I'm now an Instructor

It still gives me goosebumps to call myself an instructor or teacher, and no longer a 'student-teacher', but after finishing my first week teaching at Mohawk College I indeed can do just that. I must confess it feels absolutely incredible! I feel so fortunate and privileged to be teaching an amazing group of students in the CICE (Community Integration and Continuing Education) Program. Already I can tell that I am going to learn just as much from these individuals as I hope they will from me. It is so inspiring working with these students who have all gone through great lengths, determination, perseverance, and against all odds, to attend College; and as such I feel a great responsibility to do everything I can to make them not only succeed in College, but give them the confidence to succeed in the years following their graduation.

From their first day of orientation the level of excitement amongst this group is infectious. I feel so energized by this group, and after teaching my first two classes this week: Recreation Activities and Computer Skills I think I've returned the favour. Being a huge fan of TRIBES having completed my training in May, I felt using some of those methods my first week was an obvious way to kick off. The icebreakers and group forming techniques such as "Name Wave" and "Silent line up" to get to know each other and form groups were so much fun, and quickly introduced everyone as well as creating focus and groupings.

Ways to fight stress.

I really enjoyed our first class topic of Stress Management techniques where we did a graffiti exercise to come up with ways to combat or deflate stress. The students came up with some fantastic ideas which I was really proud of. Afterwards we did some breathing exercises and a muscle relaxation whilst focusing on our breathing. Was so much fun, and as it was my first time orchestrating one of these I think I pulled it off! Was a fantastic start to our class.

Yesterday I taught our first Computer Skills class where after covering the course outline we learned about computer etiquette and completed an online scavenger hunt as a form of a skills diagnostic to see where everyone's strengths and weaknesses are. To complete the diagnostic I asked the students to tell me their strengths, weaknesses, and what they want to learn; and email me their responses. It was great to see everyone helping each other out, and definitely provided me with a clear idea of the pace and level of my students, as well as where their interests lay. I found using TodaysMeet to be a great way for the students to brainstorm their ideas of what Computer Etqiuette entails, and fosterred a great class discussion from it. I cannot stress enough how much of a pleasure it was to teach this class, and how amazing it was to watch the students all help each other out in the scavenger hunt, opening TodaysMeet, and figuring out how to email me their exit card. What a great bunch of students I have! So excited for next week where we're going to learn about Microsoft Word.