Tag Archives: Professionalism

Team Building, Potluck, & Pre-Practicum Seminar: Update for Tuesday, 27 September 2011

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We started the day by separating the cohort into two groups so both Dave and I could run a few games designed to develop teamwork and communication skills.  My first group engaged in:

  • Circle story
  • Hey, what are you doing?
  • Evolution

to get warmed up.  These activities (and more) can be found in this file:

Then, we played:

  • Tanks
  • Alligator Pond Game

Guidelines for these games (and more) can be found in this document created by TCs from a previous year’s cohort:

In Dave’s session, you had a go with:

Potluck

Thanks to everyone who brought an item to share as part of this delicious smorgasboard.

Preparing For A Successful Practicum


We started with a free write on your expectations and segued into a setting out of the big picture of the Tuesdays Prac… and beyond.  Here are the key dates:

  • Education 315, the Tuesdays Practicum, consists of 6 school visits on Tuesdays beginning October 18th and finishing November 22rd
  • Education 323, the Two Week Practicum, takes place Tuesday, January 3rd to Friday, January 13th with students in the schools full-time
  • Education 419, the Long Practicum, runs from Monday, March 26th to Friday, June 22nd

Next were presentations on The Exemplary Middle School and SRL in the Middle Years.  Here’s that info:

At long last, we asked you to give us your practicum preferences.  The information we requested is shown in this one-page slideshow:

Then, after outlining some the goals of EDUC 315: The Tuesdays Practicum:

Dave took some time to outline some of the key expectations we have of you in terms of professional conduct.  Here’s the PPT slideshow:

To wrap up, we had some fun as you created and presented professionalism role plays, short skits demonstrating no and yes examples of how a TC should conduct herself in a middle school setting.

Hopefully, at the end of today’s lesson you feel more comfortable facing the challenge that is your first foray into the field as part of your teacher education program.

’til next time.

– Lawrence

 

How To Do EDUC 315: Update for Wednesday, 29 September 2010

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Today was a follow up from yesterday’s goings on.  Here’s what shook down:

Me In A Bag Speech Analysis Task

I reviewed the expectations for the assignment and reminded you of the Monday, 4 October 2010 due date.

Ropes Course Debrief

I asked you to give me the following information:

  • List of activities you engaged in
  • Your favourite ropes course activity and why
  • A rating of the Ropes Course experience from 1 to 11 and your reasoning
  • A completion of this sentence stem… “I used to think… but NOW I think… because…”

(I’ve left your feedback slips at home but I’ll insert it into this post when I’ve put it together. -LH)

Professional Demeanour on Practicum

I asked you to consider the question “What will professionalism look like in a school setting?” and to create a role play around one professional behaviour.  The role play had to give a no example and a yes example.  After developing criteria for an effecitve role play, you took time to plan, rehearse and present.  The role plays were enlightening and humourous.

Of course, we can’t fully prepare you for the practicum through classroom work on campus.  You need to be in the schools and experience it for yourselves.  There is no “How To Do It” video for teaching like there is for these the skills covered in this clip:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM[/youtube]

Cheers.

– Lawrence

Ball Pass Challenge, Tattoo Review & Me in Bag Intro: Update for Wednesday, 16 September 2010

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Here’s all the news that’s fit to print about Wednesday’s class:

Name/Ball Pass Challenge

In an effort to review everyone’s name and to engage in a whole-class problem solving activity, we took the Name/Ball Pass Challenge.  The instructions for this task are below so I won’t go into detail about how it works.  Suffice it to say that our first effort had a time of about 30-ish seconds and through cooperative teamwork we were able to get that number down to only 8 seconds!  No small feat.

Digital Tattoo and Professionalism Presentation Debrief

Thanks to everyone for attending this presentation.  We debriefed it using the Walk-About Review Strategy.  This involved each TC finishing the following sentence stems with information about the presentation:

  • For me, the most interesting aspect of the presentation was…
  • One thing I will do differently after seeing the presentation is…
  • One question I have after watching the presentation is…

and then walking around and talking to other TCs about their responses to the same stems.  After some talk time, we took up a few responses as a whole group.  While the workshop was generally well received (after scanning the show of fingers, I think it scored a 2.5 or 3 out of 5), many seemed to agree that it would have benefitted from having examples with local flavour and from including more specific advice on appropriate online and professional behaviours.

Here’s the Walk-About Review sheet we used :

On a related note, here’s the trailer for the amazing 1971 Australian film directed by Nicolas Roeg, Walkabout:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x186dbPIoM[/youtube]

If you have any interest in Aussie culture or have a penchant for meditative films, this classic can’t be beat.

Administrivia

  • Contact Info Changes:  If you have any more, please let me know.  I’ll send out the FINAL version soon.
  • ESA Rep:  Good on Jenna for expressing interest.  Make sure to get the vote out so she gets voted in!
  • Field Trip Fair on the Blog:  Please check an earlier post for info on an upcoming event featuring a variety of facilities that provide field trip destinations for K-12 students.
  • Emailing Assignment Attachments:  Please remember to include your surname and the name of the task in the document’s title.  For instance, “Holbrook Factors”.

Me in a Bag Speeches

In an effort to develop vocal delivery skills that will prove invaluable in the classroom, we will be delivering Me in a Bag Speeches over the next few class sessions.  Here’s how I scaffolded this task:

  • A Model from Last Year

We watched a short MIAB speech from one of the TCs in the 2009-2010 cohort and drew conclusions about the structure and content of the speech.

  • Criteria Sheet Examination

I handed out the task’s criteria sheet and we looked it over.

  • My MIAB Speech

I delivered a speech on three items I had in my Saucony shoe box:

    • Running shoe
    • Homemade Spinal Tap T-Shirt
    • Plastic bowl

Using the feedback sandwich model for feedback, you presented me with beefs and bouquets relating to my performance.  Here’s a visual of the sandwich:

and here a link to an Ezine article with more details on Feedback Sandwiches.

The outline that I suggest you use for your speech is below, as is the criteria sheet:

We will start presenting the speeches in Monday’s class.  Please make sure you have your three artifacts, your rehearsed presentation, and your flash drive ready to go for that session.  We will take time to review the criteria, rehearse, and choose the speaking order before we start the speeches.

“Nuff said true believers.  See you Monday.

– Lawrence