I just finished my first week at Equinox Holistic School and I feel like I'm already getting so many ideas for when I have my own classroom. One thing I didn't realize was how much emphasis they put on outdoor education here. In my very first week, I spent almost 2 full days outside with kids. These kids are in great shape - I'm with primary grades, and I didn't hear a single one of them complaining about how much walking we were doing (I am going to be in really good shape by the end of this internship). First of all - most of the class spend the first half hour outdoors doing their morning circle, doing Tai Chi, singing songs, and telling stories. It is so nice to see so many classes outside :) They are also involved with an organization called "The Pine Project" - and each class gets to go on a PINE field trip at least once per month - where they go out into hidden natural areas in downtown Toronto and learn about things like different flowers you can use to make tea or recognizing Mustard Garlic plants and using them to make an omelette on the open fire (we also made violet flower tea; and candied violets).
The other place they are going to for a project that the Equinox Teachers are facilitating with 2 outside people that they have hired - is a project at the Brickworks called "The Pond Project". They take each class there every 2 weeks; and there are usually 3 stations where the children doing "nature journals" at one station where they draw birds and plants that they see and they notice the changes since the last time they were were; another station - they will hear stories and make more observations (when I went with them, they were shown a picture book with no words, and the children came up with what was going on and gave their ideas); and in another station, they might conduct some experiments (when I went, we compared the clay that we found in the ponds with the soil that we found and talked about why it might be good to have clay at the bottom of the pond. They spend the whole day there and it's really nice (and makes you sleep very well) to spend the whole day outside.
One of the things I offered to the school as their intern, was to share music with them - so I started by doing my "All About Me" for the class that I am with. It was a really good way to connect with the kids - and I have taught them a song that I learned when I was in primary (Yellow Bird); and I promised to teach them an Arabic song while I am there. In fact, they have been doing stories about sages from around the world - and one of my other tasks is to create a Sage Unit about the Islamic Prophet Mohamed (and try to include some nice activities that they can do and songs that they can learn). They've given me the units for their other sages so that I'll know what kind of a format they want me to follow. They also want me to organize all of the units into one master binder; and make 2 copies of each unit in small binders that teachers can use when they are doing that particular unit. The school has only been open for 3 years now, so they are really excited about having their curriculum content organized in a way that if a new teacher came to the school, they would have a good idea of what to do (it's an alternative school with a holistic focus).
I also just want to mention that I love the fact that the grade 1/2/3 classes are doing a performance of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - with costumes, music and all. It is REALLY impressive! And the teachers meet every week to touch base with each other, which is also amazing - I feel like they have a strong teacher community.
I love that I don't feel totally stressed out for this like I did with the practicums - because #1 - I'm not being assessed; and #2 - I chose something myself that I'm really interested in learning about and I'm excited to be making connections here. It doesn't mean I have a stress free month, though - I'm doing an online AQ at the same time for primary - so every night, I am online working on that and it feels like a lot of work already, and I know we haven't even really gotten started. But it's worth it - as of June 14th (unless I fail) I will be qualified for P/J/I - which is perfect for what I hope to do as a teacher.
I'll check in again next week and let you know how things are going.
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