Goal: "Paces lessons appropriately for all students including time for reflection and closure" (FL 9).

I believe that I will only come to learn this through extensive lesson planning and experience. In a talk with my mentor teacher, she said that "teaching is much like an improv show, you must always be on your feet and ready for change". I think more exposure to the classroom will help me achieve this. I also have the "AAA" circle meetings in place to allows students the time of day to share.

Growth: In terms of teaching, I've found that when my lessons start straying away from my lesson plans due to students' behavioural bumps, I am able to either redirect the lesson back on track or work flexibly. I do not get as flustered as I used to, but its quite disheartening when my time frames don't go according to what I've planned. To combat this concern, I've found that using physical and electronic timers during work periods really help, as students are able to feel a healthy amount of pressure that will inspire them to work efficiently. It is also effective for me, as I am able to physically see if I am giving a students a substantial amount of time to explore the hook, development, and closure. 

Goal for Practicum II: In the upcoming year, I want to continue using timers, as I have not quite mastered lesson pacing. There are still times where I find myself over-explaining or not being thorough enough during instructional time. I acknowledge that this is a skill that I definitely need to work on in the upcoming year. 

Along with the Reading Log assignment, we, second-year education students, were given the opportunity to teach a lesson to our fellow teacher candidates. Since we were not allowed inside Elementary Schools, we practiced teaching lessons to each other, using various role-play methods. At first, these simulations felt awkward and uncomfortable, but as time progressed, we soon became more comfortable with each other. Role-playing has allowed us, teacher candidates, to experience lessons from both perspectives. 

Over the past year, I've only taught 3 small lessons, so this assignment was a little daunting. There were many themes/essential understandings to choose from; some people choose to focus on facts and information. Personally, I chose to base my lesson on the abstract idea: Patience. By teaching our lesson plans to our small groups, we have demonstrated the Teaching Quality Standard of "Actively seeking out feedback to enhance teaching practice" (TQS 2b), as we were asked to reflect upon our lessons and the constructive criticism given by our peers. 

With the nature of my profession, there will always a possibility that I may be working in close quarters with another teacher in the near future. It is essential that we must "learn how to learn better" by listening to other peoples' opinions, despite your own. Teaching, as a profession, is very "community-based" as you will always be, ironically, learning from your peers. For next year, I would like to work more collaboratively with other teacher candidates and, possibly, my mentor teacher. In the future, I would like to learn how to teach a lesson plan with two teachers, rather than one. In the past, I had done this with another student candidate, but we did not succeed in effectively teaching the lesson. 

Specific: My goal is to increase my knowledge regarding the various mental disabilities that my students struggle with. 

Measurable: I will know that I've achieved my goal when I am able to help and identify my students' needs, based off of their individual disabilities and help them accordingly. 

Achievable: To follow through with this, I will talk to my mentor teacher about the specific students we need to diagnose. Then on my own time, I will research about the various learning disorders present in a school setting and talk to the mental health resources provided at MRU. 

Relevant: This is important because classrooms are getting increasingly diverse and only now have we really acknowledge the presence of learning disabilities within our kids. 

Timely: I would like to achieve this goal by the end of my Winter 2020 field experience and carry the knowledge with me to my future placements.