We love Science & Parent Volunteers!!

Parent volunteers are such an inaugural aspect to the school community! People who are willing to give up their time during their busy lives and show such strong committment to their children and their children's school deserve the utmost respect.
My science centers would not have gone as well if it weren't for the 5 parent volunteers that has joined us for the whole morning! I had created 5 centers for our unit on Magnets. There was one parent at each station working and experimenting with the students. This gave me the opportunity to walk around to each center and see what was going on! I think the parents enjoyed it just as much as the students. It also gave me the opportunity to meet some of the parents and for them to meet me. I think it is extremely beneficial for parents to be involved with their child's school and having the volunteers with us for this Science activity made for an excellent morning!

Well... that didn't go so well!

I greatly appreciate my associate teacher giving me the opportunity to teach lessons during my internship days before I got into my block. It allowed me to see what teaching strategies work well with this particular group of Grade Three's. I became aware of what does not work well for this class! During my second language lesson, I was teaching Haiku poems and what the proper format is when writing these particular poems. The topic was to be about autumn and describe, through a Haiku poem, what they saw in various pictures of autumn that I had provided them with. I was standing in front of the class, going step by step of what needs to be in each line of a Haiku and the amounts of syllables for each line. We created a list of autumn words, and I read to them examples of a Haiku poem. They were then supposed to analyze the picture they had received, and describe what they see. Well...this did not go over very well!! While the students were working on their poems, I walked around to each seating group and realized that there were only a few students who were applying the proper format. My instructions must not have been clear enough or maybe I rushed, but for whatever reason, they just did not totally understand. My associate then asked how I felt it went, and I was very unsure of myself at that point. However, she said that it was very important for me to have experienced a lesson like this and to just realize that it didn't work, and say "oh well", and move on! So that's what I did! The next day in placement I had the chance to re-teach the same lesson. I used a different strategy and had them sit with me on the carpet and they created an example poem as a whole class. This seemed to work beautifully for this class and the lesson was a success! Even though it seemed very discouraging at the time, I really am grateful for my failed lesson!!

First Day

My first day at St.Vincent de Paul exceeded my expectations. The environment and community at that school is extremely welcoming. Many of the teachers commented that if we ever needed anything, then just ask. It is a great staff that would love to see us succeed. As for my classroom, I don't think I could have asked for anything better for a first block. My associate wants me to think of her classroom as also my classroom, so that made me feel extremely at ease. The students are very social and everyday they never cease to amaze me with their creativity and eagerness to learn. My associate has given me the opportunity to teach a few lessons before the block actually started and I am thankful for that. That allowed me to feel more comfortable and less nervous for when the block starts.
Any nervousness I had that first day was soon gone and I am looking forward to spending the next month at St.Vincent de Paul.

Outdoor Education Course

I just wanted to comment a little bit about the Outdoor Edu. day course. I am really thankful that I decided to attend this day course. We were provided with excellent resources that come with everything we would need to plan a lesson. Not only that, all the activities that the book has are all connected to at least one other subject area. It was such a great day and a really good experience and I hope a lot of people were able to attend. It showed us the importance of having the learning outside of the classroom when appropriate and even though it may seem that students are just playing a game, it is so much more than that! Overall, I was very grateful that Brock offered a course like that.

Mini-Micro

I thoroughly enjoyed our Mini-Micro teaching day. Not only was everyone's lesson awesome, but I feel that we were really able to come together as a group, which is what will make this year that much better!!
It was interesting to see everyone's teaching styles and people's personalities come out in the way that they teach. It was really a unique thing to observe! It's obvious that we all still have a lot to learn, but I think we are all well on our way!! Congrats everyone on a great day! I look forward to our Boston Pizza night!!