Simone's ePortfolio

And the long term practicum has come to a close. I cannot believe how quickly it went! I am both happy and sad to be moving on. My school placement was such a wonderful place, full of so many learning opportunities and great people. Despite the Job Action drama, I am so fortunate to have been included in that school.

Below are some (unfortunately LARGE) pictures from the last few days…

My compliment chart written by my students

My SA and I on my second last day…we didn’t plan it!

Walking out of class on the last day with all of my things

This week saw a switch of teaching placement as we had TOC (Teacher On Call) Day. Although not a totally new location, it was still a valuable learning experience. I also had the unfortunate chance of learning even more about the politics of education, with Phase 2 of the BC teachers strike being announced. It was a rocky yet successful week.

TOC was an event I had been looking forward to from the beginning. I feel this experience was a brilliant choice for us TCs to work from others’ day plans and to plan an explicit day of our own. I was placed in a 3/4 class. It was nice to experience a new classroom full of students who actually stop talking when you are talking; very refreshing. To become comfortable with the day plans, it took me a couple read throughs to grasp the instructions. I’m glad I came in early to get that done! I immediately went into my usual ways of setting up Smartboard Notebook presentations to use with the group and had a mini schedule going for the day of other tasks that needed to be completed.

Overall it was a very successful day. I lucked out with 2 spares, library and music, so it was a slower day than it could have been. I also was able to teach grade 3 math which I already do in my classroom so I was comfortable in that role. I found the scaffolding and spoon-feeding techniques that I use consistently with my group weren’t as necessary in this other classroom but definitely were helpful.

Before TOC day, it was announced that the teachers would be starting their rotating strikes. Unfortunately, I had to learn this by accidentally over hearing a conversation between two teachers during long jump practice as well as reading the notice that was placed in my students’ mailbox. Being out of the loop like that and not hearing it directly was a little bit frustrating to me, however I understand I am not welcome in union meetings. Some teachers at Carr have asked me to join as they feel it would be a valuable learning experience. However, many other teachers have firmly said it is not appropriate for TCs to participate. On Tuesday, the staffroom was taken over at recess for the meeting so I hid in my own classroom (and all the good treats were in the staffroom!). Then, on Thursday, during TOC day, my classroom ended up being used for the meeting, so I was forced to retreat to the staffroom and was not allowed back into my room until the meeting was over. Luckily I was planned ahead for after lunch but it was a bit of an inconvenience.

Thankfully this Friday went more smoothly than others as I learned the reality of Friday afternoon and what can and cannot get completed. We spent 45 minutes cleaning out our desks, supplies around the classroom and the cloakroom. We kept it slow paced and therefore my stress levels were lower.

Finally, I have spoken with one of the kindergarten teachers and she is allowing me to visit her classroom as I phase out of teaching my own classroom. Whenever I am not teaching my own students and my SA does not need me, I will be over in her portable with her class learning the ways of the K.

It was not a very exciting week for me as most of it was spent recovering from a sinus infection. However, before taking the time off, I did attempt some instructing while being ill and I can say it was a challenge.

My patience was incredibly low and I was running out of ideas. It was not until Wednesday that I realized that I could not handle being sick and trying to teach anymore. I did not attend school on Thursday or Friday, something that I am very upset about. I do not like missing out on experiences and I feel that is what happened. Friday was Sports Day and I had been looking forward to it for the entire practicum. I wanted to take the chance to really get involved in the school community. However, I know that resting to take of myself was the priority and the next few weeks will run a lot smoother because of it.

I tackled a new art project this week which I am very happy about. Unfortunately I do not have a good record with art lessons in my classroom but so far this one is looking like it will go very well. My students seemed to enjoy the lesson and I am looking forward to seeing the final products.

In math class, we are struggling to move forward in our lessons on division. My class is all over the place in its comprehension ability. I have a small group who has picked it up quickly and has completed all of the assigned work as well as extra challenge sheets. I have some who understand it but just taking longer to fill it all out, and I have a group who is severely struggling. We are already 4 classes behind now as I do not want to move forward until we are all near the same level of understanding.

I am looking forward to Tuesday for a fresh start in my classroom. I only have 3 weeks left and I want to make the best of it. TOC day should be an interesting challenge where I will be able to apply my teaching skills to another group of students. Should be fun!

Being sick is no fun, especially when you are a teacher. This is what I learned this week. Battling a sinus infection leads to a lack of energy and organization and therefore lessons and students that are not at their best.

Heading to the Senior Mini Meet for the track team this week was an interesting experience. Of course, it was the only pouring rain day of the week but we spent it outside for 2 hours measuring distances and starting races. I ran the long jump pit on my own. I enjoyed running a station and cheering on students from my school but also the other schools. Track meets were always something I enjoyed doing in school so I am happy to be able to provide that to other students.

Friday was the worst way to end this week. My SA caught my illness and ended up not coming to school, leaving me with a TOC. Although I was already scheduled to teach 85% of the day, the change in rhythm really threw me off. Also, Friday is not the best learning day for any student. We had an author visit come to the library and meet with my students and Kate’s students for an hour. They had to sit, listening to someone else talk, for a whole hour. It was a recipe for disaster. They were not able to get back into the groove of school, despite my efforts. They were all about 5 to 10 minutes late leaving at the end of the day because we ran out of time and needed to cleanup the classroom and get Mother’s Day cards and gifts organized. Such a nightmare.

On Thursday after school, my SA said, “change whatever you want” in relation to the schedule and classroom arrangements. Wow, what an invitation. Of course, I will take this comment in small strides. Friday afternoon I moved all the desks around because I know they needed a change and so do I. Especially because we did not get to have our usual Friday afternoon meeting planning the next week ahead, looks like I will just be planning on my own and showing up on Monday and showing her what week is going to look like.

With my trip to Switzerland also fast approaching, it is hard to balance both the prep and excitement for that along with 80-100% of the teaching load here. There is just not enough time in the day to get it all done.

This week was defined by the teachers’ job action. Unfortunately, it is causing me some stress and upset but I am working with it. Also, I had many positive feedback sessions and evaluations and one of my lessons is being written about in the school newsletter!

Job action starting on Wednesday has limited the hours that teachers spend at school. Although I am not someone to come in extremely early or stay very late, I still do not like having limits on my time. We all have to leave at 4 pm, whether the prep work for the next day is completed or not. Of course, I am taking work home with me, but I personally enjoy working in the classroom space as I have multiple resources there and I like to look at the space around me and imagine and determine how I am going to use it. Overall, I feel very rushed to perform and I feel there is a sense of awkwardness in the air amongst the teachers in my school. Some are very dedicated to the union while others are also taking work home but not telling many people that they are.

Despite this issue, I had many positive lessons this week as well as many downfalls. I felt I put in a lot of energy and planning and although a lot of paid off, some of it still came crashing down. To me, that is the ups and downs of teaching and I am learning to deal with it. I am currently taking it all very personally but am working to move past it and learn from my mistakes. Friday was a very good day for me and we only had 2 students move on the traffic light- a major accomplishment for our group of monkeys!

For grade 2 socials, I have officially taken over and we have started a mini unit on Technology. This week, I had my roommate Angela come in and show the students the technology that she uses every day for work. It is a 3D scanner that helps build customized prosthetics and braces for people that need them to increase mobility and overall quality of life. The students really enjoyed seeing the scanner in action and asking lots of questions. During the lesson, the principal came in, took pictures, and has asked me to write a blurb about the activity to be published in the school newsletter. Very exciting!

Finally, I went to our first Long Jump practice for track and field. Mr. English has said that I am welcome to help out with Long Jump whenever I can, as there are many students who have signed up for it. I am looking forward to it and can’t wait to get out more and get jumping!

Lots of art projects and lesson ideas on Pinterest looking fantastic and perfect for you classroom. However, I caution you: they don’t always work.

This art lesson was a major lesson for me as well as the students. I saw pictures of this art project on Pinterest and thought they would be adorable for Easter- a somewhat functional creation that could be used for a variety of purposes and most likely not done in the past. However, even though I did attempt the project myself in advance, none of them worked out.

They were intended to look like this:

So I set the classroom up during lunch and everything was perfect and ready to go!

The students were excited and after I gave a short demo, the fun began. The fun lasted about 2 minutes. Students realized their strings weren’t sticking to the balloons and kept falling off. Many had to re-do their entire balloon several times. Once they had given up, we hung them up to dry over night.

After they strings dry, the instructions are to pop the balloons and the strings will hold their shape. I popped them in the morning before students were in the room as I had a feeling over night they weren’t going to work. This was the result:

Instead of an egg, students ended up with piles of strings. I kept popping hoping at least 1 would work. But they all ended up as just a small mess.

As the students lined up outside the classroom before the bell rang, my heart pounded. I was scared to tell them what happened. I felt like it was my fault. So I joined them in the hallway after the bell rang and told them I had something I have to tell them. I started with a long apology and ended up explaining the resulting situation.

One of my youngest students raises her hand and says “It’s OK Miss Smith, now we have a bird’s nest instead of an egg!” I almost cried. The optimism of this girl was overwhelming. It was nice to hear that I wasn’t a complete failure.

Lesson learned: make sure you follow all the directions carefully. Don’t make personal edits and choices to the materials or the steps involved.

After spending two weeks in practicum, I have learned that I desperately need to work on my chart paper writing. Many of my lessons involve the SmartBoard so I do not have to consider the text being legible to students. However, when the reason to write on the chart paper arises, I seem to struggle making sure my letters are neat and straight. As a teacher, you are a role model at all times, and that includes printing on chart paper. Here is a sample of my current state of chart paper writing skills…yikes…