Formative Practicum
Another successful practicum in the books. Though this practicum was longer, the time passed quickly. Before I knew it, I was saying my final goodbyes to a fantastic Grade 4 class. It was a bittersweet goodbye, but a new chapter is to follow at the end of every chapter. During this practicum, I hit the ground running as I felt highly supported by a fantastic coaching teacher. The first week we jumped straight in, starting with an overnight Field trip. This field trip taught me two things: when kids learn outside, they are more receptive to the information being presented, and two, waking up at 5 am to a student asking to use the bathroom is as funny as it sounds. I was so lucky to connect with the students outside the classroom. The field trip also provided plenty of inspiration for many of my lessons, where I was able to interweave different concepts into their outdoor learning.
A key takeaway I experienced during this practicum was that only some lessons would play out exactly how you want them to. Feeling nervous about teaching lessons, especially math, is okay. In the lesson, in particular, I felt stressed, I was never good at math, and I wanted to make sure that I crushed this lesson. In the end, it was not how I imagined it. I immediately shared my feelings with my coaching teacher, who also felt nerves, and she suggested I reteach it with a different approach the next day. I was fortunate enough to have her support. I readjusted and taught it in a way that made sense to me, not how the textbook explained it. To my surprise, the lesson went off without a hitch, and the students enjoyed the lesson and were able to understand the concepts. It was a real teaching Win for me.
