An image of the clue page that was part of Guess That Forest Critter Game Show I created for our Forest Unit.
An image of the SMART Notebook presentation I created as an introduction to my non-standard measurement unit in Math.
An image of a page discussing a Map’s need of a title from our classroom’s Mapping unit from our SMART Notebook exploration of the necessary parts of a map.
Above are screen shots of SMART Notebook interactive lessons I created that reflect the broad knowledge base I acquired to effectively teach in my practicum classroom.
Throughout my practicum I was given the opportunity to teach a wide variety of subjects. As well as having the chance to plan and implement multiple units within the different subject areas. Specific examples include a social studies/science unit on forests, a math unit on money, and a social studies unit on maps.
This experience has showed me that, as an educator, I may not already have a comprehensive understanding of all of the units that I end up teaching. The Prescribed Learning Outcomes are incredibly varied and extensive, so it’s hard to know everything about every subject I may teach. However, through researching, gathering materials, and teaching myself about the topic I can develop a greater understanding and passion for the subject I am teaching about. In the above examples you can see how I used my newly acquired knowledge on forests, maps, and measurement to create SMART Notebook interactive lessons for my classroom.
Part of my teaching philosophy discusses how I am not an expert on everything I teach and I aim to use this in my teaching. I believe that by showing my students my own processes of learning and researching I can help to demystify the process and make material more approachable for them. I believe, as Sugata Mitra does, that “the most effective educators are great witnesses, supporters, and structure-providers, but not answer-suppliers.” (SOLE Tool Kit). Therefore, my broad knowledge base and understanding of the subjects that I teach is often acquired alongside my students.
In future practice I will continue to develop my broad knowledge base of the different subject areas I teach. This is an integral part of simultaneously being a lifelong learner and educator (see Standard #7).