It is my belief that the key to building a strong school community is through understanding of a school's culture, the population present, and other aspects of the environment a school resides in. This knowledge is what permits a teacher to understand how to effectively foster relationships with students, and facilitate activities that promote a sense of togetherness and acceptance among the student body. For this same reason, it can also be useful to directly ask students about their interests to brainstorm and select activities they enjoy organizing and participating in.
Below is the Community Mapping exercise I completed during my 2020 Fall Practicum in which I have researched the school community and geographic characteristics of Queen Elizabeth Secondary school, and a description of the Museum/History club that I ran with other cohort members during this same experience.
Below is the Community Mapping exercise I completed during my 2020 Fall Practicum in which I have researched the school community and geographic characteristics of Queen Elizabeth Secondary school, and a description of the Museum/History club that I ran with other cohort members during this same experience.
Community Mapping Exercise
Museum And History Club
On the second last day of the 2020 Adapted Practicum, using the Zoom video-conferencing application, myself and two other members of my cohort facilitated virtual field trips for members that had signed up for the Museum and History Club. Each of us were responsible for leading a virtual field trip to one of three museums that had received the most votes in a poll during the prior week. During my experience facilitating the Gardiner Museum field trip, I used my background in Art history to share extra information about the historical exhibits, with a special emphasis on the impact of cultural exchange that occurred on the Silk Road, and asked questions to encourage the participants to create connections between historical visual culture practices with those of the present.