Regina huda
school
Regina Huda School is an islamic school in partner ship with Regina Public Schools. The schools mission is for the students to gain the best of Canadian culture while preserving their islamic identity.
2018
Week One:
Today, on October 15th was my first field experience with my partner Byron Alexander. We worked with Mr.Gerrior and his Grade 6 class and we also had the opportunity to observe Mr Geisbrecht’s 7/8 class. My partner and I arrived at the school early and had a tour, the school consist of both elementary and high school, it had several floors (we are on the second floor) and the classrooms had big windows making the room bright and some even has doors that lead to a balcony. As for the dress code; boys had to wear a white dress shirt and dark dress pants, no jewellery and girls wore an Abaya and are expected to wear no makeup or jewellery. The school provided me with an Abaya, but there was one problem. The Abaya was too long, another female staff helped us find safety pins but we couldn’t find any so we ended up using binder clips, which she helped me clip-on, to prevent me from tripping over my Abaya. I was so nervous, especially when my day started with putting a binder clip on my Abaya but as the class start, all my nervousness faded away. It’s day 3 and the day started with silent reading and a book discussion. The class did a great job at listening and I also noticed that some students were sketching while the teacher read to them and raised their hands if they want to speak. After the silent reading was Math, the students worked in groups to solve problems, some groups did a great job helping each other out while the other groups struggled to work together. My partner and I walked around and helped kids with their assigned task and for Arabic class, we were assigned to a different classroom and observed Mr.Geisbrecht’s grade 7/8 math class. Both classes were full of energy, it was nice to see the transition between a grade 6 class and grade 7/8s, although it was the same subject, I noticed that the grade 6 class focused more in working with other people while the grade 7/8s focused on doing practice book and solving problems on their own. The school was under construction and had many machines working outside so we had to be more aware of the students at recess. Teachers were spread out and one of the rules were, only grade 7 and 8 or teachers are the only ones allowed to get the ball or anything that goes on the road and it's tricky because there was no fence so we spent a lot of time trying to retrieve the balls that go on the road. After recess was Language Arts, the kids were very open and ask a lot of questions from my partner and me, one interaction that I will always remember is when a student came up to me and said “ I’ve been thinking about this all morning but are you sure you pronounce you pronounce your last name, Havier not Javier” which was my very first informal conversation with a student. During the work period Bano, Rifa and Subhan, sat at the back of the class with us and asked a lot of questions and it was a pleasure to be able to assist them. It was a very productive day the school was beautiful and amazing, the staff were very friendly and helpful.
Week three:
Today, October 29th is my third week in the field with my partner and the kids were as welcoming as ever. The day starts off with greeting the students, making small conversations about their exciting weekends, and I have never seen anyone get so excited talking about Fornite like the boys in my class do. Today was the same as our previous days in the field except instead of Arabic we have Social and Phys Ed. Every month, students would get nominated for the good things they do in class and is rewarded with a picture with a Champion belt. Today, our coop teacher made some special adjustment so we could see who won for the month of October; Subhan was awarded for honesty, Acia for helpfulness, Yusra for discipline and lastly Nusaiba for Academic. For math class, they used the smart board in order to get kids involved in class instead of just sitting down and doing textbook questions which also gives the kids some visuals and help from their peers with difficult questions. As for the weeks topic on teachers and knowledge, our cooperating teacher brings in retired teachers as the guest speaker, the teachers help each other as much as possible, and parents would also volunteer to help especially with the younger grades and in any of the school events. For Language Arts, we had a task rotation where students can choose to work on whatever homework they want for a certain amount of time, so while Mr.Gerrior worked with a small reading group and assess them, my partner and I walked around helping other students with their task. After recess the kids were given extra time to use the Ipads to work on their social project, although kids are supposed to work on their project they won't stop asking my partner and me why we can’t stay for the whole day and come every day and as much as we want to work with these wonderful and lovely kids we explained that we also have classes like they do. The school has two gyms and due to their culture, boys and girls have to be in separate gyms, a male teacher are not allowed to teach female students so while I help with the girls, my partner Byron helped Mr.Gerrior with the boys. The most exciting part of my day was Phys Ed, I got to work with another female intern and helped her teach a new game called tic tac throw for the girls. During Phys Ed the girls are given a minute to take off their hijab, before playing dodgeball and tic tac throw we had a 15 minutes warm-up, it was difficult to keep the girls focused because they’re from different classes and it distracts them from doing what they are supposed to so Ms.H and I had to use our teacher's voice. Aside from keeping the girls on task, the class was great, I wasn’t expecting to help teach Phys Ed but I loved it and I would be willing to do it again.
Week Six:
This is my second last day for my field experience and I'm really gonna miss my grade, six class. We start the day with talking about the weekend, Mr.Gerrior had to say no fortnite because the kids would go out of control (mostly the boys) and kids would still come up to me and ask to play with them; most of the kids are in the debate club so they often see each other outside of school and usually on the weekends. We did listen to reading after the morning Dua prayer, we finished reading Charlie and the chocolate factory book and prepared the students to watch the movie and make comparisons. Then we talked about the math test last week, the majority of the students had difficulties on the last page and most of them forgot how to multiply so Mr.Gerrior is willing to give them a retest. The explained that it's ok if one student is having trouble he could talk to him/her individually but if most of the class is having difficulties then the students are not at fault, the teacher may not have done a well enough job explaining, therefore, he is will to give them a chance to do better on the test. Our teacher prepared different methods for the kids for multiplying in order to help them improve, one of them being the partial product method, the box method and of course the standard algorithm and after trying out all the method. The student was given a worksheet to see which method they prefer, one of the students asked why they had to learn these methods even though they will never ever used them, but the teacher said that they will eventually use it and everything they are learning now will be helping them in the future. Mr.Gerrior also talked about his method of getting the kids attention and for him one the best method is by clapping his hands, the students are expected to stay quiet after, he is not a fan of yelling because he thinks its ineffective, it would only burn him out and would only leave a negative impression for the students. At this point my partner and I build a relationship with the students, they would come up to us and start conversations and after days of observing we are able to answer the kid's questions when they raise their hands up instead going to Mr.Gerrior. It was funny because the kids would fight over who gets to sit at the back with me and partner and one of the girls called me Auntie instead of Ms.Javier which was really interesting because you'd often hear stories of students calling their female teachers mom, and that was a new experience for me. After recess, we looked at the student's project for the genius hour and we listened to what their project is about and how they will present it and give a little bit of our input to help them improve. The kids were very enthusiastic about the genius hour, Mr.Gerrior specially planned it so that we can watch some of the kid's presentations on our last day, and some of the group asked to present on our last day so that we can taste their cookies and cakes which is part of their project. I can't wait to come next week, it's sad to think that there's one more week left but I'm excited to see them present their project as well get some cookies and cakes.
Week two:
This is my second field experience and I'm still getting used to not shaking peoples hand when introducing myself. On our first day, we were taught that in their culture we were not allowed to shake the opposite genders hands and we could just nod our heads when introducing ourselves. Regina Huda school is a cultural community, they have Friday prayer open for everyone even outside of school which usually takes place at the gym. My morning started with taking lots of pictures of the beautiful school, I met Starla Nister the principal of the school and we talked for a little bit on our way to class. My partner and I arrived a little early and had time to ask our cooperating teacher a few questions about the school and we learned that the school actually opened last year and that for the longest time they had classes in trailers. Our cooperating teacher had to teach class his class in the trailers(yes trailers, not portables) for 7 years, he said that aside from the tight space and the harsh weather everything was good, they even had a smart board. Today is day 3 so everything was the same as last week except for one class which was social, we were also placed in Mrs.Andersons grade 7 math class for Arabic and it's really nice to see the difference between the two grades whether it's the teaching techniques and how the kids behave. Mrs.Anderson gave us some student works to look at, it gave us an idea on how the kids are being assessed based from what they know, and we see how kids have different levels and understanding on the same topic. The kids are very energetic and very involved in the class discussion, my partner and I spent most of our time walking around and helping kids with their task. Honestly hearing the kids call me Ms.Javier will take time to get used to but I love working with these kids, it's only the second week and it almost feels natural to be in this class.
Week four:
My fourth week for my field experience was on November 5th and the day starts off the same as every other week. My partner and I talked to our cooperating teacher about the plans for the day and had to change a few things up; we couldn't use the other gym because there was a funeral happening so we combined the girls and the boys for Phys Ed class. The class with a prayer, then we talked to the kids about their weekends and had the kids read out loud. After reading we had math class and since the kids have been doing homework this past week we had planned a math game for them, we let them pick their own group/partner and had them do a factor game which is pretty neat because in my math class with my partner we're also learning about factors and prime numbers. Since we learned about factors ahead of time we were able to help the kids with the game. In Language, Arts Mr.Gerrior had small reading groups and as for the rest of the class they had a choice to work on whatever homework they want and we were able to help kids create poems. For Current Events we talked about remembrance day, kids read out loud, after reading the kids had a lot of questions about the war and why it happened. Some of the kids were from Syria and had to move here he was telling us his experiences and it was really surprising to see that many of the kids in the class were greatly affected by this. It was really cold and windy, my partner and I were very active at recess kids were constantly calling for our attention and my partner had to run across the street a lot of times because the wind was too strong, it blew most of their equipment across the street and kids were not allowed to get it. After recess we only had one gym so we combined both the girls and the boy, this was a bummer for most of the girls because they were not allowed to take off their abaya, so they had to play without changing. In class, we talked about how dodgeball should not be encouraged to play in Phys Ed but because of the limited equipment our class only consist of playing dodgeball. During the first game we only asked to watch for each group but after that, we ended up playing with the kids, there were four groups/teams so each team had one of the teachers (including us) and we played against.
Week five:
This is my fifth week on this field experience, and there was no school last Monday so the kids were really happy to see us today. The day began with a book recap, homework check and reading out loud. While mr.gerrior was reading out loud, the kids would draw on their sketchbooks and work on their poems as long as they stayed quiet and understand the readings. After the class reading was math, we learned about expanded and standard form and had the students come up to the board to answer a few homework questions that many people struggled on. Due to the Agribition exhibition field trip and the parent's teacher meeting, it was a short week for the students, instead of doing the usual homework rotation, Mr.Gerrior prepared an activity sheet. the activity sheet was a summary for what they have working on so far in math class and language arts, the kids love working with us at our table so my partner and I would take turns with sitting down with a group of kids and walking around the classroom to help. As I was sitting down with the students, they kept asking about Fornite, apparently last week Mr.Gerrior mentioned that I played Fortnite and that the students have been dying to ask me to play with them. even though I have to constantly ask the students to go back to work, and stop talking about Fornite, it was nice to have connections with them even if it's through fornite. After recess, we talked about the field trip to the Agribition, the kids were really excited and it was hard to get the kids to settle down. usually, the kids were very quiet but today the class was out of control, kids would talk without raising their hands up and would stop paying attention and Mr.Gerrior had to send kids outside. we talked about the safety and rules for the field trip, which includes not touching the animals and staying with their assigned group. For health, we discussed the topic of the month, which is "kindness" and we had a bingo sheet for them to complete. the kids would list down sixteen act of kindness on the bingo sheet for others and themselves and whenever they do an act of kindness, they put a check mark. the first group who gets it all done throughout the week will get points for their groups. it was the perfect way to end today's field experience, we get to see how the students interpret kindness, and I can't wait to come back next week and see their progress.
Final Week:
Today my partner and I came early so our coop teacher can evaluate us individually and talk about any future plans. Mr.Gerrior mentioned that although we couldn't stay after the field placement because we have class right after, we make up for it by coming to school early and he really appreciates it. Having an extra helping hand is always good, he talked about my interactions with children and how I need to improve when it comes to walking around, being too quiet (i need to work on the tone of my voice when speaking to the students) and helping the students but he reassured me that every teacher starts off the same and it's something that he has worked on for years. When the students arrived, a few came up to us to ask if this was our last day and if we were ever gonna come back, and it's funny how every one of them asks the same thing. it warms my heart to see that the students actually liked having us around and how much they'll miss us. today we worked on persuasive letters, we told them the difference between complaining and convincing because the kids were a little confused, as we were walking around one of the girls told me that her letter was dedicated to the principal and it was to convince her to let us stay in the school. Technology is the topic of the week and it's interesting because the persuasive essay was also about asking for what the school need and it's laptops. In elementary school I still have the vivid memory of pushing the computer cart on our long hallway, it surprised me that this school doesn't have one accessible for them to use, the classrooms only had four iPads and the children had to take turns using it because there's not enough for everyone (sometimes they borrow from other classrooms for big projects). We listed some ideas on what they can do to make the laptop happen; writing a letter to the board (persuasive essay), bake sale and more. The weeks went by so fast, I remember the very first day when I was afraid to enter the classroom and as soon as I entered the classroom I didn't know what to do. Now I have a special connection with the kids, learned their names and improved in helping them with their class work, one of the things that I struggled on before was helping kids with their questions without giving away the answers. My interactions with the kids have improved greatly, the kids will always try to talk to you, and I've learned a lot from these kids regarding their culture and the classroom itself. today was a bittersweet goodbye and I will never forget this class, it taught me a lot on what it means to be a good teacher and how important it is to communicate with your students.