Wow, the days just keep getting busier and busier! We have so much going on this week – a dance festival, a field trip to Fraser Heights Secondary, and play rehearsals throughout the week for the big presentation next week! Today I got to teach the p.e. period on my own for the first time since the short 2-week practicum.

I started off the class inside the classroom. As a class, we first discussed the type of behavior expected in p.e. The students were able to bring up all the points I wanted to discuss – safety, cooperative behavior, sportsmanship, etc. This just goes to show that the students are very well aware of what is expected of them. They sometimes just need a refresher and I think asking them to refresh themselves – by sharing out loud – is the best way because then they are actually thinking about the expectations, instead of just being told. This connects back to the concept of priming, and this is what I was looking to do when I began the discussion. It only took about five minutes but it was so worth it. For example, during the actual p.e. activity (California kickball), when one student kept putting his arms around another student, I simply had to remind him of what we had reviewed previously in class to correct his inappropriate behavior. When I held up my whistle and asked what the whistle meant, I got quite a few hands up; however, not all. So then I said, “Come on, everyone has to know what this means, I need more hands up.” That really got the remaining students’ attention, it was quite funny. So, light-hearted humor really does work well with this age – a secret trick I like to use. We then quickly went over the rules of the game since all the students were familiar with the game previously.

It was a great day outside, so we decided to play outside. I asked students to do a lap around the field once and meet back in the center. It’s interesting to see the varying abilities and motivation of students to participate. For example, some students were complaining “I can’t run,” so I tried to keep my instructions as firm as possible but accommodate to certain student needs (e.g., hurting ankle) by changing the running to light jogging. This way I was able to get the entire class to warm up in a way that worked for everyone. To avoid any issues over team members and positions, I numbered off everyone into two teams and chose which team was offense and which defense. Surprisingly, there were no complaints and the students worked well together. I tried to control for equal participation as well by asking the kicking team to be in a boy-girl line-up so that everyone got the chance to kick. Throughout the game, I tried to keep a global scan of student behavior and I realized how different this is during p.e. – especially outside – compared to an academic lesson inside the classroom. First of all, most of the students have different roles so everyone is doing something different. Then, the teacher must be watching out for potentially dangerous behavior. And, your voice must be much higher to keep encouraging students over all the student cheering, asking for the ball, and them communicating with teammates.

This lesson, I made sure to keep watching the time because I really wanted to have time left over for the closure I had planned. So, I got to use my whistle for the first time to bring students back into the circle – pretty exciting! Once in the circle, I explained to students there is a reason we play games like California Kickball – reasons besides fun – to build cooperative skills. I then asked how they did this today. Again, they were able to hit every point I had noted; essentially, working together towards a common goal – getting the most home runs. I thought this closing part was really important because it gives purpose to even the most simple of game like California Kickball and it really directly pushes students to think – even if for a short amount of time – the meaning behind why they are doing what they are doing. In the end, I really enjoyed teaching p.e. and next time I will remember to bring a water bottle out with me because the days really are getting hot!

Today I was able to finish up my socials lesson from yesterday. I first had the remaining three groups present. After each presentation, we did a little something different, I had the students in the audience guess the presenter’s roles. In a sense, this was testing what they had learned yesterday and they were on point for each presentation! I was again pleasantly surprised with the tableau performances, the students were still very engaged and did not even need any prep time before presenting – they were ready to go. For me, this was such a moment of pride, seeing my students participate so enthusiastically. Honestly, you could just tell from their smiles, really makes the teacher’s job so satisfying. And there was equal participation amongst all the group members. We had actually discussed this during the class meeting today. One of the topics the students wanted to talk about was “some students being bossy in groups.” I explained that group work is a privilege and it is actually supposed to be a learning experience for all the students. A time for building not just academic skills, but also collaboration skills. The students had great ideas to add to this as well.

We then moved on to the short review activity. I posted true and false statements related to the Aryan heritage content from yesterday on the Smart Board. I then asked the students to discuss these statements in their groups, and be prepared to provide their input, as I would be asking each group to share. This went really well! To control for the usual people answering from each group, I said at least two group members have to speak. This way I was able to get input from the low participating students as well. In terms of their input, all the answers provided were correct. So it not only helped the students to review the material; however, it also helped me understand their comprehension and understanding of the material – in a way a form of summative assessment. I would definitely use this closure activity again. I could even switch it up, when I would really like to formally assess, by individualizing the activity – having each student record their answers on paper.

After this, I asked students to write me an exit slip describing their experience of the tableau. I explained we would be doing some more forms of drama and role-play in art, in the upcoming weeks, so it would help me plan for that unit. I asked them to write about what they liked, what they found challenging, if it helped them understand the Aryan social structure, if they would like to try something like this again, etc. And of course, there is always that student or students who are just sitting there; but, I was firm in my instructions that I have to get their exit slip before they can be dismissed for home. This worked! The responses on the exit slip were interesting – it’s always neat when students write something that you did not even think about. For example, some students commented on other groups’ tableaus – something I did not even mention. All in all, I am so glad I took the time today to close off this lesson. I truly understand the importance of doing this – it ends off learning well and conveys to the students that the stuff they are learning is meaningful and important!

Today was the end of the second week! Today I gave the students a test – math unit test – for the first time. It was an interesting experience. The students usually do have questions during the test and so as a teacher, I need to control my responses during test time. First of all, my responses need to be limited in the sense that I cannot give away the answer. As hard as it might be, sometimes you just have to say “that is all I can tell you right now because this is a test.” Then, to be fair, my responses need to be the same for everyone. So, if I tell one student something, I might need to tell the rest of the class as well – otherwise one student may end up being at an advantage. For example, when I pointed out one part of a question – putting answers into lowest terms – I had to remind the rest of the class as well. Giving a test may look like an easy task on the part of the teacher; however, it really is not. You don’t just get to sit back and relax. Instead, you have to be quite alert yourself for the things I just discussed above and also monitoring student behavior during the test. For example, sometimes students forget that they cannot be speaking and then accommodating the early finishers. It is really important to have something in mind for these students to be working on such that they are not a distraction for those who are still working. I had students work on unfinished socials work.

In the afternoon, we went on a field trip to Fraser Height Secondary – the high school almost all students will be moving on to. It was a good first field trip for me because it was short and simple. However, I still got to experience a place of learning with my students outside of our usual classroom. The students participated in some different science labs led by grade eight students. I found the students’ behavior there pretty interesting. First of all, they were behaving so well – I was so proud! But what really caught my attention was the slight change in the students’ behavior and demeanor. There was a sense of hesitancy and alertness in the students. I think this is because they felt a little out of place as newcomers. Also, they were the youngest students there and going from elementary school – where they are the eldest – this is quite a change. This just touches into the topic of transition that the students will experience. And, my role or my s.a.’s role in making this transition as smooth as possible for the students is very important. When I teach and also when my s.a. teaches, we both make a point of relating what the students are doing presently to their switch over to high school. Whether that be related to their academic performance – like homework – or something like relationship skills. We have a tour of the school coming up and I think this kind of exposure to the school will also help the students develop a higher level of comfort with this big change.

Next week is our first full week and we are getting closer and closer to our midpoint. I cannot wait till I reach my 100% teaching load!

Wow, what a day today was! I started in a grade 2/3 class again today with math and p.e. In my own grade 7 class I did language arts before recess, math after recess and then some socials at the end of the day.

The math lesson was an important one because it was the last in the unit, and introduced a new concept to students – experimental probability. Being the last lesson, it was my goal to keep reinforcing important terms and ideas from the rest of the unit; for example, favorable outcome, sample space, tree diagrams, etc. Which is why I kept asking the students repeatedly what each was, to give examples, touching into that consolidation piece I spoke to my f.a. about today. Thinking back to the lesson, I had thought of it initially as reinforcing. Now that I think about it, repetition of key ideas and terms is essentially helping to consolidate this important information.

I also noticed the desk change has really helped students’ attention levels and general participation. For example, when we started the lesson, I had them note down the key ideas while I reviewed them orally. And the class was pretty much completely silent. This is something my s.a. noticed and pointed out to me afterwards. And, I realized, wow I did not even have to ask them to quiet down for this part of the lesson – they were focused on their own. I feel like the desk change definitely contributes to this because compared to before, the students are grouped completely differently. For one, the groups are now a mix of both genders. And, over the last couple of weeks, I had noticed which grouping of students was just detrimental to attention levels so I had separated them in the new seating plan. Also, I have brought the students who use to be too distracted to participate closer to the front. And I noticed today, a couple of the students who used to be facing away from the front or more near the back and are now facing forward, near the front – they were participating more and more focused. And my students who always were focused and participated before, I moved them around to different areas because they will participate regardless of where they are seated.

For myself, I really wanted to work on my waiting time today. So really allowing for thinking time in order to get more students to offer their ideas and answers. I think in the past I have just wanted to get through as much content as I can. But I have realized that if I just try to get through the content, I may actually be putting the students’ learning at risk. So, in the last couple of days I literally even make myself look at the clock to actually allow enough waiting time. And instead of asking for hands up right away, I will ask them to “think about it,” or to “discuss with a neighbor.” This way, they know they do not have to answer right away, and they can actually think about what I am asking. Coming back to the piece on getting through as much content. I have recognized that I need to always try my hardest to ensure there is some time – even if very brief – to close the lesson in a way where I reinforce what I have just taught. I always have this in my lesson plans; however, sometimes I have to skip out because of limited time. So, this will be a part of my goals for the upcoming days to even spend a quick couple of minutes reviewing key aspects – again for that consolidation.

In terms of my upcoming math lessons, I will definitely be using the strategy of having students close their books so that I can be more sure of their attention. And wording my control statements in a way that is student-centered. So, “it is really important for you to pay attention if you want to really understand this math,” instead of “I need you to pay attention.” In a sense, this gives the students a reason to pay attention, which will benefit them. Along with this, I plan on bringing up the post-it notes in a new manner. Sort of adding humor, “I really want your post-it note, I love post-it notes!” I have used humor before and it really does help catch students’ attention – especially those who tend to zone-out quickly.

A challenge in today’s lesson was the Smart board not working. However, I have had this happen to me before as well and then I do need to change quickly to the white board. But, this just is another example of things not always going according to plan. And, I have noticed that, as a teacher, I need to respond to these kind of issues calmly but quickly because interruptions like these can completely throw off students just as much as the teacher. Coming back to the humor piece, last time this happened, I sort of included the students in it and made a joke about the Smart Board so that I could maintain their attention while I moved over to the other board. In my opinion, these kinds of situations are great learning moments for me, I’m faced with a challenge and I need to make the situation work.

In the end, I thought the lesson went well because students were understanding the new material. This was reflected in their input throughout the lesson and in their formation of probability word problems. When circulating to see the students’ word problems, I made sure to spend a little more time checking in with the students who did not participate as much just to ensure their understanding. I think the students enjoyed this unit and forming their own word problems was a fun way to end the unit!

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!

Moving on to the second week of our long-term practicum, I have begun to teach a little more than last week. The more I get to teach, the more exciting this all becomes! Today, I began with language arts and then math before recess. Between recess and lunch I continued my Socials unit on India.

Coming back from a four-day weekend, the students seemed to sort of be out of their school mindset. So beginning with some independent journal writing was great to transition back into school-mode and get the students’ thinking caps on. I am looking forward to collecting these journals after the next entry as there is a variety of different topics students can write on. This allows students autonomy in the choice of their writing topic and they are able to write as much as they want – choosing their own pace (With a minimum of one entry each time).

However, when we moved on to talking about the homework assigned from last Thursday, my s.a. and I quickly noticed a lot of the students had not completed some parts of their homework. (Again, probably due to the four-day long weekend). So we decided to have a short discussion about why it is important to do homework, especially when there was so much time given to complete. Along with this, the consequences of not completing homework – my s.a. related this to the real world by explaining when an individual has a job, their boss will expect certain things and if you do not meet these expectations, there can be negative consequences like losing your job. As a result, we decided to give consequences today as well, asking students to stay in at recess to finish up their missing homework. Again my s.a. explained this was not done to be unkind, but instead to prepare students for high school and the expectations they will face. Something I have noticed over the last couple weeks is that a lot of students do not make use of their agendas to record their homework. So I have explained to the students that these agendas are really important so that students to have just mentally remember what homework they have. More importantly, if they keep forgetting their homework, they will form a bad habit, which will really harm them in high school – where teachers do deduct marks when homework is incomplete or late. Something my s.a. and I have thought of doing to help with this is including the agendas in our new points system we will be implementing starting tomorrow.

After lunch, I taught the next lesson in my Socials India unit – we discussed the rise and the fall of the Indus Valley civilization. I began my lesson a little differently, without me teaching. Instead, I showed a video on this topic so that students would have more of a visual understanding as well – because I know that in this class, there are many students who are more of visual learners, taking more from pictures and audio than just words. However, I think it is really important to give some meaning to watching the video, so I had asked students to pay close attention to certain aspects of the movie – the lifestyle, occupations, geography, and building. We then did Cornell notes as a class out of the textbook. I thought it was really important to do this for this part of the chapter as it has some of the most important information. I had students tell me which parts were most important and needed to be included in our notes – helping them develop their note-taking skills which are beneficial for studying. And, I was amazed at the connections students were able to make with the questions I posed. For example, I asked them to compare the lifestyle of this civilization to the other civilizations they have studied and many students had very specific examples to offer. Something I had thought of since the last lesson was making the assignment part of my lesson fit into the time spent in class on Socials. So, previously in my unit plan I had planned to have the students make prezi presentations. However, because the next couple of lessons also have pretty big projects, I decided to make this lesson just for this block. As a result, I ended up introducing the concept of graphic organizers. I always try to link my teaching to previous days and lessons because I feel like this sort of establishes purpose and connections, making the learning that much more meaningful for the students. So, I reminded students of their planning for the settlement letters last week and how this graphic organizer, was again a way to organize their thoughts just in a little bit of a different representation. By changing to the graphic organizer, students were listing reasons for the decline of the civilization and then they had to offer their own explanations. I emphasized the importance of the latter as it would be the part which told me they understood how different factors – like climate – affect civilizations. The class was able to understand it in class and fill out most of it in class, leaving only a little they could complete for homework.

For this week, I would like to continue to work on my wait-time and pacing. And something both my s.a. and I have noticed is that as I teach and the lesson moves along, I get better at this. It’s funny because some of this has to do with the fact that I’m so excited to teach my lessons that I want to get through it all. Which is why I have been making some changes so that there is enough time for the most important aspects. However, I plan to be consciously aware of my wait-time. Even when I have them think in pairs and then report out. When I ask them to report-out, it is really important to have enough wait-time there as well. Also, I would like to try using a different method of having questions answered, by choosing students. However, I would like to frame this positively. Maybe something along the lines of “I want to hear from all of you, because everyone’s thoughts and ideas are important, so today I am going to go around the class, randomly choosing names to participate!” This will be good learning for me as a teacher!

It was the last day of the first week time just flew by! Today I did some language arts and math with the students. While I was teaching these lessons, I noticed something about myself. Compared to the beginning of the week, I felt a little different. Like I said yesterday, I have been feeling a little more comfortable and more in command of the class. And I feel like this allows me to better teach the lesson’s material. Specifically, I think my classroom management is becoming a little more automatic, in a sense. Having been in the classroom consistently through the week and actually teaching has allowed me to sort of develop a new rapport with the students. They are becoming more understanding of my expectations. For example, today I tried something new, after each math homework question I explained on the Smart Board – with the help and input of students – I asked students to use their thumbs to show me how they were feeling. This was not something I had planned on doing. But, because the students had told me previously they had a difficult time with the homework, I thought I need to keep track of their understanding.

And then something really interesting happened. We came to a question, which no one could understand. Neither the students nor I. So, then my s.a. tried to solve it as well. Even that didn’t work. So, we were stuck. We knew the answer, but could not come up with the proper steps behind the solution. At first we thought we would come back to the question. And my s.a. tried solving it on her own. But, then our new student had the answer. However, this student is really shy and my s.a. actually asked her if she had the answer. What was interesting was that at the beginning of the lesson, this student had shared her answer. But, for some reason did not want to share her answer for the tricky question. I think maybe she may have been hesitant because she thought her process might have been incorrect as well. This was such a good example of a situation where sometimes the teacher does not have an answer right away.

Something I would like to work on for the next week is my pacing. I think because in the back of my head I know that this group of students catches on to new concepts quite quickly, I go through material pretty quick. So, today during the math lesson, I asked students to let me know if and when I’m going too fast because this will also help me recognize how much they are understanding. I can’t believe this week is already over, I look forward to starting back up next Tuesday!

April’s Fools, what a day, our little pranks were great fun! And I got to teach two lessons I was really excited about, so it was just a great day! The first lesson was Social Studies, looking at early settlement into Ancient India. We began by discussing why people generally move and students had the opportunity to talk to a partner and then report out. I have noticed a change in the students’ behavior during these “think-pair-shares,” they have gotten much better with practice. Most importantly, they have a better understanding of my expectations and I have seen participation levels increase. After this general discussion, students received a new information package. One of my goals in this class is to help students transition smoothly into high school and into young adulthood. I want to keep presenting ideas and tasks that challenge their thinking and work skills. So, my aim with providing an information package as a supplement with their textbook was to introduce the idea of comparing two resources talking about the same topic. Mainly looking at how their work and research can benefit with more than one source, looking for similarities and differences, and then using this to their advantage. I like to offer little details from my experience as a university student as well because they have been quite interested in this, and specifically UBC, since day one. For example, I have told them that for some of my classes I have had multiple textbooks or I would have to use a number of different types of sources to write long essays. I think students really appreciate it when they are given a reason or explanation behind why they are asked to do a certain task. For example, our talk about why they should pre-plan their writing. From a social and emotional aspect, by doing this, I feel I am in a sense respecting students – offering them an explanation shows that I know they understand and comprehend what I am about to tell them. This can be really important for this age group, as they sort of want their increasing levels of maturity to be acknowledged, or the fact that they are slowly entering young adulthood. Coming back to the participation piece, I was actually positively surprised when students had so much to offer in the second discussion on reasons for settling in the Indus Valley. In fact, I had not expected this discussion to take so much time. Because of this I felt like the amount of time for the actual planning and writing of the letter got shortened. However, this is something I need to get used to – thing taking more or less time than I expected – and adjusting accordingly. Because of this I did have to come back to the letter towards the end of the day and offer some clarification around the time-period – I asked students if they were an early settler, what date should they be using. They were able to look into the textbook and discover the time-period of the beginning of this civilization. This was a good learning experience for myself as well because now I see that sometimes a lesson does not just finish when the bell goes. Instead, I may have to come back to it a little later to clear up some missing elements or simply offer students the chance to ask questions related to any confusing material.

The second lesson I taught was math and my focus for this lesson was how I responded to student’s answers and comments. As a teacher, I expect students to be participating in my teaching – answering questions, offering ideas and comments. So, I think it is only fair that I have something to offer back to appreciate students’ responses, which only serves to further motivate future participation. As a result, I tried to closely monitor how I responded. Specifically, trying to use as many positive and neutral comments. So, if an answer were correct, I would repeat the answer and then offer some feedback. Generally, I try to repeat what the student said, with my own explanation. If possible, I use a personal example or experience that fits in with the material. For example, in almost every math lesson, students have to copy “Key Ideas” from either the textbook or those, which I have created and posted on the Smart Board. I had noticed that a lot of the students were getting a little lazy to do this. So this time, when I asked them to copy these notes, I asked them to also think to themselves, why these notes are so important and why they should be copying them down. Then we had a quick discussion. And the students brought up great points. One student said something along the lines of “by writing these down, they will stay in our brains.” So, I responded by identifying the answer as correct but then also following up with my own experience. I explained that while I did my Psychology degree, I had to take a course about memory and in that course I learned about something called “consolidation.” And basically, research has found that the more you repeat information – by reading it, writing it and looking back at it – the more likely you are to store it in your memory. And then if you have it in your memory, you can use it on the test. I have always noticed that when I offer little experiences like this, I have much more attention as opposed to when I just simply respond with “That’s right” or “yes.” Something else I really have been trying to work on is my wait time. That is both waiting for the class’ full attention and allowing enough time in between asking a question and choosing students to answer. For this first attention piece, I have personally seen an improvement in myself, as I have gotten a little firmer about this. I basically just tell the students that it is really hard for me to move on and I’m going to have to wait. I have seen this strategy work a lot better compared to asking them to be quiet or using “shhh.” I also believe this has helped improve my confidence level in assuming the position of a teacher as I feel more in command!

Can’t believe half of the first week is already over – it’s only a four-day week. I had the students from the beginning of the morning until recess again today. I’m really liking this time period because before I usually taught after recess and into the afternoon. In the beginning, I was sort of nervous having the students first thing; I was worried about settling the students in and getting them back in school mode. However, it has been a really valuable experience because starting the morning off right is really important as I feel this motivates students. Also, I feel like the better start in the morning, the greater the chances of having a smooth rest of the day as well.

We started with writing workshop in which students write in their journal books. The journal books have a number of different prompts, questions, and ideas to which students can choose to respond. And, it is entirely up to the student to choose which specific prompt/question they would like to write about. I definitely think this is a perfect way to start the day. First of all, there is student autonomy, they are beginning the day with something they choose themselves and they do enjoy this. Second, it is an independent task – in writing workshop, students are to work quietly on their own work – so it allows students to really come back into their school zone and turn on their focus and thinking caps. Lastly, the writing aspect itself, this is so important because right away students are expressing their thoughts and actually producing meaningful work. I could also see this activity working well at other times when students become a little rambunctious, lose their focus and just need some time to basically spit out what’s on their minds. For example, right after recess, lunch, or p.e.

After the journals, I went through two grammar lessons – suffixes and contractions. This was really simple. I introduced both topics, gave examples of both and then went over some questions from the related worksheets. Students then had some time to finish the worksheet. This was the first time I had done this type of lesson with them, so I was not really sure how long it would take for them to complete. So, a strategy my s.a. suggested was circulating and just observing how long it was taking students and going from there. If some students had finished earlier, I asked them to work on their book reviews. We then marked the worksheets and the marks were collected. After this, we marked the spelling homework from the previous day. Whenever I mark anything with the students, I usually try to let the students give the answers. That way I can ask them to explain their answer and also it allows everyone to share their answers. Because sometimes students come up with answers an answer key or I have not, and they have valid explanations for their answer. Also, when it comes to something like math, having students provide answers works really well because then I can ask them to come up to the Smart Board to show their work. This way we can see not just the answer, but also the process behind the answer.

We then moved onto math. I went over the previous day’s exercise. And this took a little longer than expected because the students really wanted to share their answers to a lot of the questions. It was so nice to see the students so engaged with their work, I even joked with that they are so much better than me because it actually took me a while to work out the answers to some of the questions. Their reaction to that was priceless. I love these types of moments with my students, I feel like these are the moments when you actually build connections with them and build a level of comfort in the class. And then, when we were about to move onto the new lesson, we were hit with a hailstorm! We literally went from full sunshine to a complete hailstorm within minutes and the students were so surprised that my s.a. and I decided to let them go out to experience the weather and even try to find the rainbow! Once they got back, we only had a little bit of time left. So, I was not able to go through much. However, the homework was assigned and my s.a. and I decided to tell the students they should finish as much of the exercise as possible and we would go through the rest together. This was such an interesting experience for me, a complete change of plans just because of the weather. I think it’s the surprises like this that teachers always talk about that keep this job so interesting and refreshing!

Today was the first day of our long-term practicum and I pretty much jumped in as soon as the students arrived in the morning! I liked beginning the day off with them because they were just as excited to see me, as I was to be in the classroom! And on my part, starting off right away didn’t really leave any time for me to be nervous or question myself. I thought this helped my confidence level and I felt very comfortable beginning by settling the class in. Also, the students were quite calm and focused which made the teaching a little easier for me as well.

I started the day with Socials and began my unit on Ancient India. Lucky for me, Socials is a subject the class really enjoys so when I said I would be teaching Socials, I received a really positive response. The lesson started with locating India on a blank world map displayed on the Smart Board. I gave students about three minutes to think in their groups and then students came up to the Smart Board to place a dot on a blank map identifying where they think India is on the map. To my surprise, even though a majority of the students have not learned about India in school or do not have much background knowledge about India, a lot of their predictions were very close. I also recognized the students enjoy using the Smart Board and they are much more engaged even when their use is as minimal as placing a dot on a map. For example, I had told the students they would have about five minutes to think about their prediction and to raise their hand when ready to make their prediction. And, the students were actually discussing with their group and it only took about two minutes for hands to start rising. After their predictions, I brought up two different maps – a world map with India labeled among the other countries and then a zoomed in version, which was a closer look at India. Using this map, I began a discussion about what just looking at the map could tell us about India, trying to get their critical thinking going. We first looked at neighboring countries, the continent India is in and then moved onto the southern region of India. I asked what looked really interesting about this region (the surrounding water bodies) and students pointed out the easy access to many water bodies. I then asked why this is important or beneficial to the people living in India. We talked about a lot of access to fresh water, easy opportunities for shipping out, transportation and exporting and how this helps their economy. I then mentioned that one of India’s strong industries is exporting to the rest of the world and that this is possible because of their geographical position close to water bodies. I then questioned the location of India in relation to the equator and the students pointed out how close it is to the equator. I asked how this could affect life in India as locations close to the equator receive more exposure to the sun. And students brought up terms like climate, weather, temperature and generally how India is a really hot country. I shared my own experiences in the country and asked if anyone else has been to India and had one student share his experience in the hot weather. After this discussion I mentioned how my roots are in India, so I’m really excited to teach about this civilization. And leading from this I brought in the scavenger hunt activity because it would benefit them to have an understanding of the basics of India today to fully understand the development of this civilization. I asked students to work with a partner in their table group and use one iPad between the two. Once they had their iPad and supplies ready, I explained that the scavenger hunt worksheet had the websites they should be looking through; however, the specific questions did not have an accompanying link. I explained why: this way they would be navigating all three websites and might even run into some information not required by the activity but would help build their understanding. And also I thought this made the activity a little more challenging and required students to think a little deeper if they actually had to read all the content on the websites. The pair work was good with one iPad because this meant they were actually working on the hunt together as opposed to having two iPads and then they would easily just divide the questions. I actually learned a lot myself from this activity. Specifically, the fact that sometimes you plan for an assignment one way and when you come to do it with the class, they bring up aspects that you may not have even thought of. For example, some of the students were asking if they could use other websites to find answers or simply just type in the question to Google. But, I asked them to only use the websites I had provided as I knew they were appropriate and as a warning I might even ask which website the answer was found on to ensure accountability. I also had some early finishers, so I had to come up with something for them to do. I asked them to list five interesting facts or ideas about India that were not asked about in the hunt and list these on the back of the worksheet so they could share with the rest of the class. We then discussed the answers and the early finishers shared their interesting facts. When the students shared their answers, I had to point out that it is okay if you have a different answer because some questions can have more than one answer and I encouraged them to share their different answers. I also tried to build on the student’s answers and offer information from my own experience with India. I feel like this is something I would like to keep doing as it makes the material more interesting for students and they were listening more when I added my own little details instead of just repeating what they had just said. Something my s.a. and I have talked about when responding is to try to repeat correct answers students provide but re-wording them in my own words just to emphasize.

We then transitioned over to math and continued with the probability unit. We started with a question based on the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, which definitely hooked in the students – I had them summarize the plot first. Students worked on the first problem in pairs and then we were going to discuss the problem as a class on the Smart Board. However, a couple of minutes in, I noticed that a handful of the students had forgotten some of the concepts and terms (e.g., favorable outcomes, sample space) as it had been a couple weeks since my last probability lesson. So, then I decided to change things up and work on the problem together. First we reviewed some of the key terms that students had forgotten and then used this to work through the problem. I enjoy moments like these where I have to change my lesson plan because it just shows that not everything you do will go according to plan and I must learn to be flexible as this allows to better meet the students’ needs. We went through two more examples together and I could tell students had a better understanding after the first example as I had students provide the work for most of the steps and then come show it on the Smart Board. A couple of students did begin to get distracted and I tried something I haven’t before. I simply stood at the front and said “Ok, I’m just going to stand here until I have everyone’s attention, I’m just going to wait,” and it was so interesting to see the students’ response. The on-task students were asking the distracted to pay attention and it honestly took no more than a minute to get everyone back on track. I would like to keep experimenting with different strategies to get and maintain the students’ attention; for example, my s.a. gave me a shaker today and I could develop a process with the students where the louder I have to shake the shaker, means they are too distracted and I need their full attention. At the end, I had students write me an exit slip to tell me how they are feeling about the unit so far – something they completely understand, something they find challenging, and something they really enjoy. Some students were hesitant at first, but I told them they could take their time and hand it in whenever they were ready because it would really help me as a teacher understand how they are learning. Again, I realized sometimes you just need to give students a simple but true explanation as to why you do certain things and they do honestly understand after.

I really enjoyed the first day and it was a really good start to the long-term practicum. It was so good to be back in the classroom and having been able to teach first thing was just a bonus! I look forward to the rest of the ten weeks and after being in the staff meeting today I can tell there is going to be so many extracurricular activities and events happening that time is just going to fly by!