https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fkonnbat%2Fvideos%2F1908094989263046%2F&show_text=0&width=476” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Seed Growth
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Hello, it has been a while since I last posted. I wondered if I would ever use this blog again after finishing my assignment/subject for which it was a requirement. But here I am hoping it will provide some useful reflection in my last year of teacher training.
I am about to enter my last supervised practicum. 5 Weeks with what I have been told is a ‘dream’ class (I only hope that I don’t upset the balance).
My current plan is to cultivate a great list of go to transitions, songs, line up ‘tricks’, and fill in brain breaks & games. So ‘heads up’, this is what I will hopefully be flooding this blog with very shortly. If you have any favourites suitable for a lovely group of preps I would love to hear about them.
I don’t really have anything more scintillating to type as this post really is just to break the ice and get back into the blogging habit. But here is a link to my latest assignment… a brief look at my philosophy on children and teaching, so I feel like I have included something of value.
So close and yet so far. The semester is almost at a close. I have my last assignment to polish off (EDC3100) and an exam. This last semester has been a massive whirlwind. 3100 has tested my beliefs in more ways than one. I had to take a large side step out of my comfort zone. Who would have thought blogging was the least of those leaps, something that filled me with dread, and intrigue, at the thought prior to this subject, is now a familiar friend.
Speaking of friends, a very a dear one recently reminded me of the importance of living today, in the moment. A little line that is often touted, with lots of head nodding and smiles, but how often do we really live in the moment? My uni and business life usually consists of a set of future dates of jobs to be completed or relief from assignments and tasks finished. Little time in my day to day experience is spent appreciating the little things; like my cup of tea that gets me through the work I am doing now (in this case blogging away for an assignment). My brain idly sips away at the warm satisfying beverage without a thought. Whereas if I lived in the moment I would pause, and suck up the wee bit of joy in my favorite mug.
Children are very good at living in the moment, it is one of the reasons why I love working alongside them so much.Children delight in an amusing shaped cloud or a completely ridiculous joke that makes no sense, simply for the current moment of pure joy and seeking happiness. As teachers we know our job is to help shape little people to be the best big people they can be, whatever that may be. But as big people, we must not let the opportunity for the little people to shape us in return and remind us how to live in that ever special moment.
In Miss B’s blog she describes a beautiful scene of letting the kids record their own photographs of an activity. I would love to see those photos to find out what did they think was important about the activity. Was it a smiling friend or a momentary intrigue that grabbed their interest and was worth recording. Would an adult have recorded images from the same inspiration as the child? Certainly there will be lots of clicking for the fun of clicking the camera and doing the big persons job. But I can’t help but wonder what differences in the images would evolve from enjoying the moment, rather than recording a moment for a portfolio (as educators, is often our end goal).
This may or may not be my last blog post, as it is my last ‘required’ post for assignment purposes. I would like to think that I will continue the process, as I have found a deal of joy in it. I can see the blog as a nice tool to record moments and appreciate what is my now. But by doing this am I living in the now? Or am I simply reflecting and musing about future ideas, I think it is more of the latter, however, it is enjoyable regardless. I will leave this post with one last thought from Albert Einstein “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
K.L. x
Now that I am entering the last phases of my degree, I am finding myself exploring the final to do tasks, for becoming a teacher on paper. The following is a list of ideas that come to mind that I need to look into.
Links that might help answer some of my questions (To be added to)
Independent Schools Queensland
Aussie Educator – Teacher Employment
15 Things I Wish I’d known before becoming a teacher
Top 10 things no one tells you about becoming a teacher
Practicum experience ended for me on Tuesday. Now that I am back into assignment mode it almost feels like a distant memory. This last prac has been one of my favourites. I finally felt like a real teacher and not a fraud. It was such a positive experience. My mentor gave me loads of teaching time and was incredibly supportive. She has offered for me to return for my internship and has made a recommendation for my employment once I finish my degree (not till the end of 2017).
I currently find myself almost depressed going from the high of spending three weeks doing what I love, back to assignments. Let’s just say the relationship isn’t quite so loving! The uni/real life experience never seems to truly blend for me. I can see how the theories and thinking help’s to shape my future practice, but in reality I have never learned so much about teaching as when I actually teach.
Why is a teaching degree not apprenticed? The mind boggles. In university, we are taught that learning through experience is ideal, and yet uni life offers so little experience in the classroom. In small chunks yes, but we never see the start of a new year or watch students develop over a long period of time (3-4 weeks really isn’t enough time to track the growth of a learner), or see the nitty gritty last minute panic at the end of a term or year. I feel teaching in the real world is going to hold many surprises yet!
Poor Grumpy Cat, this picture serves no purpose other than I am sure this is how my face looks rather regularly! And I found it rather amusing.
Recently I was very lucky to watch a visiting teacher in my prac classroom, to cut to the point she was sensational!! I felt so fortunate to witness her brilliance I had to send her an e-mail thanking her. The funny thing was this amazing teacher in my eyes, had been having a really tough week in her own class, of which I obviously had no idea about, and she was so thankful for my acknowledgement. It just goes to show even the brilliant teachers have tough days and a kind word goes a long way.
I thought I would share with you some of the very simple tips she used so get a rather ‘tough’ grade one class (as confirmed by the teachers that avoid the class at all costs), under control.
Step One – The children were lined up outside, making a noise…let’s call our brilliant teacher Mrs B… Mrs B, quietly walked up and down the line, asking the students “can you tell me where your hat goes?” “can you show me what voice we use?” “can you show me what a straight line looks like?”… Well, the poor love could see quickly that this was not working, so she dropped that idea, grabbed a loud bell rang it and said “new teacher new rules”. SILENCE.
Still outside Mrs B thanked the students, then explained to them, she was the sessions new teacher and she was “SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!! TO BE TAKING THIS CLASS” …whisper voice… “now I am your new teacher for the session and I come with new rules (Mrs B. shakes a small stick of bells, and introduces her ‘mime stick’) “this is my mime stick when I make this sound (rattle) you freeze like a mime artist trapped in a box, show me your mime face” (the faces were hysterical and adorable), and the students were hooked she was excited to teach them and fun!
The students quietly moved indoors and found their desks…The fun started again with one of the ‘regular’s’ (a little love that loves to test every last nerve you have). Mrs B straight away called his name ….let’s call him ‘Poppet’ for the sake of the story… “Poppet, I am making you, your own box on the board just for you!” Poppet was thrilled and smiled from ear to ear. Mrs B drew a box, smiley face one side, sad face on the other, for every, inappropriate thing Poppet did he received 1 tick. Poppet was soon up to six ticks rather quickly, and you could see Mrs B was waiting to catch a good tick, she finally got her moment when Poppet sat up straight “Excellent, Poppet you are so straight I am giving you 2 smiley ticks”. Poppet was won over, he still earn’t more sad ticks, but the behaviour was shorter than usual and back on track quicker and Mrs B ensured that the ticks stayed as close to level as possible catching him being good as often as she could.
Reading this simple explanation you might think, well that was Okay, it doesn’t sound that amazing. And by description, it might sound very basic, but to watch such simple techniques and the calm that came over the kids was fantastic. So thank you Mrs B!
Oh, I almost forgot I also saw a lovely TA play a game of freeze whilst moving kids in their lines from one class to another, both the kids and the TA were loving the game and the kids moved quietly through the school, what more could you ask for!
As this post has a very definite behaviour management feel, I will also share just a handful of great looking behaviour management tips I have found out in the world wide web.
How To Improve Classroom Behavior In One Lesson (tempting title, I had to read this one)
Top 5 Behaviour Management Strategies (yes I know Behaviour is spelt differently in my two links, I have copied the link title and not used my own spelling, for the record behaviour is my choice of spelling)
Behaviour Management Strategies for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (this one is a handy little PDF document)
Till next Time 🙂 x
Thrilled!!! I am on a high at the end of my first day of prac. Like Liss8707 I spent some of my day observing. However, I was amazed that I actually ended up teaching about 3/4’s of the day. My eyes have ben opened to a very different teaching experience. I started my day with 30 minutes of prayer and devotion (before the children arrived). Coming from a non-religious background I found this tricky, my brain wanted to get stuck in and prepare for my day in the classroom. That is until the pastor started her morning message regarding slowing down and approaching your day with a calm focused mind. In addition to trusting your ability to do what you love ‘teach’. By the end of the meeting, I was uplifted and ready to go, and considered the time well spent.
I was introduced to the students as a ‘second teacher’ that would be doing everything the regular teacher does, I have not experienced this before, usually, students are told that I am ‘learning’, I found this shift of thinking made the students accept me readily, easier understanding my role, and made a mental note to ensure I demonstrate the same respect if I ever have a prac student in my charge.
For the remainder of the day, I ran the library session, double maths, and double literacy sessions. As well as assisting some students with homework during the lunch break for learners that don’t get the opportunity at home ( a great idea for some one on one time).
My class cohort is a challenge at best (apparently, many relief teachers and aides struggle with the group, due to reasons I have noted in an earlier post). However, I must say I surprised myself. It was not easy, behaviour management wise, but I did surprise myself. I feel I would like to learn better ways to quieten children during group tasks, and have made a mental note to try and observe how my mentor approaches this. I have found maintaining a reasonable level of class noise a personal struggle. Mind you my mentor reports that I am doing fine (WHEW!) and assures me that I am being too hard on myself.
I noted a couple of children that could benefit from keeping their hands busy whilst waiting. I used a couple of little hand games to try and focus their energy. However, I decided tomorrow I will take along a couple of my fabric marble mazes which I have made and had success with in the past for fidgety students (let’s hope these ones take to them as well).
The following is a very basic start to record a handful of ideas for my lesson planning whilst on practicum placement, hopefully, there will be many more to follow.
Science Sound & Light
Sound and Hearing – game
Literacy Rotations
Health
Healthy lunchboxes and how the body works
Make a healthy Lunchbox – students can fill a lunchbox and print what they put in it. Text is supplied to support/influence choices.
Breaking routine and making a break for it.
A Lifelong Adventure!
the life cycle of a 'teacher'
Incorporating ICT to enhance Teaching and Learning
EDC3100 ICT and PEDAGOGY 2016
Preservice Teachers chit chats on ICTs
