Second Term - What the Heck?

I just have to say how stupid I think it is that we are having one class of term 2 before the holiday break. The schedule should work so that we finish a term, go on break, then return to start a new one.

Just had to say something, it just seems weird to me :p

Use your days off wisely

I am currently sitting in a Grade 7 classroom in a London Public School. I am currently in the Catholic Pre-service program, but I felt compelled to see how the two Boards differ as well as how they are related, since it is quite possible I may be working in either one.

In short, this is incredible, each classroom has computers, a smartboard, fantastic teachers and great students. I have never been in a public school before and I love the experience. I can definitely see myslef teaching in either school board because they are simply that similar. The only difference is the presence of God in the classroom. I am a man of beliefs and I continuously attempt to allow God into my everyday activities, but in this type of school I would have to keep my beliefs to myself. However, I think I would be capable of this and it excites me to see how easy it is for me to fit in to an intermediate classroom, even though I am in P/J.

I even met the principal and she is one heck of a cool lady. She is a biker, like myself, so we talked of motorcycles for a while and just laughed and joked about the most random things. I really feel welcomed here and it has only been three hours, as I type this over lunch. I wish I could do a placement at this school, but it is simply too far from home and in a different Board.

I would like to tell everyone that they should find time during one of their reading days to do a volunteer placement in a different classroom or different Board so that they can truly get a feel of where they feel they most belong, as well as seeing the other options that are available. I say use your time wisely, because this is quite possibly the best type of social issue day I have had this year. I have learned more today than any other social day Brock has given me yet this year.

Aboriginal Workshops

As you all know, last wednesday was our social issues day on education related to aboriginals and we all took part in various workshops. However, I feel that I spent the day re-learning things that I already previously new.

The morning was fun once we got to sing about sponge Bob and dance around the room, but the rest of the presentation did not help me as a future educator. I know that our history taught in the classroom may differ from what aboriginal children may believe in terms of their own history; however, what can I do to improve, don't just tell me that it is different and we have to be aware of this. I know that every culture holds their own beliefs and views on the history of their people, but if we as educators are not given any suggestions at all on how we can help the situation, other than the fact that it is up to us to help the situation, then change can not really be expected, because we are bound by the Board Documents to cover specific expectations for each subject strand. I am aware that this may lead to boredom or confrontation in the classroom if there are students present with varying beliefs, but the seminar never gave any suggestions on how to improve the situation, other than being aware of it and looking for old legends in used book stores. And again, what books are valid and which are not?

With the seminars, I first attended the Religious issues in the classroom, and the focus simply looked at the different religions in the world and approximately how many people fall into each section. Okay, what does this have to do with what I encounter in the class? So some individuals may need to leave the room to pray, or some holidays prevent others from coming to class or writing a test. I cannot be expected to be fully aware of every holiday from every religion. I believe that if a family is strong in a particular faith, it is up to them to ensure that the teacher is aware of it. Yes, you must be sensitive to every students beliefs, but some responsibility falls on the family to ensure that the teacher is aware of their beliefs.

Also, attending a Catholic retreat last night, I was made aware that if I am teaching in a Catholic school, then the students there are expected to follow the traditions of the school and that if we start allowing students to outwardly express their exemption from the Catholic faith,then we might as well lock the doors to the school. Again, we must respect the faith of others, but in a school such as this, you come in with an expectations to participate in the community, if you are not willing to fully participate in the life of the school community,then you must re-assess where you faith allows you to feel more comfortable.

The second seminar was of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This started off giving us valuable information on what it is and how it affects individuals who have it, but the guest who is a victim of FAS only gave a personal account of the issue and was unable to give suggestions as to how teachers can improve the learning experience in the class. I felt for her and I deeply respect the need to be aware of the situation and get to know the students, but I was hoping to come away with teaching strategies about how to specifically help these students, but like before, it focused on the fact that we must be aware of it and keep a certain sensitivity towards it.

I felt like the day was interesting, but at the end of it all, I cannot give a proper summary of learning events. I did not learn anything new. I heard a few personal accounts relating to the situation, as well as reaffirming my prior knowledge of certain issues.

For future sessions, I would suggest a better focus on tying the experience in with how we may instruct our students, or how we can structure the class or school community to foster respect and help with the integration of all students into our school system. Feel free to comment, I have talked with many who agree and I would like to hear from everyone.

Almost forgot to mention

One of my students in the classroom during the art lesson, who is also on an IEP was working at the paint station next to one of the young girls in my class. This little girl wears glasses and in about 10 seconds of addressing another studnets questions her glasses were just covered with black paint. The paint was water-based, thank heavens, and it washed off easily. The paint also got all over the students face, but it was cleaned with no further incidence. The event was a complete accident, as this student likes to talk by moving his arms around and simply caught those in his path of travel.

Many other studnets went home covered in paint as well that day. However, I did not worry because it was water based and could easily be washed away. Just remember, when it comes to painting with young children, use water-based, not acrylic!

Lots of Paint

I just had to say to all those who are thinking about having an art lesson involving paint and Grade 3's. No matter how hard I tried, I still had to stay for an extra hour after school trying to scrub all the desks clean. I didn't have to stay, but the custodian hardly every comes out to clean the portable I am in and the children's desks were just covered with paint and crayon. All of this somehow got on the desks, even though I covered them with newspaper to save myself the hassle of cleaning up after the activity.
The art work turned out great and in the end everyone was happy. I however will be more thoughful and considerate of my after school availability the next time I plan a lesson such as that one. The lesson was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves and got a lot out of it, but I was simply surprised with the amount of cleaning that was to follow. I will be ready next time and I just hope that all of those who are considering to do something new in their art class are considering the extra time that will go into preparing the lessons, material and the cleaning process afterwards.

First Days of Block

I just wanted to post a general update on how things are going so far. I am really enjoying my Block and I definitely feel that this is where we must all take advantage of our resources because this is the setting in which we will learn the most this year about becoming future educators. The theory behind the classroom environment may be an important ingredient to one's success, however, there is much going on in the classroom that you just tend to never learn about in class.

My students are great, but they still have good and bad days and on those bad days I must be ready to switch gears at any moment. I have learned to not be afraid to change my lesson on the fly to follow the interest of the students and I am definitely not afraid to scratch a lesson completely to do something more interactive and fun with my students. I was initially enjoying the fact that I was given my information well in advance to plan all my lessons and prepare myself for the class, but I am finding that I would rather wait until the last moment to plan lessons so that I can be sure of what they are currently interested in and to give me an idea of how much work they are capable of performing.

My first two lessons were well planned with lots of material available to be covered; however, I had to exclude many of my extension tasks because of the limited amount of time and the pace at which my students work. Other factors such as getting changed before and after recess, getting snack time and long transition times have all affected the length of my lessons as well as limiting my choices of activities for the students. These factors were taken to mind, but never fully considered while lesson planning, but I feel that I can now make more effective lesson plans that will accomodate for these minor disturbances, as well as creating better management techniques to ensure that we move quickly enough to not waste any time in our limited day.

I hope everyone is having a great time at their placements and I wish you all the luck in succeeding with your lesson planning and teaching.

Micro-Teaching

Today was finally my chance to perform my micro-teaching lesson on Data Management and Probability. First off I have to congratulate everyone else on their wonderful performance and creative lesson ideas. It is really easy to tell that we have a wonderful counselling group and that we are all well on our way to becoming effective classroom instructors. I had a good time today watching students of all ages participate in various activities guided towards different learning styles today and I am very eager to take some of what I have seen today and see how it will work within my own classroom placement.

In regards to my own lesson, I still cannot believe how different of a perspective I gain from watching my DVD video of my lesson. I can really pick out moments in which I need to improve on certain speach patterns, as well as moments in which I can include teachable moments and expand on student knowledge. The videos open up a whole new window into the realm of lesson planning and allowed me to reflect upon my own created lesson and how I can improve on my prior teaching techniques to more effectively benefit the students and allow for optimal growth and development to occur.

The main theme that I will be taking from today is that, in order for a lesson to be fully effective and allow you as a teacher to reach all of the desired outcomes, you must first put in the effort into making a lesson plan that is well thought out and organized, following various themes. Well planned lessons help maintain classroom discipline, as seen in each of the micros today, as well as ensures that all students understand the task and follow the proper instructions. The only advice I can give is to take the time to plan effective lessons and take a moment to quickly run through how you would teach the lesson, or speak during important parts of the lesson so that it becomes easier to teach in the class.

Again, great job everyone and good luck with your future planning.

Guest Speaker on Classroom Management

I just returned from my last class of the day in which we had a guest speaker come in and discuss her experiences relating to classroom management in the Catholic School Board. With all the information that I took from the lecture, there are a few messages that stood out the most for me:

- Don't just manage the class, you should also teach the class how to behave when you are not around;
- The best teachers are those that you most often find attending seminars and workshops on how to improve their practice and grow as professionals;
- There is a difference between being equal in the classroom and being fair and it is up to you as a teacher to ensure that your class understands why one student's learning experiences may differ form their own (differentiated learning);
- Having IF...THEN... rules set the stage to allow children to do bad things and break the rules, becuase it is expected, due to a discipline already set in place. Schools should adopt a philosophy of "At our school, we are kind to one another, etc." Use the At this school, or at our school phrases to better reach the students;
- Tell students what to do, instead of constantly telling them what not to do;
- Practice your recess with the class, practice going to a service of any kind. Don't just assume that your class will listen and behave appropriately the day of with no prior learning (i.e. need to practice math before they are tested on the subject);
- Role play hurtful situations with your students to teach respect among peers;
- Finally, the last message I took from the lecture was that children do well when they can, if they cannot do well, then we need to find a way to help them.

I found that I learned quite a bit from our guest speaker and as you see, these are only a few of the points discussed in our lecture. The main idea of the day was to allow for your class to practice being behaved and respecting one another, don't just assume it will occur naturally. Guide them to where you want them to be as a teacher and stay aware of the individual needs of your students and be willing to grow as a professional to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to benefit from your lessons and teaching.

The Dead fishy

This morning was my first experience of going to mass with my Grade 3 class. The bus ride to the church was very loud and stressful, because Grade 3's plus a bus, add in a few bumps and tight turns = fun for them but work for teachers. I had to constantly ensure that the children sat in their seats and stopped leaning over chairs to hit one another, but after a few disciplinary measures we finally got to the church.

The mass went well and the children behaved and sang the Hymns and all seemed to be going well until one of my students got my attention to tell me that another girl in the class was in tears. I worked my way over to her and found out that she was crying because her pet fish had died some time ago and the experience of church, God and Heaven tended to bring back the memories of her cherished pet. I almost did not know what to do, so I comforted her for a bit until she let me know that her grandmother was actually at the mass and she asked to sit with her. My associate allowed it and the little girl was comforted for the rest of the service.

This experience was an eye opener for myself because, I have had many pet fish die, and other kinds of pets run away or die and I have never responded in that manner. However, this experience has helped me grow more as a professional because I see the diversity in the class in terms of how students may respond to similar events in their life, as well as being aware to the sensitivity of students towards certain issues, such as dying pets.

Church was quite the experience today and I am glad that it happend. The bus ride back to the school was even better because we had to stop really quick for a light and students pretended to fly out of their seats. This event took up most of the morning and gave me another example of events that may occur that change your daily lesson plans as well. I hope everyone enjoys the read and I also hope that none of your young students ever go through the loss of a loved one, pet or family, because it has as big of an impact on you as a teacher as it does on them as a student. Again, the event has led to my further development as a primary teacher and I have now become more aware of the necessity to consider how students may respond to certain events in the classroom before I allow them to happen.

PD Day

This posting is just a little late, but I just wanted to post a little comment on the first PD Day that I had attended last Friday. I participated in two workshops, as well as listening to a keynote speaker (Larry Swartz). Larry Swartz is a professor from the University of Toronto and specializes in literacy education. He provided great resources and examples on how to incorporate literacy into the everyday activities in the classroom, as well as sharing stories about his past teaching experiences and comments he had received from students over the years. I love hearing stories about other people's teaching experiences, as well as how their experiences have helped them to grow on a professional level and I am grateful for the opportunity to sit in on a lecture given by such a great individual.

The first workshop I attended that day was put on by OPHEA and dealt with how to manage your own Physical Education class and all of the teachers and myself had a blast. I personnally took nothing from the course because I am a Phys. Ed. major, but the experience was welcoming and I feel that understanding how to properly manage a class while in the gym is completely necessary to ensure that students maximize their movement time, considering they barely have any these days.

The last workshop of the day was a Religion/Reading workshop and was actually the hardest to sit through becuase it was right after the huge lunch break and before leaving to go home. The focus of the workshop was to discuss ways to introduce students to story telling and relating the themes to religious expectations. The material was interesting but presented in a slideshow fashion with the presenter reading right of the screen. One of the teachers present even rested their head down on their desk and made a comment about how they felt sorry for what their kids had to go through. This got me thinking that, for effective instruction, we do need to get the children active in the lesson and foster creativity and collaboration to ensure that students stay ingaged and that learning occurs. This was my general thought, but I could talk forever about how I would have done things differently.

That was the day and I feel that I managed to take much information from the workshops. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I got paid for it like the other teachers, but my day will come, I hope. I definitely cannot wait for the next PD Day, because I feel continual learning is very important for teachers and I am looking forward to becoming a part of that community.

Mini-Micro Teaching

I just want to congratulate everyone on their successful mini-micro teaching lessons. The day was quite eventful with many new things being learned. I also wanted to mention that I have already watched my dvd and it is an incredible experience to be able to see yourself from the perspectives of the class. I feel that this was a great learning experience and this is also something that I can show others who are not in pre-service so that we can all have a good laugh.

I have definitely learned a lot from this experience and I hope that everyone else can say the same, especially in terms of grammar. There were not too many errors in my video, but I did find that when we really focus on our speech we are really surprised at how many grammatical errors we make throughout the course of the day. Again, great day everyone, food was great, chopsticks are awesome, and I cannot wait to braid my sisters hair!

First day of placement

Today was my first day with my associate teacher. I really enjoyed the experience and feel that I have already learned a lot, just from one day of observations and note taking. I even found out that my teacher comes into the school no later than 7:30 am to ensure that the classroom is set up the way she needs it for her daily activities, as well as ensuring that the floors have been cleaned by the janitorial staff. This was already the first indication of a great experience because this teacher was already putting in the extra effort to ensure that her class got the most out of their learning experience.

The classroom portable was organized in such a way that the students did not have any of the textbooks or notebooks in their desks, ensuring that nothing was misplaced, as well as ensuring that time was not wasted when it was time to start an activity. My associate maintained discipline without being disruptive and also without raising her voice. The simple use of friendly gestures was all she needed.

I could go on forever talking about my daily experiences, but the bottom line is that this is the type of classroom atmosphere that I wish to one day be able to develop for my own classroom. The children behaved, the activities ran smoothly and the work was completed. This is all in a primary grade as well, making it all the more amazing. I cannot wait to go back into the school, because now instead of writing page after page of new teaching techniques and organizational strategies I will have more of an opportunity to help the children and continue to aid the teacher in any way possible.

I also have all the twenty childrens' names memorized and I think that was quite an accomplishment in itself for the day. I hope everyone else had similar experiences because I have already found the school community that I would love to become a part of.

Outdoors workshops

This is just a general notice to everyone who has not signed up for the Outdoors Workshop. I just did mine today and it was great. We all received a ton of free teaching materials and 121 lesson plans that are categorized by subject area, grade level, and objectives. The day was very profitable to everyone there and we even received countless other resources at the end of the day. From what I saw we all had a blast so if you were hesitant at all in signing up, I think that you should think again and go get tons of free stuff. There was also free coffee and donuts, where can you go wrong?