Top of the morning!  End of Term 2A, unit-planning for practicum, keeping up with assignments… stepping back into the modular is always a highlight to the week!  This time around, things were a little different…

During prep block in the morning, my SA and I sat down and went through her report card software.  I was blown away by how organized the report card software was!  Drop-down menus filled with PLOs!  It was rather overwhelming scrolling through all those different PLOs, but as a side benefit… not only do I know for sure what I will be teaching, I also know the specific PLOs I will be designing my units around!  So excited!

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Today I paid extra close attention to how my SA taught because there was no spelling to mark.  She went through expectations over the blog aspect of a novel study.  I don’t know what it was, but I think I can finally say that I was able to observe and fully appreciate her teaching approach.  Perhaps it was due to the increased emphasis on instructional methodology and the different means of assessment, but I was able to clearly discern how my SA pre-teaches important phrases and/or words, the assignment instructions.  She then elaborated upon her expectations, detailing (point by point) the criteria upon which students’ works would be addressed.

As an example, she instructed the students to transfer a conversation thread that they started on the blog.  She clearly defined thread as a conversation, and in going through the blog in search of a good example of a thread, she used humour to call attention to threads that were of inadequate length.  Unfortunately she was not able to find an appropriate example, which my TA turned into a teachable moment that culminated with a reminder to participate.  Moreover, she used that opportunity to discuss her expectations for proper online posting etiquette and expectations.  After our classes’ discussions on assessment and clarity (as well as previous conversations I had), I feel that I was able to pick up a bit better on the entire process and how it all comes together to offer students a firmer understanding of the expectations placed on them.

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Today marks the beginning of a new term!  Sadly, there won’t be as many days at the modular as we are now entering workshop territory… also, next week I will only get half a day due to obligations arising from our math methods class.  We’ll make the most out of them and then hit the ground running!