Author Archives: mikeburge

Art – It’s so much fun. Really!!

Posted on by
Reply

I am not much of an artist.  That is probably a giant understatement.  I once drew a picture and my wife thought one of our children drew it.  Really.  So it’s safe to say that I was not keen on doing an art class.  I had so much fun AND felt like I produced some decent artwork.  I learned about focusing art on the student’s ability and doing less comparing to professionals.  I also feel like I am much more capable of using art in my classroom and I have a greater appreciation for the benefits of using art.

Art Journal

Needs Analysis and Lesson Plan for Students with English as an Additional Language

Posted on by
Reply

For one of our courses, I completed an assignment that had us develop a lesson for students with English as an additional language.  Courses that have helped me develop my teaching for students with learning exceptionalities, particularly teaching students with English as an additional language and students with special needs, were extremely beneficial and provided a lot of growth for me.

LLED 353 Needs Analysis

Math Planning

Posted on by
Reply

Planning for math sometimes seems more structured because of how the subject is broken up, but often students are at very different levels and I learned a great deal planning for all the different levels of ability in my math class.  Teaching a class of 36 grade 8’s in math was a exciting challenge and I came to really enjoy the class.

Unit Plan – Grade 8 Math – Algebra

Math 8 – Algebra – Lesson 6 – Like terms

Heavy, but good.

Posted on by
Reply

Today we had the opportunity to hear from an aboriginal elder who shared the story of her family and how the government policies and actions affected her life.  It was hard to hear.  The atrocities that were committed against her or that she was witness to were almost beyond comprehension.  I believe that we need to consistently consider the perspective of others and the context that they come from and this influences my philosophy as a teacher.  Today was a whole new experience.  Although I had heard stories and met other survivors of residential schools, today helped me continue to appreciate how the actions of the Canadian government in the past created an entire population of marginalized and traumatized people.  There is good reason for lack of trust.  And even though the people who perpetrated these crimes may no longer be in positions of power, the same organizations and structures are still in power.  I have a new understanding of the mistrust of Canada as an institution.  I must also say that I was amazed at the forgiveness of the elder.  She understood that an important part of her own healing involved releasing the anger and shame.  It was a moving and powerful time.

Community Field Experience

Posted on by
Reply

During my community field experience, I had the opportunity to visit two situations.  The first was at a middle school helping with a program specialized for students how are years behind in reading and writing as well as helping the students services teacher.  This was a phenomenal experience.  The specialized program, the teaching and evaluation center, was amazing to experience.  Seeing the students enjoying reading and working so hard as well as seeing the relationship the had built up with the teacher was amazing.  I also gained an entirely new perspective on students in my class that may be struggling and appearing to not care.  Often, we facilitate their lack of interest and care by having low expectations for them.  In the afternoons we helped with the students services or special education teacher.  In particular, there were two students with autism that required extra help and it was so great to get to know them and work with them.  I wish I was able to have more time to work with them.

My final two weeks were spent at a local daycare providing programs for stduents during the strike. It was interesting to see a different perspective of the program as a teacher.  It was difficult to adjust to the lack of schedule and try to just fill time without specific aims and goals.  We did spend a lot of time outside and I thought about how I could continue to incorporate more time outside into my lessons.  Below are some pictures from one of our nature walks and the wild life that I discovered and discussed with the students.

Practicum – Week 9

Posted on by
Reply

As we wind up our practicum, I feel like I am just getting into the rhythm of how I would like my class to be.  Two major activities this week I tried were paper airplanes to collect data for math and a demonstration on viscosity using a bottle of water and a bottle of corn starch.  Both of these activities had their pros and cons.  I found it frustrating to try to do activities to help students learn and enjoy classes, only to have them act out and not participate.  I still can not get over how some students do not see that we are trying to act in their best interest.  I have also been continuing teaching badminton in PE.  The hardest part for me is keeping all the students active.  In one gym there are always 2-5 students that do not have space to participate so it is difficult to rotate everyone through and keep them engaged.  Overall, it was a great week and I can not believe that it is almost the end.

Practicum – Week 8

Posted on by
Reply

This week we had a practice Teacher-on-call day.  I was surprised at how nervous I actually was.  It was difficult going into a class with virtually no knowledge of what the day would look like and what I was supposed to do.  I think what made me most nervous was functioning within a different school’s schedule and community.  Dealing with students is one thing, but looking like a fool because you do not have a clue about when anything is happening is a lot more difficult.  The day actually went very well.  There was an assembly in the morning that made things a little tough because I did not know where to go, but the students were great.  Following the assembly, I took the opportunity to continue the topic it raised, diversity, and talk about it.  I think it helped me build rapport with the students and develop a clear atmosphere of how I wanted the class to work.  PE class was also difficult to begin with.  There were three classes all with TOC’s for the day and so we had to figure out who was teaching whom.  I was really impressed with how my fellow teacher candidate had worked with his class to set up self-regulation within the PE class.  Finally, I also realized that in order to TOC you really need to be prepared for an entire day on your own.  If a teacher has not left the best plans or if technology does not work, I need to be prepared to last the day.

The rest of my week was pretty crazy.  I had to teach Wednesday, Thursday was a strike day, and the teach Friday.  It made it difficult to keep the students focus, but we all made it through.

Practicum – Week 7

Posted on by
Reply

I feel that the inquiry presentations have been going well.  I have been amazed at the wide array of topics the students have chosen relating to body systems and they all seem to have picked something that they have some interest in.  It was really great to see some interesting presentations that got the class talking and asking questions.  It is rewarding to see class discussion arise from topics presented by students and not the teacher.  I have been challenged by students trying to leave early from the flex block at the end of the day.  I am going to try to be more firm with them, but also fill the time better.  This week I wrote my own math test.  It went alright, but it was challenging to when it seemed that some questions were too hard or students did not know what to do.  It was a growth experience for sure.  I still hope to get more time outside of class to spend time with students, but with the upcoming labor issues it looks like that might not be possible.

Practicum – Week 6

Posted on by
Reply

This week was a great week and full of all kinds of experiences.

I started the week with a sharing circle.  Every Monday morning I am going to try to start the week giving everyone a chance to share one experience from their weekend.  There is a sharing time each day that the students are used to, but it often ends up being similar students sharing each day and I am hoping to get everyone sharing a little more.  I am not too concerned with what they share, it can even be what they ate or something very simple, but my goal is to increase inclusiveness and get more people sharing.

Following the sharing circle, I threw a bit of a curve ball at the students.  The class has been in rows all year long, but in order to try something new in math, I had them put their tables in four groups.  I had ten different worksheets of increasing difficulty prepared and I allowed the students to choose which level they felt they were at when selecting a worksheet to work on.  Prior to selecting the worksheet, students had to set a goal on a sticky note and place it at the top of their desk.  To improve this, I would make sure to demonstrate what each worksheet looks like and how many questions were on each one.  This exercise actually went quite well and I would like to try using this system regularly.  It increased the students peer to peer learning quite a bit.  I learned a lot about different seating situations and the pros and cons of each.

Other moments from the week:

I moved the desk configuration for math class into groups and gave students the choice of what level worksheet to try. I actually think it went well and would try it more often, but it definitely needs some more structure and refinement.

In science, the students started their body system presentations. I was pleasantly surprised by quality.  There were some very personal presentations.  One student did a fantastic presentation of post traumatic stress disorder which his father suffers from and his highlight was speaking with his dad about it.  Another student did an amazing job on the immune system while one group did fecal matter and melted chocolate bars to demonstrate consistency.  It got a great reaction from the class.

I did have to deal with an explorations teacher coming to give my class a lecture about their behavior in her class.  I had to manage her expectations with the reality of my class.  Added to this, dealing with any grade 8’s near the end of the year can be a challenge.

I had a couple of new students join the class and it was an adjustment.  It changes the dynamic of the classroom quite a bit and I had to try to figure out where they are with curriculum and what I need to do to work with them.

Finally, due to a number of students missing one day, I had the chance to joining in with them during open PE class.  It was so much fun to have a manageable class size.

Another great week.