I learned a lot through this practicum, and I feel like I had a lot of personal growth throughout this practicum as well. With my CT I was able to gain a lot of knowledge and resources that I can carry on throughout future practicums and my career.
What I learned:
- Classroom management techniques: with my grade 2/3s I adapted a attention grabber technique where I would put my hands on my head and move my hands to other places like my shoulders, knees, arms out, etc. and students will follow along once they catch on. Eventually all students will quiet down and focus on the movements, so I am able to continue with the lesson.
- Confidence/Presence: One of my main goals for this practicum was to gain confidence in the classroom. Throughout the four weeks, I noticed myself getting comfortable in front of the students and being able to lead activities/classroom routines without relying on my CT.
- Assessment: This was the first practicum where I was expected to assess my students. My CT worked a lot with me and helped me take every lesson and determine what I was assessing. At the end, I was able to pinpoint the assessment I was doing in all my lessons and took the evidence I gathered to write CSLs during the final week of practicum.
All these aspects are keys to the teaching profession, and it makes me feel more comfortable and confident in myself moving forward as we move into the summative practicum and as I begin subbing with the school district more. Before this practicum I was not certain that I could manage a classroom by myself and now I know I can. But this is the beginning of my learning journey and I know I will continue to build on these key aspects as I finish my final practicum.
Speaking of the final practicum, my goals for 491 is to continue to get more comfortable with assessment and be certain on what I am assessing my students on. Also, I am interested in learning and creating my own day plan and finding a classroom routine that works for me. I feel like this final practicum is the first time where I can begin making the classroom my own without disrupting the routine of my CT. For both 391 and 490 I was only inside the classroom for 3/4 weeks which is not enough time to truly make the classroom my own. Now moving into 491 for 10 weeks I finally feel I can make the classroom my own. Lastly, I still want to work on learning the curriculum and being able to confidently state what I will be teaching my students. For each of my practicums I have been in a different grade and I felt rushed to learn the curriculum to create my lesson plans. Now moving into 491 I feel like there is enough time to get comfortable with the curriculum for the grade I am placed in to confidently create unit plans for the 10 weeks Ill be with the students.