Post-Practicum

Strengths Competency 8 and its Elements:

My greatest strength related to Competency 8 remains building positive relationships with students. It has been my biggest asset during my 2nd year practicum, substitute teaching, and again in my 6-week practicum. The rapport and respect I am able to foster with students encourages them to do their best and trust in my teaching. I am most proud of the impact this kind of relationship-building had on students who struggled with behaviour and motivation. In multiple instances, my rapport with these students allowed me to encourage them to “lock in”. My associate teacher has remained in communication with me since the end of my placement and has shared that these students have continued to be motivated and committed to their classwork, one of which has claimed my old desk and his own and has been engaged and enthusiastic for the first time all year.

Further supporting this element of Competency 8 is my encouragement of students as they work through lessons and activities. Celebrating their accomplishment at whatever level they are able to achieve is important in building their sense of self-efficacy. To facilitate their accomplishment, I encouraged them to use different learning strategies depending on their personalities, levels of comprehension, and individual strengths. Sometimes this would mean pushing a student to research a topic on their own, other times it would be offering direct resources that were more clear-cut, but each instance was focussed on guiding students to achieve their objectives on their own efforts. Rather than spoon-feeding answers, I worked to give them the appropriate tools to build their autonomy and belief in themselves.  

         Overall, I believe Competency 8 is my strongest area and a skill that comes naturally to me. I am able to make connections with all types of students, finding their interests and communication styles and catering to their needs and strengths. My goal is always to have students trust that I am there to support their success and that they find within themselves the capacity to achieve the goals they have set out. 

Areas for Development, Competency 8 and its Elements:

Although my relationship-building and trust fostering is quite strong, I would like to develop more ways to engage students in different learning situations. While the limited time allowed within a 6-week, 60% course load practicum may have hindered that opportunity, my goal for the 12-week practicum and into my career is to have a variety of experiences for students. This may include having lessons outdoors, creating different kinds of projects and activities, role-playing, museums, historical site, etc... encouraging students to interact with history in a variety of ways that take them outside of the traditional industrial classroom. By doing this I hope to also "spark students’ interest in and curiosity about the subject, the knowledge and skills, practices, tools and techniques, methods and procedures involved, as well as with the history of the subject and the issues, accomplishments, key figures, schools of thought and debates that have marked its development."

Overall Strengths Competency 6 and its Elements:

Again, my ability to connect with students and build strong relationships with them. This was a huge asset in classroom management as it set a foundation of mutual respect. It also allowed me to intervene with students who were acting out of the classroom expectations or being disruptive. Students were more likely to respect my interventions during class and I was able to have meaningful conversations with them about adjusting their behaviour, which were taken seriously and almost always followed through on. By building strong relationships, students seemed to be afraid to “disappoint” me.

This also led to a classroom understanding that was built upon student accountability and a collective agreement on appropriate behaviour. While socializing was encouraged during group time (relating to the “Chooses and implements activities that enable students to develop their social and relational skills” element of the competency), it was clearly understood that when others were speaking, socializing was not accepted. While this was not always perfectly upheld (they are 13 & 14 after all), my interventions were quite often followed by students keeping each other accountable for upholding the respectful culture of the classroom.

Another strength of mine related to Competency 6 was my ability to identify and support students with low motivation or comprehension. While my tasks were designed with this in mind, there remained moments where intervention was needed to help guide students into a place where they felt comfortable continuing on their own and strategies for motivating them to continue. This was very individualized but was always based on catering to the students’ interests and abilities. For some, having a clear and rigid structure to follow actually helped them feel more comfortable to do their work, while for others the creative freedom was what got them excited. Knowing students and being able to recognize when they were feeling stuck or overwhelmed became easier the more I got to know them and I was better able to support as the 6 weeks went on.

Areas for Development Competency 6 and its Elements:

My biggest area for development regarding Competency 6 comes in ensuring that teaching time is used effectively. This comes with meticulous planning and organization of materials, and consideration for aspects of a lesson that may take more time than others or may be confusing to students. I found myself at times rushing to print resources or changing wording on assignments that I recognized were unclear or slightly confusing to students. As the practicum continued, I became more prepared and organized with materials, but I would still like to work on being absolutely on top of all my resources and materials days in advance. My only issue of classroom management came in moments where lessons did not go the way I had envisioned and I had to scramble to adapt to the realities in front of me. 

GOALS for FINAL PRACTICUM related to EDU 315:

1. I will be prepared with materials and contingency plans for each class before the beginning of each day. Options for students with different needs will be set out and clearly delineated for students to choose from. 

2. I will organized my classroom in a way that reflects the structure of my unit plan. For example: if the unit is structured around group cooperation, students will be organized into their groups. I would also like to have more of my own resources on the walls to reference for students. In other words, I will make the class environment my own. 

3. Though my positive relationships are a strength, I will be more engaged with supporting students on a deeper level. Regarding motivation, comprehension, and personal barriers, I will take time to help students grow in more holistic ways.

4. My unit plan will be organized in a manner which build toward the final complex task. With the 6 week limit, the unit I had planned for this past practicum was not realistic to implement fully. I will be able to implement this type of unit plan which uses lecture and student-led activity to build understanding and resources that will be used for the complex task summative assessment.