Write about an interesting, surprising or inspiring story you experienced in your practicum. Provide enough detail so we can really understand what happened.
That is nice to hear Diana. Knowing that most of us will have to supply teach, I am glad to hear that she created such good relationships with her students. Hopefully, we will be able to supply at the same school many times so that we will have a chance to form positive relationships with our students.
That is inspiring to hear, I had the opposite experience when I worked with a supply. I became the teacher that they knew and respected and the students were really rude and disrespectful to the supply teacher.
I think it helps to have a reputation within a school, but that comes with time. I would sometimes have trouble getting the students to be silent for "Silent Reading", but when my teacher stood up, they would immediately go silent. It helped me realize that I wasn't going to have perfect classroom management right from the get-go.
Similar experience at my school Diana...there was one supply teacher that came in almost daily and she was well respected and liked by staff and students.
It's good that she was able to build up a lot of respect from the students over time, but I'm wondering if she established this respect from the beginning, or if it was earned over time? I'm thinking the former.
One time, when my class was working on a math assignment in-class, I heard a ruckus coming from the other room. When I went to investigate, I saw a bunch of the grade 8 girls booing a boy out of class. He was around 6'2, 230lb. Big boy. When I was trying to figure out why they were booing, I saw a girl with a red mark around her eye. They were booing him because he punched her in the face. The teacher kicked him out of the class, so he could cool down outside. my conversation with the student went as follows:
Me: "You didn't actually..." Him: "Yeah I know, I was dumb." Me: "Why did you do it?" Him: "She wouldn't stop talking."
That's crazy, I have never been in a situation where a student has hit another student and I hope I wont have too. Well they shouldn't seat beside each other anymore:S
Wow. That's shocking. I know students can get into fist fights but I've never heard of someone getting hit because they didn't stop talking. What happened later? Did the students get counselling? Did someone talk to the boy about how he should have handled the situation?
The consequences of this action are typically an automatics 21 day suspension. Definite anger management is required here. Being assaulted is a serious issue.
The result was both students were brought in by the teacher after school and they talked about it. They left the room about 10 minutes later. That's about it. This happened back on my Observation Week. Oddly enough, they seem to be friends now, they sit with each other in Art class.
One of the most important things I learned in my placement was that students don’t respond well to teacher who are getting angry at them. One of my students who believed himself to be weak in math got in trouble with the Teacher for not completing an assignment as he didn’t know how. She yelled at him and told him that he should have come for after school help and that she was going to email home so he would become more responsible. I took the opportunity during their work period to work with the student to help him understand the assignment and do well. He told me he wasn’t good at math and didn’t want to try the assignment, but I was able to get him to focus on his work and watched as he had the proverbial “ah ha” moment and finally understood what he was doing. I told him he shouldn’t doubt himself and he told me that he thought I was a better teacher than the AT. While this may not have been the case, it was inspiring for me because I was feeling like all of my lessons were going badly at that point in time.
Nice Alisa - Treat ALL your students like you care and that they matter - Listen and understand. There is no point at getting mad at a student for not doing what we expect - obviously the expectations were wrong and I am sure he/she really appreciated the time and sensitivity you offered. You mad a difference and don't think for one moment that the student will ever forget.
That is such a great feeling. It is nice to be able to work with a student one on one and find out why they are really struggling. Sometimes a student just needs that extra attention to succeed.
My associate teacher was very inspiring. She put in so much effort to make her science class exciting and enjoyable for her students. I mentioned to some of the grade 12 students that I currently tutor that I am working in her class and they went on and on about how great she was as a teacher. Many of them told me that she is the reason that they are pursuing science. It was very inspiring to see how much of a difference she made to their lives.
During my practicum, I encountered a student who was having a lot of trouble with the math unit that I was teaching. He looked confused during my lessons, but I could tell (through homework checks and general observation) that the student was making a serious effort. I gave him extra help during independent work time and he was very grateful. This extra help became a daily thing, and he began understanding the material and participating in class. It was really awesome to see him gain the confidence to raise his hand and answer my questions, and to then see him succeed. A few times he even asked to stay in for recess so that I could help him. Then came time for the unit test. When I marked the class' tests, I grabbed for this student's test and marked it first. I was so happy to see that he scored an 87% on his math test. Helping a student who I could tell was putting some serious effort into his studies was very rewarding, and was probably my favourite part of my practicum experience.
That's one of the rewarding things of teaching, being able to see the student's grow in something they really struggle with. I really like how you made ways to accommodate this student so he could succeed. Lauren
Reminds me of a grade 7 student I had who would constantly stay in for recess and ask to stay after school as well to get help in math, and especially to go through every little detail on the unit test. He wanted step by step solutions so he could copy them down and learn from them because he wanted to prepare himself for high school exams.
That's what is it all about - You will see a number of examples on this blog where you folks showed that you cared and the caring made a big difference.
In my placement in a grade 8 classroom I was tasked with teaching the first part of the patterning and algebra unit. There was one student, we’ll call him Tim, who had an IEP and received accommodations in math. My AT had warned me early in the first week that Tim would likely be disruptive when I taught as he had difficulties following the material and would act out as a result. So you can imagine my surprise when he gave me 100% of his attention and made a real effort to learn the concepts. Though it took him longer to understand, and he endured a fair amount of heckling from his rude classmates, he commonly asked good questions. It was gratifying to see that he was making a real effort to learn what I was teaching. The impact of this was especially made clear to me when I realized that math was the only period in which he applied himself constructively; being disruptive throughout the rest of the day.
I suppose that he responded to me because I taught in a very different way than my teacher did. She primarily taught via projector with pre-written notes, more of a lecture-style teaching method. I primarily taught at the blackboard with chalk, utilizing a question and answer teaching style. This slightly slower method allows some students who would normally be left behind to catch up. It is also better for showing the process, which in my opinion is vital for understanding.
And yes, I did tell the students who were rude that that is unacceptable behaviour.
Had a field trip on the second Friday of my placement. Ahhhh Ya! Went all the way to midland (over 2 hour bus drive -__-, wheels on the bus go round and round ...). Anyways we went to Sainte Marie among the Hurons. Had a tour of the village and talked about the historical events that occurred there with the missionaries coming over. In the afternoon we had a lacrosse game which was really fun for the kids and me:). It was a great break from making lesson plans.
One thing that surprised me during my placement was the feedback I received from students at the end of lessons. Several times I did a consolidation activity where students filled out some sort of response sheet. It was usually about their general impressions of the lesson, what they thought was easy/difficult to understand, and what they enjoyed or did not enjoy about the lesson. Before my first day teaching I had fairly low expectations for this activity. I didn’t expect students to take it seriously or put much thought into the responses. Every day I did this activity, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the responses I received from students. I thought they did a remarkably good job assessing their own abilities and provided me with very useful feedback that helped me plan subsequent lessons.
I did some ticket out the door activities with my students, and I found the same thing to be true. I asked the students what they would like to learn more about (on the topic of circles, measurement unit) and I got some very interesting responses.
I like your take on consolidations. I had a hard time fitting it in. It often felt forced to make the students do a 'Ticket Out the Door' or an activity like that.
On Tuesday, of the second week of placement, the students went to the Durham District Board Office (by Sinclair Secondary) for a media workshop where they learned the basics of filming and video editing. It was interesting day because it gave the students a great opportunity to showcase their creativity. The variety in videos produced was quite significant, and it was quite amusing watching the final products. On the next Tuesday the students went back again, but this time they learned about video editing using Windows Movie Maker. I learned some new things about video editing and filming myself, and had a chance to assist the students with their own projects. They really enjoyed the process and everyone had a good time.
The day started with an eye opening experience. My AT was telling me a story out on yard duty about a student who is labelled as a “runner”. He has severe special needs and anger issues and is labelled among the teachers as a high risk student. As luck would have it, after talking about the child an incident occurred. Immediately my AT approached the child and tried to assess the situation. The student proceeded to scream and then kick AT. I’ve never seen a student attack a teacher before so this was a bit of a shock for me. The student’s mother came over from the parking lot and explained that today was one of his “bad days” and she would be taking him home for the morning. The principal was informed of the incident and my AT began showing me all the different forms on the board website for reporting this sort of thing. I didn’t realize there were so many forms! There are different ones for worker-worker conflict, E.A. - special-ed child conflict, worker-student conflicts, and every other combination imaginable. The principal made sure that the proper form was completely filled out and I had to be put a witness to the event. It’s good to be aware of the protocol for incidents like this because up until this point I wasn’t aware of the procedure. The child came and apologized later that day once he had returned to school, which seemed to smooth things over a bit. The report still needed to be submitted to the board and it was added to the student’s record. My AT’s advice on the situation was no matter how minor the incident never immediately say that you’re ok. Always wait a day or two to assess your injuries, because once the report is filed you can’t change it. You don’t want to have something come up as a result of the injury that you can no longer document with the incident.
At practicum, I had to create a data management project for the grade 7s. They had to find some data from the internet and create graphs in Excel with the data that they found. When they had their graphs created they had to try to identify trends in the data. The class really enjoyed doing the project because they were able to work in pairs and use computers for a week. I was surprised at the simple questions that they asked me about using Excel, since they are really good at using technology normally, but they did not have any prior exposure to Excel. Overall the project went well and covered roughly half of the curriculum for the Data Management unit, which my AT was very grateful for.
The school I was at had a Halloween-themed contest, where each class needed to choose a pumpkin, and decorate it like a storybook character. I thought my grade eight class would not be interested in it, because pumpkin-decoration is not too age-appropriate for them, but they were excited about it, and most of the class decided to stay after school to help make their pumpkin. I was surprised by this, but I think that this situation was the result of my associate teacher setting up a really positive class environment. Students who normally would have scoffed at having to stay after school to do art decided to stay and help out anyways.
I have a picture of what we made: http://postimg.org/image/gz4nasafp/
During my placement, there were a few days where my class had a supply teacher. On one of the days, we had one lady come in to supply who walked in without even introducing herself, and began ordering the class to listen to her. The class was not allowed to say a single word without being yelled at. Since it was a cross country meet day, about half the class was missing. She refused to listen to the students when they tried to explain to her where they were as she took attendance. I even tried to explain to her where they were but she would just glare at me. My teacher had left me work to teach and give out to the class throughout this day but it was impossible to get through because the supply teacher didn’t enjoy my class discussions. As time progressed in silence, the class started to get restless. The class was getting chatty and giggly and was having a hard time doing their work. This just resulted in being yelled at. It got to the point where I couldn’t even sit there without laughing. I felt so bad because as the students were being yelled at for laughing, meanwhile I was giggling at the wall trying to “hide”. When the French teacher walked in for her class, there was a big applause for her because they knew they would be relived. When the supply walked out, she shut the door behind her and just glared through the window. Note to myself…don’t be a strict supply teacher.
First hand experience as to why fear, yelling, and anger don't work well. Read some other stories about what does work - caring is a great start. I would suspect that this supply teacher had many other issues.
I agree with Robin, that the supply probably had some personal issues to sort out. Another good reason to be sure you can separate your personal life from your professional one if you want to be an effective teacher.
While attempting to use the Smartboard as an interactive tool while at the same time using chart paper and a white board to post material that needed to remain visible for the duration of the lesson I gained perspective on pure teaching terror.
During the student’s work period during the lesson I was asked how to spell “sustainability”. No problem, I decided to write the word on the smartboard thinking I may need that word for the next class as well. So trying to be quick I grabbed the pen and turned to write the word on the Smartboard. To my extreme horror as I began to write a big “S” the smartboard cursor did not track the pen and a large Black “S” appeared where I expected to see the blue smartboard pen to be writing. It turns out I had accidently set a marker down in the slot for the smartboard pen. Now I am at the front of the room panicking because I am not sure whether my faculty advisor just watched me draw a permanent “S” on the smartboard during my evaluation.
Slowly the students began to realize I have done something wrong, I assume the fact that I muttered “what have I done” tipped them off. With my fingers crossed and the class making the standard ‘ooooooooooo’ sound I cautiously tried and hoped the mark would wipe off with the dry erase brush. I lucked out I had accidently grabbed the white board marker and not the permanent marker for the chart paper.
Needless to say the next 17 million times Mr. West went to write on the smartboard the class blurted out “no not that marker”. During the 20 seconds that felt like minutes my Associate Teacher managed to remain standing while doubled over laughing, and my Faculty Advisor did not fail me for nearly defacing school property.
Yes - those are the fun moments. BTW a Staedlter White Eraser will take off permanent marker. I know this from personal experience (smile). At least you built rapport this the students.
In my class there was a student who had really bad anxiety and social anxiety. She had break downs when quizzes or tests were handed out, she would tell my associate that she was feeling sick and was unable to write it. This happened very often during the three weeks and for this reason I felt that I never really was able to connect with her. She had such bad social anxiety that she would never participate in class discussions or get involved with other students. Whenever I would talk to her about homework or asked if she would stay in so that I could offer extra help she would shut down and simply not respond, I felt like I was re-teaching the lesson over recess because I was getting no feedback from her and had no idea if she understood anything I was teaching. Then on my very last day of placement as students were saying goodbye and leaving, she walked up to me and said “It was nice to meet you and thank you for all of your help.” I couldn’t believe that I had actually made an impact on this students and it was a good feeling to know that my hard work for this student had not been for nothing.
Giving attention to a students is rarely a bad thing in y personal experience. It shows that you care and she felt that. The problems she was having were big and it would be unrealistic for you to expect immediate results. I might have asked to talk with the parents and other teacher who knew about her. She clearly was afraid and did not feel safe and maybe bay-steps would have been a good approach. You were in there trying, though.
I was surprised by how effective technology was at engaging students. My AT was a very traditional teacher, and did not feel comfortable bringing technology into the classroom. I however included technology in the majority of my lessons (about 80% of my lessons, at least included a YouTube video). I learned that the extra 5 minutes of prep time required to set-up the projector, and my laptop, was well worth it. The students were absolutely glued to the screen, and got so much more out of a video of someone talking about a subject than if I had of stood at the front of the room and talked about the topic. There were a few times that I would bring out the projector just to show an image to the class, and even that small amount of technology went a long way in engaging the students. On the other end of the spectrum, when I executed lessons that were 100% technology based, the students were not only engaged, but excited! In particular, I did a numeracy review using clickers, and it was the most exciting math review that I have ever been a part of. By the end of my stay at this placement, my AT was asking for where she could purchase a set of clickers, because even she could see the value in that piece of technology.
I'm glad your AT let you use technology - very powerful stuff but only if used properly - It sounds like you have clear ideas of how to integrate tech into the classroom in meaningful ways. That or the students are so starved for technology that they will eat up anything (smile).
This is awesome that you included technology in a majority of lessons. Finding ways to incorporate technology AND make it useful and engaging to the students can sometimes be difficult. The fact that you we're able to do all of this and even make lessons that we're 100% technology really shows how dedicated you are to your students and your craft. Truly inspiring the amount of preparation you must have put into your lessons everyday.
It is good that your AT allowed you to bring technology in the classroom. It made the lesson more efficient and a lot more interesting. My AT is more like a traditional teacher. He strongly believed in writing out the lecture notes on the board and having the students copying them down. When I brought technology, (i.e. use the Smart board) in one of my lesson, AT kept commenting that I should not bring technology in the classroom because of the sake of bringing the technology in the classroom. (Sylvia)
During my placement, I encountered many interesting and positive experiences. One of the positive experiences that I had was when I was teaching the students about Surface Area of a rectangular prism and a cylinder. On the first day of the lesson, my AT told me to just give them some review questions about the surface area of a rectangular prism as they should have already learnt this. When I gave them the questions, I quickly realized that they did not know how to do this and I had to improvise and figure out a simple way for the students to understand. I ended up getting the students to make a net for a rectangular prism using Kleenex boxes and scrap paper. At the end of the three lessons on surface area, after having the students create their own nets for rectangular prisms and cylinders, many of the students expressed that they finally understood what surface area was. This was a highlight of my practicum because the students said that they had been taught this concept many times and now finally understood It due to my examples and activities.
Yes - well done. It is surprising that this concept is not taught with a manipulative. It is also risk that your AT assumed they knew the concept - always check. Start out with "what are your thoughts about the surface area of a rectangle?"- discuss - then ask "What questions do they have?". Sometimes the impromptu lessons are the very best, perhaps because we are truly present with the students, and not following "or plan"
I was extremely lucky with my placement. I was placed in a grade 7/8 split class where they generally place a majority of the more well-behaved students. But like most 11-12 year old students they still have their many moments, where they often act out and get out of line. When it came time for my faculty advisor to evaluate me, my students did a complete 180. They were angels, they became students that I never thought I’d see before. They realized the importance of my evaluation and really stepped up for me. Not just with their behaviour, but with their student participation, they we’re engaged throughout the lesson and the work that they completed was impeccable.
This probably means you made a connection with them - that's good. Grade 7 & 8 can be wild and disorderly, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun and that students won't learn. The challenge is to observe why they are shifting to the more crazy moments? Boredom? Unclear instructions? Holiday? Friday?
I had a very loud class with a few overly energetic students. Disruptions and outbursts happened often and were almost expected from the group I had. At first I had a bit of trouble with classroom management and almost had to send a student to the principal’s office because he was actively ignoring my rules (and making a show of it). Over time things got better but the students were still too rowdy. One Monday I came to school sick and made a point to tell everyone that I was sick and felt bad, and I asked them to think how they would feel if they had to come to school sick. Miraculously they gave me no trouble that day and became a lot more disciplined for the rest of the week. It was nice to see they understood my situation and tried to help.
Now if you could only play sick all the time (smile). It is hard to be a leader and if the students sense you may falter, some will test you. Finding your er presence in class can be a long process. Would you have listened to yourself as a student?
Back in September my Associate Teacher asked if I would rather teach Dance or Drama upon my return in October. I’ve never been a big fan of drama, so I decided to teach dance. I did a lot of dance in high school, but it has been a LONG time since then. This was a little out of my comfort zone, in addition to the fact that my AT wanted me to complete the dance unit by the end of my placement. After spending a lot of time on Pinterest trying to find lessons and resources, I was completely overwhelmed and unsure how I was going to cover all the curriculum expectations. My AT and I decided that we would introduce the students to different types of dance and then have them work in groups to create their own dances. We carefully constructed their groups in hopes of having each group work well.
Needless to say I was more than a bit hesitant since grade 6 and 7 students are at that awkward stage and I doubted they would ever want to dance. However, with a lot of enthusiasm on my part, I seemed to get them on board. Each day I would show them YouTube videos of different dance performances, and then lead them in a warm up. They would then have the rest of the period to work on their dances. Even with all the technology and space issues they all seemed to love it. The groups really worked well together, unlikely leaders emerged, and to our surprise, we discovered some awesome dancers.
On my last day we had each group present their dances. A grade 2 class, as well as the principal came to watch the performances. I think I was more nervous than they were! The performances were amazing and everyone was so impressed. Many of the students were really impressed and proud of their work. I was beaming by the end of the performances. They had come up with amazing choreography, showed so much enthusiasm, and they had all improved so much. I truly felt like this was my class and was so proud of the courage they showed by getting up to dance. Leaving that day was heart wrenching, but I will definitely not forget my amazing students at Alexander Muir.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Brilliant. The YouTube videos were a great idea - something they could relate to and build off. I might have asked if they wanted to be video taped - maybe they want to go on Youtube as well (smile). Creativity is a wonderful thing. Now try to bring it to math - you can, but it takes a lot more thought.
This is a great story! It's quite difficult to get students to do something like that if they didn't want to and because they're at that "awkward" age, but it was a good idea to do a little bit at a time and build up their interest.
I was placed in a grade 7 class of 29 students. Twelve of the students had IEPs. Nine of these students leave the class for separate instruction in math. Since the students that remained in the class did not have Math IEPs, I thought that there would be no problems teaching them. That was not the case. I was surprised to find that the remaining students had difficulty with what seemed to me to be the simplest concepts. For one of the lessons, I was teaching the students about mean, median, and mode. Many of them struggled with finding the median and mode even when I showed them easy ways to remember it (for example, the first two letters of “mode” can stand for “most often”) I found myself taking up homework by doing each and every question, step by step on the board with the students. In the end, many of them still did not do well on the quiz. (Inga)
Practicum 1 - Story My first practicum was a very shocking experience. AT did all the things that we are informed, (in our UOIT courses) not to do to your students. AT generated a lot of tension and anxiety in all his classes. He picked students to stand infront of the board and write out the answers when they are lost and confused with the questions. He yelled and yelled at the students when students he picked did not know the answer to his questions. He even crumbled students assignment because the papers or hand writing were not neat. And he tore the student’s papers because students were doing their assignment in another class. I felt helpless and powerless when I was observing all that events. This was not what I was expecting my first practicum to be.
That sounds horrible! That must have been really hard to just sit back and not be able to do anything. Try to remember that we won't be like that when we get a teaching job, we will make a difference.
A grade 7 student with an IEP was studying math at a grade level of 4. She worked out of a separate book and told me about how easy it was. Her and her mother knew it was easy for her and they didn’t think it was helping her progress in math. They both wanted her to start learning more difficult content in math but my AT always told her to work out of her workbook. I told the student that if she wants the change, she and her mother need to talk to the teacher and principal about the possible change. I gave her the opportunity to participate in my lessons and start doing the work the whole class worked on so she could see if she was comfortable with the material.
This is really important for you to know - It is a continual struggle for parents to know how to support their children with IEPs. The teachers pretend to know, but they may not, and listening to the student and parent is important. I wonder why your At was making this decision.
From the first day of placement, it was obvious that J.S. was the greatest classroom distraction. I observed as he shouted out, threw objects across the classroom, and ignored instruction. In my observation week, I tried to ask him questions like “How was your weekend? What kinds of extracurricular activities do you like to do?” I thought that I was “building a good rapport”. I was wrong. When it was finally time to teach the class on my own, J.S was a problem. I tried everything to prevent his disruptions: I used proximity, I called his name, I wrote his name on the board, I moved him to sit beside me, I moved him to another classroom, and I even gave detention. Nothing seemed to work, so my AT and I arranged for his mother to come in for a meeting with him. His mother came in for the meeting during our prep time. I called him (J.S) to come meet with his mother, and for the first time I saw his serious face. In the meeting, he listened intently (he was an entirely different person, it seemed). During the meeting, constructive criticism was provided, and I believe that we came to a resolution. For the rest of the day, J.S was a model student. Unfortunately for me, though, the meeting was on the last day of my placement.
Wow - you were very patient and thoughtful about this - well done. Remember that sometimes good solutions take weeks. I wonder if JS would continue to be good in class. My guess is that there is something else going on - not sure what.
I realized in a few days into my grade 7 placement that the students were hesitant and that there was something holding them back when it came to sharing their answers or being involved in class discussions. That too only with me. With my AT, the students would volunteer to come up to the Smart board, I would see many hands raised to answer questions and students would even yell out their answers because they were so excited. When I would teach a lesson, the students would be quiet, no hands in the air and no one would volunteer to come up to the board and share their thoughts/answers. It took me a while to figure out why they reacted that way with me, and not with their AT. One day after school, a student told me that “We don’t want you to think we are not smart. We don’t want to seem dumb or make stupid mistakes. Mr. H already knows all about us, you don’t. We know the answers but we are just afraid.” I realized that students were afraid of what I would think of them. The following day, I had a small talk with the class about ‘helping me help them’ and that I do not judge anyone. From there on, I started seeing more involvement...
Very interesting indeed - Thanks for sharing that. A great opportunity to launch into the idea that mistakes are important. I wonder were the question you were asking, right and wrong questions, or more open ended questions that would allow them to think and wonder?
I mostly asked them open-ended questions which were designed to build on the knowledge from previous class or what they had been taught that same day. Even the questions I knew students had answered correctly and I told them their answer was correct and if they could share it with the class, they would just shy away and say no they don't want to. I was amazed at why they would do that to me and not my AT. Then I thought about UOIT's professionalism/participation marks..can we, as teachers, allot a certain percent of marks towards participation at a high school level?
Since you mentioned the word mistake, I remembered one of my lessons where I made a mistake and couldn't draw a polygon with the given attributes. I had a blank moment and I just paused, took a step back from the board and stared at it. The students looked a bit confused so I explained to them that I made a mistake, and it's okay to make mistakes because that's how we learn. So I erased everything, started all over again from the beginning and followed through the question step by step to achieve my polygon. I had a student tell me at the end of class that teachers don't normally make mistakes and it was good to see a teacher making mistakes for once and admitting it to the class. Made me smile. :)
During my practicum, I had several positive experiences. One shocking experience, specifically, occurred during one of my lessons which consisted of a lab. The lab’s purpose was to identify the effect of temperature on the movement of particles; students were to put food colouring in hot and cold water and make observations. During the lesson, one student asked my AT if he could eat the food colouring. She responded that you can eat food colouring since it is a common ingredient in food (however, he could not eat the food colouring during the lab). He, however, only heard the word “yes.” This student then tried the food colouring and his entire face was painted blue. Although the experience was rather humorous, it did teach me how easy it is for miscommunication to occur. As a result, every lab then after began with “you cannot eat anything during this lab.”
Yes - Yet another example of what we, as teachers, think we are communicating, and what some students take in. Keep in mind that even if you announce to the class not to eat anything during the lab, at least one student will probably not have heard you. BTW - was this a particularly messy eaters - why would his entire face be blue? I thought he/she was eating it, not wearing it.
His entire face was blue since he was trying to get the food colouring off by wiping it but then this had the opposite effect....it simply rubbed all over his face. Again, funny experience but both the AT and I definitely learned from it.
The first two days of my observation only 3 or 5 students showed up in each classroom due to religious celebration of Eid. I was extremely surprised to the degree of which diversity can effect class room settings. We speak about diversity within schools and our cities, however I was not expecting this kind situation. Although Toronto is a diverse city, we as teachers have to keep in mind that there are pockets of communities which are home to a group of people from a particular culture, religion or ethnicity. This will have unintended consequences if one is not prepared for the situation. My AT as result of his experience had to arrange his lessons so that he could accommodate the absence of majority of students and it was something very normal for him. I on the other hand had never seen close to 90% of a school absent.
That's an interesting story. I didn't have any students missing for that holiday but I did have a few students absent on Halloween due to religious beliefs.
Reflection: My Experience at W. Ross MacDonald School
W. Ross MacDonald School is a school for students who are blind and visually-impaired. It is located in Brantford, Ontario.
The school is unique in many ways. The class sizes were much smaller than those in a conventional school. There were between 6 and 12 students in a class. In many cases, the students received one-on-one help from the teacher. I also noticed that there was a great emphasis on helping students build good social skills.
At the school, I met one English teacher who was completely blind. She conducted her lessons using Braille and assistive technology such as VoiceOver for iOS-7. She also used the “Dictate” function on the keyboard for composing messages. When she was composing e-mails on the computer, she used a screen reader known as JAWS, which is an acronym for Job Access With Speech.
When I arrived home from Brantford, I learned how to use the VoiceOver, Zoom, Color Inversion and Dictate functions on an iPad. Perhaps I could use an iPad as a teaching tool in the future. I have watched some videos that demonstrate how to connect the iPad to an overhead projector and a SMARTBoard.
On placement I had a very interesting experience with a student that occurred during their Halloween dance-a-thon. Before the dance one of the students parents called the school to speak to him, so he went to talk to her quickly and then came back to the gym for the dance just as it started. After a few minutes I saw him bolt out of the gym and he didn't return, so after getting a bit worried I went to look for him. I found him sitting alone in the classroom, looking upset so I went up to ask him what's wrong? From what he had told me before, his parents were divorced and around this time he had to choose who he wanted to live with so I automatically assumed something related to that occurred. He then went on to tell me that his mom had just called and his older brother had gotten into a fatal car crash and she had to go to the hospital, therefore she wouldn't be home and he needed to use his keys to unlock the door. I was crushed when he told me this and spent my time talking to him to console him and cheer him up. When he heard my associate teacher coming to the classroom, he decided to leave because he didn't want to get in trouble for being out of the gym so he returned to the dance. When my associate teacher asked me what was wrong, I explained the situation to him and then he went to find the student. I didn't see the student for the rest of the dance, but I figured that my associate teacher gave him a pass for the afternoon so that he could have some time for himself. Later on after chaperoning the dance I met up with my associate teacher and I asked him how the student was and he told me that the student was in the office with the principal because he had lied. The entire story that he told me was false. My associate teacher knew the students family and knew that he didn't have an older brother and figured that the student fabricated the entire thing. I was so surprised because the story was so in depth and elaborate that it was almost impossible to believe that it was a lie! The following day, I came to school and there was an apology letter on my desk, explaining that the reason that he lied was because he couldn't dance and didn't want me to make fun of him for it like the other students. I talked to him one on one the same day and we were able to talk through the situation so that he understood that what he did was wrong, but if there was something that he wanted to say he should just be honest me so that I could help him out.
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ReplyDeleteThat is nice to hear Diana. Knowing that most of us will have to supply teach, I am glad to hear that she created such good relationships with her students. Hopefully, we will be able to supply at the same school many times so that we will have a chance to form positive relationships with our students.
DeleteThat is inspiring to hear, I had the opposite experience when I worked with a supply. I became the teacher that they knew and respected and the students were really rude and disrespectful to the supply teacher.
DeleteI think it helps to have a reputation within a school, but that comes with time. I would sometimes have trouble getting the students to be silent for "Silent Reading", but when my teacher stood up, they would immediately go silent. It helped me realize that I wasn't going to have perfect classroom management right from the get-go.
DeleteSimilar experience at my school Diana...there was one supply teacher that came in almost daily and she was well respected and liked by staff and students.
DeleteIt's good that she was able to build up a lot of respect from the students over time, but I'm wondering if she established this respect from the beginning, or if it was earned over time? I'm thinking the former.
DeleteOne time, when my class was working on a math assignment in-class, I heard a ruckus coming from the other room. When I went to investigate, I saw a bunch of the grade 8 girls booing a boy out of class. He was around 6'2, 230lb. Big boy. When I was trying to figure out why they were booing, I saw a girl with a red mark around her eye. They were booing him because he punched her in the face. The teacher kicked him out of the class, so he could cool down outside. my conversation with the student went as follows:
ReplyDeleteMe: "You didn't actually..."
Him: "Yeah I know, I was dumb."
Me: "Why did you do it?"
Him: "She wouldn't stop talking."
Bam.
That's crazy, I have never been in a situation where a student has hit another student and I hope I wont have too. Well they shouldn't seat beside each other anymore:S
DeleteWow. That's shocking. I know students can get into fist fights but I've never heard of someone getting hit because they didn't stop talking. What happened later? Did the students get counselling? Did someone talk to the boy about how he should have handled the situation?
DeleteWhat were the consequences? I'm curious to know how this situation was handled by the teacher and school admin.
DeleteThe consequences of this action are typically an automatics 21 day suspension. Definite anger management is required here. Being assaulted is a serious issue.
DeleteThe result was both students were brought in by the teacher after school and they talked about it. They left the room about 10 minutes later.
DeleteThat's about it.
This happened back on my Observation Week. Oddly enough, they seem to be friends now, they sit with each other in Art class.
One of the most important things I learned in my placement was that students don’t respond well to teacher who are getting angry at them. One of my students who believed himself to be weak in math got in trouble with the Teacher for not completing an assignment as he didn’t know how. She yelled at him and told him that he should have come for after school help and that she was going to email home so he would become more responsible. I took the opportunity during their work period to work with the student to help him understand the assignment and do well. He told me he wasn’t good at math and didn’t want to try the assignment, but I was able to get him to focus on his work and watched as he had the proverbial “ah ha” moment and finally understood what he was doing. I told him he shouldn’t doubt himself and he told me that he thought I was a better teacher than the AT. While this may not have been the case, it was inspiring for me because I was feeling like all of my lessons were going badly at that point in time.
ReplyDeletegreat feeling to see that ah ha moment eh?
DeleteNice Alisa - Treat ALL your students like you care and that they matter - Listen and understand. There is no point at getting mad at a student for not doing what we expect - obviously the expectations were wrong and I am sure he/she really appreciated the time and sensitivity you offered. You mad a difference and don't think for one moment that the student will ever forget.
DeleteThat is such a great feeling. It is nice to be able to work with a student one on one and find out why they are really struggling. Sometimes a student just needs that extra attention to succeed.
DeleteMy associate teacher was very inspiring. She put in so much effort to make her science class exciting and enjoyable for her students. I mentioned to some of the grade 12 students that I currently tutor that I am working in her class and they went on and on about how great she was as a teacher. Many of them told me that she is the reason that they are pursuing science. It was very inspiring to see how much of a difference she made to their lives.
ReplyDeleteWhy, other than effort, was she amazing? That is the million dollar question.
DeleteDuring my practicum, I encountered a student who was having a lot of trouble with the math unit that I was teaching. He looked confused during my lessons, but I could tell (through homework checks and general observation) that the student was making a serious effort. I gave him extra help during independent work time and he was very grateful. This extra help became a daily thing, and he began understanding the material and participating in class. It was really awesome to see him gain the confidence to raise his hand and answer my questions, and to then see him succeed. A few times he even asked to stay in for recess so that I could help him. Then came time for the unit test. When I marked the class' tests, I grabbed for this student's test and marked it first. I was so happy to see that he scored an 87% on his math test. Helping a student who I could tell was putting some serious effort into his studies was very rewarding, and was probably my favourite part of my practicum experience.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the rewarding things of teaching, being able to see the student's grow in something they really struggle with. I really like how you made ways to accommodate this student so he could succeed.
DeleteLauren
Reminds me of a grade 7 student I had who would constantly stay in for recess and ask to stay after school as well to get help in math, and especially to go through every little detail on the unit test. He wanted step by step solutions so he could copy them down and learn from them because he wanted to prepare himself for high school exams.
DeleteThat's what is it all about - You will see a number of examples on this blog where you folks showed that you cared and the caring made a big difference.
DeleteIn my placement in a grade 8 classroom I was tasked with teaching the first part of the patterning and algebra unit. There was one student, we’ll call him Tim, who had an IEP and received accommodations in math. My AT had warned me early in the first week that Tim would likely be disruptive when I taught as he had difficulties following the material and would act out as a result. So you can imagine my surprise when he gave me 100% of his attention and made a real effort to learn the concepts. Though it took him longer to understand, and he endured a fair amount of heckling from his rude classmates, he commonly asked good questions. It was gratifying to see that he was making a real effort to learn what I was teaching. The impact of this was especially made clear to me when I realized that math was the only period in which he applied himself constructively; being disruptive throughout the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteStefan - why do you think he responded to you? Also, I would have hammered the other student for being rude - not a good culture for learning.
DeleteI suppose that he responded to me because I taught in a very different way than my teacher did. She primarily taught via projector with pre-written notes, more of a lecture-style teaching method. I primarily taught at the blackboard with chalk, utilizing a question and answer teaching style. This slightly slower method allows some students who would normally be left behind to catch up. It is also better for showing the process, which in my opinion is vital for understanding.
DeleteAnd yes, I did tell the students who were rude that that is unacceptable behaviour.
Had a field trip on the second Friday of my placement. Ahhhh Ya! Went all the way to midland (over 2 hour bus drive -__-, wheels on the bus go round and round ...). Anyways we went to Sainte Marie among the Hurons. Had a tour of the village and talked about the historical events that occurred there with the missionaries coming over. In the afternoon we had a lacrosse game which was really fun for the kids and me:). It was a great break from making lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh Ya!
DeleteI had to teach about Sainte Marie among the Hurons in their History class, and wish I had an opportunity to go!!
DeleteOne thing that surprised me during my placement was the feedback I received from students at the end of lessons. Several times I did a consolidation activity where students filled out some sort of response sheet. It was usually about their general impressions of the lesson, what they thought was easy/difficult to understand, and what they enjoyed or did not enjoy about the lesson. Before my first day teaching I had fairly low expectations for this activity. I didn’t expect students to take it seriously or put much thought into the responses. Every day I did this activity, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the responses I received from students. I thought they did a remarkably good job assessing their own abilities and provided me with very useful feedback that helped me plan subsequent lessons.
ReplyDeleteI did some ticket out the door activities with my students, and I found the same thing to be true. I asked the students what they would like to learn more about (on the topic of circles, measurement unit) and I got some very interesting responses.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI like your take on consolidations. I had a hard time fitting it in. It often felt forced to make the students do a 'Ticket Out the Door' or an activity like that.
DeleteOn Tuesday, of the second week of placement, the students went to the Durham District Board Office (by Sinclair Secondary) for a media workshop where they learned the basics of filming and video editing. It was interesting day because it gave the students a great opportunity to showcase their creativity. The variety in videos produced was quite significant, and it was quite amusing watching the final products.
ReplyDeleteOn the next Tuesday the students went back again, but this time they learned about video editing using Windows Movie Maker.
I learned some new things about video editing and filming myself, and had a chance to assist the students with their own projects.
They really enjoyed the process and everyone had a good time.
So what did you learn from this? Why was it inspiring or surprising?
DeleteThe day started with an eye opening experience. My AT was telling me a story out on yard duty about a student who is labelled as a “runner”. He has severe special needs and anger issues and is labelled among the teachers as a high risk student. As luck would have it, after talking about the child an incident occurred. Immediately my AT approached the child and tried to assess the situation. The student proceeded to scream and then kick AT. I’ve never seen a student attack a teacher before so this was a bit of a shock for me. The student’s mother came over from the parking lot and explained that today was one of his “bad days” and she would be taking him home for the morning. The principal was informed of the incident and my AT began showing me all the different forms on the board website for reporting this sort of thing. I didn’t realize there were so many forms! There are different ones for worker-worker conflict, E.A. - special-ed child conflict, worker-student conflicts, and every other combination imaginable. The principal made sure that the proper form was completely filled out and I had to be put a witness to the event. It’s good to be aware of the protocol for incidents like this because up until this point I wasn’t aware of the procedure. The child came and apologized later that day once he had returned to school, which seemed to smooth things over a bit. The report still needed to be submitted to the board and it was added to the student’s record. My AT’s advice on the situation was no matter how minor the incident never immediately say that you’re ok. Always wait a day or two to assess your injuries, because once the report is filed you can’t change it. You don’t want to have something come up as a result of the injury that you can no longer document with the incident.
ReplyDeleteNever knew this - thanks for sharing - Important stuff and wise advice.
DeleteAt practicum, I had to create a data management project for the grade 7s. They had to find some data from the internet and create graphs in Excel with the data that they found. When they had their graphs created they had to try to identify trends in the data. The class really enjoyed doing the project because they were able to work in pairs and use computers for a week. I was surprised at the simple questions that they asked me about using Excel, since they are really good at using technology normally, but they did not have any prior exposure to Excel. Overall the project went well and covered roughly half of the curriculum for the Data Management unit, which my AT was very grateful for.
ReplyDeleteTed
DeleteWe already built you the Moneyball Lesson plan!
The school I was at had a Halloween-themed contest, where each class needed to choose a pumpkin, and decorate it like a storybook character. I thought my grade eight class would not be interested in it, because pumpkin-decoration is not too age-appropriate for them, but they were excited about it, and most of the class decided to stay after school to help make their pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by this, but I think that this situation was the result of my associate teacher setting up a really positive class environment. Students who normally would have scoffed at having to stay after school to do art decided to stay and help out anyways.
I have a picture of what we made: http://postimg.org/image/gz4nasafp/
Wow, looks like quiet a bit of effort was put into that
DeleteDuring my placement, there were a few days where my class had a supply teacher. On one of the days, we had one lady come in to supply who walked in without even introducing herself, and began ordering the class to listen to her. The class was not allowed to say a single word without being yelled at. Since it was a cross country meet day, about half the class was missing. She refused to listen to the students when they tried to explain to her where they were as she took attendance. I even tried to explain to her where they were but she would just glare at me.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher had left me work to teach and give out to the class throughout this day but it was impossible to get through because the supply teacher didn’t enjoy my class discussions. As time progressed in silence, the class started to get restless. The class was getting chatty and giggly and was having a hard time doing their work. This just resulted in being yelled at. It got to the point where I couldn’t even sit there without laughing. I felt so bad because as the students were being yelled at for laughing, meanwhile I was giggling at the wall trying to “hide”. When the French teacher walked in for her class, there was a big applause for her because they knew they would be relived. When the supply walked out, she shut the door behind her and just glared through the window.
Note to myself…don’t be a strict supply teacher.
(Lauren Quinto)
First hand experience as to why fear, yelling, and anger don't work well. Read some other stories about what does work - caring is a great start. I would suspect that this supply teacher had many other issues.
DeleteI agree with Robin, that the supply probably had some personal issues to sort out. Another good reason to be sure you can separate your personal life from your professional one if you want to be an effective teacher.
DeleteI agree! Personal life and work need to be separated, which can be hard.
DeleteMy Interesting Experience
ReplyDeleteWhile attempting to use the Smartboard as an interactive tool while at the same time using chart paper and a white board to post material that needed to remain visible for the duration of the lesson I gained perspective on pure teaching terror.
During the student’s work period during the lesson I was asked how to spell “sustainability”. No problem, I decided to write the word on the smartboard thinking I may need that word for the next class as well. So trying to be quick I grabbed the pen and turned to write the word on the Smartboard. To my extreme horror as I began to write a big “S” the smartboard cursor did not track the pen and a large Black “S” appeared where I expected to see the blue smartboard pen to be writing. It turns out I had accidently set a marker down in the slot for the smartboard pen. Now I am at the front of the room panicking because I am not sure whether my faculty advisor just watched me draw a permanent “S” on the smartboard during my evaluation.
Slowly the students began to realize I have done something wrong, I assume the fact that I muttered “what have I done” tipped them off. With my fingers crossed and the class making the standard ‘ooooooooooo’ sound I cautiously tried and hoped the mark would wipe off with the dry erase brush. I lucked out I had accidently grabbed the white board marker and not the permanent marker for the chart paper.
Needless to say the next 17 million times Mr. West went to write on the smartboard the class blurted out “no not that marker”. During the 20 seconds that felt like minutes my Associate Teacher managed to remain standing while doubled over laughing, and my Faculty Advisor did not fail me for nearly defacing school property.
- Andrew
Haha! At least your teacher wasn't angry
Deletehaha good one! I can only imagine what went on in everyone's head during those 20 seconds.
DeleteYes - those are the fun moments. BTW a Staedlter White Eraser will take off permanent marker. I know this from personal experience (smile). At least you built rapport this the students.
DeleteHaha, funny story. It's a good thing it was erasable. I think those SMART boards are really expensive.
DeleteIn my class there was a student who had really bad anxiety and social anxiety. She had break downs when quizzes or tests were handed out, she would tell my associate that she was feeling sick and was unable to write it. This happened very often during the three weeks and for this reason I felt that I never really was able to connect with her. She had such bad social anxiety that she would never participate in class discussions or get involved with other students. Whenever I would talk to her about homework or asked if she would stay in so that I could offer extra help she would shut down and simply not respond, I felt like I was re-teaching the lesson over recess because I was getting no feedback from her and had no idea if she understood anything I was teaching. Then on my very last day of placement as students were saying goodbye and leaving, she walked up to me and said “It was nice to meet you and thank you for all of your help.” I couldn’t believe that I had actually made an impact on this students and it was a good feeling to know that my hard work for this student had not been for nothing.
ReplyDeleteGiving attention to a students is rarely a bad thing in y personal experience. It shows that you care and she felt that. The problems she was having were big and it would be unrealistic for you to expect immediate results. I might have asked to talk with the parents and other teacher who knew about her. She clearly was afraid and did not feel safe and maybe bay-steps would have been a good approach. You were in there trying, though.
DeleteI was surprised by how effective technology was at engaging students. My AT was a very traditional teacher, and did not feel comfortable bringing technology into the classroom. I however included technology in the majority of my lessons (about 80% of my lessons, at least included a YouTube video). I learned that the extra 5 minutes of prep time required to set-up the projector, and my laptop, was well worth it. The students were absolutely glued to the screen, and got so much more out of a video of someone talking about a subject than if I had of stood at the front of the room and talked about the topic. There were a few times that I would bring out the projector just to show an image to the class, and even that small amount of technology went a long way in engaging the students.
ReplyDeleteOn the other end of the spectrum, when I executed lessons that were 100% technology based, the students were not only engaged, but excited! In particular, I did a numeracy review using clickers, and it was the most exciting math review that I have ever been a part of.
By the end of my stay at this placement, my AT was asking for where she could purchase a set of clickers, because even she could see the value in that piece of technology.
Adele Hedrick
I'm glad your AT let you use technology - very powerful stuff but only if used properly - It sounds like you have clear ideas of how to integrate tech into the classroom in meaningful ways. That or the students are so starved for technology that they will eat up anything (smile).
DeleteThis is awesome that you included technology in a majority of lessons. Finding ways to incorporate technology AND make it useful and engaging to the students can sometimes be difficult. The fact that you we're able to do all of this and even make lessons that we're 100% technology really shows how dedicated you are to your students and your craft. Truly inspiring the amount of preparation you must have put into your lessons everyday.
DeleteIt is good that your AT allowed you to bring technology in the classroom. It made the lesson more efficient and a lot more interesting. My AT is more like a traditional teacher. He strongly believed in writing out the lecture notes on the board and having the students copying them down. When I brought technology, (i.e. use the Smart board) in one of my lesson, AT kept commenting that I should not bring technology in the classroom because of the sake of bringing the technology in the classroom. (Sylvia)
DeleteDuring my placement, I encountered many interesting and positive experiences. One of the positive experiences that I had was when I was teaching the students about Surface Area of a rectangular prism and a cylinder. On the first day of the lesson, my AT told me to just give them some review questions about the surface area of a rectangular prism as they should have already learnt this. When I gave them the questions, I quickly realized that they did not know how to do this and I had to improvise and figure out a simple way for the students to understand. I ended up getting the students to make a net for a rectangular prism using Kleenex boxes and scrap paper. At the end of the three lessons on surface area, after having the students create their own nets for rectangular prisms and cylinders, many of the students expressed that they finally understood what surface area was. This was a highlight of my practicum because the students said that they had been taught this concept many times and now finally understood It due to my examples and activities.
ReplyDeleteYour ability to change your lesson on the fly to meet where the students are is amazing!
DeleteYes - well done. It is surprising that this concept is not taught with a manipulative. It is also risk that your AT assumed they knew the concept - always check. Start out with "what are your thoughts about the surface area of a rectangle?"- discuss - then ask "What questions do they have?". Sometimes the impromptu lessons are the very best, perhaps because we are truly present with the students, and not following "or plan"
DeleteI was extremely lucky with my placement. I was placed in a grade 7/8 split class where they generally place a majority of the more well-behaved students. But like most 11-12 year old students they still have their many moments, where they often act out and get out of line. When it came time for my faculty advisor to evaluate me, my students did a complete 180. They were angels, they became students that I never thought I’d see before. They realized the importance of my evaluation and really stepped up for me. Not just with their behaviour, but with their student participation, they we’re engaged throughout the lesson and the work that they completed was impeccable.
ReplyDeleteThis probably means you made a connection with them - that's good. Grade 7 & 8 can be wild and disorderly, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun and that students won't learn. The challenge is to observe why they are shifting to the more crazy moments? Boredom? Unclear instructions? Holiday? Friday?
DeleteIt is nice when the students step up for you. I had a similar experience whyn my FA visited as well.
DeleteI had a very loud class with a few overly energetic students. Disruptions and outbursts happened often and were almost expected from the group I had. At first I had a bit of trouble with classroom management and almost had to send a student to the principal’s office because he was actively ignoring my rules (and making a show of it). Over time things got better but the students were still too rowdy. One Monday I came to school sick and made a point to tell everyone that I was sick and felt bad, and I asked them to think how they would feel if they had to come to school sick. Miraculously they gave me no trouble that day and became a lot more disciplined for the rest of the week. It was nice to see they understood my situation and tried to help.
ReplyDelete- Lukas
Now if you could only play sick all the time (smile). It is hard to be a leader and if the students sense you may falter, some will test you. Finding your er presence in class can be a long process. Would you have listened to yourself as a student?
DeleteI was an awesome student. Of course I would have listened to my teacher, especially if it was me.
DeleteBack in September my Associate Teacher asked if I would rather teach Dance or Drama upon my return in October. I’ve never been a big fan of drama, so I decided to teach dance. I did a lot of dance in high school, but it has been a LONG time since then. This was a little out of my comfort zone, in addition to the fact that my AT wanted me to complete the dance unit by the end of my placement. After spending a lot of time on Pinterest trying to find lessons and resources, I was completely overwhelmed and unsure how I was going to cover all the curriculum expectations. My AT and I decided that we would introduce the students to different types of dance and then have them work in groups to create their own dances. We carefully constructed their groups in hopes of having each group work well.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say I was more than a bit hesitant since grade 6 and 7 students are at that awkward stage and I doubted they would ever want to dance. However, with a lot of enthusiasm on my part, I seemed to get them on board. Each day I would show them YouTube videos of different dance performances, and then lead them in a warm up. They would then have the rest of the period to work on their dances. Even with all the technology and space issues they all seemed to love it. The groups really worked well together, unlikely leaders emerged, and to our surprise, we discovered some awesome dancers.
On my last day we had each group present their dances. A grade 2 class, as well as the principal came to watch the performances. I think I was more nervous than they were! The performances were amazing and everyone was so impressed. Many of the students were really impressed and proud of their work. I was beaming by the end of the performances. They had come up with amazing choreography, showed so much enthusiasm, and they had all improved so much. I truly felt like this was my class and was so proud of the courage they showed by getting up to dance. Leaving that day was heart wrenching, but I will definitely not forget my amazing students at Alexander Muir.
- Denise Rowsell
Wow. Wow. Wow. Brilliant. The YouTube videos were a great idea - something they could relate to and build off. I might have asked if they wanted to be video taped - maybe they want to go on Youtube as well (smile). Creativity is a wonderful thing. Now try to bring it to math - you can, but it takes a lot more thought.
DeleteThis is a great story! It's quite difficult to get students to do something like that if they didn't want to and because they're at that "awkward" age, but it was a good idea to do a little bit at a time and build up their interest.
DeleteI was placed in a grade 7 class of 29 students. Twelve of the students had IEPs. Nine of these students leave the class for separate instruction in math. Since the students that remained in the class did not have Math IEPs, I thought that there would be no problems teaching them. That was not the case. I was surprised to find that the remaining students had difficulty with what seemed to me to be the simplest concepts. For one of the lessons, I was teaching the students about mean, median, and mode. Many of them struggled with finding the median and mode even when I showed them easy ways to remember it (for example, the first two letters of “mode” can stand for “most often”) I found myself taking up homework by doing each and every question, step by step on the board with the students. In the end, many of them still did not do well on the quiz. (Inga)
ReplyDeletePracticum 1 - Story
ReplyDeleteMy first practicum was a very shocking experience. AT did all the things that we are informed, (in our UOIT courses) not to do to your students. AT generated a lot of tension and anxiety in all his classes. He picked students to stand infront of the board and write out the answers when they are lost and confused with the questions. He yelled and yelled at the students when students he picked did not know the answer to his questions. He even crumbled students assignment because the papers or hand writing were not neat. And he tore the student’s papers because students were doing their assignment in another class. I felt helpless and powerless when I was observing all that events. This was not what I was expecting my first practicum to be.
That sounds horrible! That must have been really hard to just sit back and not be able to do anything. Try to remember that we won't be like that when we get a teaching job, we will make a difference.
DeleteReminds me of a teacher I had in high school. She would yell, tear apart papers, and toss assignments in the garbage bin all the time.
DeleteTeachers like these make me more confident and prepared to be a "good" teacher if not the "best".
A grade 7 student with an IEP was studying math at a grade level of 4. She worked out of a separate book and told me about how easy it was. Her and her mother knew it was easy for her and they didn’t think it was helping her progress in math. They both wanted her to start learning more difficult content in math but my AT always told her to work out of her workbook. I told the student that if she wants the change, she and her mother need to talk to the teacher and principal about the possible change. I gave her the opportunity to participate in my lessons and start doing the work the whole class worked on so she could see if she was comfortable with the material.
ReplyDeleteThis is really important for you to know - It is a continual struggle for parents to know how to support their children with IEPs. The teachers pretend to know, but they may not, and listening to the student and parent is important. I wonder why your At was making this decision.
DeleteFrom the first day of placement, it was obvious that J.S. was the greatest classroom distraction. I observed as he shouted out, threw objects across the classroom, and ignored instruction. In my observation week, I tried to ask him questions like “How was your weekend? What kinds of extracurricular activities do you like to do?” I thought that I was “building a good rapport”. I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhen it was finally time to teach the class on my own, J.S was a problem. I tried everything to prevent his disruptions: I used proximity, I called his name, I wrote his name on the board, I moved him to sit beside me, I moved him to another classroom, and I even gave detention. Nothing seemed to work, so my AT and I arranged for his mother to come in for a meeting with him.
His mother came in for the meeting during our prep time. I called him (J.S) to come meet with his mother, and for the first time I saw his serious face. In the meeting, he listened intently (he was an entirely different person, it seemed). During the meeting, constructive criticism was provided, and I believe that we came to a resolution. For the rest of the day, J.S was a model student.
Unfortunately for me, though, the meeting was on the last day of my placement.
Wow - you were very patient and thoughtful about this - well done. Remember that sometimes good solutions take weeks. I wonder if JS would continue to be good in class. My guess is that there is something else going on - not sure what.
DeleteI realized in a few days into my grade 7 placement that the students were hesitant and that there was something holding them back when it came to sharing their answers or being involved in class discussions. That too only with me. With my AT, the students would volunteer to come up to the Smart board, I would see many hands raised to answer questions and students would even yell out their answers because they were so excited. When I would teach a lesson, the students would be quiet, no hands in the air and no one would volunteer to come up to the board and share their thoughts/answers. It took me a while to figure out why they reacted that way with me, and not with their AT. One day after school, a student told me that “We don’t want you to think we are not smart. We don’t want to seem dumb or make stupid mistakes. Mr. H already knows all about us, you don’t. We know the answers but we are just afraid.” I realized that students were afraid of what I would think of them. The following day, I had a small talk with the class about ‘helping me help them’ and that I do not judge anyone. From there on, I started seeing more involvement...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed - Thanks for sharing that. A great opportunity to launch into the idea that mistakes are important. I wonder were the question you were asking, right and wrong questions, or more open ended questions that would allow them to think and wonder?
DeleteI mostly asked them open-ended questions which were designed to build on the knowledge from previous class or what they had been taught that same day. Even the questions I knew students had answered correctly and I told them their answer was correct and if they could share it with the class, they would just shy away and say no they don't want to. I was amazed at why they would do that to me and not my AT. Then I thought about UOIT's professionalism/participation marks..can we, as teachers, allot a certain percent of marks towards participation at a high school level?
DeleteSince you mentioned the word mistake, I remembered one of my lessons where I made a mistake and couldn't draw a polygon with the given attributes. I had a blank moment and I just paused, took a step back from the board and stared at it. The students looked a bit confused so I explained to them that I made a mistake, and it's okay to make mistakes because that's how we learn. So I erased everything, started all over again from the beginning and followed through the question step by step to achieve my polygon. I had a student tell me at the end of class that teachers don't normally make mistakes and it was good to see a teacher making mistakes for once and admitting it to the class. Made me smile. :)
During my practicum, I had several positive experiences. One shocking experience, specifically, occurred during one of my lessons which consisted of a lab. The lab’s purpose was to identify the effect of temperature on the movement of particles; students were to put food colouring in hot and cold water and make observations. During the lesson, one student asked my AT if he could eat the food colouring. She responded that you can eat food colouring since it is a common ingredient in food (however, he could not eat the food colouring during the lab). He, however, only heard the word “yes.” This student then tried the food colouring and his entire face was painted blue.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the experience was rather humorous, it did teach me how easy it is for miscommunication to occur. As a result, every lab then after began with “you cannot eat anything during this lab.”
Yes - Yet another example of what we, as teachers, think we are communicating, and what some students take in. Keep in mind that even if you announce to the class not to eat anything during the lab, at least one student will probably not have heard you. BTW - was this a particularly messy eaters - why would his entire face be blue? I thought he/she was eating it, not wearing it.
DeleteHi Robin,
DeleteHis entire face was blue since he was trying to get the food colouring off by wiping it but then this had the opposite effect....it simply rubbed all over his face. Again, funny experience but both the AT and I definitely learned from it.
Thanks,
Christine
The first two days of my observation only 3 or 5 students showed up in each classroom due to religious celebration of Eid. I was extremely surprised to the degree of which diversity can effect class room settings. We speak about diversity within schools and our cities, however I was not expecting this kind situation. Although Toronto is a diverse city, we as teachers have to keep in mind that there are pockets of communities which are home to a group of people from a particular culture, religion or ethnicity. This will have unintended consequences if one is not prepared for the situation. My AT as result of his experience had to arrange his lessons so that he could accommodate the absence of majority of students and it was something very normal for him. I on the other hand had never seen close to 90% of a school absent.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting take on diversity - Thanks for that. I have never experienced this situation myself.
DeleteThat's an interesting story. I didn't have any students missing for that holiday but I did have a few students absent on Halloween due to religious beliefs.
DeleteReflection: My Experience at W. Ross MacDonald School
ReplyDeleteW. Ross MacDonald School is a school for students who are blind and visually-impaired. It is located in Brantford, Ontario.
The school is unique in many ways. The class sizes were much smaller than those in a conventional school. There were between 6 and 12 students in a class. In many cases, the students received one-on-one help from the teacher. I also noticed that there was a great emphasis on helping students build good social skills.
At the school, I met one English teacher who was completely blind. She conducted her lessons using Braille and assistive technology such as VoiceOver for iOS-7. She also used the “Dictate” function on the keyboard for composing messages. When she was composing e-mails on the computer, she used a screen reader known as JAWS, which is an acronym for Job Access With Speech.
When I arrived home from Brantford, I learned how to use the VoiceOver, Zoom, Color Inversion and Dictate functions on an iPad. Perhaps I could use an iPad as a teaching tool in the future. I have watched some videos that demonstrate how to connect the iPad to an overhead projector and a SMARTBoard.
How do these new tools have an impact on your learning? Do you think the impact will be significant? Why?
ReplyDeleteReflection: Halloween Dance-a-thon
ReplyDeleteOn placement I had a very interesting experience with a student that occurred during their Halloween dance-a-thon. Before the dance one of the students parents called the school to speak to him, so he went to talk to her quickly and then came back to the gym for the dance just as it started. After a few minutes I saw him bolt out of the gym and he didn't return, so after getting a bit worried I went to look for him. I found him sitting alone in the classroom, looking upset so I went up to ask him what's wrong? From what he had told me before, his parents were divorced and around this time he had to choose who he wanted to live with so I automatically assumed something related to that occurred. He then went on to tell me that his mom had just called and his older brother had gotten into a fatal car crash and she had to go to the hospital, therefore she wouldn't be home and he needed to use his keys to unlock the door. I was crushed when he told me this and spent my time talking to him to console him and cheer him up. When he heard my associate teacher coming to the classroom, he decided to leave because he didn't want to get in trouble for being out of the gym so he returned to the dance. When my associate teacher asked me what was wrong, I explained the situation to him and then he went to find the student. I didn't see the student for the rest of the dance, but I figured that my associate teacher gave him a pass for the afternoon so that he could have some time for himself. Later on after chaperoning the dance I met up with my associate teacher and I asked him how the student was and he told me that the student was in the office with the principal because he had lied. The entire story that he told me was false. My associate teacher knew the students family and knew that he didn't have an older brother and figured that the student fabricated the entire thing. I was so surprised because the story was so in depth and elaborate that it was almost impossible to believe that it was a lie! The following day, I came to school and there was an apology letter on my desk, explaining that the reason that he lied was because he couldn't dance and didn't want me to make fun of him for it like the other students. I talked to him one on one the same day and we were able to talk through the situation so that he understood that what he did was wrong, but if there was something that he wanted to say he should just be honest me so that I could help him out.