Professional Development and Practicum Participation in Canada

Professional Development and Practicum Participation in Canada (Jan 2020)

I learned "the whole heart" from the training I expected to learn about the educational system and methods.

Nothing was different when it comes to the teaching environment, teachers' burdens, students' difficulties between Canada and Korea. Sometimes, I even thought that Korean education has been doing a better job. At the same time, I got to realize that what important is in education. The more the program went on, the clearer it became.

I've studied and researched many different things in order to improve my competencies as a teacher. But, from time to time it felt like keeping running in vague. Even though I learned so-called good skills and models, outcomes of education were always hard to be found by the excuses saying that is how education has always been.

Excellent teachers and mentors who were sincerely dedicated to the program demonstrated that what we have to pursue in the name of school education. Teachers' competencies were not about acquiring a set of skills, but about having and sustaining a whole heart towards the students in spite of numerous difficulties and wounds. What teachers have in the deep inside of their hearts was way more important than specific systems or fancy teaching methods.

I did not just learn this but experienced and imprinted it in the deep place of my heart.