Week 1- Reflections

March 2, 2020
- Today was the first day, and it was amazing! I feel like I am already learning so much
from both of my TAs. It was fun getting to know the students, and I feel like I was able to
make some early connections with a few of the students.
- The highlight of my day was when a couple students from 2Co remembered me and the
look of excitement just warmed my heart! Some of the students like closeness and they
came to me for comfort, which was so great.
- I get to teach my first lesson tomorrow with 3B, and I feel so excited to finally get in
front of the classroom again.

March 3, 2020
- I really enjoyed my day today, and I feel like I am already learning SO much that is going
to stick with me for many many years to come! I taught my first lesson today, and I also
was able to observe the STEAM buddies period in the afternoon.
- I took a lot away from today, but the two biggest takeaways were:
1) I need to work on filling my toolbox with more hands on and kinesthetic
lesson activities. My TA and I altered my lesson in the morning, because I had
students sitting for too long. Collaborative activities can help students develop
their own thinking skills and come to conclusions that are not scripted to what
they “think” you want to hear. Collaboration allows students to develop their
own ideas and thinking.
2) Grade 2/3 students can do WAY more than I ever imagined!! It was incredible
to see the type of thinking that the students did with their STEAM buddies.
Students had to find a way to melt ice and save the water. It was incredible to
see their mental light bulbs going off all over the place and connecting
previous science experiments to the task/ problem at hand. When prompted
with engaging questions, these students can really think outside of the box
when prompted to think critically. By observing this, I will continue
developing my own questioning skills so I can get this type of thinking from
my students.

March 4, 2020
- Today I taught 2 lessons: one in my grade 3 class, and one in grade 2. Both lessons went
pretty well. I was excited to see that I have already picked up some basic classroom
management skills that my TAs use, and I am able to apply those to my own teaching
time.
 - I feel more comfortable in front of the classroom than I did in my previous practicum, I
was still nervous through the first lesson with grade 2- but I was able to push through it
and come off as more confident!
- I am continuing to work on inserting more hands on and inquiry-based activities for
students to engage in; I am working to make my lessons align with the STEAM
principles of the classrooms.
- A key takeaway from today was that I also need to work on my ability to engage the ELL
students in the classroom. I will work on making instruction very explicit for them and
using visual cues to help their comprehension. I will be sure to clearly define some terms
they may not be familiar with, that are applicable to our unit, such as: element, setting,
plot, etc.

March 5, 2020
- Overall, today was pretty good! My ELA lesson for grade 3 went quite well. That being
said, I would like to continue to develop strategies for guided reading and managing the
class while working with a small group.
- My grade 2 lesson did not go as well as planned, and the main reason why is because I
was trying to do too many things in the one lesson; students were also quite chatty and
had a hard time focusing.
o My biggest take away from this not-so-great lesson, is to ensure I have focused
outcomes for the lesson, and I work on the firmness in my voice to help control
the class when they are not responding to gentler nudges.
- I will try to work in more hands-on activities within my lessons as well.
- I really enjoyed assisting in the grade 3 art classes, I can’t wait until I get to teach them!

March 6, 2020
- Today was a pretty good day! I did not do any teaching today, other than leading a brief
discussion in grade 3 for social studies. Students are talking about goods and services,
and I used a video from the supermarket vegetable isle to show students that most things
are not actually from Canada. Students had a discussion about this to prompt their
thinking.
- The rest of the day was mostly observation and assisting in various lessons for grade 2;
Friday’s are short days.
- After school, my TAs and I spent some time discussing ideas for STEAM buddies next
week, and I am looking forward to teaching this!

Weekly overview:
- Being the first week, I had my main focus on establishing relationships with students and
learning the daily routines in both of my classrooms.
- My biggest takeaways from this week are both about my instruction during lessons: I
need to work on changing the power dynamic and having more student-centered
discussion and activities that align with the new paradigm of thinking, instead of the old-
style of teacher focused. I will keep working to fill my toolbox with ideas and activities
that access higher levels of thinking, along with more hands-on engagement. I will also
work on finding my teacher voice and becoming more comfortable using it once I
develop stronger relationships with students.
- My unit plans for ELA need to be slightly reworked to align with slightly different
outcomes, based upon the actual skill level of the classrooms; I am hoping to have these
mostly finished by the end of the weekend.
- I do feel incredibly tired already, so I will try to focus on getting a solid amount of sleep
and doing some self-care this weekend so I am ready to be tossed back in next week!
 Week 2- Reflections
March 9, 2020
Today was a bit of a rough day. My lessons did not go quite the way I wanted them to, but I can
pretty confidently say that most students reached the main outcomes for those lessons. That
being said, I do feel myself building stronger relationships with my students. I am still working
on establishing my teacher voice, and finding the firmness that students respond to. My biggest
take-away from today was that no matter how badly I think a lesson is going, the kids will still be
with me if I have created a strong relationship with them. This is my main goal for this week, to
really establish that teacher-student relationship (especially with the grade 2s) so they see me as
a teacher as well, not just a classroom guest.

March 10, 2020

Today was a great day! Both of my lessons went pretty well, I taught grade 3 ELA and STEAM
buddies (for the first time). I was quite nervous for the STEAM buddies class, as all 48 students
come together. We are starting a project on water, with the APEGA grant, that focuses on water
collection, storage, and movement. I have set up a “greenest lawn challenge” in which students
will actually plant grass seed next week, and then create some sort of device to collect and store
rainwater, and then to transport it to water the grass without flooding it. Today’s lesson was
based on students doing some preliminary thinking/research. Having both of my classes together,
it gave me a great opportunity to practice classroom management with a larger group. I was able
to try some different attention grabbers and different ways to engage the students.

March 11, 2020

My lessons both went really well today too! I feel like I am settling into the classrooms and
forming relationships with my students on another level. Today was interesting because all
afternoon we were watching the grade 1 concert; so, it was a shorter day that usual as far as
teaching time. I was so impressed with my students while we were in the gym, they were so
attentive. The performance was so sweet, so it was definitely a highlight to my day! Another
highlight was that I got a sweet note from one of my grade 3 students, which was heartwarming
to begin with, but then I found out that this student is pretty closed off and slow to trust adults
around her; so when my TA told me this, I was especially grateful for the card she had given me.
By hearing that, I know I am doing something right and making strong connections with the kids
in my classroom. In my mind, connection is one of the biggest parts of teaching- without
connection, you can’t teach.
I am continuing to work on classroom management and the teacher voice; in addition to those
things, I am working on my delivery of instructions. I hope to move to a model of instruction
giving where I give the initial instructions, check in with a couple students to make sure they
know the job, and then readdress if students are still confused. I need to give instructions, MAX
3 times, no more (unless totally necessary.)
March 12, 2020
Both lessons today were so much fun- in grade 2 we read a new version of The Three Little Pigs
and we talked about using a Venn diagram to compare/ contrast two different versions of the
story. The students all did way better than I could have even imagined, and I was so happy to see
their brains start pumping through ideas. In grade 3, we had a discussion about innocence and
guilt, that related to the True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I had students complete a vocab sheet
to revisit motive (from earlier in the week), and I was able to develop a sheet that incorporated
many different skills; the sheet had a space for a visual representation, a definition, and using the
word in a sentence. Students also had to act out innocence of guilt in a short skit for the class;
students were highly engaged in this! I am looking forward to trying other activity ideas that will
engage all students, regardless of skill level.

March 13, 2020

Today was challenging, in the sense that we had so many students away. Navigating teaching
and student worries about the coronavirus is difficult, especially when 6 or more of their peers
are away for the day because of parent worry. It is challenging to deliver a lesson as well, when
so many students are away. It raises the question of how much farther can you teach when
students are not at school; how will you catch up so many kids after the fact?
Other than that, my lessons went well. Of course, there are a couple things for me to work on-
including working through acknowledging student comments without letting them derail the
lesson during a discussion- my biggest question is, how can I make sure all my student are heard,
even if what they have to say if completely off topic? This proves to be challenging, especially in
these relatively new days of our relationship’s formation.

Weekly Overview:
- This week was filled with countless ups and downs through wins and losses of different
lessons. On top of this, it was filled with uncertainty from teachers and staff due to the
spread of this virus, which greatly affected the atmosphere in the school.
- My goals for next week include sharpening the delivery of instruction to ensure it is
concise, as well as figuring out a way to acknowledge student comments during class
discussion, without derailing the lesson at hand. This includes dealing with students who
are talking out of turn; there is a time and place for this type of dialogue, but for class
discussion, there is only room for one student to speak at a time. This goal will prove to
be a significant challenge, I think.
- I am interested to see what happens, as far as school closures. I am most excited for this
coming week because I get STEAM buddies twice this week, and I also get to teach art
all afternoon on Thursday!