Although this week had a lot of ‘teaching’ in it, the curriculum somewhat took the backburner this week as I had more important things to worry about such as parent teacher interviews and our school retreat!
This week proved to be challenging for me as I realized how MUCH I need to get done before the end of this practicum. With that being said, I know that this week will be a busy one as I attempt to cram in some serious PD Project hours and begin writing my final summative report. It feels very unfair that I only get a page and a half to try and sum up the last 4 months which have been SO packed with learning!
One thing that was difficult for me this week was my lunchtime supervision in the middle school. I have been really struggling with trying to keep the middle schoolers contained, happy, safe, and respectful all at once. It is quite easy for me to see that this supervision is clearly a weak point for me, as I am having a hard time getting the kids to take me seriously. If I could go back now, I would’ve been much harder on them in my first few weeks here so that they would know that I’m not willing to put up with their attitudes. Although I dread those 20 minutes every week, I know that I am learning a lot about managing that age group (even though I hope to always stick to elementary grades!)
I was very nervous for parent-teacher interviews at first, and then I realized that they weren’t as terrifying as I had built them up to be in my mind! My teacher mentor has shared a lot of great insight with me, but I must say that my favorite piece of advice given so far was this: if you keep active communication with the parents on a regular basis about any problems, then you will never have the reason to be nervous about parent/teacher interviews. Avoid having any ‘surprises’ at interview time, and you should be fine! Overall, I thought that the interviews went very well, it was great to be part of a large group of teachers so that I could hear how they handle certain situations and what they focus on during the limited time. I also think that it is very interesting to meet the parents of any kids because it can really shed light on your students’ background or on their personalities.
This week proved to be challenging for me as I realized how MUCH I need to get done before the end of this practicum. With that being said, I know that this week will be a busy one as I attempt to cram in some serious PD Project hours and begin writing my final summative report. It feels very unfair that I only get a page and a half to try and sum up the last 4 months which have been SO packed with learning!
One thing that was difficult for me this week was my lunchtime supervision in the middle school. I have been really struggling with trying to keep the middle schoolers contained, happy, safe, and respectful all at once. It is quite easy for me to see that this supervision is clearly a weak point for me, as I am having a hard time getting the kids to take me seriously. If I could go back now, I would’ve been much harder on them in my first few weeks here so that they would know that I’m not willing to put up with their attitudes. Although I dread those 20 minutes every week, I know that I am learning a lot about managing that age group (even though I hope to always stick to elementary grades!)
I was very nervous for parent-teacher interviews at first, and then I realized that they weren’t as terrifying as I had built them up to be in my mind! My teacher mentor has shared a lot of great insight with me, but I must say that my favorite piece of advice given so far was this: if you keep active communication with the parents on a regular basis about any problems, then you will never have the reason to be nervous about parent/teacher interviews. Avoid having any ‘surprises’ at interview time, and you should be fine! Overall, I thought that the interviews went very well, it was great to be part of a large group of teachers so that I could hear how they handle certain situations and what they focus on during the limited time. I also think that it is very interesting to meet the parents of any kids because it can really shed light on your students’ background or on their personalities.
Science
In science I began getting the students to "sort" light sources into natural or artificial manmade sources. We also discussed how there are some living natural examples, although they are rare. We had some great discussions about the differences, and I had the students do a bit of a "matching" activity on the smart board, and then we played a clip from Finding Nemo to demonstrate a living, natural source of light.
Once I was sure that the kids had a pretty good handle on the differences, we discussed why SOURCES are different from REFLECTORS. We discussed some examples of reflectors and goof reflecting properties. Then I had the kids go on a search for magazine photos that illustrated either a source of light, or a good reflector/ reflection. Although the kids were finding lots of really great stuff, in hindsight I wish that I would've been able to give them a longer work period to search for examples because lots of them found some really intriguing stuff!
Gym
This week in gym we continued to have a blast learning some new dances! although I wasn't able to snag any videos during our sessions, the kids did FANTASTIC with the partner jive dance, but they struggled a bit more with learning 2 step. It was really great to see some kids advancing to the point where they could even do tricks or add their own flare to the dance!
Social
The kids have been very excited to start this new social unit, and they have had TONNES of questions about Canada's past. One great video that I found is here below!
Math
This week in math I decided to stick with a "hand-on" approach to attacking the number pattern unit. I decided to bring in actual objects such as toothpicks and marshmallows, and beads and string, so that the kids could physically BUILD an "object", then see how the number pattern changes as you continue to add to it. The kids had a lot of fun, and I know that a few of the kids definitely benefited from being able to SEE and count the parts so that they don't just think of the questions as numbers. Below are a few pictures to show what we did!
Retreat Day
We had a great day when Face to Face Ministries came to our school to lead us in song, prayer, skits, and stories. The day's theme way about sainthood, especially finding sainthood within out own lives. The rest of the day activities included making prayer sand jars, playing games, making crosses, and creating a door banner about a saint.
Drawing Club
The kids have continued to have great enthusiasm for our drawing club! Last week I introduced our first "guest expert drawers". They taught mini-sessions on drawing anime people and drawing eyeballs. The volunteers both did a great job with their lessons! Some of the kids have been creating some great art work! They love just getting the time to look through some books and getting a chance to get some immediate feedback during drawing.
Other Stuff
Below are some random weekly pictures of things such as crazy hair day and of Mrs. Price's awesome yarn paintings too!