Category Archives: Reflections

05/28/16

Meditation

May 19, 2016

I have been working on a H.A.C.E unit with my class where it focuses on developing a healthy body, healthy mind and healthy relationships. In building a healthy mind, I have introduced to my class mediation. Similar to “Mind Up” or “Mindfulness,” I have been teaching my students about how to keep a healthy mind.

Working on having mindful bodies and mindful ears, we have been meditating using 3 songs everyday after lunch. In my class, students come back from lunch recess very hyper active, angry, sad, etc. due to fights, disagreements, or losing in a game of soccer. Instead of engaging in these negative emotions, I have been trying to teach my students to first deal with their emotions in a healthier way; one being meditating.

Of course it was a struggle getting students to first close their eyes, practice their breathing, and sitting still for 10 whole minutes. But after the first 2 times, my students have been responding extremely well to the meditation. After a full week of meditating to 3 songs: “Relax Sleep Well,” “Zen Baby Meditation” and “Arirang Piano,” students are a lot more calm, relaxed and ready to learn at 1:10 PM.

I know that as a student it is important to be in a positive head space to work effectively. So through meditations, it has been extremely helpful in achieving this.

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05/28/16

Classroom Management

May 12, 2016

Throughout this practicum, it has been fun figuring out what works with my class to ensure good classroom management. There are times throughout the day where my class will get out of hand with the noise level or there will be certain students who will consistently be at each others’ throats at disrupt the whole class.

As a class we developed our classroom rules that were categorized into three parts:
1. Rules for the class
2. Rules for our peers
3. Rules for ourselves
By creating our own rules as a class, when students deviated from them, it was easy to just ask them to refer to the rules and check themselves. Students are responding well to their own rules as they were the ones who created them making them a lot more accountable.

Another management skill that has been working like a charm is just raising my right hand and using my left hand making the “shushing” gesture. My students pick up on my gesture so quickly and will bring the noise level down in my classroom in less than 30 seconds. I could see that while students are working in groups, or at stations, they are to be aware of the teacher in the room still.

Lastly, another classroom management skill that works for the behavioural students in my class is the “name on the board.” My SA was the first to introduce this to me and I am loving it. When a student in my class acts out, does not follow the rules, etc. I will write their name on the white board in front of the classroom. If their names stay on the board until recess, lunch or after school they have to stay in. However, once their names are on the board they have the chance to earn each letter off by staying on task and behaving. I will check the time about every 5 minutes and if those students are working well and following the classroom rules then I will proceed to erase a letter off.

I come to realize that having good classroom management is vital in keeping a well run class. Students are calmer and are ready to learn. Of course there are times where the class does not run smoothly and I am always open to try other approaches but so far the

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05/28/16

Practicum Reflection

May 4, 2016

During my extended practicum, I have had the opportunity to put theory into practice in my classroom. Everything I had learned in my courses as well as my research on my inquiry question (differentiated instruction) has been very invaluable. Before this practicum I was well aware of the diverse needs in my class. In addition, it was very important to me that I would respond to each of my students equitably.

I have used differentiated instruction in almost every one of my lessons, assignments, and projects. The biggest differentiating I have been using was time. Allowing students more time to complete work is crucial in my classroom. While there are many students who finish work either very quickly or at the time I expected, there were still many students who struggling to get half their work done in the expected time. Instead of moving on or taking the work in for marks right away, giving more time allowed these students to obviously finish their work but also gave them equal opportunity to understand the content.

The more differentiation I use in my lessons, I have noticed more engagement. Giving students choice in how they want to hand in assignments/projects (either through artwork, stories, orally etc.) gives them more freedom as well as accountability to complete their work to the best of their ability.

 

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03/17/16

Practicum Reflection

March 3, 2016

Yesterday was such a productive day on practicum. First thing in the morning, my students watched the remainder of the movie, “Holes.” My SA finished reading the book last week, so as promised, she showed the movie to help the students visualize the events, characters and settings from the novel. After watching the movie, my SA conducted a discussion with the class. She began asking them to compare and contrast the book to the movie. Instantly, students were able to identify the differences. Students noticed that there were certain scenes in the movie that were never mentioned in the novel. Also, they recognized how the movie elaborated and altered the appearance of characters, which were very different to how the author described the certain characters in the novel. To my surprise, my students were able to point out the small differences to the props and small details. I enjoyed this discussion because I was able to see how my students were critically thinking. While a majority of them preferred watching the movie than listening to the book, the whole class agreed that reading the book gives more detail and context to the background of characters and events.

Relating to my inquiry, I witnessed differentiated instruction in my classroom. For quite a while now, my class has been working on their cursive writing. From practicing how to write letter-by-letter, they are now writing words and sentences depending on the student’s progress. However there are still a few students who have trouble printing, so their handwriting is not up to par to their peers. For differentiated instruction, my teacher has projected a YouTube video where it visually shows a step-by-step process of how to handwrite letters. She has also drawn dotted versions in books where students can draw over the lines. While the class is at different levels when it comes to handwriting as well as many other subjects, my SA has different approaches, different ways to instruct the diversity so that each student is learning the given subject/assignment at their own pace.

Another example of differentiated instruction was in P.E. During this period, I organized a plyometric relay for my class where students had to do 5 jumping jacks, 5 hulas on the hoops, and 5 burpees. In my class I have a student who has multiple sclerosis, so the burpees were going to be too difficult. Instead we told her to jump high on the spot 5 times. Differentiating this one move did not affect the other students, as they are all aware and accepting to accommodating to one another. Through this differentiation, the entire class was able to participate in a cardio filled activity.

I can see how differentiated instruction can make a major and minor difference to student engagement in lessons. If differentiation is not made I could see the decrease of engagement occurring subsequently. Teachers cannot teach the class as a whole that would be foolish. Instead, teachers must look at each student and increase engagement, learning, and motivation at their own pace.