Planning for Learning

Fall 2024, Year 3

Goal:

My goal is to set clear expectations for my students on the outcomes they will be assessed on. (PL6)

Strategy:

My strategy will be to communicate outcomes clearly to students, ensuring they understand what they are expected to achieve and how it connects to their learning goals.

Reflection:

Using Calgary Academy's outline for marking/rubric expectations I was able to create checkpoints in multiplication for the students around the expectations and marking outlines for their checkpoint. Each slide has a question that meets the specific outcome and has an 'I can' statement that helps them understand what they should be able to do. In this assignment, the students knew exactly what they were required to do and what mark they would get based on their understanding. This was a great way to check where students were at and is something I want to make sure I include next practicum as well. 

Winter 2024, Year 2

Goal:

Incorporating different perspectives into my learning is crucial for my and the student's development of different perspectives. My goal is to incorporate a talking circle on the last day of my three-part lesson. (PL1)

Strategy:

On the last day of the lesson, I will set up the students in a circle and allow them to take turns giving me feedback on my lesson. This will allow them to see how Indigenous peoples discuss and also allow me to develop my lessons. 

Reflection:

Unfortunately, I did not have time to do a talking circle for my three connected lessons. I did however do an exit slip that the studentds individually filled out and gave to me. I set it up so they each gave me two stars and a wish. 

Next year I really want to take the time to incorporate a talking circle since I find it a great way to connect with my students. I am going to not put a lot of pressure on making my talking circles structured but more focus on having informal talking circles which will allow me to do them more often. 

Fall 2023, Year 2

Goal:

The student I am tutoring this year for my fieldwork is currently at a grade 2 reading level and they are in grade 6. My goal is to get her to at least a grade 5 reading level by next spring. (PL3)

Strategy:

The way I am going to achieve this goal is by creating activities for this specific student that are engaging so they want to continue to develop their literacy skills. I am going to get their feedback on what they enjoy and implement that into my weekly tutoring with them.  

Reflection:

The student I am currently tutoring has made progress in her literacy skills. She has been able to differentiate her long and short vowel sounds and has a beginning understanding of r-controlled vowel sounds that we are continuing to strengthen. Through many fun activities such as Bing Blast and Elkonen boxes as well as following the UFLI manual we continue to strengthen her literacy skills. 

Winter 2023, Year 1 

Goal:

My goal is to create exit slips for after a lesson that is flexible enough that every student can finish it and fully understand what is being asked of them. I think it is so important for all students to feel involved and supported in their work. It is vital to create an environment where all students feel their voices are heard.

Strategy:

I will achieve this goal by making individual sheets for each student to circle if they were happy, okay, or not happy with the lesson I taught. On top of this, I will ask for verbal feedback on how they felt about the lesson and anything they would like me to do differently.

Reflection:

I was able to achieve this goal by getting strictly verbal feedback. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to print actual slips but I did get to speak individually with many of my students about the feedback they had for me about my lesson. The students were very honest and were able to tell me they were a bit confused about what the meaning of descriptive was but said they thoroughly enjoyed the lesson/activity.

Fall 2022, Year 1 

Goal:

My goal is to learn from a few of my students about their individual learning styles and needs and create a teaching style for myself that will best suit their needs.

Strategy:

I am going to achieve this goal by asking questions to my students and mentor teacher about each student and then when there are moments in a lesson where I get to help the teacher I will use this information to personalize my teaching style based on the student I am helping.

Reflection:

One of the girls in the Grade 1 class I have been doing my fieldwork with is from China. She speaks little to no English and all semester I have been trying to develop her knowledge specifically in math. I have been watching her struggle to add numbers together when we do math activities so a few weeks ago I sat with her for about ten minutes trying different strategies to help her. Finally, instead of me just using pictures and writing out everything for her I got her to do it with me at the same time so she could learn through repetition, and by the end, she was able to add up to 20! In this exercise, I learned the importance of patience.