they… helped me build on my strengths, and correct some of my weaknesses,” she says. “They not only worked on your academic skills, but they worked on your personal life (as well).” Students were required to journal about and reflect on what they ate and when and how they exercised, their learning styles, challenging life experiences, and anything else that might help them better understand both themselves and their future students. They learned about biology, psychology, and sociology – all the aspects of the body and mind, and both individual and group behaviour – as well as how to teach core skills and motivate students to want to learn. They even learned how to both listen and observe well and how to determine whether an argument makes sense – skills that serve McKenzie well in the many meetings she attends. “When I’m doing curriculum development, that’s what I think about,” McKenzie says. “All that training that I got from NORTEP.”
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