Over the last 9 weeks, practicum 491 has been the time where I have seen myself grow the most as a teacher. Having the opportunity to have full control over an entire classroom and plan my own units has shown me a glimpse of what is like to become a full-time teacher.
While having the opportunity to plan for, teach, and assess an entire class for multiple weeks, I have also gotten the opportunity to work with and learn more about the 9 standards of teaching. One of the main standards I got to work on during this practicum was Standard 9 (EDUCATORS RESPECT AND VALUE THE HISTORY OF FIRST NATIONS, INUIT AND METIS IN CANADA AND THE IMPACT OF THE PAST ON PRESENT AND THE FUTURE. EDUCATORS CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS TRUTH, RECONCILIATION AND HEALING. EDUCATORS FOSTER A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WAYS OF KNOWING AND BEING, HISTORIES, AND CULTURES OF FIRST NATIONS, INUIT, AND METIS) . Through the help with my Indigenous Education Worker at Springwood, her and I were able to create and execute 4 restorative circles. Within these restorative circles, the students and us discussed the proper rules and expectations of a restorative circle and how they are used within Indigenous communities. The students only spoke when they had the talking stick and knew they could not break the circle as that disrespected the member talking. The Indigenous Education Worker and I also taught the 7 scared teachings and used them within our circle discussions. From these circles, I learned a lot about how these restorative circles work and how they could be used in any classroom I am teaching in. I can frame the discussions to talk about and have the students share their thoughts on current issues inside of the classroom (such as respect, conflicts, or friendships). Moving forward, I am excited to bring these practices within my new classroom and hopefully learn more from the next Indigenous Education Worker I work with at my next school.
Another standard I was able to work on and improve in was my Standard 5 (EDUCATORS IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE PLANNING, INSTRUCTION, ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING PRACTICES TO CREATE RESPECTFUL, INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT). More specifically, the assessment part of standard 5. Assessment was one of my main goals going into this practicum since this was the longest practicum and I had not had the chance to experiment with different assessment types before this practicum. I have learned a lot about assessment, and I am looking forward to continue learning about new ways to assess as my teaching career begins. In this practicum, I was able to utilize different strategies such as rubrics, criteria building, and self assessment. For rubrics, I was able to use different customized ones for a variety of assignments the students completed with me. For example, the students did a lit circle unit with me, where at the end of their first assignment I assessed them on the required areas, the content, the attractiveness, and the conventions. (Students were aware of the rubric since the beginning – aware of what was being assessed before the students began the assignment). Once the students completed the assignment, I highlighted what area they were at based off the 4 areas being assessed as well as I left a comment at the bottom explaining what parts of their assignment went well and a goal for next time (i.e., something they could have improved on). Another strategy of assessment I used was criteria building. For example, in gym the students and I did an entire dance unit. Within this unit we covered 8 different dance types ranging from line dancing to hip hop. At the end, I told the students they would be creating their own dance using the different styles we talked about. As a class, we brainstormed and created criteria that I would use to assess their dances. As a class, they collectively agreed on 3-6 people in their group, at least 2 different types of dances and it had to be a minimum of 1 minute long. When it was time to mark these dances, I had the students perform their dances, I used the exact criteria they created and marked their dance based off that. Lastly, another strategy for assessment I used was self-assessment. In my poetry unit, I introduced the students to a variety of different types of poems and then in the end they had to create original pieces of the poems we discussed and put them together in a complete poetry booklet. Once the students have completed their poetry booklets, they had to go through and check off the checklist given (and discussed previously) ensuring they have all the components in their booklet. When it was time for me to assess the student’s poetry booklets, I was able to look at their self assessment, and go through ensuring they did have all the required pieces. Moving forward, I can see the amount of knowledge I gained through this practicum about assessment alone. Assessment is a fluid practice in teaching, each new teacher I talk to always have different strategies for assessing a similar assignment. As I continue to grow as a teacher and work in new schools and collaborate with different teachers I will continue to adapt and gain new strategies for assessing the students.
One standard that I hope to continue to work on more would be Standard 4 (EDUCATORS VALUE THE INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPORT OF PARENTS, GUARDIANS, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS) . Having parent communication is something I wish to improve on has I begin my career as a teacher. Throughout this practicum I had the opportunity to reach out to parents’ multiple times through class dojo or email communicating different events going on within the classroom throughout the 9 weeks. Another form of parent communication I had over this practicum would be through the students report cards. I had the opportunity to work with my Coaching Teacher to create and write record cards for the end of this term. Other than the grades of where students are at, another piece of the report cards are the personalized comments. These comments explain to the parents the strengths of the students, where they are academically and socially as well as a goal for them moving into the final term and into the next grade. This part of parent communication was new for me this practicum and I am grateful for the support I had working through the comments. I learned the importance of communicating the student’s strengths while still making the parent aware of some of the struggles that student may be facing in the classroom academically or socially.
In the end, I am most proud of how much I have grown throughout this practicum. At the beginning, I still felt like a student trying to fill the shoes of a classroom teacher and now I am finally feeling that switch from student to teacher. Most of this growth came from the immense responsibility I had inside of the classroom. In other practicums I was helping the classroom teacher but in this practicum I felt like the classroom teacher. This was due to having full control in the planning, instruction, assessment, and reporting (all standard 5) as well as everything else that goes on inside of the classroom daily.
It is bittersweet to have this practicum come to an end; it is my final hurdle in the teaching program, and I can confidently say that I am ready for the next journey of my teaching career as I am working towards having a classroom of my own one day!