Complication(s) / Week 3

(For those just tuning in, I’ve decided to format the four entries of this blog to follow the four parts of the narrative form I’m teaching my grade 5 class. This week: the Complication.)

If you were to read the last two blog entries, you might come away thinking that it was all fun and Jeopardy games in my March practicum. But I’ve been saving the challenges (or complications if you were in my grade 5 class and we were talking about narrative writing) for the this entry:

1)   The wall. I hit a wall after week 2 / at the start of week 3. (Half-way done  - yay! Half-way to go – ohhh…) I’m not exactly sure why I seem to have lost some of my momentum… but I do remember the same thing happened during the November practicum. How can I keep motivated? And keep my energy up? Perhaps part of the problem this practicum is that I can see how close I am to the end of this whole thing. In less than a month I'll be packing up and driving back to Calgary... and then from there to Yellowknife for my internship. This week, I just tried to focus on whatever was planned for the next day. I'd worry about tomorrow, later.

2)   A cough and a sneeze. I got pretty sick the first weekend of March Break. Awful head cold and cough. Ugh. I’m just getting over it now.

3)   Is this thing on? No technology in the classroom. Not really a challenge, but something I really miss from my last practicum where I was lucky enough to have a SmartBoard. It was great to be able to bedazzle my students with YouTube videos and other interactive experiences. So I've just been using other no-tech ways to create the same kind of interactive activities (cutting out pictures and moving them around around the whiteboard with magnets, post-it notes on chart paper, four corners, etc.).

4)   Co-teaching. It’s harder than it looks. And more rewarding than I thought. Oh – and did I mention it was hard? At Owen P.S., the three grade 5 teachers co-teach and co-plan language arts, science and social science. So the three TCs also co-teach and co-plan. With all of the group work that we do in class, you would think that I would be prepared for the co-teaching experience. But not so much. Take three people, with three different ways of communicating, different strengths, and different speeds of working... You almost need another practicum to figure out how to co-teach! I have already used the words, “hard” and “rewarding” to describe the experience. I’ve also found it: confusing, gratifying and creative. 

Over the winter break, I listened to the great Tina Fey’s audiobook Bossypants. I mention this now because in the book, she outlines the rules of improv comedy. I think her rules also apply to co-teaching. (Actually, I think Fey would argue that these rules are also good rules for life.) To paraphrase shamelessly from Fey’s book…

1)   Say yes.
This isn’t to suggest you should blindly agree with everything - it’s more of a reminder to respect what your partner has created and to start in a generous and open minded place.

2)   Say yes AND.
Agree, and then add something of your own. It’s your responsibility to contribute. Be sure to add something to the discussion.

3)   Make statements / don’t ask questions all the time.
By asking questions all the time, you put pressure on your partner to come up with answers. Don’t be the person who always raises questions and points out obstacles. Be part of the solution.

4)   There are no mistakes, only opportunities.
I think I like this rule the best of them all. Don't be afraid of failing. Try things. Be brave!  

Back in the classroom, we had a great week with Scientists in the School coming in for one afternoon. The students seemed really engaged with all of the experiments and activities and I took away some strategies to make science challenging, fun AND organized (see my second blog, where I talk about my fear of leading science experiments).

We also began our culminating task, which will be a Bitstrips comic.

I hope to take the weekend to refocus and recharge.

Ever onward…