Long Practicum: Week 8

This week was a busy week. Although I am starting to think every week finds a way to be super busy. We had student-led conferences on Wednesday and Thursday which meant we had early dismissals on those days. Going through the process of student-led conferences was interesting and eye opening for me. So much goes into them as a teacher. In preparation for them I gave my students two self-assessment sheets that they had to fill out. One of the self-assessment sheets had students answer questions about their goals, what they have improved on, and what they wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. At the bottom there was space for parents to leave an encouraging comment about their students work. The second sheet had students fill out statements about their behaviour in the class. They would draw a happy face suggesting I usually always do that, a neutral face suggesting sometimes and a sad face indicating I could do better. Students would rate their behaviour and actions in the class and I really emphasized how they should be honest to themselves and that putting an ‘I could do better’ was not a bad thing! From there we also had to get portfolios ready so the students would have something they could share with their parents. I handed out their work and we put them in order in their portfolio and of course there was a checklist that students and parents would follow as they went through the conference. It was really nice to meet the parents. I had met some before but it was great to see some new faces. It was great to see the students being so excited to show off their fairytales and animal research (two projects that I have taught as part of my practicum).

Also this week I started a probability unit. This term is a big word for students and many of them had never heard about it before. I started the unit by reading a story called ‘Probably Pistachio’. This gave students the chance to start thinking about probability terms such as likely, unlikely, and probably. We discussed the book as we went and we discussed what probability meant (the likelihood of an event occurring). Then I showed them a chart with the terms impossible, unlikely, likely, and certain on it. We discussed these terms and sat in a large circle. I gave each student a probability event and they would stand up and read it to the class. They would then put the slip with the event on it under one of the terms. An impossible event would include ‘It is going to be Monday tomorrow’ or ‘A monkey is going to fly by the window’. It got a little bit noisy during our sort because some students were disagreeing or had their own opinions about where the events should be placed. Although, I think it was a good introduction lesson and the students enjoyed it. Probability is a hard topic to grasp but there are a lot of hands on, fun activities and games that I can do with it. The next day I did my second lesson. We began by reviewing the terms because I know after the first lesson that the students were having a bit of difficulty with the concept. We spent a good chunk of time reviewing what probability is. I asked students what we learnt yesterday and what the big word ‘probability’ is. We shared as a class and then I had them turn to a partner and explain what it means and then we shared as a class again. I think repetition is key so I had them repeat, repeat, repeat. I wrote the probability terms on the big white board and we reviewed these as well and then I had students take out their own whiteboards. I called out events and they would write if the event was impossible (I), unlikely (U), likely (L), and certain (C) on their whiteboard. This gave me the chance to check-in with students and scan to see who understood and who was having difficulty. The majority of students were on the same page and if someone had a completely different answer then I would ask them to further explain their answer to the class and we would discuss this. I then gave them a brain break and had them walk around the class two times. While doing so I set up the projector and then read them a story called ‘Princess Uncertain’ discussing the pages as I went. I asked them questions such as do we think it is likely or unlikely that this will happen as I stopped at certain pages in the story. Students actually began using the terminology on their own which was great to see! Then I introduced the penny toss game. I started off by asking them what the chances were of landing on a head when tossing a penny. I explained that it is a 50/50 or an equal chance of landing on a head although some students understood that on their own. There is a 1 out of 2 chance that it will land on a head! I then handed out the sheet, modeled what they would be doing and how to toss the coin in their little container. I used a container to better control for pennies flying everywhere, although, there were still a few who could not keep track of their penny. The beginning part of this task was guided using the projector. I had them make predictions about how many times it would land on heads and tails. Then I handed out coins and once they got their coin they could begin tossing. It was a very engaging lesson! Students loved it and it was very hands on. Students were amazed to see how after 100 tosses, they had landed on 50 heads and 50 tails (or close to it).