Wednesdays are always busy and fast days in our class. The students have band and French, which means my s.a. and I get to cover other classes. Today we covered a grade 2/3 class. We started with math drills as the students are learning multiplication. It was so interesting to see this, the students were so competitive. It was almost like a game show on TV. We then had some time in the gym and the students played a game I have not seen before, sideline soccer. It is always exciting for me to go into these other classes as I get a little bit of a sneak peek into every grade level. I have noticed a huge difference in the teacher’s role in the higher grades – like grade 7- compared to the younger grades. The classroom management in the younger grades requires more reminders and teaching of basic skills. For example, getting the students to line-up to leave the classroom. It was almost like a game as well – my s.a. chose students to go line-up based on colors they were wearing; for example, “all the students wearing blue go lineup.” And then, to have them do this quietly and calmly, she made it into a competition of who can line-up the most quietly. And it works! We have never done anything like this in our grade seven class. However, that being said, I could see something like that working in the grade seven class as well when students need reminders of – for example – how we line-up and go through the hallways. Tomorrow my s.a. and I will be covering this class again and I will be going through the same routine. I am excited to see how I will feel with this younger group of students and completely different content.

In my own grade seven class, I had the students the entire afternoon from after lunch until dismissal. This was a change for me as I usually teach in the mornings. The students were a little hyper from lunch and it being such a nice day out. So, I knew I had to be a little more firm than usual. We started with a desk change, the students had been asking for one for a while. However, I got to plan the new arrangement. So, I told them, if we were going to do this, I would need them to cooperate in a very calm manner because otherwise the desk change would turn into plain chaos. So, I waited for everyone to settle into their seats and give me their full attention. And then we moved group by group. There were some complaints – as expected – “I want to sit over there, not here,” etc. However, I quickly realized I need to explain that sitting in groups is a privilege and everyone needs to learn how to cooperate with each other even if you are not best of friends. I always feel like when I give the students an explanation behind my expectations, they do understand and act accordingly. I introduced the group points system and explained that it will be in effect starting today; however, I will be using it at certain times and not at others. Just so it does not become a problem between the really competitive students in the class. As I have discussed with my faculty advisor, I would like to add an accountability piece to this. So, sometimes I will ask the students towards the end of a certain lesson or the day, “do you think you deserve a point, discuss as a group and tell me why or why not.” This offers them the chance to reflect on their own behavior and reason appropriately. We then had some quiet reading time to settle down after the desk change. I have noticed it is hard to get some students to actually pick up a book. So, I thought it would help by making the reading time a little more relevant to other class topics and suggest reading some of the India books we have displayed during reading time as well.

We then spent some time on grammar and the students did some idiom art – a great idea by my s.a. They were to choose an idiom out of a list and draw a picture representing the idiom. The students, along with myself, had a blast doing this! And, I really got to see why it is so important to incorporate different types of learning – like art and specifically drawing – because some students really are visual learners. For example, I have one student who usually struggles to begin any written forms of work – it takes some time. However, with this drawing, he came up with the most unique illustration and that too so quickly. I think this really speaks to the concept of allowing opportunities for different forms of output from students.

After this we moved onto socials and discussed the concept of diversity generally and then as it applies to the Indus Valley civilization. Students have now begun their first major research project for this topic – they are researching one group of Indian people. This project will take another two socials block; however, I plan on setting goals for the each day – just to ensure students are using their time wisely and holding them accountable. Today, I told them I would be coming around to ask which group they have chosen to research (they had a choice of three) and show me the notes they have collected so far. This worked well as students were writing notes from the laptop on separate pieces of paper, which they could take home to continue research. The students seem to be really interested in their research so I can’t wait to read all their projects!