I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!
It seems like forever since I've written. My practicum was a blast, but I'm glad to be back at school so I can relax a bit!
I had so many neat experiences, but it would take forever to type, and I was do busy to write as stuff was happening. So, here are the highlights. The school was crazy. It was under construction, and everything was crazy. The library and computer labs still weren't open, I was in a portable even though that class should be in the school, so everything was packed away in boxes and the resources were very limited. The photocopier jammed all the time, and that was frustrating. Basically, it was really disorganized. Morale was a bit low with the staff, because of all the problems. Even so, I had a great time.
My associate was nice, but not very accessible. He came right before the kids did in the morning most days, and left early. When I got there, I had to find another portable teacher or waitin in the cold. He left me alone in the classroom alot, starting from the first day, and increasingly left me in complete charge while he took off for almost an hour at a time, which freaked me out and I'm still not sure he's allowed to leave that much. As a result, he missed me teaching the lessons a lot, so I didn't get as much feedback as I would have liked, and they got roudier when he was gone. I asked him about classroom management, and he didn't really have any good suggestions. Basically, all he does is yell really loud when it gets out of control, but he's really inconsistent even with that. He waits till it's out of hand, then yells loud, and they stop for a few minutes, but not much more. So I didn't really learn any great strategies there. But again, no kids swore at me or anything like that. Which is more than some teacher candidates experienced.
I genuinely got to know and like almost all the kids. There were a couple challenges, which were harder then others. Two boys especially liked to see how far they could push me and what they could get awat with. But overall, they were really great and I liked them a lot!
We started a skipping club, which is great because there are no extracurriculars going on now, because of the construction and low morale. The only thing is the breakfast club, which is obviously pretty essential. It was at lunch hours, which meant virtually no break most days, but it was really great.
Lesson planning was fun, but also extremely exhausting.
Went on a trip to a farm with grade 1s, because there weren't enough adults going. That was a lot of fun, even though it was freezing and windy.
My last day, went with my grade 5s to the Kortright Centre for Conservation. That was fun. When we got back, it was just in time for recess and they were making up silly reasons to get me to leave(Ms. Moreau, didn't you forget your hat on the bus?), so I figured they were up to something. I left, and then after recess my teacher asked me to go visit the class I'm going to next time, a grade 3 class. That was neat to get to know them, but I know he was doing it so they could prepare. I got back, and they had decorated the board with a goodbye message and pictures, and then they had a big card they made. Two kids got up in front of the class, and said something like "On behalf of the grade 5 class...." etc and read the card, it was super cute!!!! They spelt my name wrong, because he obviously didn't help them with it, but it was cute! Even all the spelling mistakes were cute, because that was fitting with how they are.
I forgot to mention, it was crazy because barely any kids were actually at the grade 5 level, due to lot's of ESL and learning disabilties, although my teacher never really talked to me about that sort of stuff. There was a child with a hearing problem, but he never told me! The teacher wears a little system called an FM with a tiny mic that clips on your shirt. One day she came back from ESL(poor kid, lot's of issues) and handed it to me, but I didn't know what it was. He left me in the class the second day, and never told me about it. Luckily I figured it out.
Anyway, I liked him but I'm really excited for my next teacher, Shubra Mathur, who seems really organized, and I think I'll like grade 3 better. I'm super excited for that.
I'm back in Kingston now. I'm glad to be back for some reasons, and not for others. I get to relax more, which is great. And I missed Amanda, Thayani, and other third floor people that I really like, but really not missing some people from my floor. Overall it's good though, and I try to go to 3rd as much as I can!
Yesterday I was having a blah day. Don't know why, I just was. Several people asked me if something was wrong, because I didn't seem myself. I guess I'm normally more chipper. I was sad, just wasn't happy either. Just a blah day, you know? Then my friend Yung Ah, laughed while drinking water during math class, while our table was chatting with the prof, because she said something funny. She shot water across the table, and the look on the prof's face was so funny! She was really confused! I laughed so hard for the longest time. It was funny, and she was maybe slightly embarassed but good natured about it. Then I came back, and had a really nice MSN chat with Laura, which made me feel good. Then I went out for halloween...
I went to an Education Halloween Party. That was a lot of fun. I didn't have a costume, so I decided to wear pj's and pigtails and just be a kid. But then when Amanda was trying to put freckles on with lip liner(haha, all I have) and they looked more like chicken pox, so we changed my costume and put them all over my face, neck, and arms. It was great. And I took a blanket as a prop. It was great, and I had a built in jacket!
Two guys from my floor dressed up like the gingerbread man, and then the muffin man. They were so awesome! They had some costume contests, and they entered the "group" category, and it was done by cheering. They were a landslide win..the others, got down to a few people and they had a cheer off. But they went 3rd, and everyone before and after was eliminated. They won some money, not sure how much. We had to leave after that, it was already 1 and we had 8:20 class, but there was going to be a final competition from a radio station(other prizes were for the Education Student Society, to win a trip to Datona Beach for Spring break. Apparently they won that too!!!! That's too cool...not sure what they are doing about the prize though, since they probably aren't good enough friends to go together. Hopefully Dan, gingerbread man gets it, because Jesse, Muffin man, was an ad on to the already planned gingerbread man. Apparently they were brainstorming the night before, and someone said it as a joke, and he loved it and ran out to the store to get boxes.
I'll try and attach pictures later, if I can remember how to do that!
Anyway, that's it for now. I better actually start doing something work, this is getting a bit bad....too much slacking.
I had so many neat experiences, but it would take forever to type, and I was do busy to write as stuff was happening. So, here are the highlights. The school was crazy. It was under construction, and everything was crazy. The library and computer labs still weren't open, I was in a portable even though that class should be in the school, so everything was packed away in boxes and the resources were very limited. The photocopier jammed all the time, and that was frustrating. Basically, it was really disorganized. Morale was a bit low with the staff, because of all the problems. Even so, I had a great time.
My associate was nice, but not very accessible. He came right before the kids did in the morning most days, and left early. When I got there, I had to find another portable teacher or waitin in the cold. He left me alone in the classroom alot, starting from the first day, and increasingly left me in complete charge while he took off for almost an hour at a time, which freaked me out and I'm still not sure he's allowed to leave that much. As a result, he missed me teaching the lessons a lot, so I didn't get as much feedback as I would have liked, and they got roudier when he was gone. I asked him about classroom management, and he didn't really have any good suggestions. Basically, all he does is yell really loud when it gets out of control, but he's really inconsistent even with that. He waits till it's out of hand, then yells loud, and they stop for a few minutes, but not much more. So I didn't really learn any great strategies there. But again, no kids swore at me or anything like that. Which is more than some teacher candidates experienced.
I genuinely got to know and like almost all the kids. There were a couple challenges, which were harder then others. Two boys especially liked to see how far they could push me and what they could get awat with. But overall, they were really great and I liked them a lot!
We started a skipping club, which is great because there are no extracurriculars going on now, because of the construction and low morale. The only thing is the breakfast club, which is obviously pretty essential. It was at lunch hours, which meant virtually no break most days, but it was really great.
Lesson planning was fun, but also extremely exhausting.
Went on a trip to a farm with grade 1s, because there weren't enough adults going. That was a lot of fun, even though it was freezing and windy.
My last day, went with my grade 5s to the Kortright Centre for Conservation. That was fun. When we got back, it was just in time for recess and they were making up silly reasons to get me to leave(Ms. Moreau, didn't you forget your hat on the bus?), so I figured they were up to something. I left, and then after recess my teacher asked me to go visit the class I'm going to next time, a grade 3 class. That was neat to get to know them, but I know he was doing it so they could prepare. I got back, and they had decorated the board with a goodbye message and pictures, and then they had a big card they made. Two kids got up in front of the class, and said something like "On behalf of the grade 5 class...." etc and read the card, it was super cute!!!! They spelt my name wrong, because he obviously didn't help them with it, but it was cute! Even all the spelling mistakes were cute, because that was fitting with how they are.
I forgot to mention, it was crazy because barely any kids were actually at the grade 5 level, due to lot's of ESL and learning disabilties, although my teacher never really talked to me about that sort of stuff. There was a child with a hearing problem, but he never told me! The teacher wears a little system called an FM with a tiny mic that clips on your shirt. One day she came back from ESL(poor kid, lot's of issues) and handed it to me, but I didn't know what it was. He left me in the class the second day, and never told me about it. Luckily I figured it out.
Anyway, I liked him but I'm really excited for my next teacher, Shubra Mathur, who seems really organized, and I think I'll like grade 3 better. I'm super excited for that.
I'm back in Kingston now. I'm glad to be back for some reasons, and not for others. I get to relax more, which is great. And I missed Amanda, Thayani, and other third floor people that I really like, but really not missing some people from my floor. Overall it's good though, and I try to go to 3rd as much as I can!
Yesterday I was having a blah day. Don't know why, I just was. Several people asked me if something was wrong, because I didn't seem myself. I guess I'm normally more chipper. I was sad, just wasn't happy either. Just a blah day, you know? Then my friend Yung Ah, laughed while drinking water during math class, while our table was chatting with the prof, because she said something funny. She shot water across the table, and the look on the prof's face was so funny! She was really confused! I laughed so hard for the longest time. It was funny, and she was maybe slightly embarassed but good natured about it. Then I came back, and had a really nice MSN chat with Laura, which made me feel good. Then I went out for halloween...
I went to an Education Halloween Party. That was a lot of fun. I didn't have a costume, so I decided to wear pj's and pigtails and just be a kid. But then when Amanda was trying to put freckles on with lip liner(haha, all I have) and they looked more like chicken pox, so we changed my costume and put them all over my face, neck, and arms. It was great. And I took a blanket as a prop. It was great, and I had a built in jacket!
Two guys from my floor dressed up like the gingerbread man, and then the muffin man. They were so awesome! They had some costume contests, and they entered the "group" category, and it was done by cheering. They were a landslide win..the others, got down to a few people and they had a cheer off. But they went 3rd, and everyone before and after was eliminated. They won some money, not sure how much. We had to leave after that, it was already 1 and we had 8:20 class, but there was going to be a final competition from a radio station(other prizes were for the Education Student Society, to win a trip to Datona Beach for Spring break. Apparently they won that too!!!! That's too cool...not sure what they are doing about the prize though, since they probably aren't good enough friends to go together. Hopefully Dan, gingerbread man gets it, because Jesse, Muffin man, was an ad on to the already planned gingerbread man. Apparently they were brainstorming the night before, and someone said it as a joke, and he loved it and ran out to the store to get boxes.
I'll try and attach pictures later, if I can remember how to do that!
Anyway, that's it for now. I better actually start doing something work, this is getting a bit bad....too much slacking.