Tag: education

Continuing Reflections

When caught up in the everyday routine of classroom teaching, it is challenging to be critical of my practice. Stopping and reflecting takes immense effort to prioritize and juggle all the other responsibilities of a classroom teacher. This whole student teaching experience has been very intense. Today I was thankful for the pro-D day because I had a chance to stand back and reflect on my teaching. The time to think through strategies and get through some prep work was very appreciated.

Our school is inquiring into integrating technology in our instruction. Today I presented a short workshop on how the web, and specifically the iPad, could be used in our everyday assessment and our students’ everyday inquiry process. It was a very enriching experience to be sharing with other teachers how I have been learning with my students. I am excited to attend more professional development days in the district, as it is a great opportunity to network.

Tags education, growth, mindfulness, professional development, reflection

Uncategorized

Learning moments

I have been guiding my students to have inquiring minds. I am learning to plan less activities, and more meaningful spaces for students to fill up with their own wondering and thinking.

During Math today all I had were 3D blocks and geometric objects. We spent half an hour exploring the parts of a 3D shape and all the ways we can sort them into groups. The students started taking charge of their own learning and asking interesting questions such as, “Why do 3D movies not work if the glasses aren’t on?” “Why is the core of the Earth the balance?” “What is the core of the universe?” “Where do we put cones, spheres, and semi- spheres?”

Our science lesson was an extension of our inquiry placemats activities from last week. I typed up all the questions that they had about interesting plants. Students chose one or two to focus on, to find out information for the rest of the class. I pulled books from the library to have a little collection of all the books that have to do with our topic. I also found many magazine articles from EBSCO Kids through our district library resource website. Still, there was not enough material for every student to look through. This lead into a teachable moment when I revealed to them that there are many, many answers for one question, and that the answer does not reside in me, nor simply in books, nor simply in technology. Research is hard, and I encouraged them not to abandon their question just because they were stuck. I modelled for them how to gather information, and by the end of the lesson everyone had a sheet full of facts gathered about their question.

Tags education, inquiry, primary, teachable moment

Uncategorized

Steep learning curve

Ideally, I envision a school that has bulletins that display work that students have selected to display. I hear students asking questions, and I feel that there is transparency in the classroom so students feel that they are in charge of their own learning rather than the teacher dictating the content.

I feel that there are so many things to learn on practicum that it is a little overwhelming. Though I want students to have some control over what they would like to learn, I have been mostly planning the lessons myself. Though I know that it is important for students to participate and collaborate, I find myself calling for order and panicking when the classroom volume escalates. I am learning to discern what appropriate noise level is and when to stop it from escalating into silliness and dis- order. There are a lot of basic teaching skills that I am trying to master while also learning to be a tactful, effective, best practice teacher.

Ideally I would like to be partners in learning with my students. Right now I feel that I have that working relationship with some students who are eager to learn and inquire with me. The other students are either used to being given a worksheet or project to do that they become distracted if we have a ‘looser’ lesson structure that has intentions to be student- driven. There are also a few students who are still testing to see if I will be more lenient with our classroom rules, and I find myself having to constantly remind them that “now is not the time” or “please stay on task, you only have so and so minutes left to do your work” or “what should you be doing right now?” or “what are the classroom rules about that?”. I don’t want students to feel that I am targeting them when I remind them of classroom rules. Nor do I want students to get off- task during work time. It is difficult to find a balance between these things and more often than not I find myself having to play “bad cop” because we have curriculum to teach and there are established rules in the classroom that I do not want to disregard.

(Some days I feel that I am not the best teacher that I can be. It is true, as I am just starting my career. But I really let it get to me, without realizing that I have so much to learn and that it is okay to make mistakes. I am too much a perfectionist, and I care a lot about my students. On some days I feel so apologetic towards my students, because I wish I could be the best for them all the time. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have my learning moments at their expense, because in hindsight I know how I could have done better. )

Past the midpoint of our practicum– teaching full days now.

Tags discovery, education, great teachers, growth, learning, mistakes, student teaching, students, teacher education, teachers