My Practicum

My Practicum at South Community High School

My practicum experience at South Community High School was my final teaching experience as a pre-service teacher. Under the guidance of my mentor teacher, I taught five algebra classes of varying grades and academic levels. Each class was an entirely unique group of students, each presenting their own challenges to teaching. My first two Algebra 1 classes of the day were lively and energetic freshman honors classes where students often performed at or above the expected level. My college level Algebra 2 class had students of grades 10-12 with varying degrees of engagement and motivation. Finally, my last two Algebra 1 classes each day were smaller college level classes where students were much less likely to do work unless prodded.

When I started in January, I wasn't teaching classes yet. I first had to observe how my mentor teacher ran his classroom so that I can better fit into the established rituals and routines that were in place in the classroom. However, within a few weeks, I became more comfortable and confident in the classroom and began to start fully teaching classes. Before long, I was doing all of the planning and teaching for all five classes.

Doing my practicum following a slew of teaching strategies classes gave me many tools to work with. When doing my lesson planning, I drew on my knowledge of Universal Design for Learners (UDL), Understanding by Design (UBD), and Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) to make lessons and activities that not only engaged students, but also met them at their level and gave them room to explore. Differentiating is no simple feat, but I do my best to make sure that the needs of every student were met whether they were english learners, new students, or just struggling with the material. Some strategies I used include guide notes, around the room stations, allowing some students to complete only a select number of problems instead of a whole worksheet, and giving students that finish early an additional sheet of extension work to do. I also allowed students to do work in their Study Skills classroom instead of mine because they accomplish work more productively in that space. 

Culturally Responsive Teaching was another aspect that stood out as important and worthy of implementation. The root of CRT is having students see themselves in their learning. One aspect that all of my students shared is that they are of a similar age range (teenagers), and as such, many of them love to play games. To take advantage of this fact, I incorporated educational games in the classroom including Jeopardy, Blooket, and Clue. Another way I implemented CRT was by linking the math they are learning to their interests. For example, I had students say they were uninterested in math and would never use it but sought to be a small business owner or a chef. I explained to them how they would need the math we are learning to be successful in their future careers. Once I connected math to what they wanted in life, they seemed more motivated to learn.

Throughout my teaching journey, I encountered many challenges. The biggest challenge that I did not think about before beginning teaching was the rampant phone use. So many of today's students are addicted to their phones and would rather be sent to disciplinary than have it taken away. This made getting their attention a constant battle, especially because it distracted from the teaching when I had to deal with the phone problem. Other disruptive behaviors such as loudly talking during instruction or students refusing to learn forced me to think on my feet and come up with new solutions for handling individual students.

Overall, my practicum experience at South High has been the most enlightening of my teaching experiences to date. By teaching the same students day in and day out, I got to tackle repeating problems and work through planning with targeted differentiation in mind. Following this experience, I am more sure than ever that I want to be a high school educator and I'm excited to see the change that I can make to the lives of my future students!