Amongst the COVID chaos, this practicum has been a whirlwind of an experience. Planning for a 161 minute block is no easy task for a new teacher! All in all, I would say I was successful in doing what I set out to do, which was: 1) Try some stuff, 2) Learn some stuff, and 3) Make sure learners are safe and also learning some stuff.

Where I started/Goals going into 490:

I was watching School of Rock last night, and I could not help but relate it to my practicum goals – well, teaching goals really. Though Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is not exactly a model teacher, he does end up creating something pretty special with his learners. Over the course of the movie, learners go from being taught traditionally by a “teacher”, and motivated extrinsically by grades, to being passionate, creative, self-motivated individuals, learning lessons and skills they will need for life. Dewey sets himself alongside the kids rather than as a figure of power and authority in front of them, and is literally one of the band members. They are a team working towards a common goal. I want to create a space like this (laugh all you want!), where kids are inspired, their strengths are highlighted, and they are exploring and discovering, rather than being lectured at all of the time. I want them to learn by doing, and (maybe) failing, and trying again!

What I learned:

I did not achieve this during my two-weeks-with-one-group and two-weeks-with- another-group, but I think I have a better idea moving forward how to start. My practicum was a lot of “trying this”, getting feedback from learners, my CT and PE, applying that feedback, and seeing where it leads. I discovered you can be told all of the things and study all of the theory, but you won’t know what works and what doesn’t until you actually try it. Furthermore, it may work for some learners but not for other learners. For example, my first group really liked video clips, but my second group could not pay attention to a video for more than a few minutes. I also learned a few things that I DO NOT LIKE, and does not work for me as a teacher. So I will most likely not be teaching in that specific way again. Most of all, as a fairly unstructured human being (in many ways), I learned that learners need A LOT of structure and guidance. I was not offering enough, because I was trying to “leave room” for learning, but feedback I received from learners told me I was not being clear and structured enough overall. I was also not spending enough time reinforcing learning, but moving on before learners were ready. This is tough when you have to get through the content your CT wants in a set amount of time! The balancing act!

Where I am going:

Moving forward, my focus will then be: (more) clarity in learning intentions and criteria; more time spent on reinforcing key concepts; better pacing; and, in my planning process, I would reeeeeally like to focus on assessment. I am learning more and more that this is the key to successful teaching, even in terms of building relationships with learners. For example, in my the first quarter, I communicated with learners using an interactive notebook, and gave them individual feedback, in addition to letting them choose their summative learning representation. In the second quarter, I told learners from the beginning that there would be a test worth 80% at the end of the two weeks (as per my CT’s format), and this resulted in immediate anxiety and less developed relationships overall. Moving into the next practicum, I will strive to be a Dewey Finn, creating a cohesive and creative classroom, but also treating learners as individuals, giving lots of opportunities for formative assessment.