Ryan Konanz E-Portfolio

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.