Archives: January 2016

Couplet Lesson

This Thursday went by so quickly, I feel like when I teach more throughout the day it flies by! I had my formal observation today in the afternoon, I taught couplet poetry. Overall it went well it is comforting to know that I am in the right place doing the right things. And at the end of everyday whether it be at UBC, work (the boys and girls club) or my practicum school I am learning and I am connecting with my peers, teachers, counselors, administrators and most importantly the kids. It is crazy how much I have grown so far this year and I look forward to the many more challenges and successes I will face during the course of this year, especially during my ten week practicum.

Every week I am in my class the kids amaze me and sometimes it is easy to forget that everyone has a story or a “suitcase” that they bring to school every morning. Yesterday afternoon I found out one of my students has a little sister who is fighting cancer, he had mentioned that his sister was in the hospital a few weeks ago but I didn’t think anything of it. It is amazing how resilient he is and how contagious his smile is every day. One of my personal goals is to connect with him and try to figure out what he is all about, and attempt to find an alternate outlet for his attention seeking behavior. Perhaps through an after school club or group or maybe it is just me playing soccer with him and some of my other students at lunch. Back to my lesson this week, some things I thought that went well were the dance video which acted as a “hook” that grabbed the student’s attention at the onset. I also liked the way that the students made connections with their lives, previous knowledge, the video and the book. Giraffes Can’t Dance turned out to be a good choice of book as the students were engaged and it fit within the theme of couplet poetry. Some aspects that I still need to work on are certain behavior management techniques for when particular students are acting out and distracting others. Another thing that I need to work on is my board writing, it was smushed and lacking important pieces of information. Next lesson I will prepare what I will be writing on the board prior to the lesson so I do not forget vital aspects of information. The last aspect of my lesson that needs slight improvement is questions that I will ask students after I deliver information. I would like to ask questions that confirm that the students understand the tasks I asked them to do. Perhaps I will introduce the class to the strategy “ask three before me” to help students gain a greater sense of self management and social awareness. Next week I look forward to seeing my class and teaching another poetry lesson!

PS: Sometimes it is easy to forget this but this quote sums it up perfectly “the kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving of ways”.

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There’s a WOCKET in my POCKET

Thursday there was definitely a wocket in my pocket, things were a little different and very silly. This was because my school adviser was away at a workshop and there was a teacher on call in and me of course. What made things extra tricky was the fact that it was an indoor/outdoor recess meaning the classes had a choice of staying inside or going outside as it was raining. It became ever more apparent to me that physical activity whether it be DPA, recess or brain breaks is 100% necessary for the success for both my students and I. Following recess the class was easily distracted and struggled to listen and follow instructions. I definitely had to take a few deep breathes and reevaluate certain situations and the way I phrased things to the class. The TOC was lots of fun to work with and had some great tips to offer me throughout the day when I was teaching. It was difficult for her to communicate with the class at certain times as she did not know many of their names did not know the students as well as I do. This meant I was often the one who got the classes attention and prepared them for transitions, it was nice to have the responsibility even though it was challenging at times. One thing I will be trying next week is a new attention grabbing rhyme, chant or pattern to get the classes attention as I found myself relying on my voice throughout the day and I would like that to change.

After lunch I taught a poetry lesson, overall it went well and the class had established a general understanding of rhyme which is the main characteristic of couplet poetry. The aspects of the lesson that went well was the fact that it was more student focused and less teacher directed, the class would have not been able to listen to me teach for longer than ten minutes. I also had to adapt my lesson to include more brain breaks and movement for the class as the carpet time was challenging for many students. I read the Dr.Seuss story There’s a WOCKET in my POCKET and it made the class giggle and offered them an opportunity to really think about rhyming and more generally words and sounds. While reading and listening to the class’s observations, questions and connections I realized that poetry and Dr. Suess’s stories are lots of fun to read and listen to but more importantly they allow students to play with words and sounds and begin to see the beauty that lies within language. And this idea can be summed up beautifully by the words of W.H Auden, “A poet is before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language”.  In the future weeks I will be teaching the class poetry I hope to build on this idea of the beauty of language and help the class see this beauty present in their own poetry.

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First Day Back

 

It was really nice to be back in the classroom this week, I missed all the students, my school adviser and the school! Thankfully it took me no time at all to get back into the classroom routines, connect with the students and begin to re-establish my classroom presence. Today I taught my first poetry lesson, I introduced the class to Haiku poetry. I began my lesson with a quick discussion around poetry to tap into the class’s prior knowledge and used it as a foundation to build upon for my lesson. I then read a picture book that introduced Haiku poetry in a different medium and it is titled Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. The class seemed to enjoy the story especially the illustrations and the pattern it was written in, they asked lots of questions and made many connections. It is understood that Haiku poetry follows a very specific syllable pattern and consists of only three lines. While lesson planning I was unsure of the classes understanding of syllables and how much time I would have to spend teaching the concept. For the most part the class had heard about syllables and had a vague understanding of what they were and how to recognize them. We did some whole group activities and small group work to reaffirm the concept of syllables in relation to Haiku poetry. As a whole I thought the lesson went well and I am aware of some of the aspects that I still need to work on in both my lesson planning as well as my teaching practices. This Thursday I will also be teaching Haiku poetry and I hope to teach it in an engaging and playful way. Some goals I have for myself are scaffolding the poetry writing in an effective and appropriate manner for all students in my class and to reaffirm the idea that poetry is an important type of writing that deserves value and respect.

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