I've gotten accustomed to teaching 3 periods a day now especially the younger grades which I've not had the opportunity to teach in the past few years. Due to the nature of destreamed grade 9, there is a large variation of interests and abilities within one class such that it makes gauging class understanding a bit difficult at times. I like to mitigate this by encouraging these students through group work by pairing different abilities together so that students can naturally engage in discussions and discover on their own terms.
Like any teenager, their energy levels tend to increase throughout the day and thus while it can be difficult to engage the grade 10s in the first period class, it is just as challenging trying to settle down the group during period 4, the class right after lunch. I try to mitigate this by encouraging students to stand up and move around during the first period (the room is full of white boards) and give students opportunities to talk amongst each other. The main challenge I've encountered for this practicum is how to better teach the grade 10 applied students so they understand the content through their own terms. I originally had planned a lesson a day on the board at the front of the classroom and guide the students through step-by-step, with plenty of time to practice for the second half of class. I also provide lots of visuals as well as real life applications as to why we use/do something in math. I don't think this method worked very well though as I had many blank stares and students who lose focus quite easily. I tried a different strategy two days later hoping to give students some time to adjust to this teaching method. This next method was using stations so students had the freedom to choose what they wanted to work on and could mingle with other classmates. I had a split between those who preferred this method and those who preferred me doing the questions on the board and them following along. I think in any classroom, I will not have 100% of the students preferring one method of teaching/learning over another and hence why we use differentiated instruction in the classroom. All in a day's work :) As I begin to understand the students more, I will bring more of myself into the teachings by incorporating diversity and financial applications since that is what I spent a good chunk of my time after post-secondary doing :D.
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Today was a fateful day when I received an email at 7 am from my AT telling me that she had to be away for the day to take care of her toddler son who has been feeling ill the previous night. Although it was supposed to be my observation day, I welcome the chance to demonstrate my flexibility and ability to adapt to changing situations as a teacher.
The morning was with the grade 10 applied students and my AT had BEDMAS worksheets prepared for them to complete. I originally thought I would encourage the class to work on these problems like a Thinking Classroom activity, however, upon checking the student questionnaires they completed on the first day, I found that some students really didn't like group work. I wasn't really sure what to do at this point because having just written a research paper on how to use worked examples to teach by having students work in groups to engage in self-discovery, I really wanted to do this activity. My hopes were further dashed when I noticed that only 10 students showed up to class and thus group work and rotations doesn't seem very feasible. Nonetheless, I wanted this day to be worthwhile. I knew that as a student, I didn't like it when my teacher was away and all that was assigned to us were worksheets because I came to school to learn. I wanted to do something that was different in classroom than what students can do at home on their own time. Knowing that I would be "teaching" each class, I arrived to school early and I started the class with a debate on pancakes vs. waffles. It wasn't surprising to me when pancakes won (even though I'm in favour of waffles all the way! - Its shell allows the syrup to stick to it better) as students somehow always seem to prefer the soft, fluffiness of the pancake vs. the crispier waffle. Anywho, maybe I'm just getting old! I then asked the class what they would like to do with the worksheets. If they wanted to try group work, I was more than happy to set that up for them. However, the class was torn between asking me to take up some examples and them working on it independently. To compromise, I said let's try both. I walked students through the first question and showed them some clarification concepts along the way. For example, there's a common misconception that the B part of BEDMAS stands for the brackets, but it's actually for the stuff inside the brackets. (3)^2 is an exponent as opposed to the bracket part of BEDMAS. Another common misunderstanding is that -4^2 = 16 but I showed students the difference between (-4)^2 vs -4^2. When they were working on the questions themselves, I encouraged them to work with an elbow partner if they felt comfortable and I also took the time to ask the teacher on call what she thought about group work. With her expertise, she mentioned that sometimes she would try to encourage all students to try group work as the students who shy away from it could have one bad experience. I will really consider this thought in the future. Find a good balance between pushing students outside of their comfort zone and allowing them to still feel comfortable. The class was working really well during the entire period, so I promised them we could play a round of "Heads up 3 up" (modified from 7 up due to the size of the class) which they seemed to really enjoy. I wanted to end my first day with them on a good note after all (especially since it was a Friday) :). With the grade 9s, my AT was supposed to do a Scratch tutorial with the students however, I also barely knew Scratch as I mainly worked with Python. Nonetheless, I took this as a learning opportunity to show students my vulnerability and asking for help from some of the students who were more proficient at it than me. We started the class off with a Kahoot! trivia game on superheroes and logos for the second period class and on food trivia for the class right after lunch. I think this really got the students riled up as one of the things I really missed out on with online teaching was the classroom management. Everyone is so silent in an online classroom. I gave the students 3 options of activity though; madlids, a scavenger hunt, or Kahoot! to which they greatly chose the later. With Scratch, it was a more "learn as you go sort of platform" and I really got to see some of my students shine, especially in the class after lunch who had some proficient students. I loved how they were helping each other as opposed to me intervening for all 26 students. Since these students were finished a bit earlier, I also asked them the pancakes vs. waffles debate to which waffles actually won this time! One student mentioned how it was easier to freeze coming from the waffle iron as opposed to pancakes made on the stove top. I loved how these students thought about concepts and cannot wait to teach them in a week's time. Due to the research block this year, we have an extended practicum that runs for 6 weeks in the winter time along with 10 observation days. It was supposed to be an in-person practicum, but we went online for 2 weeks which happened to coincide with 3 observation days. It was very different for me, as an outsider, to start building connections here with them as they have had the entire semester to bond with their teacher who they know and trust as a physical person beyond the screens. Nonetheless, I will try my best to get to know these students near the end of their semester, by helping to monitor the chat box, and Brightspace logistics.
An opportunity came for me to bond with the students some more when during my third observation day, my AT had a supply in the morning. Beyond what I typically do in the morning when students start to trickle in (starting a conversation, getting them excited about some upcoming event -even something like the weekend is approaching), I tried to make myself useful to the students. We started off on a wonky note as the students weren't aware that there was a new link for today's meeting. Then we had 2 student accounts being hacked into, which resulted in some aggressive verbal exchanges. This is where I encountered my first challenge for this practicum. There was clearly inappropriate language being used here in the classroom, and yet the supply teacher did not address it in the moment. Since he did not address the issue at the moment, I found it difficult to intervene and chime in when he was finished speaking to address the inappropriate language later on. With my first AT, we had a very open type of communication, where I could address my concerns to her and together we would come up with a plan. Here, I'm not really sure where I could make my mark as I don't want to take away from my AT's classroom, but I also don't want to stand by and do nothing. ....I think I've done it! Well...at least with some of the students... The classic geometry problem of "solving for alpha," it managed to intrigue students at least some. I love how they don't care about knowing the answer, and instead just want to figure it out. I love how they're willing to work with others, try different approaches, fail and then try again to get to the answer. I really hope I can have the chance to get these students exploring for themselves what math is all about. That it isn't just about solving equations, but rather about self-discovery and curiousity and exploring different domains of math that have never been explored before. This is what mark I hope to leave on the students. |
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