This experiential practicum was an incredible experience and has largely restored my passion for becoming an educator. It was so nice to actually be in a classroom and practicing all the skills we have learned thus far in the program. I was initially very nervous about being placed in a 4/5 split class; however, I now have a preference for intermediate students. Being in front of 24 nine and ten year olds is quite the experience. I built up my confidence every day I was in front of those kids. My planning and preparation went really well. I was able to teach in almost every subject area, such as; English, Science, Math, Social Emotional Learning, Social Studies, and Physical Education. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone by teaching over 6 math lessons. Math is my weakest subject personally, and as an educator. The communication and relationship I built with my coaching teacher helped me feel more comfortable in the class and with the kids. I was also able to build good relationships with my students, even after three short weeks. My coaching teacher recognized that her students ‘liked’ me, as well as trusted and respected me. I was comfortable speaking to all the students as a class and one on one. In my opinion, everything went well because I was having fun and always learning. Even if my lessons went poorly or not as planned, I always had something positive to reflect on with the experience.
Some things I will continue to work on as the program progresses are my time management skills as well as my multi-modal and differentiated instruction for those with learning disabilities or impairments. I was fortunate enough to not have many strong behavioural issues in my classroom; however, I did have a few students with learning disabilities. It was challenging for me to differentiate their materials and expectations for the content I planned to teach. My biggest challenge was recognizing that how I planned to teach all 24 students wouldn’t work for them. I had to come up with creative ways to show my materials in different formats while modifying their worksheets. My coaching teacher had to remind me on more than one occasion that said students had learning disabilities and that was why I wasn’t seeing the work or progress that I wanted. I instead needed to turn my focus towards what they were doing well and celebrate those achievements. I sometimes let myself down and felt discouraged when things didn’t go the way I had planned. It was important for me to recognize that every day I had a new chance at re-teaching something that was unsuccessful and to realize that teachers make mistakes too. Even if I had an ‘off’ day, when I went to bed in the evening all I could think about was how excited I was to see those kids again tomorrow.
What I plan on doing next is really implementing the feedback I got from my coaching teacher and use it in my next practicum. I got some great ideas and suggestions for how I can make my lessons more multi-modal. This means that I give my students more opportunity to discuss with one another and have movement breaks during my teaching. Within my first week, I noticed I spent more time then I wanted giving instructions while everyone stayed seated. I also noticed that I was spending too much time discussing as a whole class, because only certain students were engaged and contributing (while many others zoned out). I started asking my students to talk to a neighbour or break into small groups. This had a positive impact on their engagement. I also plan to implement more behavioural strategies moving forward in the next practicum. My coaching teacher taught me that using students exhibiting good behaviour as exemplars motivates other students to behave better. That way, I am not constantly asking students to stop and using negative comments. Mostly what I want is to get back in the classroom and continue learning and teaching. I feel like the most learning I have had to date in this program was in those three short weeks implementing what I had learned. I cannot wait to get back in the classroom and continue to push myself out of my comfort zones.
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