The morning of my TOC experience I was excited and nervous all at the same time. I was excited that I was given an opportunity to teach a grade 7 class at a school in North Surrey as I have always wondered how I would fair with older students. I felt prepared once I sat down and read through the day plan that was prepared for me, it had all the relevant information and resources needed for me to successfully teach what was expected of me. It turned out that I also love teaching intermediate students, I am not entirely sure if it was the students, the classroom or the content. Once I started teaching as cliché has it sounds, it felt natural and I felt confident and comfortable. The major difference I noticed was the type of relationship /conversation you have with older students, generally they are more articulate and relateable  which was a nice change for me. It was also nice to see the personalities of these students as they were more developed and students are able to advocate for themselves more confidently. The class had recently got back from grade 7 camp so they were slowly getting back into the swing of things. At one point in the day the school adviser called out “this is a standing up activity” the students then broke into song, it was fantastic to see and hear the whole class come together even students who struggle to work with their peers. It was interesting to see the changes in the grade 7 class compared to my grade 2/3. Students in the grade 7 class were more chatty then my class generally is however when I needed the classes attention I received it very quickly, when I counted down from three they were generally all quiet by 2. It was also interesting to see that the students did not need my help as frequently and were pretty well prepared to do all activities/assignments that were expected of them. I was surprised to notice that there was not that much differentiation among learners in the classroom, all students were expected to complete the same assignments with just a few exceptions. Going forward if I ever teach an intermediate classroom I would attempt to differentiate learning to the same extent that it is in my grade 2/3 classroom. This is due to the vast differences of students and their individual learning needs. Overall I really enjoyed my experience as a TOC as I was challenged in new ways and experiences successes in a different context. I really look forward to TOCing and getting to experience different grades, schools and classes.

This week I had my mid-point meeting and it went really well, I am so grateful to have an SA, FA and my colleagues that consistently support me and help me be the best teacher I can be. I am excited to see what the next six weeks have in store for me and all that I will learn and grow. Some of the goals I have for the coming weeks include; fresh-grade assessment, class management (deciding when to intervene and when not to), hands on and experiential learning, using some inquiry based approaches to learning and use of I can statements as lesson objectives. I was happy to find out that my goals prior to the mid-point meeting aligned well with both my SA’s and FA’s. The one goal I planned to focus on this coming week is fresh-grade assessment and the use of thoughtful and explicit I can statements. Starting on Monday I plan to upload and assess my Daily 3 Math group’s centimeter houses. I also plan to explicitly tell the class what the lesson objectives are each lesson and what they should know and be able to do after each lesson.

As for this coming week I am looking forward to the maker-day on Tuesday and all the creative and innovative projects the students will build. Last week I introduced the classes to what maker-day is and what is expected of students. On Thursday of last week students began to plan out their cardboard creations and all the supplies that are needed and all the steps that students need to take to build/create their masterpiece. And on Wednesday students will be able to showcase their creations for the whole school to see and appreciate. I am looking forward to this week and can’t wait to see the students on Monday!

In last week’s post I discussed the challenges I faced with one particular student and some goals I have to address these challenges. This week things got better and my connection has grown a lot stronger, he is beginning to make eye contact with me and responds to the questions I ask most of the time. On Friday of this week his math group was meeting me at the rainbow table and there were some issues with this student and another classmate. At first it didn’t seem like more than an argument between the two boys but it was much more. My back was turned and one of the boys kept getting up to sharpen his pencil and each time he sharpened it he poked/nudged the one student. Eventually he could no longer take it and shot up from his seat and almost hit the boy who was poking/nudging. My SA saw the tail end of what happened and took both of the boys outside and figured out what happened and a solution to the problem. Afterward my SA followed up with me and had told me that when she was talking with G that she asked him how he should have handled the situation and his response was “Ms.Anselmo has been telling me to try and use my words”. Although G did not use his words in the above situation the fact that he remembered what I had told him and was able to apply it to a real life situation means the world to me. This shows me that I am establishing a connection with me and I believe progress will continue to me made. I spoke to my SA as well as one of the LST teachers on Friday about possible using PECS (picture exchange communication system) with G as a way to offer reminders to him without constantly calling his name or prompting him on what to do next. I am going to try to implement this adaption/communication this coming week. I am excited for this next week and all that I will teach and all that the students will learn.

One more week down, 8 more to go! Again I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I genuinely don’t think there is ever a time in the classroom that doesn’t fly by, I always feel like I just don’t have enough time to do all that I planned. That is one of my goals for the reminder of my practicum to be able to effectively plan enough that students are engaged and the learning objectives are met but not too much that I feel let down and frustrated as I am working against the ever running clock. For the next few weeks I am going to attempt to make my learning objectives are clear so students are given the opportunity to reflect back on what they have learned once a lesson is over, not only will this help me teach more effectively it will also give students a chance to learn more about themselves and their own learning. Another area of my teaching that  proved to be challenging for me was specific students and their repeated challenging behavior. During my observation I had called on one individual student a total of ten times, this is less than ideal and something needs to change. I have attempted to establish a relationship/connection with this student that seems to me helpful during one on one instruction or small group instruction. However in a whole class setting challenges still occur, for the next week I will attempt to only intervene when the students behavior is impacting other students learning opportunities. For my observation tomorrow, I will try to remember this as well as quality versus quantity of my lesson planning. I am looking forward to a new week and the excitement and many challenges it will bring!

I can’t believe how fast this week has flown by, it’s been packed with excitement, nervousness and fun! After the first couple days I realized how happy I was to be in this program and to be teaching both classes at Newton Elementary. One of the best feelings is being able to work with all the kids and establish deeper connections with them. I also like the feeling of consistency, although it is all very new it is starting to feel “normal”. When I am at the school everyday I am beginning to feel like I really belong and feel connected to the staff, my SA, my fellow TCs and all the students. One of my goals for my 418 practicum was to work on collaboration with my colleague in the PL Tech cohort and thus far in the practicum we have worked well together and have supported one another whenever needed. We have also decided to do more collaborative planning with our fairy tale unit and a STEM/imagination unit. I am looking forward to the rest of the practicum and the collaboration that will occur between us, however it is definitely still a place where professional growth will happen.

This week I started teaching my SEL unit, measurement unit and my fairy tale unit. All of which started off well and after each lesson my confidence increased and my nervousness subsided. Overall my SEL unit was my favorite to teach as I taught the classes about friendship and relationships, as a class we made a friendship fruit salad. Because it was something that was visual it allowed the students to see what the various components of a healthy and happy classroom are and what happens when a “‘rotten banana” gets added to the mix. My measurement unit started off on a good note however there were some challenges that I faced throughout the week. One area I need to focus on is my transitions between the daily 3 and my timing. I also would like to work on my plans for each daily, plans that are at the correct instruction level and activities that students are able to do without support. To address some of these challenges I have decided to over plan during math with teacher and to have set spaces for each rotation, math with teacher (at the rainbow table), math my myself (pentagon table next to the rainbow table), and math with someone (on the carpet). I also plan to have a very detailed plan for when I am teaching math with teacher and have different adaptations for each of the groups. Lastly I found a lot of the blue group students completed math my myself quickly so I filled in various question starters on the math bulletin board so they can begin to create their own problems. I am all ready to go for math on Monday so I am hoping all of these changes will improve my lessons instruction and daily 3 transitions.

Thursday the class took part in their first ever poetry slam, the students presented their poems and supported their classmates! One of the my favorite parts of the poetry slam was when I asked the class who would like to be the first to present their poem and one of the boys who experiences challenges in the class often, shot his hand up and the look on his face when all his peers were snapping for him was priceless. On a whole the poetry slam was a great success the students had fun and it was nice to see the classes come together and appreciate one another’s poems. The rest of the day went by quickly as our afternoon was filled with library and the grade 7 entrepreneurship fair. My SA and I have prep in the afternoon which was filled with unit planning discussion and clarification, I was happy to hear that my units were well planned and engaging.

As I mentioned in last week’s post my SA and I went over my goals for long practicum last week and they include behavior management, transitions, lesson timing and collaboration. The two I would like to begin to focus on is behavior management and collaboration with my teaching partner. Collaboration is something that I will continue to work on by being supportive and encouraging during our shared practicum experience. Further I will try my best to voice my opinions in a non-judgmental and noncompetitive way as well as continue to have open communication with one another. As for behavior management I would like to step away from using my voice instead using other strategies to engage students and get their attention. The goals I have for behavior management are not about problems with students in class ad disruptive behavior, it is more so the whole class transition times were I need to get the whole classes attention. As mentioned I rely on my voice currently and I would love to learn some new attention grabbers/techniques that I could use that foster and reinforce social and emotional learning in the classroom. I did ask my SA  if I could do a few mini refresher lessons on the zones of regulation the week I begin my practicum so we can be using the zones “check-in” throughout the day with the class. I think this will give the students an opportunity to acknowledge their own emotions also it will help me gauge how my students are feeling and how this will impact my teaching and their learning. In conclusion I am happy that this past practicum went well and I am looking forward to my long practicum so I can really get to know my students and know what kind of teacher I really am!

PS: This is my overarching goal every day I am in the classroom, every child does matter and it is my job to help them understand that.

I can’t believe its March and there is only one more Thursday visit before long practicum! To be honest I am a little nervous as I still have so much unit planning to complete. And when I unit plan I often spend so much time thinking about what I will do, and want to make it meaningful, engaging and inclusive for all my students. As you know this is not the easiest of tasks and to top it off I put extremely high expectations on myself to be the best that I can be, and at times these expectations are unattainable. Which is why one of my own personal goals for long practicum is to try to be more accepting and encouraging of myself and my abilities, and it is going to be okay if I make mistakes that is part of my lifelong learning process of being a teacher. Thursday was my second last day teaching poetry in my class. The students were given a choice to write a new poem during the lesson and we began by reviewing all that we have learned thus far regarding haikus, couplets and limericks. It was humbling to realize that my class did learn when I taught them and enjoyed reading and writing their own poetry. Next week Raman and I are going to host a “poetry slam” where students will be given an opportunity to read aloud one of their own poems, as well as engage in self-reflection. I am looking forward to next week to see what poems the students will choose to read and the confidence it takes for them to read aloud. I am also going to make sure that all my students needs will be met during this time, if any of them are not comfortable reading aloud either a teacher or a peer will read the poem on their behalf. Most of the poems are not very long meaning we should have enough time for most if not all students to share their piece of poetry. On Thursday my SA and I also discussed my strengths and goals for long practicum, it was nice to know that we are both on the same page and the affirmation that she believes I my abilities and will support me throughout this whole process. My goals are to continue work on behaviour management, lesson timing and sequence and the one I added was collaboration and teamwork with my co-TC. We also discussed some strategies that I can use that will help me achieve my goals such as open communication, clear and concise classroom expectations and the understanding that everyone has their own opinion and part of being professional is respecting that. I am looking forward to the long practicum however I am feeling both excited and a little nervous!

Today was another eventful day in my classroom that was full of giggles, wonder and at times confusion. My poetry unit will be coming to an end soon, which is both bittersweet as the students are beginning to really grasp the key characteristics of poetry. However it has been challenging at times and because the class does writing powers every Thursday morning, and to do poetry in the afternoon as well is often a challenge. Thursday we focused on limerick poetry which is full of rhyme and laughter, my class really enjoyed the poem “There Once Was a Man from Peru” we went over it at the beginning of the lesson. I had written out the poem on chart paper so the students could have a better look at the poem and the important characteristics of this type of poetry. When I volunteered in a grade 1/2 class in Burnaby I used to always write out the poems on chart paper for the “poem of the week” I loved doing this and it was a nice way to introduce and immerse the students with poetry. I also liked the chart paper technique as it allowed me to really focus on my own printing and use various colours to highlight the rhyming pattern in limericks, AABBA. Overall the lesson went well and almost all the students finished their poems in class. The next time I am at practicum I will give students an opportunity to either finish some poetry they have yet to complete or be given an opportunity to write some new pieces. At this time I will also go over assessment with my students and let them know what I thought the group did well at and what aspects need a little more improvement.

As for classroom management strategies there are just a few that are consistently used in my class. Both my school adviser and her co-teacher next door rely heavily on their voices and verbal cues and reminders. Both teachers have acknowledged that their voices are not the best option however they are often easiest and result in student’s prolonged attention and listening. From my experience working with children and youth in various recreational and educational settings voice and verbal cues is something that I have relied on as well. In large spaces when there are a lot of children my voice is something that has always shown me results and something that children are used to and respond to. The nice thing about voice and verbal cues is that they can be manipulated in all sorts of ways such as, call back techniques such as “1,2,3 eyes on me; 1,2 eyes on you” or the volume of one’s voice, whispering and silly voices can also be effective when attempting to get students attention. As for behaviour management techniques my school adviser uses many and it often depends on the context, situation or specific student. For example we have one student in our class who struggles to stay focused in class and is high energy and struggles to control his impulses. She has told me for him to utilize positive reinforcement throughout the day and give him many brain breaks and leadership opportunities throughout the day. My goal for my own teaching and for classroom management is for my students to know that I respect and value them for who they are, no matter what they do or do not do inside or outside the classroom.

Practicum this week was again lots of fun, I am really looking forward to this next semester as It means I am one step closer to my long practicum! I was pleased to find out that we have a new student when I began attendance, she is super sweet but very shy. I am excited to build a relationship with this new student and find out what she is all about and what makes her excited. I was thrilled to find out that her first language is Spanish, I took Spanish all throughout highs school so I feel like the language will be a good place to start establishing a connection. As for my poetry lesson overall it went well. We worked on finishing our couplets during the lesson, most of the students finished their poems, edited their work and added some final touches to their pictures. I am looking forward to teaching them limerick poetry in the following weeks, as they are beginning to understand poetry and are having some fun with it. One of my goals for my lesson this week was timing and I achieved it, the class was on time for library! As for next week I am planning on teaching a math lesson in the morning with all the grade twos, I will begin with a whole group lesson and plan activities for each daily three group (math with teacher, math by myself, math with someone). I hope to plan a whole group lesson that is straight forward, engaging and skill level appropriate.  I know planning this lesson will be more challenging than poetry but I am ready for it! And lastly I have set some goals for next week that I hope to achieve and they include, finding a new attention grabbing mechanism and differentiating brain breaks throughout the day so the students are not always just going for a run to the fence and back.

PS: I can’t wait to make Valentine’s Day cards/treats for my class next week 🙂