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PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER THREE: Final Report

Intern Teacher: Valerie Phillips

University Consultant: Josh Markle

Intern Teacher’s Descriptive Report:

I completed my PSIII Internship at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, where I taught English Language Arts 9 and Social 10-1.

At the beginning of the internship, I had two main goals in mind. The first was to incorporate First Nations, Metis, and Inuit
perspectives and literature into my classes. This was accomplished primarily throughout my Social 10 class, where I ensured
these voices and perspectives were brought into consideration, especially in the context of historical globalization and
imperialist policies. For example, during the classes where we discussed Residential Schools and imperialism in Canada, I
brought in "Shin-Chi's Canoe" by Salish/Metis author Nicola Campbell as a read-aloud/reflection activity. We also heard
directly from Survivors through the viewing of the CBC's "Stolen Children". In September I also attended a public viewing of "
Indian Horse" at Winston Churchill High School to educate myself and engage with the Truth and Reconciliation movement.

My second goal was based around supporting student mental and emotional health. This was accomplished primarily through
my Professional Inquiry Project with the line of inquiry being, "To what extent can mindfulness support student mental and
emotional health?" Initially at the beginning of my project I had my students fill in a questionnaire on their mental and
emotional health (anonomously). Their answers gave me insight into the direction of the project. From then on, once or twice
during the week as time allowed, I led my students in mindfulness exercises, explaining the science behind the practices, and
encouraging them to implement mindfulness in their own daily life. I showed my students several apps they could download
on their phones, and mindfulness youtube channels, asking them to engage in a mindful exercise on their own and report
back to me their reflections on their practice. This yielded some insightful results as students reported they were able to sleep
better, focus more, and found themselves more calm and centred. I created a mindfulness bulletin board display with
inspirational ideas and practical tips for daily mindfulness. I have read significant portions of "Happy Teachers Change the
World" by Thich Nhat Hanh and Katherine Weare, and have cultivated a deeper understanding of mindfulness and how it can
be used in the classroom through the reading of this book and other online research. I engaged with several sessions of an
online Mindful Education Summit, and also chose to engage with a "wellness practices" collaborative community for our
district-wide professional learning day. All of these opportunities gave me insight into how mindfulness can have a positive
impact on teacher and student mental and emotional wellbeing. I hope to continue my research and engagement in this topic,
and implement it in future classrooms as well.

A highlight from my internship was the novel study I did with my Grade 9s of "And Then There Were None" by Agatha
Christie. We made plasticine figures of each of the characters and adjusted them as characters were killed off in the story.
The kids were very engaged in the story and rooting for their character to survive. Overall the students were invested and it
created a fun classroom experience. Also, my pun-of-the day on the board created an atmosphere of humour and provided a
connection point for building rapport with and between students throughout the semester.

An area that I feel I grew in was in using numerous resources to build lesson plans of my own. By combining successful
department resources from the past as well as other plans/resources from online sources, and my own original materials, I
was able to curate lessons that worked well for myself and my classes.

Outside of classroom teaching and research, I participated in my school community in several ways. As the interns were
responsible for planning and running the Remembrance Day ceremony, I was involved in the process throughout and helped
to supervise and communicate with the cadets especially. During a basketball tournament earlier in the semester I helped run
the concession booth for the afternoon. I also coordinated with the LCI Gold Jazz Band to put on a large swing dance event at
the university, creating opportunity for the LCI community and UofL community to liase.

Overall, I have gained a valuable amount of experience throughout this Internship and have appreciated the opportunity to
work with my students, teacher mentors, and staff colleagues. In the future, I hope to continue developing my assessment
practices and engaging more with activity-based learning.

I have read and received a complete copy of my PS III Final Report.

Intern Teacher Signature Date

This page is to be returned to the UC to be included in the PS III Final Report.

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2018) Page 3 of 5