It has been a couple months after my practicum and I really miss all my students!
The students had such a great respect for everyone in the school. They had welcomed me into the classroom and this made teaching class community really easy for myself to adjust into the classroom. During my first school visit I helped with the creation of the classroom expectations. In this project the students created four panels, how they wanted to feel, what students can do to make everyone feel that way, supportive thing to say to your classmates, and a wordle. At the time I did not know how important these class rules would be. In my long practicum I was able to refer back to the classroom expectations activity to remind the students of he expectations that they put into place.
Student wordle
I had brought in a talking circle for the students. I wanted to use this so they could practice sharing and listening to their peers. A student would start with the talking stone and then pass it around the circle. Only if you had the talking stone could you speak to the class. The students would sit in a circle and share how they where feeling in a rating 1-10. This rating everyone could participate in so every student valued this time. Some days students would share what they did on the weekend or I propose a question. the questions would be either be related to what the students where working on in class or a personal question like, tell me one thing you are thankful for.
I would keep talking circles in my teaching. I really like how after taking an aboriginal pedagogy course this semester and how first peoples principles can be introduced into the talking circle lessons. Some of the first peoples principles are:
Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.
Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).
Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions.
Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
Learning involves patience and time.
Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.
Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations.