Click the buttons below to see the reflections of each student teacher.
Graeme Arkell (Bachelor of Arts in English & History) It was a pleasant experience working with my pod members Amelia, Garrett, Katie, Bryce, Bianca, Emma and Marian as we worked on our project to build an Aboriginal garden at Fairview Elementary School in Nanaimo. My main role in the project was to request donations from local First Nations groups. After sending out more than ten donation letters, my colleagues and I were delighted to hear back from the Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre... (cont'd)
Garrett Beisel (Bachelor of Science in Biology & Chemistry) I, along with a wonderful team of fellow teachers, had the opportunity to plan and implement a community action project. Graeme, Katie, Bryce, Amelia, Bianca, Emma, and I were able to choose a project idea near to each or our hearts. We wanted to build an inclusive garden that all of the students of a local elementary school could enjoy. We were able give the garden an aboriginal design; the garden had native plants, aboriginal artwork, and contained a friendship bench made from natural cedar logs... (cont'd)
Katie Bernaquez (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) When our pod first met to discuss ideas for our community action plan (CAP), we came in with great enthusiasm and some very interesting ideas. We first tossed around the idea of adding to a previously made garden at Woodlands Secondary School. However, we decided that we wanted to make something that was truly our own creation and that could offer another school some beauty and inspiration for lessons... (cont'd)
Bryce Biasutti (Bachelor of Arts in Sports, Health and Physical Education & History) This semester my professional learning pod had to complete a community action plan (CAP) project as part of our final semester in our teaching program at Vancouver Island University. As a pod we worked together to decide what we could do within our community. After some thought and debate, we decided to build a heritage garden for a local elementary school. This garden was to contain Aboriginal plants, stepping-stones and a natural log friendship bench... (cont'd)
Amelia Bieling (Masters in Chemistry) On the first day of my final semester in the PB teaching program I met with my Professional Learning Pod (PLP) for the first time. Some members I knew well and others I had never spoken to due to being in different cohorts with different time tables during previous semesters. The seven of us sat down together and were tasked with developing a Community Action Project (CAP) which would be of benefit to the Nanaimo area... (cont'd)
Bianca Burton (Bachelor of Arts in Sports, Health and Physical Education) How could we make a difference in the lives of our students? This was the hot topic during our discussions when our pod group was deciding what we would do for our culminating project for the education program. After several meetings, we agreed upon “Our Heritage Garden”. The key focus was that we wanted to engage students in experiential learning about aboriginal culture in the outdoors... (cont'd)
Emma Lawson (Bachelor of Arts in Early Learning & Sociology) This semesters Community Action Project was a great learning experience. As a group we came up with the idea of building a garden for a local elementary school, keeping in mind native plants and aboriginal artwork. We felt that a garden was an appropriate project to take on as it could provide a means of cross curricular and experiential learning for all students and staff... (cont'd)
Our VIU Mentor Marian It has been a privilege and honour to be the mentor for this fantastic group of individuals. Our Heritage Garden project began as a small conversation in our small meeting room on campus less than four weeks ago. Today, as a result of the hard work and focus of seven dedicated soon to be professional teachers, it is a beautiful garden and nature focal point for Fairview Elementary school. The garden was specifically planned to honour First Nations plant species indigenous to the local area... (cont'd)