Wednesday’s are my favourite day of the week because it means I get to go to my pre-internship class! I am lucky enough to be pre-interning in a Grade 2/3 split.
My pre-internship experience has been nothing short of amazing. I know the students think they are the ones doing the learning at school, but they have no idea how much they’ve taught me. Each week I focused on a new goal while I was there and reflected on it afterwards with my co-operating teacher. I have kept all my cooperating teacher’s notes so I can continue to look back and reflect on them as I move forward. The 7 goals I put as a main focus once a week were:
- Management strategies: this was one of the first goals I did. Two of the main management strategies I used was ‘Turtle mode’ and praising those who were doing what was asked. “I see ___ is doing what I had asked”. I found this management strategy to be the most impactful in my 2/3 class. Once I called out a student for doing what was asked, it got many others in focus too. Another reason why I also like this strategy a lot is because you are calling out those who are doing their job rather than not doing their job. It keeps the energy in the room positive, and gives those students who are not doing their job a chance to do what they were asked and not be singled out.
- Clarity of directions: I used this goal on a week where I taught Phys. Ed. lesson. My co-op teacher is doing a hockey unit in their Phys. Ed so I decided to do a hockey drill with the class. I explained our drill a handful of times, used diagrams and videos and had students demonstrate the drill for the class.
- Diverse use of instructional strategies: In all of my lessons I tried to have at least three instructional strategies in place. Not only do the students enjoy being taught in a wide variety of ways but it also makes it more enjoyable for me not having a repetitive lesson structure. Sometimes it can be a struggle to find new instructional strategies, but when planning for the upcoming lesson, I would at least try to do different ones from the most recent lesson I had taught.
- Keeping track of time & keeping the lesson with a consistent flow: On this week I did a lesson on conjunctions. Even though I was proud that I did well with keeping track of time and having the transitions flow, this was not always the case with every lesson I did. I ended up running out of time during one of my other lessons. Although it was something I did not realize was going to happen and definitely ‘threw me off’, I was honestly glad I experienced it. Sometimes things do not go as planned and I don’t think it made me a bad teacher or made it a bad lesson plan. I also know that it won’t be the last time that ever happens to me, and there is nothing wrong with a lesson having to carry over to the next day.
- Engaging students: Although this was a goal I had as a main focus on one of my weeks, it was something I would keep in mind for all of my lessons. I believe that engaging students and diverse instructional strategies go hand in hand: if you have a diverse use of activities and strategies, you will likely have engaged students. I also found that students stay more engaged when they can relate to what they are learning. I would try my best to ask the class at large questions that related to their personal lives and also relating to what we are learning.
- Effectively lead a group activity: I decided to focus on this goal on the week where I taught the 2/3’s their math class. They were focusing on regrouping in 2 digit + 2 digit addition equations. We played a math BINGO game that the students loved while continuing to practice regrouping.
- Language focus: This is a goal that I know I need to continue to work on. I have created a habit of saying ‘guys’ far too often when referring to a group of people. I understand it is an informal word and some people do not want to be referred to as a ‘guy’. I did a lesson plan presentation in my EHE course and my professor said that I said the word ‘guys’ way too often. My co-op teacher also noticed I say it while she is observing my lessons. I truly did not realize I was saying it so often until people pointed it out, so I started to take note myself and try my best to choose other words to use. The word still slips up every so often, but not as much. I know that it is a habit that will not be fixed overnight but I will still continue to work on it going forward.
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One of my favourite lessons I did was a social studies lesson on Christmas in Mexico. My co-operating teacher is doing a unit with her students on Christmas Around The World and I got to start off the unit by doing the first country!
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