The teacher candidates did a phenomenal job and discussed all important inquiries that we should be prepared for, when we leave the program. Some of the inquiries that stood out to me were how to have a creative education, how to motivate students, how to support ELL in the classroom, how to address combination classrooms, and how to help students with various subjects. These are all great inquiries! The strategies that I really enjoyed were allowing the classroom to be a community and not only be teacher focused. Therefore, allowing each student to feel included, and helping him or her to succeed. If students were to have a conflict with the teacher or another student, they can use strategies like cool down, go for a walk, describe the conflict, describe how they feel, and try to brainstorm and find a solution. Overall, I had a great time observing everyone’s inquiry presentations. I learned so much and I want to make sure that I will implement all these skills in my classroom, in order for my students and myself to be successful.

After my last lesson with the science experiment, I took all the advice my FA told me (and believe me, I needed it) and tried my best to work effectively on my next lesson. I did an art lesson creating 3-D shapes. The objective of this art lesson was to use one-point perspective, where all the lines move into space and meet at a single point. I think this lesson was much better compared to the last one. Even though, I thought this art lesson would be the one that I would worry about. The way I set up this lesson was to have my students’ undivided attention and wait for my instructions. I asked my students to have their hands on their laps and watch me do the first step. After doing the first step, I told my students to pick up their pencils and start creating their shapes around the paper. While they were doing that I went around and helped students if they needed further assistances. I continued to repeat the steps until the art project was done. We did run out of time, but got majority of it done. I think with this lesson I had more control, but yet, I still need more to work on. Again, what can students do while their done and waiting for other students to be finished. Or calling out, how to tell students that we do not call out, we raise our hand and wait patiently to be answered. My SA is an excellent mentor and provided me additional support on what I can do to improve. I told her to observe me on my management, since I still struggle with it. She gave me extra resources to help me prepare for my long term practicum and I must say I am really grateful that I have an amazing cohort, FA, and SA.

When my FA was observing me, I thought I was organized and prepared to teach my lesson to my class. I initially thought this would be my best lesson compare to the other lesson that I was going to teach later on (I was still feeling iffy about my second lesson). Unfortunately, my lesson didn’t go well the way I thought it would be. My lesson was a small science experiment using two different brands of gum. The purpose of the experiment was to see if the mass of the gum would decrease or increase when it is being chewed for few minutes. I think my lesson itself was not bad the students were extremely happy and they were able to finish the assignment in the given time. The problem was that I still struggle with management. I didn’t have a wait time, the students were calling out and I had no control of how to handle the situation. I guess I was nervous and I haven’t taught since October. It was a good wake up call, and glad that I taught before the long practicum, because I will definitely create lesson plans on classroom management with my students and implement couple of house keeping rules when I teach the class. I think this will be great, because students will know what I expect from them and vise versa. Moreover, I need to always have a plan B. This is because things happen and it may not go your way or if students are one step ahead what can they do while waiting for everyone to be on the same page. Furthermore, I will do this experiment again, but being more alert and aware of my surroundings.

Today’s reflection is about art and class management. My SA and I talked about potential art projects that I can do for my long-term practicum. We discussed were we can look for resources such as Pinterest. I had no idea that Pinterest will be my best friend when exploring for new ideas especially in the classroom. Thus, we talked about doing 3-D art, which is really cool and I can do a cross-curricular activity like Math. Since I will be teaching 2-3D geometry it will work perfectly with my art projects. I do, however, have a concern with two particular students. One of them does not like to do his homework at all, which can be frustrating, because you want all students to succeed. The other student is not able to self- control himself. He likes to talk over people and talk no matter what. Therefore, I don’t know how I will manage to take control over this situation since it will be the biggest challenge that I can think of so far. However, I know it will be rewarding at the end, once I get the hang of it.

During art period, I read to the class. How this works is that my SA will first demonstrate and explain to the class the art project. Once she is done, I will go around the classroom for at least good 10 minutes to clarify and help my students if they need any reassurance. After that, I will read a novel called, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The kids absolutely love this and they don’t want me to put the book down. I think doing a read aloud during art period helps students calm down and concentrate on their work. More importantly, they’re really engaged and almost all the time, they stop what they’re doing and just listen to the story. Thus, projecting my voice and allowing my students to actually imagine what is going on in the story is amazing. I feel like they connect to the story and have an exceptional understanding of what is going on. This also helps the students to increase their language development and individual growth. I enjoy reading to them and it helps me to connect with them.

My practicum visit this Thursday was pleasant and delightful. The students were really excited to see me and I felt like this was where I am suppose to be. When I observed my SA teach her class, she was calm and used great transitions to help her function the class efficiently. My classroom is a split of grade 5’s and 6’s; therefore, for certain subjects must be taught separately. During math, my SA will start with the grade 5s while the grade 6’s are getting ready for math. It was really simple, because she told them to work in their textbook for reviewing the mid-point of patterns. This allows the students to work independently without having her attention. She then switches her focus to the grade 6s teaching them a new lesson on variables and expressions. Students are actively listening and engaged when she goes over the lesson thoroughly. She will also ask students to raise their hands if they need more assistance. When the lesson is over, she will tell the whole class to quietly put their stuff away and get ready for lunch or whatever she is teaching next. If the students are getting too talkative, she will do a countdown or make them start all over again.

In my classroom, I observed that my school advisor manages her class by using a shaker. She shakes it softly to get student’s attention and it works well for her. At times, she will start shaking it harder if they’re too noisy; however, she barely gets to that point. Also, she will give them the “teacher look,” calling out names, count down, turning off the lights, or a soft pat in the back. All of these work efficiently in her class. These are some of the class managements I have observed from her during my short practicum. For me personally, I tried using the shaker and it doesn’t go hand to hand when I teach. The students do acknowledge the shaker when I shake it, however it takes them a bit longer to settle down. I tried doing the count down and acknowledging the students who respectfully stopped what they’re doing and paid attention to me. I found this effective because the students do stop what they’re doing and I give them that count down, so they know that I am being serious and ready to teach or point something out to the class. As of right now, I think I will do the count down when I am teaching. My SA already has set boundaries for class expectation and students do respect that. I think I will have another class expectation meeting  when I start my long term practicum. Therefore, it will be easier for me and my students will know what I am expecting from them and what they can expect from me.

Afterschool, I helped my school advisor coach volleyball. It was a fun experience and the kids all worked so well together. We talked about good sportsmanship and overall, just to have fun. It was fun to help mentor kids playing, since It’s been a long time for me. I got a chance to talk to other teachers and get familiar with extracurricular activities.

My second part of my lesson plan was finishing reading Mr. Lincoln’s Way, and have a discussion regarding racism and bullying. The students were still actively engaged in the lesson and they were excited about the activity. The activity was having a cardinal bird with each of the students’ unique characteristics on it. Once they completed it, we put it on the back wall and we had a gallery walk. I wasn’t that nervous compared to my last lesson, I felt more confident. The only thing I felt that I needed to reassure myself was to come up with strategies for classroom management, and have a clarification on my activity.

Today in class, I taught my first lesson on social and emotional learning. I must say I was extremely nervous and excited at the same time. I taught my students about bullying and racism. I was surprised to see how many were keen listeners and actively engaged in my lesson. We talked about the different kinds of bullying behaviour and how it hurts other people’s feelings. Thus, we expanded our brainstorming by reading a book called, Mr. Lincoln’s Way by Patricia Polacco. This book is the perfect example of unfair treatment to all people and the kids really enjoyed it as well. After reading, it was time for a brain break, which prepared them to reflect on the readings and how it might make a connection to their life. Overall, my lesson was not bad at all, and there were areas that I would like to improve such as:

• Allowing time for students to think and respond.
• Allowing students to work with their neighbours about the questions.
• Explaining my activity clear, so students’ would have a better understanding of the criteria.
• Being firm with students that are not participating in the class activity.

I am going to work on these and hope to be better on my next lesson! Today was a good day 🙂