Argyle Community School - Regina, SK
Miss Yee - Grade 4
I had the privilege of being in Miss Yee's grade 4 class for my Pre-Internship in March of 2018. I had been to her class a few times prior to my 1 month visit so that I could meet her as well as meet her amazing grade 4's. I created a series of lesson plans prior to teaching my unit in March. Some worked well, while others did not. I created lessons such as: A Scary Story Map writing activity where students create a Halloween story (Halloween was the next day). Poem Charades where the students had to act out parts of a poem while the class guesses what the action is and then they tried to piece the poem back together. I had a happiness activity where I read them a book called the Giving Tree and then I played happy music while the students drew/wrote about their happiness on yellow construction paper. I did a lesson on nutrition and created 5 different posters with grocery items and their price on it and I split the class up into 5 groups and had them rotate through the different posters with the different grocery items on it and they had a budget of $70 so they had to "spend" their money wisely - once they were done shopping for groceries, I had the students tell me why they chose certain items to buy over buying other items. On our last day, we themed it around cupcakes, where we read the students a story about cupcakes and then we surprised them by being able to decorate their own cupcakes.
3-Week Block
I taught a Novel Study unit where I read the students the Safe as Houses novel by Eric Walters. I had a variety of activities throughout the novel where I had the students constantly make predictions, check their predictions, and make new predictions. The book was focused around safety and protection and making good decisions to protect yourself and others. For their final project, I broke the students up into groups of 5 and they had to pretend they were in a News Broadcast. They loved this so much and they did so great when it was time for me to film them!
Learning to Plan
I will provide a link for my Unit Plan within this section. Overall, I am so happy and proud of myself with the way that my unit went with the kiddo's. My cooperating teacher said she was happy with my choice to do literacy as a lot of practicing preinterns and interns avoid teaching literacy so she was proud that I did it head-on. I believe that students should be read to at least once a day and I know that my kids LOVED being read to.
I love how I focused my unit around being more opinion-based and personal response based rather than on content that was either right or wrong. I gave my students a voice of their own where they could express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings.
Learning to Teach
My cooperating teacher told me: "From the first day I met you, you have always reflected this natural teacher presence in my classroom." Nothing can get any better than hearing that from one of the most inspirational people in my life. I had this technique that I used with my kids where if they were being loud and crazy, I would sit/stand at the front of the room in silence until they got the hint to be quiet and stop talking. It impressed me with how well they listened while I read to them, as each and every one of them has a strong passion for reading/being read to.
I've wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember and I'm happy with how awesome my pre-internship experience went to reassure me of my life decision to be an Elementary school teacher. During my time at Argyle, I kept a day-planner with me so I knew of any important things I needed to remind myself off. I found it difficult to keep a journal though, as I felt things were so hectic and busy - in a good way, of course!
Throughout the 3 weeks, there were a few students that never failed to put a smile on my face. I remember it being the second last day, and of my students said to me about their teacher: "She's kind, generous, time consuming.." I don't think he meant to be a negative or harsh compliment. J, I think you meant to say that she is good with managing her time, but its still the thought that counts, right?!
Learning to Reflect and Self-Evaluate
During the 3 weeks I had goals set for myself each day, and during my teaching time I tried to achieve these goals. I tried to connect each goal with the way the lesson went the day before, as I found this easiest and my cooperating teacher loved it, as she said its the sign of a true professional - woohoo! My Faculty Advisor came to observe my teaching two times. He gave helpful feedback which helped with my professional growth and development. His comments are below:
Everyday is a chance to develop and grow as a teacher. I know that there will days where my lessons crash and burn and I know there will be days where my lessons go really well. Teachers aren't perfect, and that's okay. We are only human. Each day, it is our job as educators to provide a safe and welcoming environment for every single one of our students.
My last day with my kids was bittersweet. I am going to miss them so much because they have truly impacted the teacher I am becoming, and with that I am so proud of myself. My kids, in just 3 weeks, have exposed this love within myself that I never thought I could feel in such a short amount of time. And that makes me so excited to feel that same love with my future students in my future classrooms.
Leaving pre-internship, I was given some inspiration from my cooperating teacher: " If a student learns something along the way, that's a bonus. But if your students walk in and walk out of your room each day knowing that they are loved - then you have done your job, and you have done it well."
