Technically, this week was supposed to be the last week where I teach full time but my SA and I decided that I would continue teaching full time until the last day of practicum especially because I have not wrapped up all my lessons so this gives me one extra week. There are a lot of exciting yet nerve-racking events that occurred this week. First of all, we had our TOC day this week! We had to pretend that we were a Teacher-On-Call and switched classrooms and schools with other UBC teacher candidates. Thankfully we were given our school and grade a couple days before just to get us mentally prepared for what we were going into. I had a kindergarten class and I was actually quite excited because I had really wanted to try teaching kindergarten. Although I was still in a primary grade, it was quite different than being in a grade 3 class. Because it was nearing the end of school, the kindergartners had already gained a lot of routine and management practice which made my job a lot easier. It was a completely different environment than what I was used to but it was great to experience it and overall I had a blast! The kids were so kind and helpful if I didn’t know the routine very well and they treated me as if I was their teacher instead of just a stranger taking over. I was glad that the teacher left me alone to help me get the full experience. I think it’s great to be able to be a TOC for a while as a beginning teacher because it really gives us exposure to all the different grades that we hadn’t gotten a chance to teach and perhaps we would find another grade more appealing than our practicum grade.

We also went on a field trip this week to Burns Bog which was a lot of fun and educational! It was my first time going there so I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about plants and animals and history behind the bog itself. It was unfortunate that one of the students accidentally fell into one of the creeks but other than that, the students all had a wonderful time despite having been there in the previous years.

This was a very busy week. There is only two more weeks until practicum is over and there is a lot of units that need to be wrapped up before the end of those two weeks. I have just started on a new research project with the students which I hope to have it finished within the two weeks and we are still wrapping up our science unit. I started social studies but we have been having quite a few Fridays off in the past weeks only giving me Thursdays for socials which isn’t enough time for the unit I am doing. Therefore, I have to figure out a way where I can end off and my SA’s could possibly continue the rest for me and finish it off. I would hate to abruptly end a unit or rush it for the sake of the remaining time I have. I have also started ‘Reading Clocks’ for Math which is a long unit that requires a great amount of of practice and time in order to fully and successfully understand it therefore I am not trying to rush even if there are only two weeks left.  As you can see, I have a lot to figure out and I am trying not to stress about it.

There wasn’t a lot of exciting highlights this week but we did learn about saving the bee’s in Science. It was inspiring to see how affected the students were about our bee population. They were devastated that we were losing bees especially because we have been talking about plants for weeks now and how important they are and how we might lose an abundance of plants if bees start to become extinct. I had named just a few of the plants that we would lose if bees became extinct and they were absolutely heart-broken. I think they were shocked that bees played such a huge and important role in helping pollinate plants that give us food. It was definitely a fact that they had previously not been very aware of. So many kids admitted to previously disliking bees and sometimes even destroying their homes for fun not realizing that they may actually be harming the population. They had many great ideas of how they would try to help and protect our bees. Overall, I think it was a successful lesson because it really made the students think and ponder over the reality of whats happening in the world currently. I always think it’s important to let students know what’s happening around the world and how they may be able to help change it for the better. Although they are only kids, they are the future generation and we can hope that they will use their knowledge to create a more positive world.

This week went off to a great start because the first thing I noticed on Monday morning when I got into the classroom was that our sunflowers had finally germinated!! It was only day 7 and every single persons sunflower was about three centimeters tall! I was so excited for the kids to come and witness it because it sure put a big smile on my face! They had grown so fast over the weekend. I let the students crowd around it for a couple of minutes to enjoy the beauty of the seedlings and the day went well from then on. By the end of the week, the sunflowers had grown another 5 centimeters.

For this week’s observation, I was observed on a science lesson for the very first time. Math and Mindup are usually the lessons I get observed on because they would fit into the schedule best but science fit for this week’s schedule. The lesson went well but I did notice that I talked and asked too many questions for a long period of time. Although the questions were relevant and important, I could have done it differently by using pair-share or changing up the activities to get the students more engaged. With my group of kids, they always need to be doing some hands-on work and should be changing activities every 15 or so minutes in order to stay on task and not wind down. This is the same advice my FA gave me on our debriefing period after my lesson. She also said to try and include brain breaks after reading a long story like I did. Although the kids may be engaged in the story, they are still sitting for a long period of time. There is always room for improvement in every lesson and although at the time it’s hard to realize that your lesson is not going exactly how you wanted it, one often realizes this later on or even right after it’s done! I am so glad for this opportunity to learn and grow from every lesson and be creative and change things around in order to adapt every lesson to the needs of my students. I look forward to next week where I will be teaching 100% although it is very nerve-wracking. I am also worried because my SA won’t be there the entire week so I hope that it is not too overwhelming not just for me but for the students as well. I am hopeful that everything will go smoothly 🙂

During this shorter week which consisted of one Pro-Day Day, I continued teaching Math, Science and MindUp. I got observed by my FA and SA on the same day one after another. It was nerve-racking as always but I had decided that it would be best to get two observations out of the way in one day. During my Math lesson, I was afraid that I was not teaching it well when students were not responding to my questions and not showing any sign of understanding. I had assumed in my mind that I was not doing a good job in my explanation so I continued to repeat myself and do more examples. However, as my FA pointed out at the end of my lesson, that the lack of participation on the students part was not due to my teaching but due to boredom and tiredness of sitting for a long period of time. I had originally planned two brain breaks but because I was trying so hard to provide more examples in order for them to grasp the concept, a brain break completely slipped my mind.  Also, when I noticed that students were not participating, it may have been the case where they were not confident in their responses and not because they were not understanding the concept. I should have given them an opportunity to pair-share because I understand it’s easier to share with one classmate than it is to share with the teacher or the rest of the class.  Brain breaks and pair-sharing are two important strategies that I need to try and incorporate into my lessons more often.

As for my MindUp lesson which was right after recess, I began with calming the students down because students are usually energetic from playing outside. When students were calm and ready to move on, I began with a review of the brain parts—and continued with focusing on mindful listening. I ended the lesson with mindful and unmindful acts and had students out of their seats for this activity. My SA had really enjoyed watching my lesson and told me that it was interesting and insightful. “Mindful” was our word of the week from that lesson onwards.

Entering my second week of practicum was nerve-racking because Monday was my observation day. Although I’ve been observed before, this one being the first one of my long practicum seemed more important than all the other ones. Moreover, I was set to be observed near the end of the day which I have never experienced before.  I was so glad to hear that my classroom management has improved greatly. However, I do need to work on my pacing and brain breaks as mentioned before. I also need to reconsider everything that I plan for my lesson to make sure it is something that the students could handle or will it ruin the enjoyment of the lesson.

As for asking important and critical questions, I tried my best during my math and science lessons to help students extend thinking and learning. When I ask questions, I try and have students explain out loud their thinking to the rest of the class so that they can show that they really understand the concept and it’s also a great way for other students to learn something as well. Sometimes, it’s much easier for students to just say the answer to something rather than explain it, so I try and give them an extra minute and come back to them. I emphasize that the answer is not as important as showing their work or explaining how they got to that answer. This really shows students that effort needs to be implemented in their work in order to succeed. This is difficult because only a few students can really do this and others are either too shy to share or they really don’t know how to. Usually when I have a written assessment, I can see that most students are capable of the concept and are showing their work, but are just afraid of sharing out loud which is completely fine. I hope to try and build more confidence in students and I always try and pick students who usually do not raise their hand. Even if I am confident that a student will not be able to answer a question, and they continuously have their hands up, I will still choose them and scaffold and facilitate their understanding by leading them to the right direction. I hope that this shows students that it’s okay if they are a little confused and that I will help them towards the right direction.

For Division, although there is always one right answer, there are multiple ways of getting to that answer. I have allowed students to share their work when answering a division problem to show other students that each and every way of thinking is correct. Some students can do it mentally, while others need to draw it out and sketch the problem to help their learning and all ways are okay. I ask students many times during a lesson if there is only one way to do a problem and they always say no. Sometimes I even ask students to try doing a problem in two different ways to help them understand the concept better.

I will continue to try and ask deeper and more critical questions to help students in their learning. I am looking forward to the other eight weeks of practicum to not only enhance the students’ learning but my own learning as well.