Honestly, I have to say that I have been so grateful to have had three amazing teaching practicums which amazing teachers who have provided me with great learning opportunities. For this final ten week practicum, I got to be in a grade four class with 27 students. For someone who has only been primary classes, the 27 students were definitely a shock. With all the students and being in a grade I haven’t taught before, I had to really shift my approaches to teaching.
One of the things I had to be really focusing on was my classroom management. With all of the students in the class, I had to switch up the ways that I got students attention and also implement wait time so that all students were ready for the learning and instructions. Wait time was something that I really had to work hard on, it isn’t something that is natural to me.
Additionally, this practicum was probably the biggest challenges for implementing differentiated instruction. It is very important to me to make sure that all students have access to the learning done in the classroom and can learn at their own pace. In past practicums, I have always had to differentiate but not to the extent in this grade 4 classroom. In this classroom, I had many students who were behind in both math and reading.
My diverse classroom meant that in order to keep all students engaged I needed to accommodate every learner. I had to create multiple different math groups and have several levels of questions during whiteboard lessons so all students can learn the same skills using different numbers. Additionally, during ELA, Social Studies, and Science I often had to use the document camera and read our texts aloud to give all students the access to what we are learning.
I think that one of the biggest ‘ah ha’ moments for me was how the students feed off of the energy that I am giving off. Many (if not all) educators state that the students know when you are faking it, and I believe that couldn’t be truer. This also means that when your energy and mood is high, the students often elevate themselves to match that energy and this can quickly get out of control. Given that I am a goofy and outgoing person, I often had to find ways to be who I am without also creating a classroom atmosphere where the class gets silly and out of control. I think this was a good learning experience for me that I did not anticipate happening.
All of these experiences really helped me grow as an educator as I had to try many new things in order to provide my students with the learning who can highlight their capabilities and aid them in the success all students were capable of.
Bottom line, I would go back to grade 4 any day and I truly treasure this amazing experience.
