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!