Trevor's B.Ed PDP portfolio

Classroom management and getting the respect of the students was the goal for this week, and outside of one major lapse, things appeared to be going well. The students are beginning to respond to my style of classroom management and are aware that there are consequences to not completing work. I’m trying to use wait time more effectively by calling for the attention of students before I begin my wait time, and that’s been effective where I’ve allowed it to happen. This does not always occur during the early morning block, as there needs to be additional communication between myself and the peer tutor to explain why wait time is used instead of attempting to yell over the students to obtain their attention.

The two research periods were quite long and were difficult for the students to maintain focus for the full two hours, but overall the students were using their time effectively and many groups began working on their final copies of the pamphlets before the two hours had expired. Adjustments for the second research period included giving the students access to the map component of the project that they required, which I did not believe would be necessary during the research period. Students were more focused on their work because of the extra activity they had available to them.

The one major concern that occurred this week was that two of my students left the library before the end of the period. This was reported to the appropriate authorities within the school and on Tuesday students will be reminded of the necessity of staying within the classroom unless they have been given permission to leave for other locations. That these students did not do so is a concern, not least of which because their safety becomes an issue. I will be explaining to the students that this is completely unacceptable behaviour and that there will be consequences for this behaviour.

I found that things went really well for the first week of practicum. The students have been seeing me throughout the winter semester because I wasn’t at UBC doing coursework, so they were already familiar with the expectations I had for them, and they also knew me a bit better and had a stronger set of relationships with me than they would normally have with a student teacher.

The Wednesday class I taught was observed, and it was also much shorter than typical blocks at Killarey are. As a result, I had to do a lot of extra work in my Friday class to ensure the two blocks were roughly at the same space in the curriculum. This has made it easier to engage in some of the softer forms of classroom management, where there’s less need for specific strategies and more of a desire to simply redirect behaviour.

One of the things I need to continue working on is how to get the attention of the class once it is time to transition to a new activity. I have the capacity to become very loud if I need to, but I’m aware that when I get loud it sounds as though I am angry with the students, which is not the impression I want to give my students. I had to do this once during the Thursday class, and unfortunately I was looking at a student when I raised my voice above the volume level of the classroom. The student believed that I was singling them out for my apparent anger and responded by becoming very quiet through the rest of the class, even though my intention was to get the attention of the whole room. Next week I will speak with the student and ensure they are aware that they were not in trouble.

This coming week will be spent in Flex Week, which changes the block schedule significantly and means that I will not return to teaching everyday until the beginning of week three of the practicum. I’m not pleased about Flex Week, and it interrupts my plans for the unit and it is disconcerting to have 2 hour classes instead of 70 minute classes, but my two blocks that I will be teaching will be spent in the library working on the projects that have been assigned to my students. This will be an excellent opportunity to observe my classroom management skills and whether I am able to quietly obtain the attention of the class, as most strategies for obtaining student attention are not feasible in a library setting.

The first week at my practicum school has been very busy and exciting so far.  It’s only the Thursday of the first week of what is supposed to be an observation practicum, and I’ve already had a chance to teach parts of lessons and build lesson plans that I could be delivering in their entirety next week.  I feel lucky that I have already had the chance to present at least a part of a lesson to both of my school advisors and to have gotten such wonderful and thorough feedback about what I did, and what I can do to improve my practice for the next set of lessons that I do.

On the topic of feedback, I submitted half a dozen lesson plans for consideration, and it looks like I’m going to be teaching at least three of them next week, even if they’re going to be substantially amended or in at least one case it will be shortened to be only part of a lesson.  Though I’m disappointed that I will not get the whole class to test out my material, I am still very excited that I have an opportunity to do a lesson that is truly my own and not something that my advisor was planning to do and let me do in their stead.

Now that I have presented at least once to each of my advisors, they have been encouraging me to expand beyond my assigned courses and observe courses in other departments, in order to witness different teaching styles and classroom management practices.  I have to admit that it is interesting to see how other classes deal with issues of how to conduct their lessons.  So far I have been lucky enough to take watch part of a home economics class and a physical education class.  Both were very informative about how to ensure that time is managed properly and the extent to which giving clear instructions is important to ensuring that the lesson is completed properly.  With my advisors’ permission, I’m looking forward to being an active participant in one of the PE courses next week.

When I haven’t been preparing lesson plans or teaching the lesson plans of my two advisors, I’ve been learning a lot simply by observing and interacting with the students that are in my classes.  In many ways the students I have observed are very similar to how my own classes in high school acted, but they have also had an eagerness to succeed that I never really found among some of my classmates, especially in the earlier grades.  It’s refreshing and certainly is likely to change my practice, since the students seem very prepared and motivated to succeed.

Tomorrow is going to be a test free day, which will be a nice opportunity to get back into a routine and start observing classes that aren’t full of anxious students worried about exams and their term grades.  Hopefully I can move to a more advantageous position in the room to observe my advisors directly; I am very interested to see what they do in order to get the attention of students and what kind of body and facial language is used to convey meaning.  These are concepts that I cannot observe from my original position in the classroom.

We’re finally here.

In eight hours, I will be stepping into a new school environment for my short practicum.  I wish I could say I had the ability to go to sleep right now, but I’m wired.  Even if the first few days are meant for observation and to get a feel for a high school environment again, I’m excited that this is my first chance to start actively being part of a school community and teaching.  This is a chance to put everything I’ve learned into practice and start understanding why we have the pedagogical system we use as teachers.  More than anything, it’s a chance for me to start my inquiry and see if the methods I want to use for myself really would be feasible in the modern classroom, and its exhilarating to be doing that kind of first person research.

I’m also terrified.  Completely and utterly scared out of my mind that I’m going to fall flat on my face and not be up to standard.  Or worse, that the methods I want to use are the problem instead of a lack of skill as a person.  The only thing I can truly commit to right now is to observe my sponsor teachers as best I can and to reflect on what I see and how it relates to my views of what my practice will look like.  I hope that I can have time to discuss what I would like to do with my sponsor teachers and faculty advisor to determine what changes will have to be made.