Sunnyside 2-Week Practicum Reflection: Carolyn Robinson
I have just completed the first week of my short 2-week Practicum at Sunnyside Elementary and it was amazing. I had just the most wonderful time getting to know my class, teaching my first formal lessons, and learning from Kristen.
My week (unofficially) began on Thursday October 30th when I began establishing myself as a teacher within the classroom. As I have already reflected in great detail this specific day in my reflection from the last week, I will only mention that at the end of this day Kristen and I sat down and figured out the formal lessons that I would be teaching the class during my first full week. My lessons were as follows:
Monday: DPA (30 Min)
Tuesday: Descriptive Writing (40 Min)
Wednesday: SEL Lesson ( 1h 15m)
Thursday: Peace Window Art Lesson (2h30m)
Friday: DPA (30 min)
On Monday my first real experience teaching and managing the class in an activity was in DPA. I planned a game of California kickball outside with all the students. Considering it was my first lesson and first time organizing a whole class activity, I would say that I was fairly happy with the outcome. It took a bit of time to get the game, the equipment, and the students properly organized, but after about 10-15 minutes, there was a successful game of California kickball being played by the class. I definitely learned a lot about classroom management and organization from this lesson. I noticed that there are many ways that I could have improved the organization of the game and the students by altering how and when I delivered my instructions and expectations to the class.
On Tuesday my lesson plan was on descriptive writing. I was much better prepared for this lesson in terms of classroom management and organization. I made sure to try and clearly state my expectations to the class before starting the activities I had planned within the lesson. For the lesson, I had borrowed enough books from the library so that each student was able to have their own “descriptive-style book’ to refer to during the activities. Personally I think this worked out really well. This lesson plan one that required students to write their own descriptive paragraph at the end. I am currently in the middle of marking them (using the new grading system) and I am so pleased with how they turned out. It really feels good to see a topic that I taught be so well understood and applied by the students. I’m also so impressed with the creativity of some of the students within this assignment. One student even took it upon herself to make her own book about ‘Lizzards’ in which she describes the different ‘whats’ about lizards on each page. Although I was really happy with how this lesson went, of course I also learned a lot from it. I think the most important thing I learned after reflecting on this lesson was that it is so important to go over instructions a couple of times and perception check with the students afterwards.
On Wednesday I taught my SEL lesson plan, which was also observed by Dave. On the whole, I was extremely pleased with how the lesson went. During the lesson, I could really feel myself finding my place as a teacher within the classroom. Thanks to a lot of advice that Dave provided me with beforehand, I was really surprised with how well I was able to structure and explain the lesson to the students. I feel as if the students really engaged with the book as well as the ideas and activities that followed. In the middle of this activity, students went outside for a ‘brain-break’ before returning to complete the final part of the lesson. I think this was such a good decision as it allowed the students to get some energy out, process what they had just learned, and re-focus on the lesson once they returned to the classroom. It was great to see first hand the positive impact of brain breaks in the middle of a lesson. This lesson ended with an activity that allowed students to draw something they had never drawn before. After the drawings were complete, we had a class gallery walk in which the students all walked around the room looking at and appreciating the different art work of their classmates. This was a really special moment for me. I was so impressed with the students and the positive comments they all made about the artwork.
During my week, there are so many meaningful stories that I could share, but the one the stood out the most to me was at the end of this SEL lesson on the book ‘Ish’. As the students were walking around the classroom in the gallery walk, 1 student named Nick complimented another student named Kendall about how great his drawing looked. This was a really special moment because Nick is not always the most supportive person in the classroom, and sometimes says hurtful things to other students about themselves, their work, etc. Additionally, Kendall is a student in the classroom who often gets quite down on himself and his work, thinking that it is not good enough. It was so amazing to hear Nick compliment Kendall on his artwork in such a supportive way, and then to see Kendall so proud and happy about his drawing. After he class ended and the bell rang, Kendall even came over to me and thanked me for having such a fun activity. He then proceeded to ask me for more of the drawing sheets that I had provided the class so he could continue to make more new drawings. This was undoubtedly the most special moment of my week. Kendall was just so proud and motivated, it was wonderful to see.
On Thursday my lesson was in Art making stained-glass Peace Windows, which was inspired by Marc Chagall’s Peace Window at the United Nations in New York. I knew this lesson was a big undertaking and an even bigger risk being that it was only my first week teaching, but I really wanted to challenge myself and do something that the students would remember. Kristen was unbelievably supportive during this activity. She allowed me the long periods of time needed to accomplish it, and she definitely helped me with classroom management during it. Almost every single student was really excited about the activity, and it turned out to be a huge success. Although there were a couple self-conscious students that had a hard time with certain parts of the activity, I am excited to say that every single student in the class successfully completed the activity and made their own stained glass windows. It was great to see confident students helping out some of the more self-conscious and struggling students with the art project. Additionally, I was so blown away with the amount of help I received setting up, during, and cleaning up the art activity. Students, many of which volunteered during their lunch hour, stayed inside and helped me set up this big underatking. I think the risk paid off. Below is a picture of the stained glass pictures drying and then being laminated. Just wait until you see the finished products, after they have been outlined in black, at the Remembrance Day assembly.
The risk paid off in other ways too. It taught me so much more about classroom management during special activities such as this. I learned that it is a really good idea to provide students with other fun activities (such as related word-searches, cross-words, etc) while they are waiting for their turn at the different art stations.
On Friday I taught another DPA lesson, this time capture the flag. Kristen suggested that I have the students teach me the game, which I think worked out so well. They were all so excited to tell me the rules, organize, and to ‘teach the teacher’. Compared to Monday, this DPA lesson was far more successful. I used so many of the tips I had learned throughout the week from Kristen, as well as my own experiences, to organize this lesson so much differently. It was a great game and the kids and a blast.
A few questions that I have after my first full week are as follows:
What are some of the best techniques to manage the few students that like to disrupt the class on a regular basis?
How do you discipline a student for continually misbehaving, but still motivate them at the same time?
What other things can I do to help ELL learners?
How can I encourage students to finish their work on time?
A few goals that I have for my second week of practicum are:
Continue to improve my classroom management skills.
Move around the classroom more while teaching lessons.
Hold students more individually accountable during group-work.
Try to stop using ‘You Guys’ to refer to the class.
Get to know the students even better.
Use the classroom management board that Kristen has set up at the front of the classroom.