Practicum Journal #1
Having started my practicum two weeks ago I have already learnt so much. All throughout the day I was in complete amazement. My teacher mentor made teaching her students look so effortless and graceful. It was inspiring to see these little human beings so engaged and eager to learn. There were so many moments in the day that I thought to myself “this is where I want to be”. I believe it is difficult to always feel secure in the career path you have chosen, so in the two days I have spent doing my practicum I felt a sense of reassurance. I know it won’t always be that way but being where I am at it was encouraging to feel sure of the direction, I am going in. Being that I have not yet had the opportunity to teach a lesson, the first two weeks were observing my teacher mentor and the students One aspect I found extremely important was my TM’s classroom management.
I think my TM’s classroom management technique is effective because she has established solid routines and procedures for the students to follow within the classroom. She has built a relationship with her students and knows what their limitations are as well as what they can achieve in the classroom. Routines are extremely important especially for young children who are new to the school system. I think that by establishing routines for children to follow enables great classroom management. The students came in each day prepared to learn and start their day with minimal redirection. The Teacher Mentor went through the day smoothly stopping when necessary for breaks or improvisation. She had an outline of the shape of the day for the students to follow visually on the board. They knew how the day was going to go and therefore were able to anticipate what they should be doing. She had students assigned to a certain table with their names placed on the desk before coming into the class in the mornings. Students knew where to sit by having their names visually placed on the tables. These tables were also given a color. The color of each table was to give students the chance to earn points for listening, staying on task and effectively transitioning in the classroom. It gave the students a goal to work towards while encouraging them to display appropriate behavior and follow classroom expectations. It was extremely eye opening to see the importance of the routines and procedures established in the classroom when the second day of practicum I observed a TOC filling in for my TM. Although the TM wasn’t in the class the students still followed routines and expectations that the TM had put in place. At times students would even tell the TOC “that is not what we do” or “that is not what our teacher does” when the TOC didn’t follow exactly what the TM did. This is also where I became aware of potential challenges.
Being that there was a TOC in the classroom the second day or my practicum I got to see potential challenges that could arise when teaching. My TM has been with the students everyday and has had the opportunity to build relationships while earning the respect of the students. She knows the student’s names and their individual needs, where as the TOC doesn’t. The TOC is coming in with a day plan in front of her and not much else to work from. The contrast in watching the teacher do calendar time with the students and the TOC doing calendar with the students was evident. Calendar time with my TM was smooth and natural and with the TOC was not. The TOC didn’t know how the students do calendar and the students were quick to acknowledge when something wasn’t done right. Therefore, calendar time with the TOC took double the time it took with my TM. It was interesting to see the perspective and role of the TOC in comparison to my TM. It is clear how important organization is within the classroom for both teachers and students. I am excited for the weeks to come and cannot wait to learn more.
Practicum Journal #2
The past two weeks of practicum have been wonderful. I have had the opportunity to teach two lessons which both went very well. The first lesson I taught was on the 30th of October and was about the life cycle of a pumpkin. I read the book Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington and then asked the students to cut and paste the sequence in which the pumpkin life cycle takes place. It was amazing to see all the children engaged as well as their various learning levels. Some students were done quickly and grasped the concept of the activity proficiently. Others took a bit longer while having to refer back to the book to visualize the sequence in which the stages take place. I found some students still having difficulties with their motor skills such as cutting and holding the scissors properly. All in all, each student was able to complete the worksheet in the allotted time frame provided. I was somewhat nervous going into teaching my first lesson and at the end felt extremely happy with the outcome as well as more confident. My teacher mentor had lots of positive feedback and agreed the lesson went well. My second lesson was centered around peace and its relevance to Remembrance Day. My teacher mentor gave me a worksheet she had used in the past to associate with the book I was reading called Peace is an Offering by Annette LeBox. At the beginning of my lesson I brought in a small figurine of a women in all white with a P on her chest. This was my hook and what I used to personalize my lesson. I told the children that the figurine was special to me and represented peace within myself and a reminder to be kind and accepting of others. I believe the children really enjoyed the visual representation of what peace meant to me and were able connect in their own ways of what peace meant to them. At the end of the story I wanted to ensure students had a clear understanding of what peace looked like, sounded like, or felt like to them, by asking them one by one before returning to their spots to begin the activity, what peace meant to them. Each students’ answers were so amazing and made my heart melt. One student told me that they saw peace in the last page of the book some other responses were that “peace is the sound of waves in the ocean”, “peace is whales being happy”, or “peace is being quiet”. Then there were some students that had a harder time expressing what peace was to them or didn’t quite grasp the concept. For example, one student said, “peace is the number 8”. This was a great teaching moment for me because instead of saying “no you are wrong” and shutting that students’ thoughts down, I instead asked, “how is peace the number 8?” and tried to get the student to expand on their answer. The student then thought about it and realized that there wasn’t a reason as to why the number 8 represented peace. I then asked the student to think about it a little but more and that I would come back to them. After giving the student a little bit of time to think about their answer or by trying to expand upon it they came up with a new response being that “peace is fishing”. It was great to have the student’s initial response in order to think how to respond in a way that is encouraging and helpful without telling the student they are wrong and as a result the student giving up. I know this is going to be a challenge that happens frequently were students can’t comprehend what is being taught and need that extra direction and encouragement in order to fully understand what it is they are learning. I was very happy when my Teacher Mentor told the students they would be displaying their illustrations and descriptions of what peace is to them in the hall for the school to see. I found the most difficult part of the lesson was that some students struggled writing what their picture of peace was. Being that it is a Kindergarten/Grade 1 class the students are still new to writing so some of them struggled with that aspect. Luckily there were three adults in the classroom to assist each student, but I can see how it would be a challenge assisting each student being only one teacher in a classroom of 20 students. I am looking forward to the following weeks and teaching more in the classroom. One thing I want to work on in the future is taking a moment with students to look back at the purpose of the lesson and really ensuring they are fully grasping the concept or objective. It is difficult to expect every student to have a full understanding of what is being taught especially in such a small-time frame but I think by asking them what they learnt at the end of the lesson and taking just a couple of responses can signify where they are at and if they are comprehending the lesson.
Final Practicum Journal
The final week of practicum is quickly approaching, and I am sad for it to be over. I have learnt and grown so much in such a short period of time and am going to miss the student’s enthusiasm and my Teacher Mentor’s guidance greatly.
Areas of Growth: An area where I have noticed growth is regarding positive reinforcement and student’s behaviours. I remember in the first few weeks of practicum observing and recognizing my TM’s natural and graceful ways of maintaining classroom rules and expectations by using positive reinforcement. She would pay attention to the students show great listening skills and thank them for their great behavior and those who were not listening would quickly change their behaviour in hopes of being recognized as well. This is something I wanted to incorporate within my lessons, and I believe I have more and more each lesson. I have focused and acknowledged students who are displaying excellent listening skills, rather than the ones who were off not listening or on task, and by doing so have watched other students’ behaviours shift in hopes of receiving position recognition for paying attention and staying on task.
Another area that I noticed self-improvement when teaching was making sure students understood what was being taught by furthering their thinking. When they put up their hand to answer questions or make connections, I would ask them to elaborate on why they thought what they did and use active listening skills to repeat what the student was saying back to them to confirm their thinking and understanding. I also made sure to give clear concise instructions prior to the activity they would be completing so that they could ask questions allowing me to ensure they had a clear understanding of what they were going to be doing.
Area of Improvement: One area I would like to continue to work on is transitioning students in an effective way that sets them up for success when starting the lesson or an activity. I noticed that getting them from the carpet to starting the activity can be difficult. If I sent them all at once students might struggle quietly and efficiently returning to their spots and beginning the activity or get distracted. Whereas, if I sent them one by one some students would be starting the activity and others would still be waiting to be told to return to their spot. Also getting them to sit quietly and use whole body listening to read the story could be a challenge at times. For example, when beginning the story one student asked for a drink of water and after saying yes, all the other students also wanted to go and get a drink a water. This in turn led to a delay in starting the lesson.