490 Practicum Reflection:

WOW! I cannot believe my 490 practicum is over already! I am so proud of all the learning and growth I accomplished in these 4 short weeks. My e-portfolio has week by week highlights of my favourite moments and lessons. Now  would like to focus on my big learning, why it is important, and what I am looking forward to next in my 491 practicum!

What did you learn?

I learned a lot, in a variety of different areas. I will focus on 2 main areas of my learning:  assessment and students with exceptionalities.

1). In assessment, I learned so much about the different kinds of assessment and how they can best support the students. I learned that assessment does not always have to be a grade or a test. For example, in my Health unit plan on healthy eating, I took a class list and during recess I would ask students to hold up a food from a certain food group. This was a very informal way to scan the class and see which students were understanding the content. I also did this method with my Language Arts, Fiction vs Nonfiction unit plan, where I would check in with students and ask them to categorize the books they were currently reading into fiction or nonfiction. These new types of assessment helped me understand  ways to best support my student’s learning and help me plan my lessons based on the assessments.

I also worked with my coaching teacher to create rubrics and develop report cards (or as they were called, CSL (Communicating Student Learning)). I was responsible for assessing my students learning in my Math, Language Arts, Science, ADST, and Health unit plans. This provided me with a lot of experience learning how to assess students and provide report cards for parents.

2). During my 4 weeks, I participated in parents meetings, extended school based team meetings, positive behavioural plan meetings, and other zoom conferences calls about a student in my class. This student is being put forward to obtaining a designation. It was very interesting to see the procedure for this, and be able to participate and offer my observations. During my 4 weeks as the classroom teacher, I took notes and observed the student’s behaviour. This allowed me to be a contributing participant in these meetings. I also worked one on one with this student to build relationship and even spent a few recesses in the resource room, having snacks or talking about our feelings. This gave me a very well rounded experience into students with exceptionalities, how to best support them, and how designations are obtained.

Why was this important to learn?

Learning about these areas was important because it provided me with first hand experience! It is one thing to read and learn about students with exceptionalities, but it another thing to be actively involved in the designation process. It was very rewarding to experience and learn about these components of being a teacher. It was incredible to work with my coaching teacher to learn new forms of assessment, discuss with parents during parent interviews, and develop student report cards on unit plans I taught. It is important that teacher candidates embrace learning in all areas of being a teacher, not just lesson planning and teaching. Being a teacher is much more than teaching, and it was great for me to get experience in some of these areas! I believe this learning puts me at an advantage for my career!

What are your next steps for EDUC 491 practicum? 

My next steps are to keep on learning, to keep growing, and to keep seeking out areas to grow in! This practicum I actively sosought out areas I needed more help in, such as teaching a Physical Education class! This was something my coaching teacher did not teach, and she advised me I was not required to teach PE. however, I knew it was an area I needed to develop skills in, so I coordinated with the school’s PE teacher and arranged for me to teach a PE lesson. Seeking out opportunities like this is what I want to continue doing in my 491 practicum. These practicums are my time to become the best teacher I can be and learn! I want to learn as much as I can and will continue to in 491 next semester!