My First Field Experience in Review!
From curious eyes to hugs goodbye, my time with Miss B's grade 2/3 classroom was the most amazing experiences thus far in my educational journey! I learnt more than I could ever imagine, and began to understand who I wanted to be as a teacher a bit more. We were asked to look at many aspects within the school community while we were completing our field experiences, such as: Who make up the school community, how do teachers honour the many ways of knowing, diversity, the curriculum and technology in the classroom. I will explain each separately below...
Who Make up the School Community:
Kitchener school is made up of 250 energetic youngsters, from Pre-K to grade 7. Majority of the learners are Indigenous, about 80% to be exact. Though majority of the population come from Indigenous backgrounds, there are many backgrounds filling the hallways of the beautiful 1922 building. The developmental levels of the students range significantly as attendance is often poor throughout the grades. In my grade 2/3 class specifically the levels in literacy and math range from a Kindergarten level to being ready to enter grade 4.. With the many forms of diversity within the school, there is a need for many professionals that make up the school community to support ALL the youngsters. From Dream Brokers and Indigenous advocate's to speech language pathologists, Kitchener has a fantastic team to encourage and help the students strive academically. These people form relationships with families, arrange events for the students and their family, and set up give aways for the families. All of the staff work together to make the school a great place. My teacher talked about how she can go to any teacher and discuss different lesson plans to get ideas from one another, as they are also familiar with the learners present. Miss B expressed that while everyone plays a part within the school, it would not function without EA's! She talked about how thankful she was for them supporting teachers and students, helping in the class, and always going above and beyond. Overall, I hope to end up at a school with such a strong team one day.
Honouring the Many Ways of Knowing:
As I had mentioned earlier, many of the student population comes from Indigenous backgrounds and the decoration around the school often honours the Indigenous ways of knowing (See pictures in my 'Gallery,' scroll down on that page slightly and you will see a title 'Posters in the Classroom.'). A mandatory Indigenous Studies class is offered at this school for all grades, which I thought was amazing seeing as I did not have that option until an optional class 'Native Studies' class in my grade 11 year. The school holds monthly assemblies and each theme comes from the medicine wheel. It is awesome that these types of lessons are being taught as for some of them this may be there only connection between themselves and their culture. The ways of honouring all students ways of knowing is primarily up to the teacher. My coordinating teacher is planning a lesson in December about Christmases around the world, She will teach her students about what different cultures celebrate throughout their year - what other cultures "Christmas" would look like. There are many ways that each way of knowing and life are being honoured in this school!
Diversity:
When I read the questions for weeks 4 & 5, I thought well this should be easy while eliminating many forms of diversity from my ways of thinking. These weeks really opened my eyes at the many forms of diversity present in the classroom, whether they are readily noticeable or not. Diversity comes in many forms, such as: race, gender, age, culture, beliefs, backgrounds, sexuality, academic ability, and so on. As I mentioned earlier when discussing who my learners were and how the school honours the many ways knowing present, the students comes from many cultures, beliefs and backgrounds which are all honoured by the school community and teachers. Within my classroom the levels of development vary drastically, with some children unable to read, while others are almost being able to write paragraphs. With the diverse levels comes different methods of teaching. Miss B often split the class in groups that reflected their academic ability and prepared lessons that was targeted for their needs. She would have the groups rotate to different stations to keep the youngster less distracted, while having a teacher table (or two) as a group for more intimate learning. Other students needs often require outside support, for example an ESL teacher for the students who english is not their first language. Within my classroom diversity in gender and sexuality is not as drastic as other areas, as the students are all still quite young. Though the school has experienced more diversity in older grades, which was treated in the exact same manner as any other person. Miss B is introducing gender and sexuality diverse topics by reading books that have same sex parents, or gender fluid main characters. This allows the door to be opened for those conversations, but at this age the students are being taught about healthy friendships (which, in older grades, will continue to sex ed). Overall the students are encouraged to be themselves, express their truths, share ideas without judgement and welcome ALL people with respect.
Curriculum in the Classroom:
We were asked to take a look to what was being taught in our classroom and again I thought I would be naming the subjects, but I learnt way more than I bargained for this week. Of course the classes being taught is important to note, but there is just more to it.
As I was going on the same day and same time each week, I often was apart of the same classes and routine while varying once in a while. Literacy was taught each day (sometimes twice) as many students are quite behind in that subject. The curriculum needed to be taught for that subject is between K-3, so Miss B uses groups to plan proper lesson for each students need. The same goes for Math, however this is from what I have been told as I have not been present for a Math class yet. My partner and I are teaching science (take a look at 'My First Lesson' on Bats!), which is often combined with literacy as the students need all the practice in reading and writing as they can get. We have been able to join the students for a few Indigenous Studies classes, which is where we were able to observe a teaching style differing from our cooperating teacher (though I think I prefer Miss B's style as she was more soft spoken and tried to come up with many fun educational lessons for the students). The students have learnt about the buffalo and the Medicine Wheel this fall and seem to be really enjoying it! They even can count to 10 in Cree - which I found really impressive!! On week 6, we saw our first health lessons where they discussed habits - bad and good. They were then given a BINGO sheet with many good habits on them, then were asked to go around filling out all the good habits the class partook in. Of course, the students favourite class was Physical Education! Talking with the teacher in that class, he said that even in gym class you can see the diversity of development and that in other schools gym class is much more organized and structured.
Technology in the Classroom:
On week 7 we were asked to take note of the technology present in the school and to our surprise, there was very little. The library was filled with books and one computer for librarian use. The computers for class use were carts containing around 18 laptops on them, and needed to be signed out by the teacher. Though, in older grades (4 and up), they get 6 classroom computers each. We thought about the times we saw technology present in the classroom and realized it was very little. The students use i-Pads for literacy (RAZ Kids) and the projector has been used a few times for class videos. We asked Miss B about her thoughts on technology in the classroom and she explained that she had brought computers in at the beginning of the school year, but the students struggled significantly. They spent most of their class time just trying to log in, and Miss. B felt that the students time in class was best spent on literacy and math - to try to get the students up to grade level. She has opted for i-Pads for the time being, and once the students are all closer to grade level she could reintroduce the computers.
Lessons Learnt that Weren't Asked About:
During my time at the school, I learnt about so many aspects of being a teacher that I had never realized! Here are a few things:
Who Make up the School Community:
Kitchener school is made up of 250 energetic youngsters, from Pre-K to grade 7. Majority of the learners are Indigenous, about 80% to be exact. Though majority of the population come from Indigenous backgrounds, there are many backgrounds filling the hallways of the beautiful 1922 building. The developmental levels of the students range significantly as attendance is often poor throughout the grades. In my grade 2/3 class specifically the levels in literacy and math range from a Kindergarten level to being ready to enter grade 4.. With the many forms of diversity within the school, there is a need for many professionals that make up the school community to support ALL the youngsters. From Dream Brokers and Indigenous advocate's to speech language pathologists, Kitchener has a fantastic team to encourage and help the students strive academically. These people form relationships with families, arrange events for the students and their family, and set up give aways for the families. All of the staff work together to make the school a great place. My teacher talked about how she can go to any teacher and discuss different lesson plans to get ideas from one another, as they are also familiar with the learners present. Miss B expressed that while everyone plays a part within the school, it would not function without EA's! She talked about how thankful she was for them supporting teachers and students, helping in the class, and always going above and beyond. Overall, I hope to end up at a school with such a strong team one day.
Honouring the Many Ways of Knowing:
As I had mentioned earlier, many of the student population comes from Indigenous backgrounds and the decoration around the school often honours the Indigenous ways of knowing (See pictures in my 'Gallery,' scroll down on that page slightly and you will see a title 'Posters in the Classroom.'). A mandatory Indigenous Studies class is offered at this school for all grades, which I thought was amazing seeing as I did not have that option until an optional class 'Native Studies' class in my grade 11 year. The school holds monthly assemblies and each theme comes from the medicine wheel. It is awesome that these types of lessons are being taught as for some of them this may be there only connection between themselves and their culture. The ways of honouring all students ways of knowing is primarily up to the teacher. My coordinating teacher is planning a lesson in December about Christmases around the world, She will teach her students about what different cultures celebrate throughout their year - what other cultures "Christmas" would look like. There are many ways that each way of knowing and life are being honoured in this school!
Diversity:
When I read the questions for weeks 4 & 5, I thought well this should be easy while eliminating many forms of diversity from my ways of thinking. These weeks really opened my eyes at the many forms of diversity present in the classroom, whether they are readily noticeable or not. Diversity comes in many forms, such as: race, gender, age, culture, beliefs, backgrounds, sexuality, academic ability, and so on. As I mentioned earlier when discussing who my learners were and how the school honours the many ways knowing present, the students comes from many cultures, beliefs and backgrounds which are all honoured by the school community and teachers. Within my classroom the levels of development vary drastically, with some children unable to read, while others are almost being able to write paragraphs. With the diverse levels comes different methods of teaching. Miss B often split the class in groups that reflected their academic ability and prepared lessons that was targeted for their needs. She would have the groups rotate to different stations to keep the youngster less distracted, while having a teacher table (or two) as a group for more intimate learning. Other students needs often require outside support, for example an ESL teacher for the students who english is not their first language. Within my classroom diversity in gender and sexuality is not as drastic as other areas, as the students are all still quite young. Though the school has experienced more diversity in older grades, which was treated in the exact same manner as any other person. Miss B is introducing gender and sexuality diverse topics by reading books that have same sex parents, or gender fluid main characters. This allows the door to be opened for those conversations, but at this age the students are being taught about healthy friendships (which, in older grades, will continue to sex ed). Overall the students are encouraged to be themselves, express their truths, share ideas without judgement and welcome ALL people with respect.
Curriculum in the Classroom:
We were asked to take a look to what was being taught in our classroom and again I thought I would be naming the subjects, but I learnt way more than I bargained for this week. Of course the classes being taught is important to note, but there is just more to it.
As I was going on the same day and same time each week, I often was apart of the same classes and routine while varying once in a while. Literacy was taught each day (sometimes twice) as many students are quite behind in that subject. The curriculum needed to be taught for that subject is between K-3, so Miss B uses groups to plan proper lesson for each students need. The same goes for Math, however this is from what I have been told as I have not been present for a Math class yet. My partner and I are teaching science (take a look at 'My First Lesson' on Bats!), which is often combined with literacy as the students need all the practice in reading and writing as they can get. We have been able to join the students for a few Indigenous Studies classes, which is where we were able to observe a teaching style differing from our cooperating teacher (though I think I prefer Miss B's style as she was more soft spoken and tried to come up with many fun educational lessons for the students). The students have learnt about the buffalo and the Medicine Wheel this fall and seem to be really enjoying it! They even can count to 10 in Cree - which I found really impressive!! On week 6, we saw our first health lessons where they discussed habits - bad and good. They were then given a BINGO sheet with many good habits on them, then were asked to go around filling out all the good habits the class partook in. Of course, the students favourite class was Physical Education! Talking with the teacher in that class, he said that even in gym class you can see the diversity of development and that in other schools gym class is much more organized and structured.
Technology in the Classroom:
On week 7 we were asked to take note of the technology present in the school and to our surprise, there was very little. The library was filled with books and one computer for librarian use. The computers for class use were carts containing around 18 laptops on them, and needed to be signed out by the teacher. Though, in older grades (4 and up), they get 6 classroom computers each. We thought about the times we saw technology present in the classroom and realized it was very little. The students use i-Pads for literacy (RAZ Kids) and the projector has been used a few times for class videos. We asked Miss B about her thoughts on technology in the classroom and she explained that she had brought computers in at the beginning of the school year, but the students struggled significantly. They spent most of their class time just trying to log in, and Miss. B felt that the students time in class was best spent on literacy and math - to try to get the students up to grade level. She has opted for i-Pads for the time being, and once the students are all closer to grade level she could reintroduce the computers.
Lessons Learnt that Weren't Asked About:
During my time at the school, I learnt about so many aspects of being a teacher that I had never realized! Here are a few things:
- Though the tone you use with children is important to note, how you say things is just as important. Yes, this seems like a given when said like that, but I noticed the phrases my teacher commonly used. Instead of saying "be quiet," she would say "why are we talking" or "who is supposed to be talking right now." Or when we were walking through the hallway and the class was being noisy, Miss B would say "why are we talking in the hallway," or "why is it so loud in the hallway." By phrasing requests in a way that is asking the students to reflect on their behaviour, allows the learners to take accountability for what they are demonstrating to the teacher.
- Miss B is an incredible mentor and really helped guide me through this first experience, allowing me to get my first experience leading a classroom, and showed compassion! I always knew that with being a teacher comes the responsibility of getting to know your students and their families to best assist the children on their learning journey, but Miss B knew so much about the students and their backgrounds from 3 short months of having them in her classroom. In comparison, I was struggling to remember all of the names, given I was only there for half a day each week.
- Furthering on the point above, Miss B got to know the students and their needs for when they were having a bad day/moment or were misbehaving. One particular day a student had gotten in trouble at lunch time, once returning to class he was disengaged from class and unwilling to participate in his duties in the classroom. Miss B took him out in the hallway for a chat, they returned, he sat at his desk during story time then returned as a participant in class activities shortly after. She explained later that when they talked she said that she understood he was having a bad day and that's okay, but he needed to do his job in the classroom. That being said, she told him he could have a few minutes to be upset and return to class after. She explained his home situation and contributions to his personality, she knew what to do because she got to know him (like all her students) really well.