This week was a week of two very important “firsts”; my first field trip with an elementary school class, and my first taste of teaching full load. I am happy to report that we had a successful trip to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. The students loved exploring the museum, finally got a chance to see a praying mantis (a favourite insect among our students) and the biggest crowd pleaser was the blue whale skeleton. 42 kids, no one reported missing, no injuries, no tantrums = a successful field trip as a beginning teacher!

I wonder though, if it would’ve been different without our school advisors present. Even though the planning had been done by us student teachers, I did feel that our school advisors stepped in to help out with classroom management and logistics. It was a good balance in the end.

With all the primary enrolling teachers at a day long collaboration meeting, we all got our official taste of teaching at 100%. Well, I took it as a prime opportunity to get my feet wet, especially with leading on the transitions between activities. Let’s face it, those can be a challenge in themselves! I had a wonderful connection with my TOC assigned to my class, and was generous enough to let me lead the day. I already had a day’s worth of lessons planned, so why not lead the transitions as well? It was an exhausting day, but it did ease the anxiety of teaching at 100%. I feel that once the school advisor is out of the classroom, you are “in charge.” It just comes to you. There’s no wait time, you just assume the role and take charge. That’s how I felt anyways on that day. I believe that day to be a great segue into the last four weeks of the long practicum.