Tanya's September Reflection
How do you envision your position and projects at U+ contributing to your skill growth and professional development?
I first joined U+ in my winter 2024 co-op term to gain teaching experience and I have the chance to further advance my classroom management skills through practical teaching experiences again this fall term. Additionally, being tasked with attending career fairs and networking events, and grasping similar opportunities when given, I will be challenging my introverted self to step out of my comfort zone and learning how to professionally communicate with, and tailor my communication to, various stakeholders and community partners. I will also be further advancing my leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills as I take on a managerial role this term, supervising high school and university co-op students and university placement students, as well as managing events/projects.
Describe one of the biggest challenges you encountered this month. How did you address it? What would you do differently the next time?
One of the biggest challenges in September 2024 was juggling several priorities simultaneously across departments. Immediately after returning from a two-week company-wide summer break on September 7, I had to stay on top of hiring HS and university co-op students, attending career fairs to recruit students, onboarding university placement students, creating lesson materials and worksheets for my three weekly math classes starting in mid-September, and planning for youth and senior toastmaster sessions amongst other responsibilities. Some days I have more than 15 interviews to conduct. I managed my time by utilizing Google Calendar and status updates on Slack, our internal communication channel, so that people are aware if I am unreachable due to meetings or working on a tight deadline so they can ask another colleague or know to expect a delayed response. I am also grateful for the math lesson materials an old colleague from our winter term created and shared with me as I could incorporate some of her practice questions into my materials to lessen my workload. Delegation is an important skill and is something I am implementing now as of writing this blog in mid-October as I am creating training documents and preparing others on smaller, routine tasks that can be passed on to available colleagues.
What was the highlight of your month while working at U+? Discuss your major contributions, interactions, achievements, etc.
My September highlight is seeing previous campers from winter 2024 programs in the new U+ x MPL fall programs at Angus Glen Library. One camper took part in the Weekend Elite Camp at Stonebridge P.S. where I was one of the counsellors during my work term from January to April. He is now a student in my Math Elites + U class for Grade 5-6 students and still remembers my name and my water bottle! Another camper is in the Mandarin Fundamentals course that I have now passed on to a fellow staff to take over, but I was his teacher during the Math Elites + U March Break Camp at Unionville Library. He also remembers that I was his teacher. Seeing his desire to learn more was heart-warming too as he asked me to demonstrate how to write certain Chinese characters as he already knew how to pronounce them but not how to write them. He also tells the new teacher now that he wants me to return to teach the class, which I would like to perceive as the result of providing an enjoyable learning experience when I was his teacher.
Please give a shoutout to someone who has helped you significantly over the course of the first month and describe your choice. You can shoutout multiple people.
Our supervisor Kevin, who is the director of the company, has been a great pillar of support this month despite his busy schedule attending board meetings and various community events across the Greater Toronto Area. He works tirelessly around the clock because our organization is growing so quickly but is still always quick with replies to our inquiries. The trust he has in our capabilities in managing projects due to his busy schedule also allows us to create a personal impact within and for the organization.
Please share a funny image or meme that describes your first month at the company!
