This week in class, we had an opportunity in which Trevor Mckenzie came in and spoke to our class about his experiences with teaching as well as inquiry and how that plays apart in his career and life still to date.  These overarching themes weren’t what stood out to me but it was when he said, “I don’t see our job as teachers to get students ready for university; but for life.”  I believe this quote speaks a great deal about what I aspire to be and an inquiry topic I to am learning about through our Wednesday field visits at Belmont Secondary.

My inquiry topic I chose to purse was how teachers can assist students as well as student athletes in the pursuit of transitioning to post-secondary.  As my initial question came forth, I wanted to add to that making it more so about how teachers can help students pursue whatever avenue they with to pursue instead.  As I began to look into this, I knew specifically that I felt like I never had the assistance in my transition to post-secondary.  My skills in time management lacked, I struggled to stay focused on tasks at hand, budgeting was something I never even came to consider before.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this can be applicable to all students.

This past Wednesday I spoke to a careers teacher at Belmont about the courses they offer and what they do to help prepare students for life after high school.  In this conversation, he brought forth that they had a career specific class which touched on a plethora of things and involved a capstone.  Budgeting, taxes, investing, trades, college or university, you name it, they touch on it.  After having discussed this, I thought to myself, well why can’t I incorporate more of this into a classroom of my own.  My idea is for one class a week to be touch on a topic of post-secondary students are interested in.  Although I may not be an expert, I can appoint the said student in the direction for answers.  As Trevor said, it isn’t our job as teachers to get students ready for university, but instead get [them] ready for life.  His quote makes a great point and is something I will consider to the utmost extent as I move into the role of becoming an educator.