Matt Kaskiw

My name is Matthew Kaskiw and I am a graduate from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I have a HBSc and MSc in Chemistry, and, a honours BEd. I am qualified in General Science and Chemistry at the Intermediate and Senior (I/S) level after graduating in May, 2014.

In August, 2016 I accepted a position to teach science at a high school in Thunder Bay. The classes I teach are all applied level and they include Grade 9 & 10 Science, Grade 11 Biology, and Grade 12 Chemistry. I thoroughly enjoy teaching these courses as I have a strong passion for science and sharing my knowledge with the youth. I recently attended the Science Teachers Association of Canada (STAO) conference in Toronto to further my learning in teaching science. A main focus of the conference was integration of Indigenous learning in science, of which, is essential to myself, as I teach First Nation youth.

My responsibilities at my school are to head the science program and enter the students in the local science fairs and events. For extracurricular, I coach boys and girls volleyball all school year long. I develop their abilities through practice, clinics, games, and off site tournaments. I teach students guitar, am part of the weightlifting club, play staff vs. students hockey, and head an anti-smoking campaign at the school.

As stated above, my passion is teaching science. While this may be one of my priorities, without the proper means of which to get the content across in a respectfully controlled classroom results in ineffectiveness. Inattentiveness and behaviour issues can be contributed, to a large degree, to a lack of proper classroom management. Witnessed firsthand, on days when a concrete strategy is not implemented, the potentially problematic behavior starts to occur. My expectations for this course are to learn and utilize a host of varying strategies to implement in my classroom. Through trial and error, I would like to use these ideas on a daily basis for a highly functioning classroom. Sometimes, working with individualized classroom management techniques can be overbearing when the lesson content is heavy. It is of hope to learn methods that are straight forward, respected, and enjoyable for use with the entire class.

Including above is a link that is optional to view. It shows science in my life that I use in the first week of teaching.

Matt