Highlights from my practicum journals

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Final 2 weeks

 

Well, its all coming to a close tomorrow. We had our CO2 car race last week (see video), constructed our second outdoor cooking appliance, the rocket stove, seen some great mallets turned on the lathe, 3d printed some pretty creepy monsters, and made a chocolate cake that gave the room the appearance of a chocolate bomb going off!

I’ve been saying a lot of goodbyes this week, and proudly nominating my students for awards, and I wish it wasn’t over.

The kids have been fantastic, and I think their competencies in thinking, social and comm have improved greatly; I’d like to think my personality played a role in this.

Final meeting went very well, and it was nice to chat with everybody after the pressure was off and have a few laughs about some of the situations we encountered in the last few months. I see the need for a more n depth assessment technique as a result of the final grading processes I have went through, and have a pretty good idea how I’m going to do thigs in the future (see updated Inquiry on assessment tab). I’m looking forward to CFE in Keremeos next, and hope to garner some more skills in the 5-12 elementary/secondary school I’ve been placed in.

The learning process here has been a whirlwind, and I hope I can replicate all the subtle nuances that made this practicum a success in my teaching career. It’s going to be a lifelong process I’m sure, but I feel the students and staff at Lake Trail have got me off to a great start. Thank you.

Rocket stoves in test mode

Weeks 7-8

 

Things are chugging along nicely, not much to report here save a couple students who have jumped out at me as needing some extra support.

I have to do some I reports, and I feel I missed some of the warning signs with them early on in the course. One of the students has a history of poor performance, especially in elective courses, and has been avoiding talking to me like the plague. I was able to finally sit down and talk with him yesterday, and he is going to need a lot of support if I’m to help him. My teaching partner Mr. lantaigne has a good rapport with him, and we feel that he will improve if we keep the lines of communication open and write out more specific learning objectives for him.

 

I am looking forward to spring break and sleeping in my own bed for a change. Being away from my creature comforts has added a new dimension of life reflection for me, and made me appreciate the supportive people in my life all the more.

 

Weeks 4-6

Wow, things got busy here in a big hurry. Haven’t had much time to journal anything out, but spent lots of time reflecting and focussing on things that went specifically well (read effective classroom management skills). Everything is running full bore now, try to provide a little recap:

 

Cooking with fire: The first prototype of the box ovens worked, but the tape we used failed at 300 degrees F. Amid much moaning and groaning we rebuilt the ovens in 2 classes and have had a successful hot dog lab and cookie bar bake lab as well. The real test will be with the pork shishkabob next class where we’ll have to keep a close eye on internal temperatures to ensure no one gets Trichinosis. The time temperature labs went well also, except for a minor rain out incident. The group leaders in the class have emerged and are proving to be a valuable resource during discussion and debrief.

 

Woods 8/9: I am really enjoying this class a lot since we got things moving a bit faster. I have to figure out a way to integrate some practical during the safety as the students get very antsy after a couple weeks of no hands on. I think some more work with hand tools as we progress through machines would help, but I need them fully on task with safety and no corners cut. Some students started on the lathe and are doing quite well, a couple others need some serious guidance, so I’ve started more small group discussions and demo’s specifically on layout and pretty much anything math or trig related. It’s coming together.

 

Foods 6/7: A high energy group indeed! We re doing a mindfulness technique before every cooking lab called “square breathing” which seems to be working quite well. A couple of my dark horse back row think its quite funny, but the majority of the class seems to garner a lot of benefit from it. I will definitely continue this in my future classes. One thing I have found with this class is that they have a very inflated opinion of their knowledge and abilities. I appreciate the confidence, but I have to reign them in a and slow them down a lot as they skip over important details they do not deem important, and get frustrated because the results aren’t always what they expect. My biggest take away here is trust your own judgement, and don’t take anything for granted with a young age group like this.

 

Woods 6/7: A couple of kids are nearly finished their C)2 race cars already, and I’ve got them working as TA’s with some of the other kids who need more guidance. The car designs range from very simple to pretty way out, but I think everybody has a better handle on design and 3D perception. We have announced race day just before spring break, and will introduce the final project next class – The secret opening box!

 

Midpoint meeting went well. It was a big one, with 5 of us at the table and the most support I’ve ever felt in my life. This is a great crew, and I would love to work with them full time in my new career this September. They all agree I’ve hit a good stride, have used reflection effectively, and have connected well with the kids. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t an effort: You just have to be yourself – human, fallible, and honest.

 

Week 2/3

Cooking classes are chugging along nicely. I set the box oven project in motion this week, and the 6/7 foods class is getting antsy to start cooking. I’ve been switching off with Mr. Darnel on the demo’s in Woodwork 8/9, and he is working his gradual release magic. The kids in there are warming up to me quite quickly, but I have been “warned” not to start too soft or I’ll have a hard time reeling them back in. Cellphones are proving to be a real problem as my FA Mr. Bassett has pointed out. He is a very firm but fair FA, and he doesn’t miss a thing! I appreciate all the feedback of course, and am never at a loss for reflection in practice. As I said in my platform statement, reflective practitioner is my goal, so it’s time to put that plan into action.

I hit the 80% load mark at the end of the week, and certainly feel grateful for the 3 week buildup. Vaulting into this headlong would be doable in hindsight, but I am here to learn and would not trade in those experiences for anything as they set the framework for how I need to do things in the following weeks. I will be taking over in the makerspace soon as well, with my co-teacher Mr. Taylor taking a back seat for a few weeks while I teach 3d printing and design techniques.

Woodwork 6/7 – this is by far my favorite class. We are just finishing up the first few kids on safety, and they’ll be making their first cuts next week. Mr. Williams has let me do the first two projects of my own design, with the third (electronics) pending time frame and materials available. These kids are fantastic and eager, and I know already that they will be a safe and thoughtful class behind the machines. Mr. Williams has been an excellent source of inspiration, and I’m quite glad to have him as another SA.

Reflections – I have learned an awful lot about simple and effective classroom management techniques, specifically wait time. I was shouting over the room quite a bit, specifically with the 6/7’s, and that scenario just continues to amp up and up. Mr. Basset has been a great resource in this department, and every strategy he has told me seems to work quite well.

 

Week 1

 

We’re jumping in here head first this week, with full reins on the Cooking with Fire and Foods 6/7. I have the added benefit of having Mr. Darnel as well as Mr. Fussell overseeing my teaching, both excellent but vastly different methodologists.

Cooking with Fire was an interesting start, I have the entire unit made up, but can see already that I will be diverging from the plan quite a lot. The Foods 6/7 class is following Ms. Lawrence’s old format, with a few tweeks by me, in order to keep continuity with the last 4 blocks the 6/7 grades already had.

Reflections – the CWF course outline was okay, but I seemed to be getting a lot of blank stares so will have to ascertain what that was all about. There are a couple of kids in the back I’ll have to watch closely as I see they have certain expectations about what this course is all about. Foods 6/7 went well, looks like an eager and fun crew. Have a couple IEP’s I ave to read up on more closely, watch my methods and differentiate accordingly.

PRACTICUM wk. 2 (Stand & Deliver)

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Lot’s of in-the-trench action happening this week:

Over the weekend, I was able to co-ordinate some observations with my FA, design a few lesson plans, and spend a bit of time reflecting on what I had seen in the classes; I need to decide what level of complexity I will choose regarding the 6/7, and 8/9 mixed classes.

Foods: The week was well timed with the start of the 2nd term 6/7 foods classes on Monday. It was nice to be in the class from the first day, and establish credibility as a resident instructor, rather than “that guy” who just appeared at the front of the demo table without warning. My first full lesson plan was delivered on Monday with a knife skills/vegetable and dip lab, and for the most part it went okay. As it happened, I was able to do this lesson again on Tuesday in front of my FA and both SA’s, with some of the problems corrected, and familiarity of the room working to my advantage. The demo and lab went well, and I even invited my FA to judge the dishes and design presentation after – he seemed to enjoy it and offered some valuable critique and feedback after the lesson. He is a very supportive mentor, and I believe I will learn a lot from him during the long practicum.

I received some first hand experience with difficult students as well during these labs – 1 being off his meds. This young man was in constant motion all of the time, and my FA had him pegged within the first 5 minutes of the lab. I had to pull him aside 3 times in the 75 minutes, but my approach was kind and calm (down on 1 knee at his eye level, spaced a good 60 cm. away), and he admitted to me that he was off meds and having a very difficult time staying calm. I thanked him for his honesty, and I think he tried extra hard at the end because we made a good connection; lot’s to be learned (by me) from this one.

There is a young girl in the room that is quite perplexing as well. I have her in 3 classes (junior woods and makerspace as well), and have tried on several occasions to connect with her:

  1. Tried to show her some simple hand saw techniques in woods. She did let me show her how to get a cut safely started, but was not very open to some simple technique which would have made her task much simpler.

2. Tried to get her to participate in a short scavenger hunt in the Home Ec lab, basically naming and placing the the items at each station, she just crossed her arms and shook her head silently when I tried to prompt and/or help her get started. I decided to leave her be on this one.

3. A bit of a breakthrough – I could not find her a pencil for sketching in makerspace, so I leant her my own “personal” pencil. She was very respectful and returned it at the end of the class. Following this she seemed much more relaxed and open to talk. Hopefully this carries through to my next visit. Funny how the small and seemingly meaningless gestures carry weight for certain individuals……

Community Connections: I started off this week with a safety demo on metal work equipment in the makerspace. I went over safety, setup, and operation for the hand grinder, metal chop saw, horizontal band saw, and mig welder. First off, 60 minutes of safety demo is waaaaay too long for these kids. I had the whole class in for this one, and was down to about half who were actually paying any degree of attention by the time we got to the mig welder. Some of the kids knew, or at least thought they knew, all of the safety protocols and just chose to ignore them, so my best chance next term is to get them on safety fresh off the bat, strongly enforcing the rules as we go along. On a good note, as only one person could work on the go-cart at any given time, I was able to get the rest of them wiring up breadboards with LED’s -something that they themselves initiated no less! I know these kids want to learn, it’s just a question of what and how. We appointed a few of the kids group leaders, so there job is to lead by example and enforce the safety rules. Hopefully this doesn’t fall apart in my absence.

Woods 6/7: I was finally able to hook up with the junior woods teacher this week and meet the younger crew. I am very excited about teaching this group, as it falls in with my philosophy of solid foundation training to ensure creativity and success in advanced levels of ADST. The teacher here, Mr. Williams, is a well liked and soft spoken guy, so I hope to expand and improve upon his method when I “take over” the class next February.

PRACTICUM! (at last) – Week 1

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Lake Trail Middle School, district 71 – grades 6-9

Well, first week is down, and I think it went quite well. Here is a little recap:

Arriving at the school, I had yet to find out who my SA (‘s) was (were). Travis and I went to our FA’s home on Sunday for a meet and greet, but he likewise had no info on that front. I met the VP Zale Darnel, and we had a great chat about the school and recent developments therein, before being joined by the FA Craig Basset.  The remainder of that morning was a little tour and getting some scheduling issues out of the way.

Schedule: Wow, what a convoluted maze the schedule at this school is. It literally took Zale 3 tries to help me understand the 6-7/8-9 flip, linear/semester/quarter system that they run on, partially due to (I think) the recent inclusion of grade 6 to the school. It makes perfect sense after the fact, but seems to be a little inside joke within the entire district (the schedule, not the school).

First class: WOOD SHOP! Perfect way to start the day. I attended wood shop with Zale’s 8-9 class, and they were a very interesting bunch! The full spectrum was realized here, from the hyper overachiever to the excuse laden slacker who can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to losing his entire binder of “work”. It was a fun class though, and it felt great to get back into the sights, sounds, and smells of the shop with some cutting, drilling, and turning projects. The class was pretty relaxed, and several students came up to me for assistance which I was very pleased to offer. I was also happy to hear that this would be one of my blocks in the long practicum. Great start!

Nancy Lawrence: My second SA, Nancy, was an excellent, patient, and informative advisor. I spent several classes with her during the week, mostly in foods 6-7, which is a fun, if a little loud, class. I think this one is going to be a real exercise in classroom management. The kids are willing and eager, but there are a couple of loose canon’s who are very effective at toppling the entire rhythm of the class (hard to tell if they take pride in this, or are completely unaware. Ms. Lawrence had also partially lost her voice the day before, so was struggling extra hard to hold attention. The kids are pretty good with her for the most part. I spent quite bit of time with this class, but unfortunately will not teach it in the long practicum (can’t have everything). The foods class I will be teaching with Ms. Lawrence is a new one that we get to co-develop: Cooking with fire (8-9). I anticipate lots of fun with this one, but very heavy front loading on the prep.

Makerspace: Another long practicum block I’ll be co-teaching with the art teacher Mr. Trembley. Not a bad space, huge, with 2 migs, a 3d printer, several M-bots, and a slew of breadboards, components,and what have you. They also have a vinyl cutter which was a very popular item during the week. The mood in here is very relaxed and self paced, with very little interjection by the teachers. I had a bit of a hard time with this one as I’m not used to such a Laissez-Faire approach, but will tailor it to suit our needs in February. We are going to offer up themes to choose from, likely metal, electronics, and some ornaments or wood and art, having the kids keep a portfolio and or visual record of their progress. I will be co-ordinating with Mr. Trembley over the next few weeks, deciding on what amount of teacher guidance will be needed to keep this from lapsing into a do-nothing chill-out period for the inhabitants.

Community Connections: There are quite a few kids in the school who are obviously compromised somewhere, somehow in the home environment. I only receive bits and pieces of the info here, but did work with a large group of them in a “Community Connections” class that happens on the Friday flex/core day at Lake Trail. My day with them was a bit overwhelming, we had a T.O.C. that had some experience with the group, and another EA who told me right away to watch out for one of the kids – he was kicked out before we even finished attendance for telling the T.O.C. to F-off. Half of the group is working on welding up a go-cart frame, so I was charged with supervising them, and the other half went to the gym with the T.O.C. I spent the morning in Makerspace with my half, and found them to be very talented individuals. Their group was a little hard to break in to, but by the end they were asking some questions, getting some grinding and cutting done on the frame, and generally engaged quite well. Having said this, I could see glimpses of the volatile personalities, and will have to spend some time researching pedagogy on teaching high risk youth. This class closed out week 1, and gave me a lot to think about over the weekend.