Your Japanese word of the week is...

"tsukuru" 作る which is "to make/create".  I didn't mention last time that I was on my final practicum week.  In reality, I've been off practicum since Apr 16th and from Apr 19th - May 7th I'm actually teaching at Science World, which is a great experience in itself.

Anyway, back to the practicum.  It was a lot of work (like, a lot) but I enjoyed it for the most part.  Admittedly I had a lot of very helpful people around me, supporting my progress through the ten weeks and while the prep work never got any easier, I did enjoy my experience in the classroom for the most part.  It wasn't always easy and I wasn't always kind, but most of the time I left the classroom feeling pretty good about what I did in the classroom and how I was relating to the students.

I got some useful and positive feedback from them which I'll compile for you next week.

But for now, I wanted to show you some of the great pieces of work that some of my students made and graciously allowed me to keep (or in one case, presented me with as a gift).

In my grade 9 class' human reproductive system unit, the students put together a small project on the "Journey of the Gametes", where they traced the path in the development of a sperm or egg cell.  A pair of students put together this big picture book called...

It's actually a neat little read and it was surprising when the two of them offered it to me as a present since I figured they would've wanted to keep it considering all the work they put into it.  Here's a look at what they put on the inside.

For my Biology 11 class' algae unit, I had the students work in groups to build 3D models of algae.  One of the groups paper mache'd welding rod and painted them red to make a rather good red algae model.

Along with their model they had to put together a small info booklet/poster and on an "Algae Fair" day when the students had to present their projects, they all voted for the best booklet and it came down to a tie followed by a vote.  This booklet lost the tie but I still think it's very well put together and very well done.

Along with the best booklet, there was a vote for the best model and this one, of a dinoflagellate, won.  Made from a paper mache'd balloon, it had walnut shells on the outside (because the outside of a dinoflagellate is rough) with cell structures strung on the inside.  The "face" is because I said the model could be anthropomorphic if they wanted heh...

The amount of work that some of the students put in and the amount of creativity some of them show when given a chance really impresses me.  The great thing about having these with me is that, as many have suggested, I can show them the next time I give the project to another class and that'll help raise the level of work that the next group does.  So here's to hoping that this is only the beginning...