Monthly Archives: March 2016

This week I ran my first unit test for the Science 10s. It was definitely an interesting experience and I think I did some things well, but other things not so well. I did a decent job going over what would be expected for students to know on the test, and I also put up that information in the form of learning objectives on my class website for the students to see. I also think the design of the test was decent, where some students finished with 15 or so minutes remaining and others taking a bit longer, but nobody had to stay beyond the bell. However, I tried to do something different on the test and make it have a “theme” and I think this ended up not working. It was a chemistry test and I had a paragraph or two before each question that framed the student as the lead chemistry of a company developing a cure for the common cold, who then had to use their chemistry knowledge to complete the process of making the drug.

For more students it was probably a neutral thing. I didn’t get any positive feedback from the students about it, so it probably didn’t make a big difference either way. However, I neglected to consider the effect it would have on my ELL students. The actual questions weren’t that hard, but like my UBC courses mentioned the language is not the focus of the test, and I made it out to be that way. I was trying to do something fun and different, hopefully increasing the enjoyment of the test and reducing stress by adding some humour and personality, but in the end I think I did more harm than good. In the future if I were to do this again, and I’m not sure I would, it would be abundantly clear where the irrelevant information ended and the actual questions began. I could use different types of formatting to make it clear, and even give explicit verbal instructions to the class or on a student-by-student basis. Overall the average for the test seemed about right at 70% or so, so I don’t think it was a disaster, but I can improve lots for next time!

This week I took on my third course to reach my “full” 75% practicum teaching load. I put full in quotations because it is not really a full load, and as a teacher I would expect to have a 100% load for one half of the school year. It was quite an interesting experience because I underestimated how difficult the jump from 50% to 75% would be. I considered that I would have less prep time during the day, and I realized that I would have more that I would need to prepare, but I didn’t really think about the two of them together. So far it has been manageable, but I have been staying later at school after the final bell to catch up from the day.

It reminds me of my UBC courses because I have also had to become smarter with managing my time. I need to budget time for specific things during the mornings, after school, and during my “prep” block. Things like preparing for lessons, marking assessments, and getting labs or demonstrations ready. Especially during the last few months of courses at UBC I had to do the same. I needed to be smart with my time and budget for studying, writing assignments, and preparing for the practicum start. Hmm… I do believe that this will be a consistent theme in teaching for me! Time management will be very important. I will need to come up with good strategies now so that I can cope as a first-year teacher and avoid burnout.