Putting it into action…

As an educator and learner, I believe the best way to learn something is by doing it with your own two hands. During my year at UHill, we went on multiple field trips to build on what we had learned. By the end of the year, the class did not necessarily remember every lesson in the classroom, but they were able to recite all of the field trips we went on and discuss what they learned there.

One of my best lessons was a summative assessment of our Science unit for light and sound. Students were to demonstrate their knowledge of how sound is made by creating their own instruments out of recyclable items found in their households. Before students began making their instruments, they had to draw up an “instruction” manual so that if anyone picks up their plan, they would be able to make it too. The students had to figure out how to build their instrument and what the source of sound is – in the end everyone got creative and built amazing instruments! On instrument building days, I felt that the students were the teachers because I was learning so much from their creativity. I would have never been able to come up with these ideas on my own! After all the instruments were built, we created a classroom symphony. I was surprised at how well these instruments were able to make music. I took a risk with this project because it was messy, and needed tons of organization – but it worked out for the better and I’m glad I pursued it. Check out their work below:

As part of the requirements to be in the FLAGS cohort, I had to teach Core French to some other classes in the school. I was fortunate enough to be in an awesome 5/6 class, and a straight 7. It was an amazing to be able to experience teaching to older grade groups. The unit I worked on with the two classes was La Culture – my objective was to engage students in French culture so that they don’t dread taking French classes, especially in high school. The final project was a presentation based on a French pop song, the students had a lot of fun researching the song and artist information in groups with iPads and the final presentations turned out quite well! The unit was something that the students were not used to doing for French. The feedback I received at the end of practicum was that most of them enjoyed learning French because it felt like they were not just memorizing verbs, learning grammar and vocabulary. By tying in a pop culture aspect, students who usually were not engaged were actually the most engaged in group work. They realized that learning a new language can be fun!

The biggest lesson I learned during my practicum is that you must build relationships with your students in order for the rest to follow. I had a tough time with classroom management at the beginning of the year; I felt that the students and I did not connect until I really got to know them. It was then that I started smiling more, laughing more, and having more fun. I also had similar difficulties with the grade 7 class for French. However, slowly but surely, I got through to them. It was truly rewarding when I noticed they began to say hi to me or stop me in the hallways just to chat. I knew I had really made a connection with all of the classes that I taught because leaving the school was the hardest thing to do at the end of my practicum.