(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 Resolution.)
The resolution = THE END. Or more specifically, the point in the story when the problem or complication is resolved.
I think I (inadvertently) solved my complications in week three, so I’ll use this time / space for some other thoughts.
Week four was a busy one for the grade 5s at Owen. Our three classes of about 70 students and five more from Mrs. Gillespie's HSP class worked on finishing their culminating task - a narrative comic about consumption and environmental impact. Here's a favourite from my class:
I am thankful for many things about this practicum, including:
Week four was a busy one for the grade 5s at Owen. Our three classes of about 70 students and five more from Mrs. Gillespie's HSP class worked on finishing their culminating task - a narrative comic about consumption and environmental impact. Here's a favourite from my class:
I am thankful for many things about this practicum, including:
Pretty good (and many) alarms: I did not sleep in! This is due, in large part, to my pathological and extreme fear of being late and the three alarms I set every morning. You may think this is a bit over the top, but there was a time in which two of my alarms failed to work... on the same morning. I don't even know how that could have happened...
An understanding partner: What has it been like to live with me in a small one-bedroom apartment during this practicum? With a person who gets home at 5:30 p.m., eats dinner, then puts on her robe and then gets in bed to mark papers or do lesson plans until she falls asleep / passes out from exhaustion and then is woken up by three alarms (see above) at 5:30 a.m. only to hit the snooze button every 10 minutes until 6 a.m. and then is out the door at 7:15 a.m and then starts all over again at 5:30 p.m.? Only one person knows and I am afraid to ask him. (And yes, we are still together.)
Grade 5: I always suspected I would like to teach 10 year olds and well… I was right about that. It’s a really special, interesting and creative age. I learned a lot from this class of grade 5s. And here they are:
Moving on: So, two weeks today, I’ll be on the road – probably somewhere in Northern Ontario – back to Calgary, then to Yellowknife for my internship then back to Toronto before a summer job as a Teacher’s Assistant for an overseas grade 12 Classics and English course and then back to Toronto to pack up the apartment and then back to Calgary to see if I can actually find a teaching gig in Alberta. In the meantime, I’m trying to get through these last few assignments, stay engaged in what happening in class and say goodbye to Toronto friends.
Moving on: So, two weeks today, I’ll be on the road – probably somewhere in Northern Ontario – back to Calgary, then to Yellowknife for my internship then back to Toronto before a summer job as a Teacher’s Assistant for an overseas grade 12 Classics and English course and then back to Toronto to pack up the apartment and then back to Calgary to see if I can actually find a teaching gig in Alberta. In the meantime, I’m trying to get through these last few assignments, stay engaged in what happening in class and say goodbye to Toronto friends.
Speaking of goodbye... here's a Bitstrips farewell from a student. There are so many things I like about this comic, but I especially love that my avatar 1) wears chartreuse pants 2) carries a satchel and 3) sings "La La La!" all the way home. When I look at this I feel happy.
(Blogs I commented on: Amy, Jen, Winzie, YiLin.)
That routine of working all day and night and not getting enough sleep is all too familiar. In the first few years of teaching - this seems to be the normal practice for teachers. However it gets better and easier when you start managing your time better and develop a new sense of priorities.
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