Last Day of Block I

Well the Block one has come and gone and it was not easy to say goodbye to the students. I had such a great grade 3 class and couldn't have asked for a greater class in which to start my teaching practicums. Although creating lessons and fitting in everything that needed to get done was stressful at times, the students really made it all worth while.

Saying goodbye had to have been the hardest part of the block. Despite only teaching the students for a month, I felt that I made a connection with many of them. During the last period of the day after the desk clean-up and class clean-up for parent interviews night, my grade 3s had a special surprise for me. They had all written a goodbye/thank you card for me. Not only that, but they all read their cards to me as well. How can you leave such a great class...

The lesson I have learned from my students and my associate teacher will stay with me as move on in my endeavours. I will never forget my first teaching block with my grade 3s!!!!

We just play with Volleyballs!!!

WE DON'T PLAY WITH BARBIE DOLLS...

WE JUST PLAY WITH VOLLEYBALLS!!!!

WE DON'T WEAR NO MINI SKIRTS...

WE JUST WEAR OUR WOODLAND SHIRTS!!!!

GO WOLVES!!!!!

Coaching jr. girl volleyball...what an experience! Coaching the junior girls volleyball has definitely showed me another side of what being a teacher is. These girls really look up to their coaches (being myself and their principal) to help them play their best. They get soo excited when they make us proud. Little do they know, what we are proud of goes way past the scoreboard. Seeing them use the strategies that have been taught to them, working as a team and doing their best is all that is needed. Sure, it does help that we are third in the league!!!

Keep it up girls...GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOLVES!!!

First day...come and gone

Well I hope my fellow counselling group members had a successful first day! Mine was a little rough around the edges but pulled through in the end.

My first lesson, an Introduction to Rural and Urban Geography was a tough period. To start off, I have never seen or taught a social studies unit and therefore was a little unaware of how exactly it should be taught. To make the situation harder, my students thought they could take advantage of the fact that my associate was not the one teaching them. After the class was over, my associate chatted with me immediately after. We discussed more what was expected of me in social studies and I now have more structured lessons for those periods. In addition, we agreed that I would have to show my discontent with their behaviour during the social studies period before my math lesson began.

After having time to settle down over lunch and a prep, I was ready for my second lesson...Introduction to Data Management. Before I started my lesson I did discuss with my students that i was very disappointed with their previous behaviour and pointed out that I deserve the same respect they give to any of the other teachers at the school. After this discussion, the students were better behaved. They came over to the meeting place and were all very engaged with my lesson. I had prepared some props in advance and the students knew immediately that they were going to have to sort them. Not only did I have certain students sort the shapes, I had the others guess what the thinking was behind the grouping. This kept them all very engaged with the activity. Even during their seat work, the students worked independently and raised their hands if they had questions...surprising what a little behaviour talk will do!!! One of the questions was causing many difficulties for the students, so instead of having them work individually on the question, we took it up as a group. Overall, it was a much more organized lesson.

Well day one is now done and day two is coming. Off to lesson planning for the future.

First day countdown

First day of the teaching block is in less than 24 hours away...the waves of emotions tell all! It is hard to believe that we are already at this point of our "teacher's college" year! A mix of excitement and nervousness has been building inside of me all weekend, all this planning and work we have done over the past 3 years is finally going to be put into practice.

Tomorrow, I will be teaching two lessons to my class, Math and Social Studies. I will be starting a new unit in both subjects which leaves me with an empty pool to just jump right into. In some ways, I think is has made my lesson planning a little easier, no need to worry about where my associate has already been, just need to worry about what direction to take my students.

Will keep you posted on how the lessons go as the weeks go by, but it is time to get back to the lesson planning.

Micro Teaching

So the starting of the day didn't go soo smoothly. Technology...does it really help our everyday lives or does it make things harder? Well in my case, it made things a little more difficult. One camcorder wouldn't let me even get the main menu and once we figured out that it was the camera and not, we figured out how to unfinalize the disk. But due to neither of us at our school seeing how the camcorder works, we apparently didn't tape my teaching...all this said, I still believed that it was on. Therefore it still made me aware of my behaviours.

The actual activity went well. My 6 kids were awesome. A few were a little hesitant at first, in particular two of the girls. The boys were exceptional, although answers were sometimes quiet, they were ready for anything! The students really enjoyed coming out of the class and having a special lesson, and due to this helped my activity go smoothly.

The observations that my two counsellors made really open my eyes to new ways to approach my lessons. The feedback was really constructive and appreciative. Although the teaching went well, I am glad that the micro teaching is done. Now I can move on to getting ready for the teaching block.

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

Perhaps this will cause all of us to look at those who choose the teaching profession in a different light...

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.

One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher,Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental...

"You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe and develop friendships.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant...You want to know what I make?"

"I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?"

THERE IS MUCH TRUTH IN THIS STATEMENT: "Teachers make every other Profession"

Special Events

Between the start of the placement in September and the middle of October, the school has had two very special events. This included a visit from the St. Catharines Falcons hockey team, and a World Record Walk.

Two players from the St. Catharines Falcons hockey team visited the school to deliver a very special message. Every class was visited by at least one of the two members to stress the importance of reading. In my grade 3 class, the students had the opportunity read along with the hockey member. The book that was chosen, was Z is for Zamboni. This was a great book for the students in the classroom because many either played or were big hockey fans, quite a few had even previously seen a Falcons game. After reading the book, the player announced to my students that they would be receiving a free ticket to the game that night.

The second involved participating in a potential World Record. The goal of the morning was to join students across the province in walking 3km simultaneously. Therefore, the whole school moved outside into the school yard where teachers had already set up the pylons to mark out the route. At 11:30 am, the whistle was blown and the school started walking. We were to walk around the route 3 times and that would result in the 3km goal. The hope was that there would be enough students across Ontario, walking at the same, to make it into the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records. To make the very official, there was even a police officer to sign as a witness that EVERYONE completed the route properly and there weren't any cheaters. We have not heard the news...so keep your fingers crossed!!!!

First Day

I had soo many questions walking into my placement on the first. What was my associate teacher going to be like? How many kids were going to be in my grade 2/3 class and what kind of kids were they going to be? How are the other teachers going to treat me?

Many of these questions were answered within minutes of walking into the school. The principal, provided a wonderful tour of the school, not only to get a feel for the layout but also to provide us with information about the staff and to inform me on the activities that were going to be happening while I was there.

Following this, I met my associate teacher. To my surprise, I was no longer in a grade 2/3 split, it was a straight grade 3 class. Although I was looking forward to receiving some experience in a split class, I was ready to meet my class. I was also astonished to find out there were only 20 students in my classroom. I had not seen a class stay with the cap in a few years.

The students were a little apprehensive at first to have a new adult in the classroom but quickly warmed up to the idea. By the end of the day, many students had approached me and were eager for me to get to know them. Overall the first day was a very successful and left me wanting to go back.