From 2018-2021, I was a heavily involved volunteer for UNBC orientation. These past two years I was unable to volunteer for the main campus orientation as I was on both sides of the School of Education one. It was a whole new experience and looking back at the incoming cohort showed me how astonishing the difference a single year could make!
Scene set: fall of 2022, UNBC campus. I was so nervous! After many years in a different program, getting to know all of my peers and professors, I was entering into a new one where I thought I knew nobody. (I actually knew 3 people!) The day was so overwhelming, there was so much information to process and I had never heard the word “pedagogy” before. A lot of abbreviations, that I didn’t know yet, were being used. The block 5 cohort were talking about their experiences and prepping for their long practicum that was mere weeks away.
[ID to come!]
Jump forward 1 year… The strangers from my first day are more like family. We are the block 5 cohort now, talking about our experiences and awaiting our placements for our final practicum. It was the same amount of overwhelming but it was with people that I was comfortable with. We gave some of the same advice we had received from our block 5 cohort, who were now teachers out in the world, because it rang true. “Don’t put off your e-portfolio,” was wisdom that I heard and also told. The overlap of experience makes sense, we are all here for a reason.