The title to this post might sound standard, but it definitely is FAR from that.
My first week of practicum has been absolutely lovely! I think I have fallen in love with the class. I taught two lessons so far, and both times have been great (the second one more so than the first).

My S.A. has been so great with making me feel comfortable in the classroom and I have already learnt so much from her (even if it has been just one full week in her classroom). I feel like I should be sitting down and taking down notes of things I can use in the future at all times. Despite having a split class (kindergarten and grade 1), she is able to maintain a pretty non-chaotic and harmonious structure within the class.

I have learned so many songs that I can sing with my future students as well as activities in the language arts and mathematics. I don’t really get much of a chance to sit and take notes down since I’m always helping around the classroom (K/Gr.1s always have a billion questions). I’m also learning to do some classroom management from time to time, and try to step in when I see behaviour that is inappropriate in the classroom. I’m hoping that this will not only help the teacher, but allow my students to continue seeing me as an authority figure, and not just a class helper. I feel like what I’m experiencing is ENACTED LEARNING, which is great! I’m so lucky to be able to have this opportunity.

My first lesson was a read-aloud of the book “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf. It’s about a bull who does not want to fight in the bullfights. I thought the lesson went okay, and that it could definitely be improved. My S.A. was really nice and said she thought it was good, considering that it was my first formal lesson in front of the class. It wasn’t bad, but I guess I was just expecting much more. My S.A. gave me some tips to improve for my next lesson. This includes starting the read-aloud off with asking the students to demonstrate what it looks like to be attentive when listening. My second lesson went a lot better than my first. I asked the students to demonstrate attentive listening (and they did, for the entire lesson actually!). I read a book called “You and I” by Genevieve Cote. It was a lesson plan I made with a partner for our LLED350 class. It was a huge hit! The students were so engaged in the book and the activity I let them do afterwards. I thought that the activity, (which was to go around the classroom, look for a partner, give them a high five and say one thing they like about themselves and then one thing they like about their partner), might be a bit chaotic — but because I learned to explain instructions more explicitly to the students — it went a lot more smoothly. I improvised a bit as well. I added brainstorming things to say to your partner before the activity and I did a bit of a debrief after the activity. Finally I added a “quiet” group hug at the end to settle the students down before they were to head back to their seats for their next activity.

I know that we’re also supposed to be thinking about our INQUIRY question this week, and I think mine is HOW CAN TEACHER ACCOMMODATE TWO DIFFERENT GRADE LEVELS IN ONE CLASSROOM? That’s pretty much my biggest question always. I always ask my S.A. that because I still think it’s pretty wild to have both Ks and Gr1s in one classroom, especially since Gr1s can read and write and the Ks aren’t really there yet. It’s a hard job definitely, but I enjoy the (productive) chaos.

Over-all, I’m really excited to finally be in the classroom and I cannot wait to teach more! Hopefully my 3rd, 4th and 5th lessons will be as great as the first two!

P.S. Another thing I have learned is that Kindergarten/Grade 1 teachers do A LOT of prep work! I feel like half the time I’m also helping with cutting, pasting, photocopying, laminating, book binding, etc.