The view from my desk. Everyday we would do Math drills. These would be a 3- or 5-minute (depending on the differentiation) drill that would take place before the main Math lesson. I really liked doing these drills because it got the students in the mindset to do math, and because they were all competitive in trying to improve their scores from the previous day, they all were very enthusiastic about doing them.

I learned many things during my 491 practicum. I took the same strategy that I had in 490 (coming in a week early to establish relationships) and applied it to 491. I was also very fortunate in my last practicum to not only have an amazing coaching teacher in Nadine Gabriel, but also an exceptionally wonderful class as well. This made the teaching aspect of the practicum quite easy, however there arose a new challenge. Because so many of the students were gifted, and loved learning, the new struggle became making sure that I was challenging them enough. It is not the worst problem to have as a teacher, and I most say that even though it was not easy, it was a joy to teach these students.

I love setting up my classroom with this desk formation. It allows for a nature circle formation so all the students can see and hear the teacher in the center of the room. Also, if you want to have a sharing circle (which I would have on a daily basis), it is very easy to have the students put their chairs on the other side of their desks and make a circle.

I was also very fortunate in this practicum that my coaching teacher was very skilled in the application and instruction of mathematical concepts. Because Math is not a strong subject for me, I leaned heavily on her to help me teach the students in the best possible ways. I pushed myself in this sense by having three of my formal observations in the subject of Math. Although I was not perfect in any of them, I took the constructive criticisms of my coaching teacher, as well as my practicum evaluator to heart, and applied their wisdom to each following lesson.

Having learning intentions up on the board for each lesson was very important to me. I found that it helped make it clear to the students what I was trying to teach them each lesson. This is something that I learned in my time as a classroom teacher, and I have continued on the practice through each of my practicums as well.

One of the main things that I learned during my practicum was the ability to be flexible. When I started the practicum, I came in with a game plan for each subject, and the content that I wanted to teach. I talked it over with my coaching teacher and although she was very supportive with all of my choices, she informed me that she had just recently started some new units in various subjects and had asked if I could continue them before I introduced my topics. Of course, I had no problem with this, however I did not realize how long some of the topics would take to finish, and as a result, some of my plans did not get to get taught. This was not a huge issue for me; however, it did teach me the important of flexibility.   

Over four hours in the emergency room at the hospital. Hopefully all the teachers in the district won’t have to wear steel toed boots because of this!

The final challenge for me during practicum was when I fractured my toe. This also forced me to be flexible because some of the units that I had planned to teach, would require an ability to be more mobile (I had planned to do an orienteering unit with the support of Hart Bannack that would require hiking and trekking around the surrounding area of the school) than I was now able to.

In the end, my flexibly and determination were tested and improved greatly. I learned how to work with other teachers (with my coaching teacher, and the buddy class teacher), as well as how to strive to challenge my students so that they were always craving more learning.