My first thought is- “Wow!” How could short practicum already be over?! The time just flew by with the blink of an eye, and now we are back to the UBC grind. These past few weeks have been such a wonderful, eye-opening experience, with Friday being a very tough day having to say goodbye to Mrs. S’s class. It truly is amazing how fast you can become so connected and ingrained in children’s lives. I am going to miss seeing them every day, but thankful that Thursday’s will still be spent with my class.

This week was very busy and I had the opportunity to teach on many occasions. Ms. S had lots of assessments to complete, so I offered to help in any way I could. One morning, I was able to take on the entire class from 9-12pm! It felt great to be able to open the class with our morning calendar session and “Show & Tell”. This part of the class is a lot of fun, as every day, a student is selected to be the VIP of the class and they conduct the morning messages (this gives each child practice being a leader and public speaker). We got to sing and learn about the months and days of the week, as well as discover more about the VIP through their sharing. It was exciting to see what many of the students brought to class throughout the week, and it gave me a sense of nostalgia seeing all the different toys (some of which were similar to what I used to play with when I was their age).

Both of my observations (SEL and Math) were this week, and I felt confident about my lesson plans going in to the session. The only minor worry I had prior to the lesson was my ability to manage the students, as I knew this was something I had to work on. However, I was pleasantly surprised that over the course of my teaching this week, management became easier and the students were respecting me more as a teacher figure. Although my “Great Points” were being used as a means of extrinsic motivation, I felt that the children really took them seriously, and were showing signs of frustration at other children for misbehaving or acting out when I took a point away from them. On Friday (the last day for Great Points) – I experienced the students working so diligently and quietly to get their work completed in order to maintain the points they had earned. At the end of the day, I gave them all lollipops for being so well behaved and being great students for me during my practicum. It was great to see their eyes light up when they found out they were getting a special treat for excellent work ethic. I realize that extrinsic motivation is a highly debated concept, and that is why I have chosen it as the question I will be looking at for inquiry. My reasoning for bringing about “Great Points” is because I saw another teacher who used a similar method for an intermediate grade, and she had her students managed very effectively. I still wonder, however, if this is the right approach to take to ensure students are concentrating on the task they need to be focused on, and that the idea of a simple reward is not the only driving force behind their cooperation.

I really find it fascinating to observe students who are eager to conform to the rules, and work towards the goal (i.e. completing work and staying on task quietly to earn a lollipop). If I were to take this extrinsic motivation away from them, I believe it might just be that much harder for some of the more behavior-prone students to keep self-regulated. I feel as though there may be a certain age that requires more extrinsic motivation, compared to older students who are more mature to realize the importance and benefits of working hard. Interestingly, I got to work with a substitute teacher during one of my days at CC, and we talked about this method of Great Points. She told me she has been a teacher for over 35 years and that her entire career was based on motivating her classroom extrinsically. She said it was not only extremely effective, but made for a fun and entertaining atmosphere. This is definitely a topic I want to explore further, as I deeply feel that being intrinsically motivated is such an important piece of becoming a good student and citizen. However, I am beginning to see that younger students may need that extra push to get them motivated to a point where they can start to find that pursuit for intrinsic motivation.

Further, during my practicum, I spent lots of time with the students teaching math lessons- in particular, learning more about place value and currency. I noticed throughout my lesson planning that students in Grade 2 cannot rush through different activities. For many of the plans, I had incorporated sometimes more than one activity, and realized that this is not possible. Many students find math to be more of a challenge, and it is so important to use repetition with this subject. On many days I would need to review and repeat the lesson taught the following day, adding on some more challenging questions for the children who were really understanding the material. Having over-planned many of the days, I was able to learn from Mrs. S that it’s so important to be simplistic at this age. I found that because I have been teaching intermediate for my “Team-Teaching,” that the lessons have been more advanced and detailed. From this, I can understand that primary students need to be more streamlined and repetitive, compared to an intermediate class that can move beyond the simplicity and tackle the bigger concepts/ideas.

Some further observations that I noted from the week was specific to our Remembrance Day assembly. It was such a beautiful and solemn ceremony, and was very impactful. It was so touching to the point that when Mrs. S’s group returned to the class, there were 4 students who were in tears. Not only were they in tears, but some were balling and shaking because of how the assembly impacted them. Mrs. S told me that in all her years of teaching, she had never seen students act so emotionally over a Remembrance Day assembly. It was heartbreaking to see the children so saddened, but Mrs. S handled the situation in such a great way. Firstly, she comforted the students, as did I. We gave the students hugs and tissues, and she asked them all to open up their writing journals. Mrs. S asked them to write or draw how they were feeling about the assembly- that it was an important way to get feelings out. After they had written/drawn about their feelings, they were to write on something they liked about the assembly. Although it took over 30 minutes to calm some of the students down, it was a powerful experience to have participated in. I was fortunate to see how Mrs. S handled the issue so well, and she showed me lots of tools on how to deal with such a situation.

In summary of my 2 week practicum, I had such an amazing experience with Mrs. S’s students. I got to know each and every student more on a personal level, and they were able to learn more about me. When we said goodbye, it was nice to hear them say they wished I was staying every day! That made me feel really good 🙂 I am really looking forward to seeing my students again every Thursday and being able to observe more and partake further in teaching during these times. Mrs. S and I feel it is important to keep up with the role, so I will be helping with read-alouds and guided readings. I am so grateful to have such a great class to work with- April cannot get here soon enough!