The Phase In
These first days of practicum have been comfortable, I love the middle school in Prince Rupert. After 7-8 years of experience in the school district, I know this is the age group I want to teach. I have previously met most students in my class, so the relationship building aspect was breezy. It has been interesting to observe someone in the grade I will be teaching, seeing how he applies techniques we are currently learning in class.
I am really excited to get to teaching. It feels strange being in the classroom but not as the teacher. Students here are still trying to wrap their heads around me being a student teacher.
The First Day of Teaching
I started my first day of teaching on the third day of practicum. My CT and I came to this conclusion because PRMS has a Day 1-Day 2 schedule and my lessons I had prepared worked better on a Day 1, so it was either Wednesday or Friday and I’d rather do it sooner. I am also quite comfortable with teaching so I wasn’t worried about starting early.
My thoughts after teaching my lesson and before the conversation with my CT:
I think it went well, I ran out of content that was planned in my lesson plan and I added an extra activity which involved students coming up to the board and making up their own algebra questions for their peers to identify the terms ( 2k + 7). This whole activity allowed for a lot of formative assessment and I believe the whole class had developed a good understanding and can now identify the terms used in algebra.
It was a really strange feeling to get up there and know that I am being observed, someone actively looking for what I am doing right and wrong. I also struggled with my voice today as I am already getting sick. My CT was absent yesterday because he was sick and I think I am catching what he has. Oh the joys of being in schools during the winter months!
After Two Weeks
I have been really enjoying my class. During this practicum, I have been trying to do a lot of things differently than I have in the past. I wish I had individual whiteboards in my class, however I have been substituting them by getting my students to just work on paper. I’ve taken a focus to do a lot of formative assessment. In the past while I was on my LOP, I didn’t realize how much formative assessment I could’ve done. I used to think that assessment had to be stuff written down, constantly marking their work. While now I am making mental notes about how students are doing and deciding on where to go next based on how they are doing. While I did this in the past, I never saw it as assessment.
I still haven’t gotten over the feeling of being watched. It’s weird being in someone else’s classroom, especially when you have different styles of teaching. Things such as someone else’s classroom rules is something I am still getting used to. It is also hard to manage students in my preferred way when they are used to behaving a different way.
The Final Day
I can’t believe it is over! Today was a very chill day, as it’s the last day before spring break. The grade 7’s at PRMS are participating in the Hatch Popsicle Stick Bridge Building contest. Today all the grade 7’s gathered into the art room for some demonstrations of how the contest will look. Two classes built practices bridges to test out on the machine. It was a really cool experience to be apart of.
My CT said that this is the first year where he had a class that focused more on the decorating of the bridge than the actual build. I loved how creative some of the students got! The first picture is a Minion hanging onto a queen bee.
This practicum also made me realize how much I really like grade 7. The past two years I have been teaching grade 6 and I loved learning the grade 7 curriculum. It’s a lot more fun than the grade 6 one! I especially loved the Social Studies curriculum because it seems to flow together easily, whereas the grade 6 curriculum has some harsh switches between topics.
I really am going to miss the students. I loved seeing how they have grown since grade 6. I really enjoyed my class.
Today there was a lot of free time and some students took the opportunity to draw.
I loved the connection I was able to make with these kids within just three weeks. Of course I knew most of them from grade 6, but none of them were in my homeroom class, just my foods class so I only saw them for one term.
I truly can’t wait to be done with school so I can go back to having my own classroom with my own students. I didn’t realize how much I missed being in the classroom. Being a sub just isn’t the same.