I am not sure that I can find words to express how wonderful my experimental practicum was for me. During the three weeks, I was very grateful to have a fantastic Coaching Teacher and grade three class that I got to be a part of. The amount of learning and experience that I gained during this practicum is immeasurable and irreplaceable. I really do feel more prepared for the education profession because of my block two practicum journey.
Going into this practicum, I was very nervous. I was worried about how the students would react to my presence and teaching. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to live up to my wonderful coaching teachers’ expectations. Despite my worries, I think that there were many things that went well during this experience. Most of all, I am in awe of the relationships and connections that I was able to make with both the students and faculty at my practicum school, Harwin.
To this moment, I have nothing but amazement and gratitude for the supportive community that this elementary school had. I had many people that offered me help and support with my lessons. Additionally, I adored the students that I had the pleasure of teaching. They might have been a loud and lively bunch, but I would not have had it any other way because they were also very accepting and caring. I already know that I am going to miss everyone in this school very much.
Most of the lessons that I taught during this practicum were English Language Arts (ELA) and math (although I did have the joy of doing many gym and art lessons as well). I wanted to focus on ELA and math the most because these are going to be subjects that are done every day in my future classroom. A lot of my ELA activities also incorporated deeper connection with social and emotional core competencies. During these lessons, the students were openminded and preceptive. For example, I did a lesson on ‘bucket filling’ where the students thought about how helping others can also them themselves feel better. After reading them a story on bucket filling, the students got to design their own bucket and write kind letters to their fellow classmates before doing a written reflection on how the process made them feel and why it’s important to be kind.
I also did another lesson centered on the story My Mouth is a Volcano which opened some thoughtful questions and comments about the classroom community we are all a part of. In addition to the story, students got to draw pictures and write about the importance of being respectful not interrupting when others are speaking. These lessons on social and personal awareness and wellbeing were successful as we saw significant changes in the students’ behaviour, they got to improve on their writing skills and they also helped me get to know my students in ways that I might not have been able to otherwise.
This knowledge of my students came into play a lot during other lessons in subjects such as math and gym. Knowing my students helped me create lessons that could benefit all my students and provide help to those that needed it most. These lessons and learning opportunities aided in my growth as an educator by helping me time manage, plan out lesson explanations and work to monitor the whole class even while working one on one with a student. I think that these were very valuable learning experiences for me that I will continue to work on in my future practicums.
One thing that I think that I need to work on in the future is my personal and educational boundaries. Given that I spent a lot of time building relationships with my students, I would like to believe that I got to know them fairly well in this short amount of time. This insight means that I knew aspects of their personal lives and educational struggles. At times, I dismissed or accepted rude tones or behaviour because I knew deeper things were at play. In these situations, even though I understood the behaviour or actions, I still needed to express that it is not okay to talk to or treat someone that way. At times this was very hard for me to express.
I also know that because of my knowledge of the students, it often left me wanting to help them out almost too much. Sometimes wanting to help them more than was necessary which would enable them more than it would give them the tools to succeed on their own. I think that I am still trying to find the lines and boundaries in situations such as these because although I really care for all of these students, I also want to provide them with the best learning experiences that I can offer.
Additionally, the classroom that I was in was fully of very diverse learners. As a teacher candidate, this was both a blessing and a challenge for me. For almost all my lessons I had to prepare different worksheets or expectations for various students so that their learning was both relevant and helpful for their success. This process was more working on the lesson preparation front for me, I think that it ultimately benefited both me and my students.
Although I think that I grew in thanks to this challenge, it did leave me with some questions and goals for my education journey and learning. For example, it left me thinking: how can I provide lessons and activities that really benefit the diverse learners but still challenge the students who are meeting and excelling in the subject or area? I think that one of my fears as an educator is not being able to truly help my students learn. Through my future practicums and courses, I will continuously try to better myself so I can be most equipped to help the students that will be in my classroom.
As much as I learned throughout this practicum, I also learned that there is still much that I do not know. I know that I am eager to learn and grow and I know this will be a strength going forward in my educational journey.
