Monthly Archives: November 2015

Being in the classroom has raised many questions for me. For my inquiry research I have chosen to look further into behavioural management in the classroom. How do I assist those with behavioural problems without making them feel like they are “outsiders” in the class? Today Steve talked about building a safe community in our classrooms and that has been my goal for as long as I can remember when people ask me what kind of teacher I want to be. Now that I have been in a classroom setting for a period of time and have observed some students with behavioural issues, I am starting to think that this may be more difficult than I thought. I see how my SA deals with these students in the class and at times I feel as though she may be putting them on the spot or singling them out, but at the same time she can’t have her class being disrupted so often so these students need to learn their lesson. I am sure my SA has gone through this same thought many times, and I understand her frustration at times. I want to be able to learn more about specific behavioural issues, what the student feels like inside, how to solve problems with them and regular students without taking sides. I know my questions cannot be answered with one single answer and its a combination of a lot of social emotional work and problem solving but I’d like to start looking into how I can go about doing this.

As I prepare to head back to UBC on Monday  I could not be more happy with how my last two weeks at my school went. I have been given such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of a great school and classroom and I am thankful for that. I write this reflection with a heavy heart in light of what is going on in Paris, France right now, an awful tragedy that should have never occurred. It makes me thankful for what I have and what and who I aspire to be. Instead of retaliating with war I wish and hope that more efforts are put towards investing in education and opportunities for children in war stricken areas of the world so they can become better citizens for our future.

Being in a classroom has been the best learning for me, and I feel as though everything we have learnt in our course thus far is becoming clearer. I got through five different lessons within the two weeks and my teacher was good at giving me strong feedback. All the feedback I have gotten so far is helping me become a stronger teacher, and I know much of what is being said comes with practice. This is why I want to keep practicing, but I know we must go back to school…. I look forward to going back to my school with new ideas and fun classroom activities, I know for a fact my students will be happy to see me again as well!

This week bought forth excitement, nerves and anticipation as I entered my first full week of practicum. Although it was only 5 days of work I feel as though I have already learn’t much more than I expected. Reflecting back onto the week I feel as though I am now comfortable in leading a few lessons in the classroom. I taught a literacy lesson on Tuesday, which went well. My SA gave me some good feedback to keep in mind. During the lesson I felt as though I really was not doing as well as I could, I was nervous and forgot a few details. But it must have been all in my head because my SA reassured me that it went very well.  I will be doing 4 lessons next week that I must prepare for, but I am not too nervous about them because I feel like I can really do this! A great learning experience for me this week was when my SA was absent on Wednesday and there was a TOC in the class. The TOC was very experienced but she got me to take the lead on some classroom activities which was great. I felt so comfortable leading the K’s through calendar, reading them stories and helping with classroom management. The students are really getting use to me being around in the classroom but I want to work on getting the students to see me as a teacher and respect me for that. I know it is hard for K’s and some grade 1’s to understand that I am learning to become a teacher but I feel as though I need to re assure them that I am not just someone that is helping in the class. My SA has told me that there are times that we need to be firm with the students and I will have to work on that next week with some students that like to push limits. Overall, a great week. The school is so welcoming and the staff is just great to be around! Looking forward to the new adventures next week.