My learning experiences for the EDUC 490 Practicum were vast and substantial.

My strengths as a teacher are facilitating discussion and asking questions that move the learning forward. I know these components are working firstly, because my coaching teacher complimented these aspects of my teaching several times, and secondly, because the students abilities to discuss a topic became better over the four weeks I was in the classroom. I had previously noticed the way that people who are good at leading discussions find ways of involving everyone, made notes, and purposely implemented them during this practicum. An example could be as simple as using the name of a student who has not spoken and asking, “What do you think?” It could also be noticing a certain student’s work while circulating the classroom and saying, “I like this. Keep this idea,” and then later asking them to speak during share out time. Techniques like these allow students who would not normally participate to be included and validated.

Photo by Julia M Cameron

I think my biggest stretch this practicum was management of student engagement. Both inside and outside the classroom, I worked hard at keeping students engaged by changing up the learning. While an activity might have typically been the single focus for a lesson before COVID, with the two and a half to three hour blocks of the Quarter system, teachers need to be inventive with their planning. It is not enough to simply put two regular lessons into a single block, one right after another. I had to find ways of making the learning relevant the whole way through these long classes. My coaching teacher and some of the other teachers in the school were invaluable in finding strategies that worked. I found that having a theme for the class that tied review, the new lesson, and the learning activities together helped immensely. Additionally, the teacher librarian hooked me up with K20 Instructional Strategies, which is a phenomenal resource for making sure students are always doing something with the information teachers are giving them. Lesson planning really helped me to hone in on the particular skill that I wanted them to be practicing, and I found that once that was clear, finding multiple ways to practice the skill became more natural.

I am so thankful that I had this opportunity to be in a classroom with students and a coaching teacher who were willing to help me learn.