Practicum Experiences
Year Four - Ecole St.John Paul II (January - April 2022)
11 Weeks in grade 5/6
This practicum was an exceptional experience, that allowed for immense growth within my teaching abilities. I taught 100% for 5 weeks and found great success in planning, teaching, and assessing.
A highlight of this practicum was teaching grade four science. This was the only class I taught the grade fours and I throughly enjoyed teaching them all about simple machines. The best aspect of teaching science are all the engaging experiments that the students perform. We made pop-can cars, and many kinds of levers. I discovered that hands-on learning is the most meaningful for students as they are better able to make real-life connections with content when they are able to use their knowledge to build something.
I want to continue to grow my knowledge of other hands on learning activities across all subjects and within a cross curricular context. I can accomplish this through professional development, and emphasizing this style of teaching in my own classroom.
In this photo I am working with a student, using the design thinking process, who is building and testing a cardboard car.
Year Three - Medicine Hat Christian School (November - December 2021)
5 weeks in grades1and 2
This has been an incredible learning experience. I have enjoyed building relationships with the students and the staff. Throughout the five weeks, I have developed my ability to engage students with my lessons.
I realized that have a passion to teach art! Some of my most favourite lessons to teach were crafts and art projects that involved cutting and pasting and, drawing and painting. I also integrated these projects with math and science outcomes to enrich student learning. The students also enjoyed these projects and my goal is to continue to implement this type teaching throughout my career.
I want to continue to grow my assessment strategies, through professional development and EDUC 2375 (Effective Assessment). I would also like to further develop my ability to differentiate learning to ensure that all students are successful. I will do this by attending professional development sessions, and future courses.
In this photo I am teaching a lesson about, transparent, translucent, and opaque. I used an overhead to test our materials, and the students loved it!
Year Two - Vincent Massey (Winter Semester 2020)
About 20 hours of mostly observation (taught 3 lessons) in grade 1
This practicum focused on how to successfully teach literacy! I had the opportunity to work in a grade one classroom at Vincent Massey, with Karleigh Harvey-Zenk. I had so much fun with the kids, and it was overall a wonderful and educational experience.
The most rewarding aspect of teaching literacy, is seeing the students make progress in their reading abilities and writing abilities, using information that you have taught them. I was teaching a lesson about bumper e's (the e bumps a vowel to make it say its name) and I used a nonsense word example. When I asked the pronunciation of lem vs leme, most of the students excitedly shouted out the correct saying. I felt quite confident and prideful in my teaching abilities, as the students understood the concept in a decontextualized manner and applied it to a word they wouldn't have known. Mrs. Harvey-Zenk commented that she "liked the nonsense word," as it added a more engaging element to the lesson.
The most challenging aspect of teaching literacy is the large gap between your highest level reader and your lowest level reader. It can be very difficult to keep lessons engaging for all students, especially when some students are beginning to read novels, while others are still learning the alphabet. Luckly, in my class there were wonderful EA's who were amazing at keeping lower level readers on task and making progress. Also, the students' literacy center groups were organized according to reading level, so specific goals could be achieved in a short timeframe as they would all be working on similar goals.
My main role in the classroom was to work with struggling students and lead a literacy center.
I was able to teach three lessons, that all went seemingly well.
This is me teaching a lesson on beginning sounds of words. We focused on the phonemes, t, th, h, and wh. I made a smart notebook presentation where the students had to drag the correct beginning to the word. I also included a visual clue for each word. Harvey - Zenk remarked that "the students were engaged and enjoyed the activity."
Year One - River Heights (K) and Dr.Roy Wilson Learning Center (grade 4)
Mostly observation for about 20 hours at each school
At River Heights, I worked hands on with the students. It was a valuable experience for me as I was able to work with young children. My main role in the classroom was to run a center, that was usually literacy based.
At Roy Wilson, I was able to teach a few lessons. My lessons mostly focused on relationships and bullying. I enjoy this age group and this placement has allowed me to build positive relationships with students. My main role was to work with individual students who needed extra support.