My First Day of School
On my first day of practicum I remember thinking… today is the day I have been working so hard towards ever since high school, today I will be responsible for the students in my class, today I will start my life as a teacher. I took a quick selfie that morning because a) I was super early and b) I wanted to remember that moment.
How the Heck Did I Get Here?
- I am definitely one of those people that says I always knew what I wanted to be. I feel as though when I tell people this in their head they are rolling their eyes and thinking “good for you”. Only because picking a career can be a very long and difficult decision for some people. Luckily, I did not have that problem. I grew up with family members that were teachers and they use to teach me so much when I was younger. I looked up to them and admired their profession. I also had some inspiring teachers growing up that I wanted to be like when I was older. As nerdy as it may sound I also loved being at school. I did not tell my peers this of course, but I loved being in the classroom, doing fun art activities and hanging out with my friends. From K-12 I had a positive school experience that I eventually wanted to continue into post secondary. I also genuinely love working with children, they are so young and full of wonder that I want to teach them everything I know. I continued with post secondary school majoring in psychology, interested in the way the human behaviour/ how the mind works, and did a minor in counselling. My minor in counselling came from the interest of being a school counsellor. I still wish to achieve this in the future and hope to go back to school to get my masters in counselling one day. My dream has always been to wake up and go to work in my own classroom, decorated how I want, and to provide a comfortable, safe place for children to come learn. I am so close to this dream!
Philosophy
- I truly value the belief in creating a well balanced classroom based on respect, communication and cooperation. I will strive to ensure all my students are supported, engaged and feel valued. Building positive relationships and fostering a strong community is paramount to me. As a teacher I will be a role model to every student I meet so it is my goal to epitomize the good qualities that I want to see in them. Lastly, I believe in making learning memorable because students will remember these memories and what they learned from them.
Inquiry Findings
My Inquiry question was, what are some strategies to deal with behavioural issues in the classroom?
This topic arose from something that I was lacking confidence in dealing with. I also had a few behavioural issues in my practicum class that I noticed and wanted to work with these students more closely throughout the year.
- I researched the pattern between student behavioral problems and teacher burnout, how music can improve behaviours and academic performance of children with emotional and behavioral difficulties. I used music therapy in an art lesson and the reaction I got from my class was great! Everyone, including those with the behavioural issues, was focused and working efficiently to get their work done. I will definitely be using music again.
- One of my main objectives was to feel more confident in myself when handling such situations. I dealt with my fare share during the practicum and after researching the topic and dealing with it one-on-one I am more confident in my ability to handle difficult situations. My biggest learning was to try and keep yourself calm, talk calmly so the situation does not escalate and be very very patient (even if you don’t feel patient do not let them know you are cracking!) Also, I learned not to be afraid to ask for help. I talked to my school counsellor and other teachers in the building who gave me great advice and also worked with me with one particular student.
- I no longer avoid dealing with the difficult behaviours because I learned that if you let some bad behaviours slip by without any consequences, it will keep happening and students will think that it is ok.
- It was tiring and irritating at times to deal with the same situations everyday, but it was good practice for me. I learned what worked and what did not work. I learned to raise the tone of my voice and to be firm when necessary. After I found my voice within the classroom, I felt as though students respected me more. They knew I meant business and that I was not okay with them misbehaving. Having K/1 students you learn that they need guidance all the time and need to be told expectations and rules before every lesson or activity.
I always have to remind myself, be firm but kind. It took me a long time to find that firmness in me, but now I am very confident in telling students how I feel when they misbehave. In terms of students with the behavioural issues, I learned that they constantly need your help in dealing with situations. We as teachers are there to support them and teach them right from wrong. We cannot react in a way that can escalate the situation and their behaviours. It is up to us to set a good example and be the role models that these students so desperately need. It is not easy, it requires a lot of practice and outside help.
Learnings & Feelings
- People do not exaggerate when they tell you that the whole practicum experience will change you. I learned so much about myself, my students and my school community. My teaching was always evolving to fit the classroom needs. Finding the confidence in my teaching style has been the biggest learning throughout the experience. I was shy and scared of making mistakes in the beginning but I have the confidence now to get the class engaged, excited and ready to learn. I am also more confident in my ability to handle difficult situations with students. It took me a long time to find that firmness within me to handle behavioural issues everyday.
- I also learned the vast difference in learning styles of my students. I had to adjust my teaching style for many of my students who had a hard time following along. This gave me insight as to what to change for future lessons. I spent time with these students at “activity” time which is where I did most of my assessment.
Lessons that went GREAT
I am passionate about teaching my students about the environment, teaching them the responsibility to keep it clean and the effects of not recycling, re-using and reducing waste. I took the earth day lessons (which were suppose to be a week long) and made it into an almost 4 week unit. I was enthusiastic about teaching this unit and I taught a lesson about it a couple times a week so I knew my students were engaged and learned a lot! Here are some pictures from that unit:
I had my studnets run a lemonade stand in our classroom to help raise money for Fort McMurray residents. This taught them to help others in need and I tied it into our lessons about trees and community. We were also learning about coins at the time so they had to take the correct coins during each purchase of lemonade. This was one of my favourite days at practicum because my students were beyond excited to sell lemonade and make money to help those in Fort McMurray, we raised $55 🙂
Lessons that DID NOT go so well…
Short practicum bought forth a really bad math lesson that was being observed. To say the least, I lost my patience and almost gave up on myself. I remember that day, wanting to cry as my FA explained to me what I could have done better. I did not have control of the class during the activity and they did not listen to my instructions. I had to regroup the class many times to get them back on track and it was obvious to my FA and SA how frustrated I was. My biggest learning from that experience was that, hey some lessons fail and that is okay. Never show how angry you really are, it scares the students and makes them nervous! Take a deep breath in that situation and remember, they are only 5 & 6 year olds I can do this. Here is a journal entry from my personal journal that day. I am proud to say I did not have one of those days again during my practicum.
Because I was teaching K/1 it was hard for me to teach some content the way that I wanted to. For example, some of the stuff I would record on the board did not really make sense to students because not everyone could read and it was hard to explain things in a way that they would understand. I have had a lot of practice now and it is something that I will have to keep in mind when I continue to teach these grades in the future.
Professional Growth Plan
It is safe to say that I still want to be a teacher after all that! The journey so far has been much like a roller coaster ride, so many emotional ups and downs and I am sure I am not getting off this ride anytime soon. I am excited to learn new techniques and insights about my teaching as I go along with my career, I love that I will always be learning. I personally would like to accomplish getting my masters in education or counselling sometime in the future. I am not too worried about getting started right away because my teaching career is just getting rolling. This is a picture of a card that one of the student’s parents wrote to me:
This student had difficulty speaking aloud the whole year, his speech was still developing. I did not get much participation out of him and I sometimes wondered if he was doing okay because he did not communicate well. I tried working with him in other ways, spending time on art lessons with him and on his reading and writing. I think the time I worked with him really paid off because his grandmother mentioned how fond of me he was. This made my heart melt and I realized in that moment that everything I did in the past 10 weeks was so worth it.