The night before my first classroom observation visit I barley slept at all, I was an  overwhelming mixture of excited, nervous and anxious. Where the teachers going to like me? Was my outfit professional enough? What if something happened and I did not know how to handle it? 

Upon arriving at our practicum school my classmates and myself were greeted with a “Welcome UBC students” sign posted to the front door, which really helped to put my nerves at bay. After taking a quick “selfie” with the girls in front of the sign we went to the office to introduce ourselves to the administrative staff. While the principle was away that day we were able to met the secretaries, the vice principle and a handful of kind faced teachers.

Next we met one of our SA’s who divvied out some “visitor” name tags and took us around the school for an official tour. At this point we briefly met all of the teachers who we would be visiting that day, as well as a number of other important instructors such as the gym teacher and the librarian.

The first classroom that I was in was a grade 4/5 combination. This class is taught by two teachers who work together as a teacher share, with one of them working 4 days of the week and the other working 1 day. The atmosphere in the classroom was great, you could tell that the students really respected their teacher however it was not as regulated as the other classrooms that I would visit that day. One thing that the teachers do to keep the kids on task is to split them into three groups (based on seating) and give the groups checkmarks when the kids are doing things well and to take some away when the kids are acting up. I will have to remember to ask what the checkmarks represent next Thursday.  We did a morning writing activity on “Who is the most amazing person you know” and then the kids had gym class. Because the teacher was going to be using that time for prep she asked me stay with the kids and help out in the gym. The kids in this class were so sweet to me, two of them even asked me if I would come outside and play with them at recess!

The next class I visited was grade 3. This class was the most regulated out of the classrooms I saw. The students sat at tables rather than desks and kept all of their belongings in a cubby on the wall, aside from a few essentials, such as a pen and pencil, that they keep in a communal basket in the centre of the table. The teacher explained that this was to help keep the kids on task and not distracted with things that are in their desks. Another thing I noticed in this class more so than in the others was that their was zero tolerance for students talking out of turn or at times when she was talking. The teacher also spent a lot of time on SEL related concepts, for example before doing a timed math drill she reiterated the idea of staying calm and explained that if you panic your brain will not be able to think as well, we also did a breathing exercise before starting. One classroom strategy that I thought was really great was the marble system, the teacher would give the students marbles (quite liberally) for things like completing homework, behaving well, and even for having a balanced lunch. The students would then put their marbles into a jar, once the jar was full the class would receive 30 mins free time. The kids would then vote to decide if they would spend the 30 mins right away or “bank” it and combine a number of jars for longer free time in the future. The class explained to me that they were working towards banking 10 jars, which would equal 1 full free day! I like that this unites the whole class and also touches upon the notion of democracy. The kids in this class were very sweet, a group of girls came up to me before I left for lunch and told me I looked like a super model. While I was very embarrassed I was also very touched, they were too cute!

After lunch I started out in a grade 5 classroom. The students were doing silent reading so their was not much for me to observe. I did however notice that the teacher had written up the daily schedule on the chalk board. She also wrote out each homework activity on the chalk board and had each item numbered to make sure that the students wrote down each one. Another thing I noticed was the bathroom break policy, the students did not need to ask the teacher if they could go to the bathroom, they would simply pick up the boys or girls bathroom magnet from the board and place it on their desks. This allows for the students to use the bathroom when needed while not disturbing the class in doing so. Because the kids were going to be playing outside for the end portion of the day they packed up their bags early, one thing that the teacher does at the end of the day is initials the students planners and then in the morning checks to see that the students parents have also initialed for that day as well.

Next I was in another grade 5 classroom. When it was time to enter this class they were already in the library creating their library cards and taking out books. The teacher was using this time to do some prep work so I was just observing the kids and making book suggestions. Once we left the library the students wrote in their agendas and similarly to the other grade 5 class we initialled the kids agendas for them before they packed up and we went outside to play “capture the flag”. Once we came back inside the bell was about to ring, the teacher had the students sweep and tidy up their desk stations and then let them go for the day.

What a whirlwind of a day.

The following Friday I found out that I had been placed in the 4/5 combination class. I am so happy to be working with such a great group of kids. I am excited to get to meet the other teacher involved in the teacher share next Thursday as she will be the SA that I work with majority of the time. While I am a little anxious about creating adequate lesson plans suitable for both grade levels, I am willing to take on the challenge and feel as if getting experience in a combination classroom will be extremely beneficial down the line.