The midpoint meeting provided me with some new perspectives on my learning journey. It is comforting to know that I appeared calm even when I was not feeling confident inside. Listening to others that had seen me teaching helped me get different perspectives. Receiving feedback on my lessons and getting confirmed about my strengths and weaknesses helped me feel more confident to move forward. The whole practicum experience was overwhelming to me. I knew that I wasn’t prepared for it, but I decided to give it a try. And I am happy that I made that decision. It has been a tough journey for me knowing that I had so much to learn, but I am glad that I made it this far.

This week, I brought in my guitar and ukulele for the students to borrow and play in the classroom. My original intention was to help some students build their confidence in the class through music. These instruments have been very popular, and the students are respectful when they are using them. I proposed rules about using and sharing these instruments when I first brought them in, and so far there are no conflicts on sharing. I am not sure what influence these instruments might have on the students or the classroom environment, but I hope that this could be an opportunity for some students to explore something new about themselves.

I attended after-school meetings this week and also two weeks ago to see 14 teachers that went to the Opel workshop gathered together and reflected on their learnings on the Reggio approach. From their reflection, I could see that the environment acts as the third teacher; children have gifts that we no longer have; children are not just the citizens in the future but also the citizens now. I was surprised that all these ideas weren’t new to me since I had seen them in the preschool that I worked at and the ECE courses that I took before. However, it is still exciting to see that this approach is now brought into higher grade levels. It is fascinating for me to see how the things that I learned before are linking with my current practice in grade 2 and 3, which I thought I knew nothing about.

There was an unexpected emotional moment for me during my last week’s lesson. I am both embarrassed and amused by what happened, and it is definitely going to be one of the memorable moments in my teaching career. My frustration level with the students listening and communication skills went so high that I burst into tears. I could see that my students were confused, worried, and nervous. The classroom was absolutely silent for a long time. I tried to make a lesson out of that unexpected moment. I revisited the moment a week later, but many students seemed to move on from that already.

My focus of this week is to help the student to reach their potentials, to help them show their strengths, and to build their confidence. I try to provide all students with the opportunity to show their strengths. Since the morning Me Time was canceled as a punishment for the time that they wasted during the day, I initiated the morning dance routine to replace the Me Time. I decided to get them more physically active to burn out some energy, and also to help with one of the struggling students, who is good at singing and dancing, to build his confidence by bringing his strength into the classroom.

I feel that now I have a better understanding of designing cross-curriculum lessons and finding the right moment to connect the things that have been happening in class
For example, incorporating environmental conversation into math by calculating the number of wrappers that they would use from Monday to Friday. This lesson was also one of the lessons that worked out very well this week. I planned to do multiplication worksheets but changed to a more open-ended exercise at the last minute. The students had been talking about conversation and environmental protections in the classroom. I asked the students to check their lunch bags and find out how many plastic wrappers that they had in their lunch bags. Using their numbers, the students were asked to find out how many wrappers they would use every week. They can also challenge themselves and find out about the month and also the year. I was surprised to see that almost everyone was interested and focused on their task. Only one student started eating lunch after he got his lunch bag even though I asked them not to. It was shocking to some of them to know that they would use about 60 to 100 wrappers every month, and all of these wrappers would end up being thrown away as garbage.

I am getting a more comprehensive understanding of the students’ weekly routine since I started my long practicum. For the past two weeks, I noticed how an inside day could affect the afternoon dynamic in the classroom. I also felt the impact of family situations could have on the students. I realize that the success of one lesson is often not depended on the quality of your lesson plan, but how you carry out every small part to make learning process smooth. For example, the length of sitting time is necessary to notice. Also, sending the students to get materials at the same time might cause more anxiety for the students as they all rush to one place simultaneously.  

One of the biggest Aha moments for the last two weeks is when I realized that only student-initiated questions could truly motivate the students to learn. I tried doing surrey on students’ personal information and personal interests for making tally charts and bar graphs. However, I was very surprised to see that many students did not seem to care about the result. They didn’t care much about how many students had one, two, or more pets at home. The next class, I invited the students to think of a question that they are curious about and ask at least ten of the classmates. They were more engaged and motivated for sure, but this time it was challenging to have the side conversations under control. The challenge of talking about the students’ interests (video games in this case) without getting them too excited to get focused on the task.

I am very excited to try out new things in the classroom. I have tried to incorporate more educational technologies into learning by introducing Menti.com, and students will be able to use the device to provide answers, votes, or play games. This week has been a process of having them getting familiar with this new tool and having their excitement under control. The school teacher has also introduced the website code.org to the students to explore and learn. Students are getting better at using these educational tools, and I look forward to seeing these technology devices being used in more meaningful ways.

I saw this boy, who usually acted rather silly on the Thursday during my visits before, carefully cared for his seed for many days. When many other students asked for more seeds to plant and play with, he was fully committed to that one seed that he picked and wanted to help it live and grow. His mother also shared with my school teacher that this student had been taking great care of the seed at home. The student carefully stored the seed at a safe place at home to hide it from his dog. These things change one’s perspectives, and you can only notice these small things when you are immersed in the environment with the students.

Today, the teacher used the sentence frame “I want to highlight on something that I saw during XX time” to start a conversation with the students. The teacher used it as a starting point to emphasize on some positive behaviors that happened earlier, such as inviting friends over to play at a station. The teacher invited the students to think what were some core competencies that we use when we invite our friends. The students were reminded what the three core competencies were. Is it thinking? Communication? Personal and social skills? Or were there more than one of them? Students had a discussion and came up with several great answers.

As a whole class, we agreed that inviting friends would involve all three core competencies. You would have to be brave to go ask someone. It could also be important to think about the way you say your invitation. The students made connections with organizing the writing club, which required some students to visit different classes, make a little speech, and show invitations.

The teacher reminded the students that every time when we take a chance and choose to be kind, that makes us a better friend and a better person. That would also make our school a better place.

This conversation was inspiring for me. I used to find it challenging to communicate core competencies with primary students, but now I have a clearer idea of how to approach that. This type of conversation really invites the students to think about and reflect on these core competencies in a critical way. Students are able to build concrete understandings from abstract concepts and make real connections with their own experience.

The learning intention is to use the “I can” language to help students understand the learning goals and expectations. For example, the new B.C. Curriculum lists “force of gravity” as part of the content for grade 7 Science, and has “compare data with predictions and develop explanations for results” as part of the curricular competencies. If one decides to incorporate these two together, one can write the learning intention as “I can explain why does the weight scale show differently when we measure different objects”. Such language ensures that students can understand the learning goals more clearly. Moreover, the language itself is also very encouraging; it shifts from a demanding tone to a proactive and confident tone.

The backward design ensures that we, as teachers, remember the purpose of the lesson(s) throughout lesson planning. It requires teachers to answer questions such as “who are the students”, “what can/can’t they do”, and “what do they need”. Knowing the purpose and methods to assess, it is clearer for teachers to know whether students have achieved the expectations. Deciding on the learning intention and assessment of a lesson plan before going into details about the procedure and class activities makes better sense to me since it leaves some room for flexibility and student’s inquiry.

“Plan is nothing. Planning is everything.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

The idea of universal of learning is one of my favorites. It promotes multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement, which allows students to learn and express themselves in unique ways. For instance, if my goal is to teach a historical event, then my assessment should be the understanding of the historical event. And maybe expand it to students’ ability to connect the event with their own experiences. Thus, student’s ability to write with correct grammar should not be my concern. Students can choose to write an essay, present the story through acting or storytelling, or illustrate the event with visual arts etc. The idea of universal of learning respects each student’s uniqueness and creativity.