Teaching Assistant Assignment

Jin Cai International School - Elementary Department

1. Tell me a bit about yourself. (Personally and/or professionally)

I am originally from a small city and a farming community in Manitoba, Canada. I was fortunate to have been raised both in the city of Winnipeg and in a farming community by family members who encouraged my growth and development in an environment of varying cultures (French, Métis, Dutch, and British), nature, and organic food stuff. During my childhood, I learnt the importance of helping others, how to grow food and raise animals, and how I am a part of nature and the world around me. I moved to Toronto, Ontario by myself when I was 21 years old in search of better employment opportunities and lived there until I was

While there is not a lot of opportunities to collaborate on curriculum we do have discussions on how to deal with in class behavioural issues. In our classrooms foreign teachers co-teach with Chinese teachers. As a group of 14 teachers we discussed common student behaviour issues and how teachers engaged with these behaviours in the past, what did work and what did not work. We would then work together to devise a plan on how to engage with individual students so that we could create a sense of consistency. Co-teachers then discussed how they can best support each other during class with challenging

9. Tell me how would you structure your class and handle classroom discipline?

For me, communication and empathy are two important elements of trust building. I have learnt that people are better able to successfully meet their goals if they can trust that they will be heard, listened to, and respected. I would structure the class so that students understand the importance of allowing each other space to express themselves. While disciplining, I would encourage them to think about how they would feel if the act was done against them and then work through how to apologize in a meaningful way. This can be used as a learning opportunity.

10. If I were to ask your professor(s) or previous employer(s) to describe you, what would they say?

I have been fortunate to have developed meaningful mentor-mentee relationships with my most recent past employers. From McGill, Professors Buck and Doucette would tell you how they came to rely on me for not only the support I gave them but for being calm and managing high stress periods of the semester. From Doctors Ontario, the President, Dr. Mark, would tell you how I was his right-hand person through a decade of development, transitions, and a lot of hard work and that I can be trusted to stay the