Khadar Tawane Hilowle
Course: ECS311
Instructor: Julie.
Field Reflection November 21, 2018
The professional Goal [week 6]: Classroom management/engagement; awareness and responsiveness(with-it-ness)
It was a beautiful day, nice and warm. Mr. Trail, as usual, welcomed every student at the door. He took the attendance of the students, followed by the morning national anthem. He briefly explained how the daily routine will look like, acknowledging that Maple will teach literacy after recess, and Khadar will teach physical education after lunch. The first lesson was literacy and the teacher asked the learners to bring out the literacy Doug tag and continue the section of finding the main theme of a short story. He explained theme and what it means as an element of a short story. Students started to answer the questions by reading three short stories of about one paragraph each and identifying the theme of each short story. Three of us started circulating in the classroom as students were working on the questions. They were those who were struggling to comprehend the short stories and asking questions, while others finished in the first ten minutes. Those who finished were asked to continue their art project of drawing point of view three-dimensional diagram. I have learned that students have different abilities in finishing their work, and teachers must always have a second piece of material for such a group of students. I went outside with the kids closely started observing some students whom I wanted to be in my pocket. It was amazing how some were engaged to build snowman and others were playing different activities of their choices.
Pre-conference: It was a quick conference, as Mr. Trail asked me to explain my lesson plan and if I anticipated any problem for this particular lesson. He also told me to get ready during lunch time. He asked me the material I need for the lesson and gave his keys to me to double the gym store if enough of the materials I need for the lesson is available in the store. I went to the gym store and ensured all the materials I needed for the lesson were ready; hockey balls, safety google glasses, the hockey sticks, and the goal post.
My lesson: (12: 45 – 2:15 pm): Mr. Trail usually teaches the gym class for the two grade six, so I also supposed to teach the two classes. The first session runs from 12:45 to 1:30 pm and the second class should from 1:30 to 2:15 pm. My lesson was basically how students can handle hockey equipment safely, skill practice of stick handling, and finally a proper way of partner pass practice. It was something out of my comfort zone to teach hockey, but trying new things is what I love most. I got a good YouTube video, teaching basic skills of hockey, learned it and put it in practice for the students. The students were to run three laps and come to the center, get the instruction of the lesson, and get ready for the practice. I had to demonstrate each skill and ask the students to practice, as I go around to check if they are doing the right way.
Post-conference:
The first lesson: It was kind of hard, since the student had difficulty in listening to the instruction, because I gave the hockey sticks and the balls first, which some them started playing instead of listening to the instruction step by step. It went well, but the student never had enough time to do the independent practice because of the interruption. It was a great lesson with a lot of lessons learned from it.
Second lesson: It was a great lesson, well adapted from the first lesson. The transition was smooth, no equipment given till all instruction and expectation was clearly explained, changing this little piece brought a lot of change and a great difference between the two lessons. I have learned that the gym is a big class and the level of the noise is too high; to handle such a class needs a unique classroom management. Next time, I should be prepared to have very structured instruction first before the students touch the materials. The responsive and awareness piece was great, I was able to help students to refocus the lesson when seen off-task.
Lesson learned: The evidence of the data collector suggested me that the instruction should be given to students before the materials/equipment given to them. This helps the kids focused, without distraction.
Name: Khadar Tawane Hilowle
Field Reflection October 24, 2018
We started our day with the gym lessons that run from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. Mr. Trail had a brief pre-conference with Maple since she is to go for the first lesson of the day and he told me he will do mine after a recess during French lesson at the staffroom. It was amazing that Maple taught the two physical education lesson at the gym. I realized she has a great skill of training soccer, she was calm, confident, and had great skills of class control. She had the set, development, and closure of the lessons well managed. She felt more enthusiasm in the second lesson then in the first lesson, I don’t know if the nature of the two classes were different or she had more confidence in the second lesson that first one.
My lesson of the day [Cha-Cha dance]: 12:45pm-1: 30 pm- Mr. Trail had the pre-conference with me during the period before lunch, he asked me to explain what I wanted to teach and how I wanted to teach. I showed my lesson plan and explained to him, he felt like the content of the lesson was too much for a single lesson, but, acknowledged that the content of the lesson was awesome. We agreed I will teach the lesson in the Mini-gym as he already booked for me the cart that had the projector. It was time for my lesson, after lunch; the challenges I realized in after lunch lesson is that the students take a lot of time to settle, attendance is made, then they had to wait for the announcement that went through the intercom. The reality was this took about ten minutes of my lesson. We moved from the classroom to the mini-gym. I introduced a dance video from my culture [ Somali traditional dance], I asked them to dance with and few of them danced with me. I explained how our cultural heritage is expressed through dance and how that is connected to our identity. One of the students told me that they have a dance called Bamboo in Philippine culture. After discussion of what dance is? And the connection we can make dance and cultural heritage, student watched the Cha- Cha dance as they all stood up and danced. We discussed the origin of Cha-Cha dance and its steps. I divide the students into four groups and gave the Cha-Cha dance instruction paper. They did the practice and presented to the classroom.
Post-conference: The grade six class got Band in the last lesson, and Mr. Trail utilized to have the post-conference with me in this period. He explained the transition issues after lunch, and told me that is the reality for a real-life situation, he commented that I improved the speed at which I speak, it was low, calm, and an appropriate tone for the kids. He also told I improved checking the clarity of understanding with the student. The classroom management piece was great, but I had a challenge with three students who refused to participate in the group work activity. Time management was a huge issue since we lost time during the transition period. It was a great lesson and overall comment was awesome. We finally discussed the plan for next week and I will teach numeracy.