This week passed in a blink- I can already tell that this practicum is going to fly by. I can also already tell that I’m not going to accomplish nearly the amount of things I’d planned. The school calendar for the next 10 weeks includes: early dismissal, student conferences, track rotations, track meet, field trips, two Pro-D days, Jump Rope for Heart, sports day, assemblies, dance day… This is on top of the regular ‘interruptions’ in grade 7: recycling, school clean up, monitoring, announcements, sports day planning, library help, etc. I’m beginning to see how there is a lot more to working in a school than just planning and delivering lessons. I’m looking forward to all of it though.

Reflecting on my lessons this week, I’ve definitely had some valuable learning experiences.

#1: Exit slips really do work to assess student learning. I was teaching a math end of chapter review lesson for positive and negative integers. Aside from a small handful of students, everyone said they were already finished the practice quiz, had checked their answers, and were doing well. I had gone over a few more example questions at the front, but the students were mostly working independently and didn’t ask me many questions. The general response I got from them was, “we get it, no need to review anymore”. However, at the end of class after circulating I was getting a slightly different impression.  I decided to do an impromptu exit slip, so I created a few sample questions (adapted from the practice test) and had students complete the questions at the end of class. The results were very informative- only a handful of students got the questions right! Overall, they were NOT understanding the concept, and definitely needed more time before the test. I talked to my SA, and we have since pushed the test a few days and have decided to hold 2 early morning review sessions before school.  This experience really taught me the value in assessment for learning, and also that you can’t always rely on students self-reporting their own understanding.

#2: Check your technology at least a day before the lesson. I’ve heard this about a million times, but until it happens to you, you never think that anything could go wrong. In my case I was planning to show a short video that was hosted online by a somewhat obscure site (not YouTube). Of course, when I tried to cue up the video before the lesson, the site was blocked or inaccessible through the browser the school computer uses. Fortunately in this case the whole lesson wasn’t dependent on the video and we were able to carry on with something else. Now I’ve had first hand experience with a ‘technology fail’, which will hopefully serve as a reminder in the future.

#3: Student’s will put in as much effort as you expect of them. There are a few students in my class who are usually disengaged and don’t put in a lot of effort (if they do the work at all). I’m trying to work on connecting with these students and making sure they know that I think they are capable, intelligent people who are valuable members of the class. I’ve made an effort to call on them during lessons and show them that I expect their participation and contributions.  I wouldn’t say that I’ve made a lot of progress so far, but my SA has mentioned she noticed these students ‘perking up’ a little when I acknowledged them or gave them individual time.  I am sure that throughout my teaching career I will continually be trying to find ways to engage these students. So far, letting these students know that they are not invisible in the class is one strategy I’ve found.