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My journey for my fall school semester has been very thought-provoking both physically and
mentally. Throughout the semester I have observed, engaged, and critically absorbed how I
have grown professionally and personally through experiences and resources, such as research
and textbook course readings within the class. One of the main ideas I have learned in the class is
bloom's taxonomy and its cognitive domains. I often think of this model as a staircase because
as a students abilities from just knowledge (recall and shallow processing) to creativity
(complex and deep processing). This made me think of how much growth I have seen in my
for me, and how others think of situations and growth as a learner (Triangulation).
For me, I have seen growth in those areas as well because instead of just conducting an
observation and being passive in my learning through school and experiences I use semantics in
order to make those experiences meaningful and purposeful. I often ask myself as a Universal
design of learning (UDL) learner as to why I am here? What will I observe? What can I do
about a situation? How can I ask for advice and guidance? What is my role in the classroom?
How can I be an effective and adoptive in my role as an educational assistant in the classroom?
What would make me stand out with others whom have my qualifications? To me, inquiring
open ended questions provide a layout of what, who, where, and how my professional growth
came to be and to where do I need to continue my focuses on for continued growth. It is the you
do, I do, and we do aspect of collaborative critical thinking with ourselves, the mentor
One other thing I learnt during my holistic educational experiences is to be persistent, and
never give up. I know there are some days I get confused on how to do and how to conduct
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myself in a manner that suits the classroom environment. Sometimes I can tell if the teacher is
frustrated and I am not sure what to or that sometimes my grades in the class at not at par with
feedback, and inspire my own growth in order to inspire others as well. This relates to the
backward design in class discussions because in order to more forward we plan for our smart
goals and outcomes of our actions. This is through communication with the mentors and
Some other experiences that lead to growth are from our in-class discussions and our SRG
groups. For example, some of the class discussions talked about valuable resources to utilize in a
way that enhances learning such as the role of keeping an IPT record, diigo.com, google sites
for our personal learning plan, and the program of studies that let us seek learning outcomes for
students in a particular grade level in Alberta. Those are all very useful resources to go back and
reflect as to how to complete assignments but also knowledge and praxis about how we can use
those resources in our professional careers as educational assistants. Also for SRGs, it is also
helpful to talk about experiences and collaborating with thoughts and ideas for it.
One of the best ways, however, that I found was probably the most useful resource in the
class is guest speakers. Their sources of knowledge, background, and experiences enables us to
capture how people became successful in their careers and how they give back to community
with integrity. Their own personal journey and what lead to them how they became to be gives
the data and information they present us personality. I take great pleasure in learning about
people, their lives, their opinions, and why they do what they do. I remember one quote from a
guest speakers Learn more and talk less. This to me, is similar to a saying We have two
ears and one mouth. We should listen twice as much than we speak. Those quotes mean
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being professional by listening and understanding on other voices rather than to debate on if our
Also, everyone is different and lives individualized lives. This to me was also a very
important lesson as we encounter people on a daily basis there are certain things we learn about
those people. With students, I have seen patterns in their thoughts, behaviour, and actions in
situations during the classroom setting. It is very powerful to have a connection with people as it
brings stronger relationships. That being said, one of the greatest things I have learnt in class
are the relationships and connections within all of our relations. This analogy and practice goes
beyond the schema of educational psychology and learning outcomes (not to say those are not
important) but the essence of human connection truly makes us align as a community, and
more simply, human beings. The desire to connect, interact, and empathize with others
revolutionizes our experiences with getting to know ourselves and how to work with others.
So record our experiences we have used journals in the class. Journaling has become an
impactful tool for me to record experiences in field experiences and my practicum. Reflecting
back on my experiences I have seen and connected the way the course holistically approaches in
practical experiences. In fact, the knowledge obtained and acquired in the course has enhanced
the real-life experiences during to experiences since you get to really feel, see, and think about
the ATA and code of conduct, curriculum, lesson planning, and classroom assessment. Those
topics come into play simultaneously because the classroom itself is like a living system with
It is an ever changing, adaptive, flexible machine with many mechanisms that contribute to
student learning, and how both the teacher and Educational Assistant provide livable function
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within. It is hard to keep track of everything for journals but the most important experiences to us
stick out and we tend to remember those experiences prominently. However, human memory is
not perfect or accurate but recording our experiences the best we could uses cognitive, affective,
and physical functions. The mere process of writing something down stimulates and even
enhances memory. This is dynamic of taking control of your own education and experiences
not only is good for memory but something to personalize or signature your work.
The ways journaling has changed my thoughts and ideas were that after I have finished writing
down my journals and logs is that I read them after. This shows to me my progress from how I
write notes, how much I write, the details I write about with, the words, and even how I organize
my thoughts. Also, more importantly of how I conducted myself in certain situations in the
classroom. It gives me time to reflect on what went well, what did not, what other approaches
I can seek. It is as if I was a bird looking down at many viewpoints of what I did on those events
and triangulate perspectives of how I could do better. Self-evaluation is key and encouraging
feedback is also another way to learn when journaling. Surely, I could just do a catharsis of
words on a journal but I would like to make logical sense of describing what actually had
happened and what I did in the class. Finally, I would like to say that journaling is a must if I
want to keep track of cognitive, and behavioural processes in my own professional growth.
Writing a journal connects to my own personal beliefs and values to self-assess if what I am
actually doing in the experiences reflect to my own personal thoughts and my modeling. My
read Aloud is also an example of this because not only do I assess the child but assess myself
too.
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Resource
Edmunds, A. L., Badley, K., & Nickel, J., (2014). History of education.
In Educational foundations in Canada (pp. 166-205). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.