My field experience has been one to remember! I have loved every minute in the classroom with my placement teacher.
My favourite part of field placement was connecting what we discussed in the ECS 100 lecture and seminar to the classroom I was placed in. Many lessons connected to the classroom from ECS 100. For example, invitation and hospitality in my placement classroom was strong. My placement teacher welcomes her students every morning at the door of the classroom. The classroom environment was very welcoming; there were many inspirational quotes around the classroom to keep students inspired to learn. In the future, my classroom will be a welcoming place for all students. Our placement teacher has a great relationship with her students; therefore, all students respect her and her classroom rules. It was a great experience to observe the grade 5 classroom, and when I got to help in the Kindergarten classroom I enjoyed it too. I think I would prefer teaching Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes, but I would teach to grade 5 if I had the opportunity. I am thankful I had the opportunity to experience a classroom that I didn’t think I would enjoy. The students got so excited every time they have seen us and were always asking us questions. The connection I had with the students was one of my favourite parts. My placement teacher was a fantastic mentor to me. She was willing to answer any questions I had thought of when I was in her classroom. I am grateful she was willing to open her classroom and let us join her and the grade 5 class. There was information she shared that I had never thought of, and it opened my eyes to important educational topics. This field placement experience has made me understand more of the behind the scenes tasks that come along with being a teacher. I learned many important lessons throughout my eight weeks in the classroom. I was nervous about my first day at placement, but now I don’t want it to end. After these eight weeks in the classroom, I am glad I am pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher. All the information I have learned so far will stick with me forever and will help me grow as an educator. I am very excited to continue my educational journey in the upcoming years. ~Karlee
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What a fantastic topic to explore today! Technology is a huge part of society. It is important for children to get a good understanding of technology because it is used everywhere. Technology is a useful tool in classrooms today. Our placement teacher uses a microphone to help project her voice every day in her classroom. This is a very neat tool to help students hear at the back of the classroom.
Our placement teacher wishes she had more access to technology to use in her classroom. The school has two laptop carts that can be signed out to the older grades in the school. The grade 5 class doesn’t get them very often due to the high demand. Most of the younger grades in the school have a few of either Chromebooks, laptops, or iPads. Our placement teacher has tried to apply to be a tech teacher but got denied. If she would have got this, she would have had her own laptops for any class she teaches. The school has lots of technology and resources available to them. They use a website to update student’s marks regularly. Marks are put into the system and calculated according to the teacher’s outcomes. The children’s parents can log on to the website with a username and password to check student’s success regularly. Many teachers use Seesaw in their classrooms. Seesaw is a great way to see student improvement throughout the year. There are many ways to use Seesaw depending on the grade you are teaching. Also, there are interactive boards in most classrooms in the school. These boards are like smartboards, but they project on to the whiteboard, so the whiteboard is still useable with whiteboard markers. There are many tech resources in this school provided to teachers for lessons. In the grade 5 class, there are two students that have laptops available to them in the classroom. They use the laptops to type some of their assignments if they will be done more efficiently. Sometimes these students take longer typing because their typing skills aren’t used enough. Our placement teacher is trying to improve their typing. She believes it is important for students to know how to properly type for the future. She encourages her students to practice typing at home for their fifteen minutes of homework when they have no other homework to do. Students do not have outcomes involving keyboard skills. Our placement teacher wishes she had more laptops available for some other students to type their answers because some of their writing is so poor she cannot read it. In the grade 5 classroom, they could use more technology to improve their learning. Have a great last placement next week! ~Karlee Hello everyone!
Today I got to talk to our teacher a lot, and learned many things! We focused on talking about the class and how she teaches. Today we had some fun helping our placement teacher mark some English questions, and we had a few laughs at some of the responses we read. She showed us the program the school uses for report cards and grading. Parents can sign on to the website to see how well their child is doing with the assignments. I think it is important for parents and their child’s teacher to stay in contact. If parents or the teacher have a problem they can work out a solution and do what is best for the student. In grade 5, they have just started a novel. I think it is called “As Long As The Rivers Flow.” The book is about First Nations people. They have learned about many First Nations traditions and culture. The book also explains the Residential school experience for Indigenous people. Our placement teacher said the students have been making good connections and asking questions. The grade 5 class has just started this novel, but are very engaged in it. Our placement teacher says she sticks to the curriculum as much as she can just to make sure she is staying on top of all the outcomes that need to be met. She gave me one tip today that I will remember forever: “whenever you can try to hit two or more outcomes within one assignment.” Our placement teacher says she tries to do this all the time because there are so many outcomes to hit in a year, plus all the other things that you have to do. For example, at Halloween, they had to draw a Halloween picture for arts education, and label it with French sentences. She hit two outcomes and marked this assignment in two portions, half as an arts education mark and half as a French mark. The next assignment she has planned is an essay on a Canadian sports hero because one of the outcomes she has to teach is sports hero’s in Canada for physical education class. She will also be giving the students an English mark for this because they are working on essay formatting and punctuation. Other teachers probably do this but I have never thought of this before. At my school, the last couple of nights they are having parent-teacher interviews during the evenings. The students are involved in the conferences. Our placement teacher has an ongoing binder that she puts all-important assessments and assignments in so when conferences come around she is prepared. Students can also choose any work they are proud of and want to show their parents at conferences into the binder. At conferences, they look through the binder and discuss the student’s accomplishments. Another thing our placement teacher does is has the students make goals prier. She has made a circle diagram that they fill in with their goals and steps. At conferences, they all talk about the steps the student will take to achieve their goal. I think goal setting is a great way for students to be accountable for themselves and gain responsibility. It also helps if the parents are aware of the goals being set. Another great day! Only two more days in the classroom :( ~Karlee Today was another fantastic day in the classroom!
My favourite part of today was helping groups of students invent new or modify an existing game to play with their class in physical education class. Some groups knew exactly what they were going to do for a game and others had no idea what to do. I guided some groups on the right path or help them think of a game to modify. It was super cute when groups were telling me about their games because they were so excited to share. When I was circulating I noticed some games that were being created wouldn’t actually work, so I asked them questions to help them solve the problems they would have ran into when actually tried the game with a group of people. This activity demonstrated teamwork, problem-solving, and creativity. Also, when they present the game to the class the group members will have to be the officials keeping the game under control. My placement teacher said that when students officiate their game they sometimes get mad at the rules on some occasions, and our teacher has to calm them down. This was a super great planning period. I hope I am in the classroom when they present their games because I am curious to see how they turn out. My placement teacher is a very positive person. She reminds the students constantly to be kind to each other and to themselves. At the front of the classroom above the whiteboard, there is a border that has kind words and inspiration on it. I love this because the students often look at the front of the classroom to get instructions. This small border is a daily reminder to treat all classmate’s kind and to be a positive person. They have been reading a book by Craig Kielburger that is called “It Takes a Child.” This book is about Craig’s inspirational journey from when he was a child. They have been relating what Craig did as a child and want they are doing or will do to make to world a better place. My teacher said they were so into the story this morning that she couldn’t get them to put the book away after their English class. When they do pray at the end of the day, they pray for everyone. The students feel welcomed and comfortable in the classroom. After school today, my placement teacher told me in the past she has incorporated cultural dance into the dance portion of arts education. She has asked students to teach the class any cultural dances from their backgrounds. She has had many different students willing to share the dance they know with the class. I think this an interesting way to incorporate cultural diversity into the classroom, and is a great learning opportunity for the class. I would also like to touch briefly on the connections I have made in the classroom to our Indigenous people in Canada. In the classroom, they have books available to sign out for silent reading about Indigenous people. Today in French class, the students learnt mother and father in the Cree language along with learning members of their family in French. One day they went with their grade 2 buddies, and they did a video response to a book they read about Orange Shirt Day. They made some very detailed answers and discussed the topic in a very respectful way. They had learnt about this topic in previous years as well as this year and had a very good understanding of residential schools and Indigenous people in Canada. I learned many things today that I will remember when I am a teacher! ~Karlee Today was a fantastic experience. We got welcomed by a student who had made up treat bags for the class and brought enough for us. We got to help take students out of the classroom to extend their learning on a field trip and to perform their Thriller dance. We got to feel the kid’s excitement about Halloween. Everyone was very excited about all the things happening that day.
Their Thriller dance performance was very well done. They went to Queen Victoria’s seniors’ home to show the residence all the hard work the grade fives put into practicing for this day. All of the students were dressed as zombies for the day, and some of their costumes were very well done. The students all participated except for one. One of the students made a deal with the teacher that he didn’t have to do the performance, but he had to dress the same and come along to Queen Victoria. This student has very high anxiety, and couldn’t do the dance in front of his school in a large group, so he wouldn’t have been able to do it at the senior’s home. This student stood with me when his classmates were performing and felt very comfortable standing with me watching the group. He asked me many questions and told me some stories while together. This is a very good example of unseen diversity amongst the students. This student is very different from the others but still participated as much as possible. He still was part of the group which made him feel included. All kids feel differently about certain things and it is important to make all kids feel comfortable with what they have to do in your classroom. The seniors were thrilled to interact with the kids after the performance. When I am a teacher I would like my class to interact with the senior in the community. Our field trip to Government House was fantastic! I have never been to Government House before, so it was a great experience. We split the students into two groups for the tour and crafts. The students in my group were very content and well behaved. They were asking great questions to our tour guild and very engaged in the conversations. We all learned many things that help the students to understand the novel they had finished reading in class. Our tour guild allowed some students to play a self-playing piano. The kids all wanted to try to play it but we ran out of time. I am very glad I got to experience a field trip with the grade 5 class. I think they all enjoyed the day and learned many new things! We took candy to share with the grade 5 and Kindergarten class which they loved. All the students were very excited to go out trick or treating with their friends after school. It was a fantastic day! I can’t wait for next week! ~Karlee Week three was very educational! Our placement teacher is a fantastic teacher!
This week we got to observe the students and how they participated in partners. Our placement teacher told us that she enjoys letting them work in groups but only when it’s not for an assessment. We found some desk partner combos worked well and some didn’t work at all. Some people would just copy from the other person in their group which is not the way partners are supposed to work. Our placement teacher is trying to emphasize the importance of contributing to a group and working together. The groups that worked well together were very on task and both contributing which was awesome teamwork. There are two students in the class that need quite a bit more assistance than the others. One student is not at a grade 5 level and one has very high anxiety. Our teacher works very hard to make sure these students can do the work she is assigning and assists them more than the other students. She provides scribing for one student in the class. Our placement teacher is willing to teach her students in the best way she learns. She would like to gain more knowledge about mental health and effective ways to deal with students who are affected. She believes this education would be useful for some of the students. Our placement teacher truly wants the best for all of her students. Our placement teacher believes it is important to connect the students to real experiences for them to understand they are being taught in the classroom. For example, they a reading a novel right now about the ghosts at the government house, so on Halloween they are going for a tour of the government house in Regina. They will be able to connect what they read and get their imagination going a bit about the ghosts. I think this is a great way to wrap up a novel study. I also think it is super awesome that the students will get a fun reward for all their hard work throughout the novel study. When students are looking forward to a field trip after the novel would keep them engaged in the novel. When the students can apply what they learnt they willing to remember the content more clearly. Next week is going to be a fantastic field trip with the grade 5 class! I can’t wait! ~Karlee Another great day at my field experience! Today we got to help out in the Kindergarten classroom as well as in the grade 5 classroom. We got to experience many new things we were not expecting!
The teacher and support staff at the school are very welcoming and friendly! The teachers are wanting us to get the best experience in a school setting as possible. Many people who come into the school throughout the week to help students succeed. Support staff to help students with speech, attitudes, behaviour and any other things that hold back students from doing their best. Our placement teacher uses most of these support staff for students in her classroom, but it just depends on the students how much you utilize this support. It is awesome they have so many people to help support the students who need extra support in the school! I think the school has a very strong connection to their community. The school has its parish right across the street, so they are very closely connected to the church. Our placement teacher told us they have worships every Wednesday. They have been collecting funds for father because he doesn’t take a wage from the school. Father attends all assemblies and any other important events happening at the school. The school and church are closely connected. Also, in grade 5, they had one of the parents of a student come in to do a presentation to the kids about Elections Canada because they are learning about the elections in Social Studies. This was a super great way to connect the learning done in class to reality. Another community connection would be the grade 5 class preforming their Thriller dance somewhere in the community. I mentioned this last week but this is a fantastic way to connect the students to their community. We got to meet the Kindergarten class and their grandparents today! The students brought ingredients to make vegetable soup and fruit salad for their grandparents. The students sang some songs and enjoyed the delicious food they made in class with their grandparents at the end of the day. The Kindergarten teacher told us she does this every year because she thinks it is important for the grandparents to be recognized for the upbringing of the child too. This was a great experience for the children because it gives them a chance to show their grandparents their classroom and the things they have learned so far in Kindergarten. This school is a happy, fun, exciting place for students to learn. The school environment and the community around them is a positive place. It is import to have positive, and enthusiastic people in a school to make the school experience the best it can be. I think the students at this school have a great school environment and a pretty fantastic group of people education them! ~Karlee Today was fabulous! I was in the grade 5 class at a Catholic school in Regina. We were welcomed by the Vice Principal who showed us to the grade 5 classroom. The classroom was in a portable at the far end of the school.
In the classroom, I noticed many things! The first thing I noticed was there is not much shelving in the classroom. There were a few tubs of teaching supplies on the ground, two bookshelves, and a shelf for extra supplies. The desks were grouped in pairs. There were not many options for flexible setting, but there was a standing desk, a bean bag chair, and some mats to put anywhere on the floor. There was also a big long table for group work. One thing I thought was the most unusual was that there were no analog clocks in the classrooms; all the clocks were digital in this school. We found this unusual because they still learn how to tell the time in grade 5, but do not have a clock to relate their lessons to in their classroom. In the class, there were many different learning types. Our placement teacher had her seating plan set up to benefits the kids. The students that needed a little bit of extra help with instructions she put with more mature students who were willing to give up some of their work time to help their partner. In the grade 5 class, there was a wide range of maturity levels. Some students were very mature and some students were not, but they are working on their maturity. Our placement teacher told us at the end of the day that she has a very wide range of skill levels in her class, which we noticed as well. At the school, it is a tradition that every year the grade 5 class learns the Thriller dance by Michael Jackson as part of their arts education class. Once they have the dance down pat, the students go out into the community to perform a flash mob in a community center. I think this is a super great idea because it gets the students looking forward to an end result and is also connecting them with their community. We got to watch them practice for their public performance, and they were very impressive. There were a few boys in the front row that had done lots of practice at home. You could tell the students who were really willing to participate and practice. I had a fantastic day, and I can’t wait to go back next week! ~Karlee |
AuthorWeekly posts about my field experiences in the classroom. ArchivesPictures of the Classroom
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