Education grad shows leadership on the learning curve

Gulf Islands Secondary students knew they had a different type of science teacher when a lesson on heart function had them running around a room, pretending to be red blood cells.

Nikita Pardiwala created the outline of a huge human heart on the floor of a large multi-purpose room for her Biology 12 students. Then they became red blood cells, running through the heart to the lungs, dropping off carbon dioxide.

Such a lesson combines Pardiwala’s teaching loves—biology and physical education—and is the kind of fresh, interactive approach to teaching that saw her with a job offer the day after her teaching practicum finished. She looks forward to teaching this September at Gulf Island Secondary, the same school she graduated from in 2006.

“Every day of my practicum, I tried to do something different and enticing so the students would have fun and learn,” said the 25-year-old, who graduates this June with an education degree, specializing in secondary curriculum.

For her practicum, Pardiwala created course content from scratch instead of using the existing resources, and rethought how some things are taught and marked. To gauge leadership, one of the criteria for a physical education mark, Pardiwala drew on an activity she had done in third year.

She had her Grade 9 and 10 PE students divide into groups of four, with each challenged to create an activity station for kindergarten students. They had a week to work together to create a station from the ground up, with two area kindergarten classes coming to put them to the test.

“I wanted the leadership to evolve more organically, to have them work collaboratively, problem-solving and learning from each other. The kindergarten students had a blast,” Pardiwala said. “From that day forward, my PE class was different from the day before. I think they surprised themselves—they proved to themselves that they were very resourceful.”

It also taught students another lesson that Pardiwala views as key— school doesn’t exist in a bubble. What is learned in a class impacts others and has a bigger application to the world.

“I try to show students that what they’re learning doesn’t just exist in the classroom, to show them that what they’re learning fits into their world.”

Pardiwala loves both biology and being active, so choosing teaching specialties was easy for her. The two also provide balance—something Pardiwala views as essential, regardless of age.

“Growing up, I was very academically focused but that alone is not enough. You need a social life, you need to take care of your body and to eat properly. It is about more than just getting that ‘A.’ I am a huge believer in finding a balance in life.”

Having said that, Pardiwala said she’s never worked harder than during the four-month practicum at Gulf Islands Secondary. It paid off with a job offer and notes like the one she received from a Grade 9 biology student. It said, “You showed me love for a subject I thought I could never love.”

It’s those kind of small things, Pardiwala said, that make teaching so rewarding.

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More student stories from Spring convocation: http://ring.uvic.ca/news/congratulations-spring-2014-grads