Swim Teacher or a Miracle Worker?
Since I was little I have loved being in the water. There is never a time in my life that I was not able to swim or felt comfortable in the water, it always felt just as natural as walking. My parents tried to support me as much as possible in the small town of strengthens in this passion of mine. One way they supported me was allowing me to join the synchronized team and helped me practice my swimming lesson skills and strokes whenever I struggled with a skill.
Swimming was very natural to me. As a child I was not very confident with my physical abilities, all of my friends were great runners, soccer players and bikers but I was not strong in any of those skills. Instead I found my physical strengthens in swimming. It was not until I had completed swim kids 10 and then bronze cross did I realize that I also had strengthens in lifeguarding (first aid and organization) and teaching these swimming skills as a water safety instructor.
When I was 16 I got my National Lifeguard Pool Award and then since I wanted to focus on my academic I just held onto that award and did not apply to be a lifeguard at any pools. Then once I was 17 I learnt that most pools hire water safety instructors first and then hire their lifeguards within the group of water instructors they have on staff already. This is where I began my teaching experience. During the week of graduation I was offered the job, which was one of the best things that have ever happen to me.
As a began teaching the programmers at the pool started to notice that I was very patient, encouraging and able to work with children of varying abilities. About a month into working at the pool I started working with many children with exceptionalities. One example of a person with a exceptionality that I worked with was Leah who was 13 years old, and she struggled with verbal communication, motor skills and developmental skills. She was one of the hardest lesson sets I have ever dealt with. Leah was very stubborn, never wanted to go swimming, and would physically push me away when I would direct her away from something I did not want her to get into. Even though she was defiantly the most difficult child I have ever taught I learnt a lot from her as well about adaptation by modification. I also had to think constantly about her safety, involvement and engagement in the lesson, even though this was a one - on - one lesson I still had to give her 120% of my energy. Everything that I knew about teaching swimming lessons, all of my typical tricks of the trade were not working.. this made me constantly work on my toes and come up with new ideas to teach her.
BC Teacher Standards
My first official role as the educator was as a swim instructor. This was the first time I had my own class of students I was responsible for. I learnt how to plan lessons based on my classes needs and the curriculum of that level, and also how to evaluate depending on certain difficulties and the time I had. My first taste of writing the dreaded report cards for a class or multiple classes was through teaching swimming at a recreation centre. All of these experiences and countless more have strengthened my ability to adhere to these standards that as educators we are held to as the minimum.
- Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation, and reporting
- Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
- Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.
Each of these standards plays a part in every lesson I teach whether that is in the pool while teaching an 8-year-old how to do a standing dive in the deep end or teaching a 12-year-old how to write a proper paragraph. They both relate and complement each other.