Long Practicum: Week 3

Third week of practicum is complete. It is crazy to think how fast some weeks fly by. On Monday we went on a field trip to Burns Bog where we explored different plants. This started my plant unit. The following days I did two lessons on plants which consisted of one lesson on seeds and one on planting our own seeds.The first lesson on seeds consisted of a seed sort. I enjoyed this lesson because it was a hands on lesson where students had the opportunity to touch many different seeds and sort them according to their characteristics such as their colour and shape. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. I started the lesson by reading a story called ‘One Bean’. This introduced the concept of seeds really well as I went on to further explain how different seeds create different plants. Looking back, while reading the book I could have stopped more to check for student understanding and to talk about important topics mentioned. It is so important to have that valuable discussion with students while reading books because if you fail to do so then it’s just merely reading a book without adding any value. As well, I could have asked more questions while reading the book to deepen student understanding of the concepts mentioned. I think one reason I didn’t was because of the time. I am working hard on time management because I know that it is a difficult thing to master. However at this moment, my time management is no where near where I would like it to be. Moving forward I would like to manage my time better in order to fit in those valuable questions into my lessons. I really liked how I incorporated a brain break into this lesson in such a simple yet effective way. I realized that a brain break doesn’t have to be a huge 10 minute exercise but rather something as simple as standing up and pretending we are seeds and then sprouting into the sky and stretching. I liked how it related to the lesson material as well and I look forward to incorporating brain breaks like this more. We also planted our own seeds this week. This could have been a potentially tricky lesson however I think it went well. Observation journals, cups with seeds and other necessary components all got handed out in an efficient way. I gave the students a 15 minute time frame to complete their first observation journal about their seeds and then after that I modeled how to “plant” the seeds by using the projector to show them. I modeled to them one step at a time and then they would follow along. It went very well. We didn’t use soil but rather a clear plastic cup, paper towel and water. I have been told about this way of planting in the classroom by my SA and other people as well but have never tried it myself so I just hope they grow! Note to self: always try something first! I think it is important to try things first before bringing them into the classroom just to make sure they work. I always do but this time I trusted my fellow colleagues. Overall, my plant lessons were the highlight of my week. Moving forward, I hope to take the feedback I have received and apply it into my practice as the weeks continue and continue to grow as an educator.