Looking back at my first teaching practicum

A little over a month has now passed since my first practicum teaching block in a grade 4 classroom. Since then I have begun a new term at University with some new courses and familiar faces. Over this time I have seen a dramatic shift in the way I am approaching my classes, for everything we are doing I am now thinking "how can I apply this in the classroom?" What's more is my next teaching placement is in a grade 1 classroom, so I am now on the constant lookout for ideas and techniques related to this age group. I am shifting my course work and projects to have a primary focus where feasible as well. In my Language Arts class the past two classes we have been modelling a writer's workshop, which has been a fantastic experience! I haven't written creatively in that capacity since I was forced to in high school! I'm pretty chuffed with the story I wrote - a parody on the Three Little Pigs - my version is the Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig who eat's their den's down. I'm hoping to finish it by next Monday, and potentially use it in my next teaching block.

A mask I created in art class - never
got the opportunity to teach in to
the grade 4's though sadly.

Looking back at my first placement, I think the most important lesson I personally learned was to be yourself. Having your personality come through in the lessons really helps get the children excited and interested. My most successful lessons always had a personal touch to them, whether that be creatively through art or drama, or through connecting personal experiences and stories. The lessons which seemed to lack that "je ne sais quoi" were typically lessons that I adapted from textbooks or I was trying to replicate an idea my associate passed on vaguely. What this taught me was the importance of having ownership over your lessons. One of the most helpful tips I learned from my associate teacher was when he asked me at the end of the day "what did you want the students to know at the end of that lesson?" I had just started the new math unit on linear measurement a day or two prior, so I said "I just want them to know what the five ways to measure something are (length, width, height, depth, thickness)." Seemed pretty straight forward to me, but my associate tactfully told me to just teach to that then because I had also tried to introduce a new concept - decimetres. He told me I was making the same common mistake all new teachers make - trying to teach too much in one lesson. This is such a simple lesson learned, and it really also helped drive home the necessity of backward-design. Even though I had been hearing "backward-design this, backward-design that"; to finally have that 'a-ha' moment about its importance and significance was fantastic. This really helped in the last week and a half of my teaching block in all my lessons, as I feel I achieved a much greater focus and in a way, simplicity.

Another really important lesson I learned looking back is regarding classroom management. Throughout the block I created and taught the Science unit on Light, and I had an absolute blast doing so. I really enjoyed re-creating some of the experiments I remember doing as a kid. The students really enjoyed the hands-on learning that I incorporated into nearly daily science experiments. However, where my own learning as a teacher took place came from a few areas. Firstly, I taught science the final two periods of the day after the second nutrition break. By the end of the day the students often got a bit restless and tired, so their attention started to fade and they began to act out more. This was amplified if it was a black-top nutrition break, which we did have a few of. Secondly, to reinforce the classroom behaviour expectations and safety considerations before beginning the lesson are vital. It was such a fun unit to teach, and to see the excitement on students faces when they learned something new, or saw something they were never expecting in the experiment was wonderful. When I asked the students what colour they thought light was, and we brainstormed a few ideas - the overwhelming consensus was white or yellow. However, when I told them I heard a crazy rumour that it was made up of lots of colours they all became very curious. It was a simple experiment of shining a light source into water which then hit a mirror, that reflected the light onto a white piece of paper. When the students dispersed into groups of three to try the experiment, it was great to see some of the teamwork being exhibited, and the look of awe and excitement when they finally were able to see the rainbow on the white paper was fantastic. Another great science lesson I taught which to be honest was one I thought was going to be a bit drier was on light technology. My idea was to teach the students about the camera, and how it uses some of the ideas we were discussing. I spent so much time researching the camera, when it was invented, etc; and shared it with the class. What made this lesson successful was my delivery of it - I got really excited about it, and that enthusiasm transferred to the students. Then when given the opportunity to research the telescope they jumped right in. Both my associate and I were shocked by their interest, but agreed it was through my delivery that created this learning opportunity. This really taught me the importance of being excited about what you are doing - such a simple thing to say, but you really need to amplify it in the classroom for the students to really get it. 

Probably one the best lessons I taught came on my final day of practicum when I taught a Language Arts lesson on organizing ideas. I told the students a story from when I lived in Australia and went on a road trip with my mate, and one of the exciting events of the trip. As I told the story I intentionally mixed up a few of the details, feigning that I wish I had my ideas in order. Then after the story I asked the students to help me organize my story so I could retell it another time, so i had an Organizational Chart printed off which as a class we completed while using a document camera. Afterwards I had all the students get out their writers notebook, and begin writing about one of their ideas using this organizational chart. I was thrilled at how attentive they were during the story, the details of the story they remembered, and then their silent individual work during their own writing. It felt so amazing after seeing the students engagement and work ethic throughout that language block!

One of the most exciting and rewarding moments for myself as a teacher during this block was teaching everyday using the Smartboard for interactive lessons. I was fortunate enough to have one in my classroom, and having been trained to a level 2 on it in September, I was eager to give it a go. The first week I only used it a few times sadly - to be honest I was more concerned about making sure my lessons worked! But by the final week I was incorporating it into every lesson throughout the day. I thought it was fantastic to teach with for two reasons. First, it really engaged and got the students attention. Even if I was only doing simple infinite multipliers or reveals, they loved it - especially when we played the jeopardy game as review for the Light Unit. The second reason I enjoyed teaching with it so much was it helped keep myself focused in the lesson. I was able to have questions pre-made ready on it to teach and solve with the class, provide visual queues, and even keep it going with instructions for students to refer to when doing individual or group work. It was amazing seeing how excited the students were when I called them up to interact with the board, and I was amazed at how careful they were with it. What I also found very useful was asking students to be my helper for the day with the Smartboard, as it kept them involved throughout the lesson, and minimized acting out.

Student's stainglass lightbulb's on the window.

The final thing I wanted to mention was how great it was to incorporate art and drama in the classroom. I had the class create stain glass pieces out of construction paper and tissue paper for one of the science lessons on translucency, opaqueness, and transparency. It was fantastic to teach, and the students absolutely loved it. I taught the lesson my first week, so the cleanup took a bit longer than anticipated; but well worth it!

The eyeball I created for science class,
and my stainglass lightbulb example.

I also came back after block to volunteer one day before Christmas, and taught an art lesson where the students painted a winter holiday theme and then applied glue and glitter to create a fantastic effect. For one of my science lessons on the human eye, I created an eyeball by cutting in half a large styrofoam ball, and painting on the parts of the eye. The students were so fascinated by what I created that the next day I brought in a smaller styrofoam balls for them to recreate themselves. We also got to do a fun drama exercise one day to learn about rhythm, tone, and pitch. Again I had done this exercise at University, but had such a great time with it I shared it with the students. They had an absolute ball with it as they clearly did not have drama regularly when one student asked "what's drama?" when he saw it on the daily agenda! This lesson was so much fun, and really taught me the importance when teaching to really put on a show for the students. They respond so well, and really enjoyed just playing as they saw it. Luckily for me though this did hit many curriculum expectations!

I think one of the most special experiences I had throughout my first teaching block was seeing the academic and personal growth of one of my low IEP students. This boy was so lovely, and it was amazing to see him start talking more and make great strides. We gave him the academic award for the month of November, and to see his beaming smile walk across the stage during the assembly was really special.

My associate teacher (left) and I (right) posing with great mustaches! Eek!

One of the amusing moments during November was my associate teacher and I participated in "Mo-vember". What an experience that was. It was hilarious seeing the reactions of students in the hallways, and hearing them whisper "Why does he have a mustache?" and "I think it's for Mo-vember".  Nevertheless, it was a relief to shave it off at the conclusion of the month.

Despite how much work it was during this first teaching block, and how I never saw any friends outside of a few who I lesson planned with; or how I was incredibly tired and fell asleep thinking about my lessons, and woke up thinking about how my lessons would go - I am amazed how much fun and how much I relished this experience. Now more than I ever I truly know how much I want to be a teacher. From doing prep work to walking down the hall chatting to students, to helping coach the girls volleyball team during nutrition break and staying late after school to score keep; there is nothing else I would rather be doing. Simply amazing! And now only six more weeks until my next teaching placement beings - this time in a grade one class! For those of you who took the time to read this and are fellow teachers, I would be very interested to hear how your first teaching experiences relate, and how they have changed over the years?

My first PD - Project Wild

On October 22nd I attended the Project Wild professional development at Brock University's Hamilton campus. I was provided with fantastic information and resources on how to effectively teach and link the environment to Ontario's curriculum objectives (including cross-curricular) across all grade levels. We had a series of energizers to break the ice involving meet and greets, and fun facts. The session leaders were effective in their instruction illustrating how to effectively teach about the environment even if you are at an inner city school. What I took away from this is you do not need to go out into the mountains, or the Niagara escarpment to have an effective lesson. Moreover, I was amazed at how many different ways you can teach cross-curricularly when you incorporate the environment.

Our afternoon was devoted into breaking off into teams with whom we collaboratively created a lesson plan to teach the rest of the session attendees. My group taught "Quick Frozen Critters" to our class which was a great deal of fun, running around, and laughing. It was great to see 5 different lesson plans completed during the afternoon, as it really demonstrated the effectiveness and ease of combining the environment to our daily lesson activities.

We are so fortunate with the environment and landscape we have in Canada, and I feel it is incredibly important for us to share this with our students, and teach them to respect and appreciate it. This being my first PD I have attended as a teacher candidate, I feel it was a very worthwhile experience; and have come away from it with many new ideas, lesson plans, resources, and teaching strategies. The only negative I found about this PD was its location being at the Brock University campus in Hamilton. I strongly think this PD would be best facilitated at a conservation area, in the natural forests, mountains, lake; any natural outdoor habitat where we could discuss the changing environment due to human presence as well as gain a greater appreciation for its beauty.

I have attached a group photo of my colleagues and I from Cohort D at Brock University with one of the PD's facilitators Linda.

The first days of school

Walking into my grade 4 classroom on the first day was filled with many emotions - excitement, nervousness, adrenaline, anxiety, curiousness, and a little feeling of wonder if I've made the right decision to be here. Well it only took a few minutes for all that to fade away and turn into pure excitement, enthusiasm, and intrigue! As the kids piled into the classroom, took their seats, and opened their books, there were a few curious stares in my direction. Once class began, my associate instructor introduced me to the class, which was followed by the whole class saying good morning Mr. Iles! Wow, what a feeling that was - almost gave me goosebumps!

As that day and the following days rolled over, I found I was constantly amazed by the classroom dynamics, the daily setup and routine, watching lesson plans unfold, and the interaction amongst the students and the teacher. The students were quick to welcome me into the classroom, and share their stories with me. In no time I was helping them with their assignments, correcting work, and working with certain students who were a bit behind in some subjects.

What I found particularly interesting to watch was how the students responded differently with the French teacher who comes in once a week, as well as one afternoon my associate teacher was away and was replaced by a supply teacher. The students were very quick to point out when their normal routine was not being followed, and were definitely more "cheeky". What I learned from this is going forward when I am teaching this class I need to follow the routine my associate teacher has put in place. Moreover, in the future when I graduate I am not in denial that I more than likely will have to spend my share of time as a supply teacher; and it would be a great advantage to learn what classroom I would be entering and the routines that teacher has put in place. With that said I have also had the opportunity to exert my "teacher's voice" a few times now when the children have gotten a little loud or off-topic when my associate teacher has left the classroom, and I must confess it's a great feeling seeing the children respond well and get back on track. 

One of the most eye-opening experiences I have had thus far has been the opportunity to work with an autistic child in a grade 2 art class my associate teacher covers once a week. I have not had an opportunity such as this before, so honestly I felt quite lost and overwhelmed by how I should interact. Fortunately this child has a special education assistant who has been absolutely amazing in teaching me a few things, and introducing me to this lovely child. After only a few sessions in this classroom I am still incredibly intrigued and at a loss for words on our interactions, however I have a new desire and yearn to learn more about how we can help and integrate these children into the classroom.

Another eye-opening experience has been working with a few children who have IEPs in our classroom. My associate teacher let me glance through the IEPs which was quite an educational experience. I was quite saddened by it because some of these children are so lovely, but are well below their grade level. I find it quite heart-breaking when working on a simple concept which should have been mastered a few years earlier, and there is no visible "light" on behind the eyes for the comprehension of it. It is not as though they get the wrong answer because of misapplication, but because they genuinely do not grasp the idea or concept as a whole. I fully support and appreciate the move for inclusion in the classroom, but cannot help but think and feel a few of these children would gain so much more in a specialized setting - even if it was only an hour a day. I am sure my feelings on this will sway back and forth over the following months. 

Tomorrow will be the first micro-teaching lesson I will be teaching in the classroom, which will be another stride forward in my new career. I'm also very excited because I get to accompany my class on a field trip next week - now that should be interesting!

Can we all be 21st century teachers?

During these past few weeks I have been quite taken in by the benefits and capabilities some technologies possess, and seeing them as keys to unlocking some traditional teaching barriers. Not only used as keys, but also as a way to teach and present new information in a radically new and 21st century manner. It is easy to marvel at the advances in technology, but what I am more impressed by is its adaptation and usefulness in the modern day classroom. Today is a far cry from when I was in school, and I am very curious to start my first placement on Thursday to see first-hand how it has changed.

This past week I along with my Cohort classmates were SMART Board certified. We have also been learning about Livescribe, Clickers, Frontrow, Notebook for creating SMART presentations, video cameras, iPod touch's and iPads. I feel this has been an incredible learning experience and value to us. We have all been caught up with these technologies, trying to think of how we are going to incorporate these into our very own classrooms one day.

But alas arises my concerns. I am not concerned about using technology in the classroom, nor am I concerned about trying to be creative in adapting it to make the learning experience more enjoyable and thorough. No, what I am concerned about is getting out into the teaching world, and discovering that very few classrooms are actually modern. That is not to say that I would not be able to teach in that environment, however what if I was thinking of this fantastic lesson plan that involved all these wonderful technologies I have been learning about - but I cannot use them because my school board cannot afford them. Furthermore, what if I am in a school where the students are from a low income bracket where they cannot afford to have a computer at home, or access to the internet? What if that family's choice was not what new app to get, but can we afford to eat a healthy meal 7 days a week?

This raises another question - does technology benefit or isolate kids? What if I am teaching a class where half the kids all have their fancy shiny iPhone's and laptops; and the other half have the old brick Fido circa 2000 and do not have a home computer? Does that student who cannot afford to have a home computer resent me and think I'm a jerk for showing off all these technologies when I know his family cannot afford them? Clearly you design your lesson plans to accommodate this just as you would for any other learning style, but it does create some concerns. I think what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that I need to embrace all these amazing technologies and techniques I am learning about, but it should never be forgotten that the primary resource we have to teach is ourselves. Our passion to teach; our enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge; and our desire to see our students learn and succeed (among other goals) is what we will always rely upon to be great teachers. 

As I continue along my journey towards becoming a 21st century teacher, I look forward to seeing how I will navigate through these concerns. 

What a difference a week can make!

Over the summer I found out I was admitted to the EdTech Cohort here at Brock University's Education Department, and we were given two tasks for the summer: create a Twitter and a Blog account. Throughout the summer I saw this as a bit of an annoyance truthfully because I had never looked at Twitter before, or followed Blog's. I was aware of them, but admittedly did not really understand what all the fuss was about. I have always been keen to follow technology and its advances, however I saw Blogs as an outlet for someone to go on a random tangent, and Twitter as an extension of Facebook status updates of "I drank tea today and walked the dog".

Now rather annoyingly I am eating my own words over these misconceptions. I now have Tweet Deck installed which is a constant fixture on my laptop, and am amazed how excited I am whenever I hear that little sound effect go off indicating a new tweet! But what I am even more amazed at is how much incredible information, literature, resources, and fantastic ideas I am now privy to. There is no way I would have found on my own some of these great sites, articles, blogs, and other fellow educators tweeting and blogging. Now I understand the true value Twitter and Blogs hold, and that is an accessible network of educators sharing and collaborating their amazing depth of knowledge and experience with one another. I think it's fantastic! In only a week I am now following - and being followed by!!; other educators I have never met, in other parts of the country and continent. (Just yesterday another educator referenced a Tweet of mine about the new LeapPad in his blog!) As a teacher in training I find it so inspiring to see such a wonderful network of teachers, all of whom are so readily available and willing to share and collaborate their great ideas. This selflessness is so refreshing after so many years of having it drilled into us on individual performance and merit.

I am reminded of when I use to teach and coach snowboarding. Those first few lessons, and years for that matter - were difficult and nerve wracking! This was attributable to having little experience, knowledge and application, understanding of games, as well as learning styles. However, as the years went on (I taught for 7 seasons) I gained so much experience - which you do not credit yourself with or realize until other instructors start looking to you for tips, tricks, and ideas. Without being fully aware of it, over those years I had been learning from my mistakes, watching other instructors and their techniques carefully so as to apply in my own lessons, spent time on sessions learning from more experienced coaches, and through sheer volume of hours spent teaching and watching so many unique individuals learn, try, fail, and succeed; was I able to compile my own bank of experience and knowledge that I was looked upon to lead sessions to help other instructors and coaches. What this speaks to me is the message and buzzwords I have been hearing for the past week - if teachers are to succeed then we must collaborate - is 100% true!

My point is that if we are able to do and achieve greater things, goals, and ultimately greater success in the classroom for students through collaboration - then whatever tools we can use to make that a reality we must fully embrace and exploit. And in today's world - those tools include Twitter and Blogging! I am now thankful that I did not miss out any longer on being privy to such a valuable network of people and knowledge, and am curious and excited about what the next bit of new and inspiring information I read about will be.

And so it begins!

The first two days of University have come and gone, and what a blast they were! I am very excited about what this program offers, and loving the buzz in the atmosphere in my EdTech Cohort group. I am particularly excited about the technology we will have a chance to use in the classroom, and learning new and creative ways in adapting and unlocking its educational and teaching merits.

From observing how to read a children's book along with the idea of "Think a loud" accompaniment; learning how to adapt the circle chair game to meet new people; to decorating our EdTech Cohort Rocks! "Rocks" - it was all a blast. It was terrific watching how excited everyone was being creative in decorating our rocks, and I loved how it helped unlock the child in us all!

Finishing off the second day we had an assembly with the most animated guest speaker. She was dressed as Mother Goose, and had everyone's sides splitting with laughter. We even all got to sing-along, and I was fortunate enough to have one of the hidden instruments under my seat to play along with! It was fantastic! It really helped reinforce the importance of having fun, and allowing  yourself to drop the seriousness for a moment, and be a kid again. Time and time again it is shown that if you see other people smiling and having fun that it is contagious - and we as future teachers need to lead by example in this regard. I thought it was terrific!

What a fantastic first two days - cannot wait to see what the next week has in store for us all.

Just getting started!

This will be my blogspot to highlight my digital portfolio for Brock University during my studies in the Educational department in the Tech Cohort! Classes and projects commence September 1st, so more to come soon...