website. It was a big learning curve but now in going back to the website, I I feel way more confident 3 years later then when I started the program.
Another big challenge would have to be the adjustments of learning about differentiation and data collecting on a spreadsheet. The monotony of module 5 and its big projects were my least favorite part of the program, but after my practicum I have realized how useful it can be to collect data and use it to your advantage teaching and guiding your group of students throughout the semester.
Lastly, just pure persistence. Getting used to doing the program almost entirely online was a big change for me and it was hard to keep myself motivated and disciplined with deadlines at times. It's shown me how important self motivation is and how I need to improve upon it.
9
Keep Improving
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
The importance of keeping a growth mindset and to keep moving is so important. It has allowed me to keep going even though I've had 6 delays in this program that were for the most part, out of my control. "Get comfortable being uncomfortable" is one of the mottos I try to live by and it goes hand in hand with another motto I live by "Make each day count." By making each day count and trying to put yourself in uncomfortable growth opportunities often, to start leveling up yourself for a number of challenges in life and suddenly things that were level 10 problems before become level 7 problems and so on. If you keep living with this ethic it can drastically improve your life and make you into a better version of yourself in so many ways. So keep on keeping on and never give up.