For my four week practicum in May/June of 2024, I was placed at College Heights Secondary School (CHSS). My time there was really great and a big reason why was because I had the opportunity to volunteer my time after school hours to help out the debate club. My coaching teacher (CT) and another humanities teacher who was next door ran the club and were preparing their students for a potential world’s debate at the end of the semester. When my CT mentioned that they were involved in the club, I decided to stay after school hours and sit in on one of their sessions. I found it to be really fun, mostly because of how engaged and excited the students were. The first session involved the junior students facing off against the senior students on a pre-prepared hypothetical. The students had thirty minutes to prepare and then the debate began. The main objective of this debate was to prepare the students for their official debate later in the semester, but also to show the junior students how much a few years of practice can improve their skills. It was really interesting to see the juniors attempt to dissect the arguments of the seniors and vice-versa. After the first class, my CT asked if I would like to get more involved and help the group out by staging a teacher vs. student debate with all of the formal rules involved. I was happy to say yes and over the next few weeks we spent time after class preparing for this debate. Public speaking is one of my biggest fears and so the task of speaking for eight minutes straight was daunting at first but quickly became a challenge that I wanted to succeed at. The debate was really fun and the students were a huge help in making sure I was not nervous! At the end of my four weeks at CHSS, the students surprised me with this really cool sweater to recognize their gratitude for me helping out. Debate is not something that I would have envisioned myself taking part in but I am really glad that I had the opportunity to do so. Engaging with clubs and after school activities is a great way to make connections, especially as a new teacher. In the future I will make sure to get as involved in clubs as possible.
Picture of the sweater: