I have been involved in many discussions about place based learning and the importance of field trips to a students learning process. Being given the opportunity to put theory into practice, learning in the classroom and exploring those concepts in reality. Field trips are a wonderful way to wrap up a unit, or a chance to experience education in a different setting. What I have experienced in Germany is that this is taken seriously. The students who I worked with are taken out multiple times per week for different activities and excursion. In two weeks, I accompanied my group to the gymnasium twice, the swimming pool twice, a forest and a bee farm and next weeks activity will be horseback riding. Most of these excursions are close by and are reached on foot, or public transit is taken.

The difference between my experience in German schools and Canadian schools is the amount of pedagogy accompanying these excursions. Canada provides teachers with learning targets for kindergarten students, whereas, to my knowledge, Germany does not. The field trips are random, and do not coincide with a pedagogical topic. But this does not mean that learning does not occur. Children between the ages of 3 and 6 pick up much of what they are told, they are able to recall and discuss something they experienced from a previous outing and make connections to current events or discussions. I believe the purpose of these frequent outings is not only to educate students, but to give them the opportunities to immerse themselves in their communities. Learning skills that will help them in real life and not just during their extended education. For example, starting at age 3, students learn how to take public transit, are provided with swimming lessons from a certified swimming instructor, given guided tours of a variety of knowledgable people. All the while they are encouraged to ask questions and explore interests. The downfall for me, is that these topics are not followed up in any way at school. They are experienced but not discussed. This does not take away from the value of the experience, however, I would argue that it ignores wonderful opportunities to teach in an in-depth way. If it is permitted to take students out of a school setting multiple times a week, I think that the things these students are learning should be reinforced and explored further. In Canada, field trips are carefully planned out, how will we get there, how many parent volunteers do we need, what do students need to bring, what will the cost be, etc. Since field trips are less frequent, they often relate to subjects that have been discussed in depth in the classroom.

I really see the value in both approaches, exploring the community on a frequent basis while relating the excursions to curricular content and units. I would really like to try to implement a more place based approach to my teaching. I believe that allowing students to make connections through experience will enrich their learning and hopefully enhance their interests.

I was bitten by the travel bug early on in my life. I love to explore new cultures, customs, people and places. At the beginning of this school year, I was given the opportunity to participate in a self-placed community field experience (CFE). I thought long and hard about where I wanted to go, and what sort of education I wanted to experience. I finally settled on traveling to Hamburg, Germany to work in a kindergarten for two weeks. Germany’s educational system is quite different from the one I have experienced in Canada. Kindergarten in Germany appealed to me mainly because of their philosophies; children learn through exploration, play and personal experience. This idea matches very well with my inquiry topic, so I thought I would love to experience how it is done first hand.

I am now working in an english kindergarten where students are immersed in the english language beginning at age three and a  half until they attend first grade at age six. The focus here is pushed towards socialization, problem solving, place based learning and of course, language immersion. The days consist of lots of play, students might choose to play alone on activities geared towards critical thinking and problem solving, or with others, working on socialization and managing confrontations that might arise. From what I have observed this far, the students are all very well adjusted to working with others. A few things that are emphasized are: being good community members, being polite and well mannered, turn taking, and other behavioural topics. When I arrived, each of the students introduced themselves to me as an adult might, looking me in the eyes and saying “Hello, my name is ____”.

The day begins with everyone eating breakfast together, followed by a morning meeting, where we go over colours, days of the week, weather and anything the students would like to share. Students then go off and play either outside on a nice day, or inside. Throughout the day, students are brought in to do some pedagogical work (more the 5-6 year old students). Working on math, social responsibilities and problem solving. There is a strong Montessori approach to education here, lots of hands on learning and problem solving. Students will then eat lunch together, followed by more play time. Most days, there is some sort of special activity, twice a week, someone comes in and does music with them, once a week, they go to the local swimming pool and take swimming lessons, and then other activities are planned. This past week, we took all 25 students on the bus and the train to a forest to experience and learn about nature. We then went to a local outdoor market and ordered lunch before once again, taking the bus and train back to school. On Mondays, students are taken to a local gymnasium for physical activity. As far as I can tell, children do not attend traditional schools until grade one; kindergartens remind me of what North American’s would consider day care.

The students have been learning about countries around the world, and I am looking forward to teaming up with another teacher at the school who is from the USA to teach them about North America, I will discuss Canada and she will talk about the United States. They have just finished learning about India and are also going to be looking at China. Not only are these students learning a second language, they are interested and excited to learn about the world. They are given a concept of other cultures and ways of thinking, which I think will aid them in their curiosities for learning in the future.

I have really enjoyed my first week in a German kindergarten, I am noticing lots of differences in the practices and approaches to education.

The past ten weeks have been a time of intensive growth for me. One of the main things that I have learned is the importance of quality practice. I feel so fortunate to have had the support of my SA’s and FA, who worked patently and critically with me. I came to notice, that the best way for me to improve was to focus on one aspect of teaching at a time. It is important to me to be able to do my job well, and have time to reflect on my practice. I went in t the classroom focusing on my classroom management techniques. I wanted to be sure that I understood the best way to connect with each student on an educational and personal level before I felt I would be able to assess them. I wanted to be comfortable in front of them and feel confident that I could provide them with the instruction they needed. Something that surprised me was getting my head around actually “teaching”. By this I mean, I was often so focused on my instructions, remembering what I was trying to do, that I didn’t realize that I was not paying attention to the class. After a particular observation my SA asked “where were you looking?”, I realized, I was staring right over the heads of my students, focusing on what I was trying to say rather than what they were learning and understanding. This was a key aspect for me to be able to focus on classroom management, knowing what the students are needing at any given moment, scanning the students, looking for understanding.

Once I felt more comfortable with this, about mid-point through the practicum, I shifted my focus towards assessment. I had a solid understanding of my students and their individual needs and abilities. I must admit, putting assessment into practice was a struggle for me. I was reminded that I needed to keep a clear lesson objective in order to determine if students were meeting the goal of a lesson or unit. Once I worked on clarifying my objectives, I attempted a variety of assessment practices. Including checklists, anecdotal notes, pre-determined learning standards (rubrics set out by British Columbia) and one on one assessments. As the weeks went on, and after numerous discussions with my advisors, I was starting to feel more confident about assessment. It is still an area I need to explore, but I was able to collect enough information to write report cards for each student. Assessment is such an important part of teaching, it still seems daunting to me. I am more confident that I am headed in the proper direction, and knowing that it is something that I must focus on will only help me in the future.

Making connections with students was so important to me. I wanted everyone in the classroom to feel comfortable, because when a student feels comfortable they are more open to taking risks; risks that often lead to higher learning. I noticed that many of my students are very hands on learners. This was wonderful for me, because the focus of my inquiry is about making learning meaningful though creative, hands on learning. I feel that this worked, the units that leant themselves well to hands on learning were the ones that students became excited about. “Ms. Oreziak, are we doing science today?” were words I loved hearing. Parents coming to me, telling me that their children were coming home excited about what they had learned that day made my heart soar. Teaching is such an emotional activity, putting so much into each plan and hearing that it was impactful was the best.

I learned a lot about my practice over the past 10 weeks, I wish the best to my students who are moving on to grades 1 and 2 next year. I couldn’t have made up a better class if I tried.