Category: First time in a school as a educator, 8 days weekly blog

Over the course of the past seven weeks, I feel like I have grown to understand what kind of teacher I want to become. Every teacher that I remember that had a positive impact is the teachers that really cared for their students and people. With each week and a new aspect to focus on, I can now see many different ways to create an inviting open classroom experience for my students and any student who needs help

Going through each week while analyzing different focus questions really helped me understand what a teacher needs to be aware of. The first 2 weeks were Students & Learning Environment and School and Community this really made me look at who the students were as people while also seeing what kind of community these students live and grow up in. knowing this can greatly improve interacting with your students and relating subjects and examples that they would understand, its also good to get the community together with school activities and after school programs to get students engaged.

Weeks three, four and five were Teachers & Knowledge and Inclusive Education-Diversity & Difference. For me, these 3 weeks felt very connected together in their core ideas. it’s important to understand that every person/ student is different, each student will learn differently and have different views and home life. some children will have nuclear families, others may have 2 dads or 2 moms, some may come from split homes and different religions so as an educator its important to be aware of these things and have a classroom that features all different walks of life and that doesn’t segregate anyone.

And finally, we had weeks six and seven which were Curriculum & Instruction and The Role of Technology. I felt like these 2 weeks really focused on how an educator teaches their class and how the students respond. during these weeks I really focused on what the students were understanding and what they were not, while also looking at how they used technology. And from watching Mrs. P handle her students I can definitely see how a consistent daily plan with a well planned out curriculum makes the daily tasks of teaching a lot easier; As well as the importance of utilizing electronics to benefit the students whether it’s for books, writing papers or as rewards for good behavior/exceeding expectations.

To summarize the past several weeks were a lot of fun I feel like I have learned lots but at the same time feel like I have only scratched the surface on all these topics. You really begin to see how every aspect of teaching is connected to each other and how important it is to always be ready to explore new ideas and technologies, However, I look forward and am excited to learn more about these topics during the coming years.

This week was pretty good but was also very crazy. not sure why but it seemed that every student was getting hurt or having issues with each other. There wasn’t anything that got uncontrollable but was still a lot of work for Mrs. P and myself. during math and daily 5, I went around and helped the students, I really enjoy hearing them say Mr. K; it makes me feel like a real teacher and just makes my day.  But other than that it was a pretty standard day with lots of math and reading. 

I took a look around the school and peek into other classrooms to see how they use technology, from what I could tell the use of technology is pretty standard. some classes have tablets and some have computers. when I asked the teachers they said the computers are mainly used for academic purposes like online books, finding information, and doing research while also getting the higher grades to start writing essays. the younger grades mostly just read and do audiobooks.
In some cases the Tablets are used as rewards for kids when doing very well in class, they may get 20 minutes or more to play a game or watch some educational videos. I know in our class Mr.P uses a kind of digital projector, it has a camera and displays whatever the camera sees on the wall, she uses this to go over math problems and the pronunciation of words when reading stories

I asked Mrs. p about how technology is used in the student’s home, and from what she described its kinda disappointing and sad. she says many of the kids come from low-income homes where they are basically raised by things like computers, phones, and tablets. she said for many parents it is easier and cheaper to just give their kids a tablet then buy things like art supplies, board games, puzzles, activities, and physical games like basketballs, soccer balls, etc. 
When I asked the students what they normally do when they get home about 80% of them mentioned things like video games and tv while some others mentioned playing with pets and drawing. 
I then asked Mrs. P how she personly uses technology outside of what the kids see. She said all the teachers are connected through their own email links, she orders supplies and makes a request through the computer as well. she also said most of the contact she has with her students’ parents are through email or through text only a few parents meet face-to-face.

For the younger grades, Tech is not as big as a priority in the classroom but is still used every day in all the student’s lives, Cant wait for my Final day!! but don’t look forward to saying goodbye to all these students.

This week’s class time was definitely lots of fun. To start, we had a person come in from the Regina public school board teaching the kids about the effects of winter. more specifically on how animals change, adapt and live when it’s so cold out. He came with a large amount of Taxidermyed animals and went through them one at a time explaining things like hibernation, camouflage, and adaptations that the animals have made to survive. Of course, all that the kids wanted to do was to touch the animals. But from my own experience, I had an identical presentation when I was a kid. and many of the facts that I know today were because of that presentation so I feel the children did learn a lot even if they were a bit distracted

After the presentation, the class was also treated to another special surprise. Mrs. P the teacher I am shadowing as well as a few other teachers received a grant which allowed them to pick out new books for their classroom. there were roughly 100 new books for the children to read. One of which I read to a small group of students, the story was about a crayon which was labeled as “red” but was actually blue on the inside. a very nice book in clear resemblance to LGBTQ2+ people. 

This week we were to focus on “Curriculum & Instruction.” for my class, most of the things being taught are the basics such as reading, writing, and math. Writing is mostly taught in 2 ways in the class; Mrs P starts off with the new sound or letter that the kids will be focusing on (such as the sounds that “Th” “Ee” makes) she goes over this on a projector while all the students follow along as she goes through a song that makes use of the letter or sound they are learning. once that is finished they go to their tables and start practicing writing it in their books. the books are filled with simple activities that give different examples of when the letter/sound is used. 

Aside from letters and writing, there is math. most of the math is basic counting and patterns (such as 2,4,6- 5,10,15,20 etc) and also teaching them about the hundreds, tens and one’s place and how they work. Again just like writing Mrs. P goes through how to do everything they are covering for that class then lets the students attempt them in their book. Of course, many students don’t fully understand so that’s where myself and Mr.s P would focus in on the students who were struggling the most to try and help them
I feel like most of the children understand the importance of what they are learning especially when it comes to counting as I see many of them counting things when they are playing such as rocks and other kids that are playing a game.
It was an awesome week and can’t wait for the next  

This week was a lot better than the ones before. one student with ADHD seemed to have been very well behaved. he was very calm and quiet and did all of his assignments. It seemed like this was a rare occurrence but he is going to new medication so hopefully next time I see him things will be going good. 

So for this week I kept looking for other ways that the school in the classroom was diverse. One of the things that I noticed throughout all the classrooms was the inclusion of a gay pride flag it was a minor detail but one that really made me happy to see that being represented in the class. Apart from just the flags I also noticed many children’s books with same-gender parents one Dad one mom different ethnicities Etc. It is very important to have many different types of families displayed in these children’s stories to help solidify that not every family looks the same.

Diversity is very hard to spot unless you look at the small details. But one thing that I did notice is that most of the faculty seems to be Caucasian this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it was something I noticed. The students, on the other hand, seem to be from many different places about 50% are from Regina while the others range from places like China and India

When I asked the teacher about how she shows diversity in the class she said is very important to have lots of books and lessons based on other ethnicities and to always look for opportunities such as grants that will give money in support of getting books and events that support ethnicity and sexual orientation. I think since the students are so young they don’t really realize this kind of idea of diversity it just is a normal everyday feeling for them but for me seeing everything really makes me happy and I hope my classroom will be just as diverse.

This week went good for the first half then was complete mayhem for the second half. We started with the daily routine then went onto the reading and writing skills as well as a little Halloween scavenger hunt that they could find in the classroom.

Then once it became french time, everything went crazy. I personally think that many of the children in the class are not aware of “different languages” and what that means. Even though the french was very of basic colors, it took nearly an hour for them to color in 1 picture of a witch. this is where I could definitely see their short attention spans take effect over them. There were children crawling on the floor, screaming, crying wondering around and just not listening to instructions. 

But for this week I was asked: “What are the different forms of diversity you observe within the classroom and school?” there are quite a lot of different ways I saw diversity. There are elders who come in to tell stories and inform about different indigenous practices and to do activities. the classroom got a “United way” sponsorship that gave them $1,200 for books about and from first nations authors as well as money to buy reading chairs and “safe spaces for children who like to work on their own or need quiet time. there was also a room dedicated to tobacco burning and other religious activities that people may want to utilize the room for. There were also different books in the classroom and on their tablets that show different types of families (caucasian, Indian, Chinese, Filipino, etc) something that may not be visible could be how teachers structure lesson plans to be more accommodating for all ways of knowing. I know some religions need to pray at certain times of the day; so teachers may let them peacefully leave the room and do their prayer. there are tons of ways schools can be diverse, everyone comes from different backgrounds and lifestyles and if the school has events and times of the year where families can show their diversity I feel that would be a big step forward for students to grow up with more respect and understanding towards each other 

This week was definitely one of the craziest of the week so far, the children just didn’t really want to listen and were running around and causing lots of problems for other students who were trying to learn

Most of my day there was when the students were practicing their reading and writing abilities. The way Mrs. Pradinuk organize this was very interesting (and was quite fittingly for this week) open to all different ways of knowing and was helpful for the students since they would have time 2 practice different things in different ways. The class was split up into four groups and each group for a short time of about 10 to 15 minutes would practice a different skill. There was listening to a book, reading a book, practice writing, and practice spelling. The great thing about this was that each group kind of had their own gimmick which excited the kids. If you were to listen to an audiobook you would be able to use an iPad. If you are reading a book you would sit in these little plastic rocking chairs. If you were practicing writing they would have fun tracing the letters. And if they were learning about spelling and sounds that letters can make, they even got to practice the different sounds out loud. Even though everything’s still was focused on the idea of reading and writing it was still touching on ways of knowing through the different activities which gave the students different ways to obtain knowledge. It also gave the kids a bit of a brake each rotation. since they have such short attention spans, it seemed very helpful to keep them on track. 

The ways that she gets her knowledge for the class seems to be a bit all over. She told me that some things she will find online such as new ideas and lesson plans. While other things she finds in books, some of which I had to look at and they were filled with different activities and ways to get classrooms engaged. She also has lots of different assistance coming in to help her better handle her hectic classroom. these teacher aids can talk to the students on a more one-on-one fashion and then relay that information to Iris so she can maybe find different ways to accommodate them a little better. There are a few students who often go on frequent walks since they get a little antsy in the chairs. 

Though these things may be small in the grand scheme of things I can definitely see how it can help affect the classroom and how important it is to have good teaching resources and knowledge of your classroom and student requirements.

The second day at the Imperial school was a very fun one for myself and definitely the whole class. Mrs. Pradinuk invited a woman named Mrs. Chow to teach the kids how to make clay sculptures and also educate them on how clay figures dishes pots and other things are made. the sculptures that we focused on today were of polar bears, some students also gave them snowballs, toques, and scarfs. I really liked seeing her interact with the students she was so animated with her movements when describing what to do it really helped the students learn! after that, we went onto math where the kids were still learning about patterns but different types and how they could occur. I really enjoyed the hands-on interactive aspect of bringing in a member of the community to teach the children how to follow instructions while being able to be creative. I’m very glad that Mrs.Pradinuk created this connection, she definitely cares a lot about having community interaction with her classroom.

 I took some time before class to really focus on the school and even managed to talk to a parent of a student in my class. To start, the school environment-as said in my last post- is a very inviting place and has displayed images of first nation peoples’ culture and awareness throughout the school. But upon a more thorough look through the school, I couldn’t find many other areas of diversity (other than photos of staff and students ) I do wish there were some more ways to display the variety and diversity of culture that is in Canada and more specifically Regina. I understand that things take time and not every place can be perfect, and perhaps there were things that I didn’t see. Hopefully, when I have my own classroom, I can have some kind of wall devoted to everyone’s culture/ nationality. Onto the parent that I met, he seemed to be very involved in many of the events that are happening in the school such as sports, freezie sale day, and field trips. Based on what he said many other parents try their best to support the school in different ways, but he didn’t give many details.

The website has lots of different sources for parents to access to find information on, Academics Athletics, Arts, Band, Community, Division, Events, Library and many others such as classroom supplies, calendar. Etc

Very excited for the next day and I hope everyone else has a good week!

As soon as I walked the doors at the Imperial Community School, I was instantly shocked by the amount of First Nations representation that was on display. There were plenty of Handmade crafts in support of “orange shirt day” which were lining the hallways all the way down; many of them had inspirational quotes on them or simply the student’s names of who made them. The next thing to really catch my eye was a massive mural/art piece displaying the Aboriginal medicine wheel. On the medicine wheel were smaller pictures. The pictures consisted of many things related to earth and nature such as oceans, trees, the four elements and people holding hands. When I was growing up I went to Glen Elm school (if you are currently going to Glen Elm school please tell me if they have changed) and everything was bare stone walls with maybe the odd picture related to an upcoming holiday. Nothing was ever there to bring in a sense of community or acceptance it was simply a school devoted to education. So, for me seeing this kind of acceptance of multiculturalism made me very happy.

Secondly, I want to say that the first day was a bit odd, the teacher whose class I was supposed to be sitting in on was currently on medical leave for the morning. So instead I was sitting in on a substitute teacher. But in a sense, it was also a relief seeing how I wasn’t the only new face for the children. To begin the day the substitute began by taking attendance, introducing herself as well as myself. She then went on to play guitar and sing with the students. Once she was done, we went up into the library so the students could participate in a special lesion based on the basics of coding. The lesion was being filmed and being live-streamed to other classrooms where other kids were also doing the lesson. One thing I observed here is that one young girl did not have permission from her parents to be filmed or have pictures taken off. So sadly, she had to sit in the corner behind the camera people. I just wish there was a way to have included her in the activities.

The classroom I was in was a very friendly and inviting place everything was colorful and had a purpose everywhere I looked seem to be more books for the children to read, and different chairs and desks for them to sit out. From the looks of it, there was a seating plan but I’m not too sure if it is strictly followed or only in play when doing certain activities. The group of students was very well behaved was quite surprised by that. for the most part, kids respect each other’s personal bubbles and didn’t really distract others and once it became time to work, I notice several of them helping each other out and even changing seats to sit closer to those who needed help. What students seemed very comfortable talking to me. The students strived more from active learning from the substitute instead of individual booklets, when the substitute engaged in an activity of learning patterns all the students had their hands raised excited to play with the blocks of different colors that were used to make patterns. Almost all the students understood how to make repeating patterns (AABBAA…, ababab…,etc.) But once they had to do the same thing in the booklets, many of them would only show one pattern and often incorrectly. Some of the conversations I had persisted of what my favorite color was, who is my favorite superhero and if I had any pets. They definitely seemed very curious about how I could be such a “big student” I tried to explain to a few that I was learning to become a teacher but I don’t really think they understood. One funny exchange with this student asking if I was the husband of their teacher, I really thought that was quite funny.

To quickly summarise, the entire environment is something that I’ve never seen before it’s so inviting and willing to accept others is instantly felt upon entering; I felt very welcome from the teachers and from the students. They definitely are a curious bunch who seems to enjoy trying new things and meeting new people. I know next time I visit they’ll be working with clay figurines so I’m excited to see how they will listen to the instructions and see what they create.