Science Project
To the left you can see a picture of hand made Moon Lander's!
I strongly believe in hands on learning. Students do not have the capabilities of staying on task for long amounts of time. It is known that children do not have a great attention span. Given this, I believe it is crucial as an educator to find interactive ways to get students involved with the material being taught to them.
I have had the opportunity to lead most of the science unit from the start of my third field experience. As such, in every lesson I include diverse ways in delivering content to the students. Some examples can include classroom discussion, writing on the whiteboard, having students read a story about the content, hands on projects, interactive activities such as quizzes that are completed with the help of technology and so on. Moreover, I believe Competency 12 which discusses mobilizing digital technologies is one that applies here. These Moon Lander's that the students had the opportunity to construct were greatly influenced by videos we watched as a class as well as the digital interactive activities we completed. Despite the outcome being a hands on activity where students did not use technology, they in fact did acquire a great deal of their knowledge through technological aids which is what allowed them to build their Moon Lander's.
Bio Poems
As I got to start off my third field placement at the beginning of the school year, my cooperating teacher allowed room in her classroom to demonstrate the importance of my role in the class. As such, in the first week she allowed for me to find ways in which to bond and to get to know the students. I choose to do a short activity with them to be able to not only bond with the students yet ultimately to learn something about them all. The Bio poems were a great way to get to know them all as well as get to know some background information about them that they choose to share.
Competency 9 is all about being active member in the school team. Acting as a student teacher, the importance on being part of the whole school community is out of outmost importance. My CT has introduced me to the school staff, to the parents of the students and as the school year has progressed I was continuously meeting students outside of our classroom. Regardless of your role in the school, getting to know everyone to the best of your capabilities is a task one must be up for. To foster a safe learning environment, students must be able to trust all and to be able to do such, one must be actively involved as a member of the school team. I have come to understand the importance of being a present figure in the school that goes beyond the classroom. As a teacher you are not solely responsible for your classroom yet as well to be a positive figure to the whole school community. I included the artifact of the bio poems we did as a class as the effort should be skipped over in wanting to get to know your students which is essential to be able to be a good teacher. I realize it is restraint to my classroom however, it sets the tone and ideology of the importance in getting to know your "own" classroom students and everyone else that plays an active role in the school community.
School Community
I had the opportunity to take part in planning and carrying out important and significant school events.
Pictured on the left with can see Remembrance Day as well as Orange shirt day. Although not pictured there was also a meaningful event for Terry Fox.
I feel very grateful having had the chance to be paired with a cooperating teacher who is so passionate about these important events. I had the pleasure and opportunity to read a book to my Grade 6 class about the history on Orange Shirt Day. I was extremely pleased to have such a participating class that wanted to go on after the reading was complete. I would also like to mention that my cooperating teacher had an additional certification in Indigenous studies and her dedication towards her want to raise awarenesses was touching. Thanks to her methods of teaching, her class was able to create presentations that benefited the whole school.
Competency 15; values and promotes the Indigenous knowledge, worldview's, cultures and history. Not only did I have the chance to discuss this important subject through the reading of a book yet I also got to watch these Grade 6 students put together presentations for the whole school in order to raise awareness about the Indigenous Peoples, their communities and how its importance relates to the students and everyone around them.
Narrative Writing Poster
Here you can find my "first" learning poster that I had the occasion to create and construct a lesson around it to present to the students. The poster was created as a reference to be hung up in the class to help students go through and write their first piece of narrative writing!