Monthly Archives: April 2017

Knowing that I am halfway through my long practicum is mind-blowing. The weeks have flown by with abandon and I have already accepted that I will likely cry on my last day in the classroom. As the weeks move forward and the amount of teaching increases I am beginning to feel more and more like a real teacher. Additionally, I have noticed that some students in the surrounding classrooms are having some troubles adjusting to a new teacher coming in, despite their familiarity with us, however I have not noticed this in my room.

This week I started to take over the constants in our time table: book times and calendar. On many days after lunch the students have book time, which include a portion of read to self and read to a friend. Since this has been the same throughout the year many do not need to be reminded that it is book time, but they do ask if we are starting with reading alone or with a friend. During this time I am often walking around observing while also holding a book to flip through in my hand. I find that while I am doing this the students are sometimes more quiet which allows everyone to concentrate better. The routine of book time after their lunch time is helpful because it gives the time for the students bodies to calm down from the excitement of outside and, if someone is late, once they do enter the classroom it becomes easy to figure out what their job is at that time.

Friday came as a long and awaited date for myself because it was Terry Fox Run day. I have been leading the organization of this even along with the support of fellow Teacher Candidates. Coordinating this event has allowed me to purposefully communicate with the PAC, vice principal, and other teachers throughout the school to ensure a successful run. Furthermore, I spoke at a staff meeting and a SAC meeting pass along information. As a committee we set up displays in the school, placed posters, and organized swag (tattoos and stickers) for the students before the run. Other roles I took on were coordinating with PAC and other teachers to create a new route for the intermediate run (gr. 4-8),
creating a flyer with general information to post on the school blog, and creating a document with information for teachers. Another responsibility I took on was running the primary (K-3) warm up. I will admit I was quite nervous about this, mostly due to the management of that many students in a large space where I am actively asking them to move around. Once the warm up was started my nerves went away – however, next time, I will remember to inquire about using a microphone. Ultimately I worked hard to ensure this event would be a success and I was very grateful to see it successfully come to fruition.

I sure hope the second half of practicum doesn’t go by as fast as the first did.

See Week 5 for more information.

This week I have started to notice that students are developing practices which are related to my teaching. This first became visible during any sort of writing activity. During writing activities students often ask me how to spell words or to write the words for them. Depending on the student I react several ways: sometimes I tell them how to spell the word (often this is reserved for the students that I know are already writing longer/multiple sentences), tell them to ask their friends around them, ask them what letters they hear and repeat the word slowly several times (this is what I do most of the time).

One student often asks me for help with words and I always tell him to sound it out and write what he hears because it is often the case that he asks a teacher before he tries the word on his own. This week I noticed that when he asks me he has already tried since he now says “How do you spell friends? I have the ‘f” and then he continues to say the word rather than waiting for me to do it. It is very exciting to see a student move from having a teacher scribe their words to beginning to try the words themselves. Furthermore, he is obviously very excited about being able to write words on his own. When I am working with him he gives me the biggest smile every time he guesses a letter correct.

Another practice students have developed, related to my teaching, is taking more time with their book of letters. Since these lessons are done once a week the class is extremely familiar with the steps to complete this lesson and the free time that follows it. Due to this, I’ve noticed, that many students rush through their worksheet to get to the play time. Naturally this has resulted in sloppy penmanship (obviously this varies from student to student given their abilities but many times it is obvious they can do better because where they trace/copy the letter it is messy but the letter on their labelled pictures is much more legible). Since I have started erasing letters for them to redo I have noticed students who take their time with their letters or students who are waiting for me to review their worksheet see what is going on and go back to fix their letters.

This week I also learned that a student in the class can read. I have noticed that he is helpful during mystery message spelling words but usually during book times I find he is just looking at Lego books with his friends. During a book time this week, that I was leading, I kept reminding the boys that it was read to self; thus, if they wanted to sit beside each other they had to be looking at their own books. To prove that he was reading his book (partially because I said I would separate them if they couldn’t do their job) he began to read it aloud as I walked by.

Another noteworthy event of this week occurred on Friday when a student returned to the class who had been away for a while (I haven’t seen her since the beginning of my practicum). It was interesting to see her friends be excited to see her again as well as to see her hesitancy to rejoin them during their regular play times. It quickly became obvious that having two close friends who were patient with her and sat and spent time with her, despite her initial reluctance to interact with her peers, made the difference for her to more quickly become comfortable in the classroom again.

Overall, this week it has been exciting to see students progress and to see my influence on them. Furthermore, I am thoroughly enjoying building relationships with the students, we have come particularly fond of playing Simon Says (I usually use this game to get their attention before moving to different locations or waiting before recess or going home).

See Week 4 for more information.

The practicum thus far has provided so much more time to build relationships with students. This week I got to witness a students showing his appreciation for lessons I had done with the class. During a morning exploration time I was walking around observing when I saw him playing with the dinosaurs and the chain links:  Week one I had them measure the length of dinosaurs and week two I had them measure the height as a station during a math lesson. This week I watched this student compare the heights of dinosaurs using the chain links. I sat with him for a bit while he showed me which ones were taller and told me their names and what they have for ‘defense’. Later I checked back in with him and he was measuring the length of different dinosaurs he had taken from the bin. The same student on Thursday before I began my math lesson asked why we weren’t measuring the dinosaurs again. Although it becomes visible while teaching lessons whether or not students are enjoying it, it is very reassuring to see that the students are utilizing something that was taught during a lesson as a part of their exploring time.

Update on the book creating during library: students have yet to use the Ipads because their drafts are not complete. Some students had rushed the paper copy to get to the Ipads step, however their library teacher explained that a publisher would not accept a book with scribbles on it or something that was incomplete therefore they must go through the same process an author would. I enjoyed this and thought it was an effective way to encourage students to focus on producing a clean and complete product.

I learned this week that motivators during clean up times work amazing. One morning, prior to recess, after sounding the clean up chime I told the students that I would give them until 10:10 (there is an analog clock in the classroom) and it was 10:02, which meant they had eight minutes. I said this because I would need at least ten minutes to read the story I had selected before snack. Little did I know that telling them a time would motivate them to clean up very quickly, in four minutes. I made sure to take the time to praise everyone for cleaning up so quickly and working together to do so. I emphasized them working together to complete the task because usually once they have cleaned up their area they simply sit down rather than helping clean up other messes. Another time at the end of the day I told students I would read them the book they had been requesting if they cleaned up quickly since it was a longer story. They were cleaned up and quietly sitting at the carpet in about three minutes. I plan to continue to incorporate these strategies next week while trying to incorporate different awards.

This was the first week that I dismissed students at the door to their parents/grandparents/guardians. This was a great experience as I got to see the parents of students I haven’t  yet seen and I also got to see the reciprocal excitement of being reunited with family.

See Week 3 for more information.

This week I observed the students in different settings than the previous week. I went to music class, physical and health education (PHE) class, and to the library this week.

The students seem to really enjoy music class and readily participate in the singing and movements when necessary. It became obvious that the students who maybe aren’t enjoying music class so much ask to go to the bathroom and take their time returning. I really enjoyed seeing the music teachers classroom management strategies. These included a laminated picture of a hand in the air which said “Give Me Five” across it, which she had on a magnet stuck to the board so that anytime a student called out she would point to the picture or take the picture off the board and to move it closer to the student. This was very effective as the students quickly became quiet and raised their hand if they had a question or something to say (sometimes the student was content once they had spoken aloud) and it did not take away from the teaching occurring at the same time. She also drew lines to complete a star as the students behaved accordingly – sometimes she even invited the students to come draw a part of the star. Lastly, when choosing students she had the simple system of two envelopes with titled “waiting for a turn” and “had a turn” which ensured her selection was fair.

Physical and Health Education was fun to watch because the students clearly enjoy the freedom of running around. I chose to observe this class because the teacher was beginning the healthy eating section of the curriculum. As I feared, the students were a little restless and I would say only half paying attention to the short conversation about how to stay healthy. That being said, it was nice to see that this portion of the curriculum does not need to take up an entire class rather short conversations can be a start.

Library is becoming more intriguing since it has become not only a time where students exchange books but where students are engaging in becoming an author and illustrator. When the students were told they would be using Ipads (although for next class) to become an author and illustrator of their own book there were lots of cheers and smiles. I am excited to see how this develops in the following weeks.

This week it became more obvious that Mondays can be difficult for the students to settle back into the school routine. I plan to use this observation to create lessons on these days that require a little less or that are more personalized to the students.

See Week 2 for more information.

With the first week of my long practicum complete I can say that I am in good spirits. It is wonderful to be building stronger relationships with the students and new relationships with those who seemed a little apprehensive in the beginning. This being said, since it is kindergarten, I have gotten a few “Ms. Baker you’re here again?” Since my regular visits correspond with their library time, on Monday I had several students inform me they did not bring their book bag, I informed them that it was fine we wouldn’t be going to the library that day, many still walked away looking perplexed. To make it a little more confusing for them, come Thursday I didn’t go to the library with them (since this is actually a prep block) which resulted in many of them knocking on the office window and waving at me as they walked by.

One of the best and worst things has thankfully happened during this first week. The math lesson I created for Monday did not go as smoothly as I had planned. It quickly became clear that the activity was too easy for them and that having each student color in a block on a graph, in relation to the length of their name, resulted in a restless audience. Although this was quite overwhelming on day one it allowed me to review and revise my corresponding math lesson for Thursday which was much more successful (classroom management and student challenge and enjoyment wise).

Wednesday’s in my class are a tricky day for teaching. This is because music class falls right in the middle of their morning, but still ends 15 minutes prior to having their snack; and gym falls in the middle of their afternoon. Although that 15 minutes after music seems like a loss, especially as the students are used to using that for play time, I wanted to incorporate a whole class activity. I haven’t seen many exercises that involve the class working as a group but I like the group/team mentality that develops out of it.
Being that I am new to teaching the students everyday I want to ensure I can be a part of fun activities too in the hopes of building a strong repertoire with the class. The activity was simple: first we took a vote on whether we wanted to build a house (had 11) or a tower (had 8), second I placed a block in the middle and then passed one container of blocks to my left and one to my right and said “now it is your turn to add one block to the house.” We did have to stop once as students began to place multiple blocks rather than one, other than that it went fairly well. I didn’t hear anyone complain that they didn’t get the free play time they were used to and at the end I asked if the students enjoyed the activity by round of applause to which most responded by clapping. I plan to continue these small whole class activities throughout the practicum.

Looking ahead I plan to revise my math lessons and try to remember to record more of the student work. My classroom (their teacher or support staff) often photographs the students during their work periods as well as review their product (when applicable). However, I am finding difficulty remembering to keep my phone easily accessible since this usually falls under bad practice. As a final thought, it is very exciting to finally have a unit plan which is being executed.

See Week 1 for more information.