Practicum is... over?

My last week in Scarborough was incredible, here is why:

I taught an incredible science class. We did an experiment that involved beakers filled with water and syringes: Can liquid be compressed? Can gas be compressed? I knew that class management would be tricky for a class of 28 to do a hands on science experiment, but I had planned it all out in advance. I made sure that students knew that there would be a no tolerance policy on fooling around, I said "If I see anyone spraying anyone with water or doing something that they are not supposed to be doing, I will take away your syringes and your beakers, you will put your head down on your desk and you will get a zero". The class looked at each other in comprehension with "she means business" looks on their faces. This was a great moment. The science experiment went really well, I had everyone fill out sheets that went along with their experiment. Also the group that did the best was a pair of boys who are ussually quite low, science brings out a whole other kind of learning! I was totally impressed.

I lead a school assembly on Empathy. That's right, I was told in my first week at this school that I would be in charge of the "word of the month" assembly for November. Our word was "Empathy". I split the class up into 4 groups of 7. Two students were "directors" and 5 students were "players", this was their "Empathy Ensemble". Through a series of drama classes on tableau, the students came up with four scenarios, each scenario had a tableau "without Empathy" and a resolution tableau "with Empathy". Then, the directors were to touch players in their still images, "when a director touches a player, that character comes to life and tells you what they are thinking". After lots of hard work these tableaux turned out really well. The school was very engaged in the performance and the grade 5 class was extremely proud of what they had accomplished! Many students later told me that they loved doing drama with me, that they had never done Tableau before and they really liked it. I feel very good that I was able to do this and very happy that it turned out as well as it did!


The class performed their interpretive dances. This was magical. Through 4 loaded dance classes, students interpreted hieroglyphic symbols into words and sentences that conveyed meaning. Then, they "bodystormed" movements to match their hieroglyphic symbol. They had to learn about "Body, Energy, Space and Time" in order to create a dance movement. Each group of 4 created a choreographed dance using the "flocking" technique. The first class was the interpretation of symbols into sentences, then they worked on these dances in groups for 2 classes and then performed them in the 4th class. The performance was great! I played a song with a slow and steady beat (Air "Venus") and had the class perform the dances in a circle. Each group did 4 rotations of their own dance followed by the next group that did 4 rotations and so on. It was an amazing experience. After the performance each group showed the class exactly what the sentence was that they had interpreted and the movements that went with it. The feedback from the class was also very good, they really enjoyed watching each other dance and performing their dances for the class!

I am a converted math enthusiast. After 4 weeks of math class every morning I am really seeing the importance of this subject. I was never good at math as a child but I really do believe that this is because the instructions I had were never very good. The way Ms M teachers math is genius; she uses many different techniques and strategies and she splits the class into different groups based on strengths and weaknesses. Usually she uses peer to peer based groups but sometimes she pairs highs with lows. I'm really impressed at the number of ways she teaches the same concepts. This week I tought long division! Anyone who knows me will think that this is pretty impressive... I didn't even really know how to do long division until this week and now I truly believe I could teach it to anyone! Math is great. I also think that I will be writing my Inquiry Research Project on the importance of balancing subjects like Math with the Arts.

The class threw me a party. I couldn't believe it. I was in the other grade 5 class teaching an art lesson on mixing colours using paint; "the colour triangle" and when I walked back into my classroom, all the students yelled "SURPRISE". They were all sitting on the floor in front of a chair meant just for me. I sat on that chair and they showered me with gifts! Many of the gifts were handmade by students! There were all sorts of cards, hand made jewelry, paper crafts and really useful gifts too. Ms M gave me a gift park from Bath and Body Works. It was like my birthday! Then the students had prepared little speeches for me about different things that they had liked about my lessons and reasons why they were sad that I was leaving! It was very hard not to cry! At one point, this little boy did cry! Such a touching moment.

I can't believe that practicum 1 is over. I feel like it went by so fast! All in all, it was the students that made my experience the most valuable. Every one of those 10 year old individuals have impacted me in a different way. I am ever so grateful to have had this amazing learning experience.