The last post....

I can't believe the first practicum experience is over. I'm really going to miss the students in 7-1 and 7-2, but I'm also looking forward to seeing the Midtown group next week and hearing about everyone's experiences.

I'm also looking forward to getting a decent night's sleep for the first time in a month or so.

Blog responses: this week I responded to four blogs: Lauren, Sarah (this one may or may not have worked – LiveJournal was giving me a hard time with posting on Sarah’s site), Lindsay and Kelly.

Week Three

Week Three… otherwise known as Report Card Week and/or Parent Teacher Meeting Week and/or Visit from the School’s Superintendent Week

(I think I forgot to mention that last week I had the opportunity to run the Dance Club practice / rehearsal for the upcoming December talent show. My AT was away that day, and dance practice was on! It was such a fun experience.... made me wish I had taken more dance lessons, though!)

My AT has been teaching for over 13 years and, in that time, has accumulated a lot of amazing word games for the class (Bananagrams, Boggle, etc.). Every once in a while, she will devote a Language Arts class to playing literacy games. In one of the classes last week, we played Taboo (the game where a player has to have his / her team guess the word in his / her card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card) and it was HILARIOUS. The class was divided into two teams and every member of the class was on the edge of their seat waiting for the clues / explanations from their team member. It got so loud as the kids screamed out their answers. I cannot even begin to explain how much the kids loved playing that game (and I have to admit, I loved it too). I never really thought about using word games in the classroom. Taboo, in particular, really challenged the kids to use their vocabulary and verbal skills. Such a great idea / activity.

I also had the opportunity to sit in on all (32!) of my AT’s parent teacher meetings. I don’t know how she did it – I was exhausted just observing the meetings.

Classroom management seemed to be better this week. It could be any number of things... perhaps something to do with parent / teacher meetings that week?

Week Two...

If I'm anything, I'm consistent.

The big theme of week two was – yet again – classroom management. But this week it was a different kind.

In week two, I taught a mini-unit on Literary Devices and Figurative Language. I thought I came up with some interesting lesson plans, activities and ways to illustrate the concepts (including deconstructing and finding literary devices in music lyrics). The students seemed excited to be able to listen to music and study lyrics in class… almost too excited. It was hard to settle everyone back down and get back on task.

As Serge pointed out when he visited my class: it’s amazing to get students excited about a lesson or activity – but you also have to be able to contain that excitement. He had some great advice for me, and what I’m realizing is that I have to anticipate these kinds of reactions and preface or give instructions about how I expect students to respond or behave. (Which I guess goes back to giving very specific details from my Week One post.)

Serge also had some great suggestions for handling all of those grade 7 boys who - well - act like grade 7 boys. There are so many of them! I teach two classes (with 34 students in each) and in one of the classes the boys almost out number the girls 2 to 1!

I’m lucky to be in a room that has access to SMARTBoard, so I’ve been incorporating the technology into my lessons. I do love the SMARTBoard. And the kids love using it. Whenever I have an activity that involves students coming up to the SMARTBoard, hands immediately go up. In one class, almost every student wants to come up to the board and it’s too hard to choose just one or two students because everyone else gets so disappointed. I’ve tried a couple of different ways to make it (choosing who gets to come up to the board) as random and fair as possible, including choosing names out of a basket. (The students also seem to think that this is an equitable way to do this.)

Until next week....

Week One...

It’s been an exciting, exhilarating and exhausting couple of days.

Being in front of the class for the first week was so great – I like the kids a lot. It’s an amazing feeling when you see that the class is getting it – that they’re responding to your questions and concepts. At the same time, I found it a little overwhelming to look out at the class and realize that I had their attention and they’re actually listening to me.

That being said – classroom management is, and will be, one of my greatest challenges.

In a day, I teach the same Language Arts lesson to two different grade 7 classes. It’s interesting to see what works in one class and what works in another. One class is definitely more challenging to manage than the other (not just for me, but my AT as well). I’ve tried several different techniques (clapping, waiting, walking around) and I am trying to figure out what will work for me and what will work for each of the classes. In general, I think the kids know how they should behave but often need to be reminded that they should raise their hands to answer questions and not chatter when others are speaking.

I realize there are things going on outside of the classroom that affect what happens in the classroom. On Friday for example, the students were scheduled to take the Beep Test in HPE. They were so excited and nervous about the Beep Test and it was really hard to settle them down.

I am also very aware that the students are testing me, so I feel I have to extra vigilant to make sure that I am on top of any behaviour that they could never get away with with their own teacher.

I also realized that I have to give VERY SPECIFIC instructions or else chaos ensues. I thought I had this great activity with manipulatives and (in retrospect) gave somewhat vague instructions. It became a bit of a gong show, I think. When I gave the same activity to the second class, I made sure I gave clear instructions and the activity went more smoothly. (Although, I can’t be 100 per cent sure it went better because of my instructions or because the second class is a little easier as far as classroom management goes.)

I’m lucky to have wonderful, supportive and understanding AT who is encouraging me to try things out and see if they work – or don’t work.

Bring on week two!