After Block

After being back in school for almost 2 weeks, i have found myself really missing the classroom. I learned so much from my associate teacher and my Grade One students. I plan on going back the day before Christmas break starts to visit. I cannot wait to start next block. Hopefully i will be able to experience a similar classroom atmosphere in Guelph where i will be living next year!

Second Week of Block

The second week at my school has been great as i predicted! We have been on two field trips. The Grade Ones and I went to Woodend and to a Jack Grunsky concert which the students really enjoyed! I think that field trips are an important element of education as children need to be face to face with what they are learning about. They remember and make connections when in class after going somewhere to a place like Woodend. I cannot believe the second week is over already. Tommorrow my teacher is going to be away so i will get the chance to teach most of the day!

First Block

The first day of my block was great. It was nice starting a new routine and seeing the kids everyday. I taught a calendar lesson which is considered math. It teaches the students different strands of math such as patterning (pattern on the pictures of the calendar), data management (tallying the weather..cloudy, sunny, rainy days), and number sense and numeration. I am so glad to be there everyday for a while!

Guest Speaker

The Guest speaker today was ver inspiring as it taught me the importance of using, modelling and practicing good behaviour before it can become problematic behaviour. It is very true that once children are taught to follow proper procedures, they very rarely go against it because its what they have bee taught. I remember in my classes always hearing the "if you" statements and it always gave people the permission to do something wrong but with the knowledge that they would be punished for it. Thus, class management starts with modelling appropriate behaviour and teaching children not the wrong behaviours but the right behaviours FIRST.

My micro-teaching on Friday went really well. I was nervous at first but once i got going, it was so hard to be nervous as my students in Grade One are such great kids who love to learn. I did a lesson on number sense and numeration where we (as a large group) did a "pocket computation" and developed strategies to help us discover how many pockets total where in our whole group! The children seemed to really enjoy this lesson and it taught them that they can not only count by ones, but tens as well when calculating a larger number. Overall, it went really well and i learned about some ways to improve my teaching abilities. However, i also learned about the skills i have that will one day make me an effective teacher that i hope children will admire.