Katie's Korner
In week number two, I felt much more comfortable in the classroom, which went a long way with the effectiveness of my lesson content and delivery. Monday was the day I felt most nervous, as that was the day of my official observation, but I am glad that it was with the grade nine class, as I felt the most connected with that class on a personal level. Reflecting on my lesson, I was extremely pleased with how it went (technology difficulties aside). The students were very engaged with the lesson content and responded intelligently to the activity prompt with their groups. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would provide more scaffolding for the students to enhance their engagement with the lesson content by providing a worksheet with literary terms and definitions or an online resource they can readily access, then refer back to when needed.
Wednesday was another lesson that went well, but would have benefited further from additional scaffolding. We were practicing with idioms and symbolic language in poems, and the students did well with the material I gave them to work with. However, after reflection and discussion with my SA, the students would have benefited even further from more practice with recognizing and writing idioms.
The rest of the week went well, and my relationships with students and staff continued to develop, so I was sad to leave them on Friday. Ultimately, I’ve learned that there can never be enough scaffolding for lesson planning and preparation for the most unlikely scenarios (like losing a story prompt to the void of the ceiling in the middle of an activity). My short practicum was initially very daunting, but what at the beginning of the two weeks seemed like an eon of time, by the end, had flown so quickly that I didn’t even realize my last day was suddenly here.
I am looking forward to my extended practicum and am ready to return to the classroom as soon as possible, as that is where I have the most fun.
