I have to share this story about one of the students in our class… Last week we were holding an in-class badminton tournament during our phys-ed classes. It was a regular bracket-style tournament where they played doubles games with an opposite-sex partner that was chosen randomly before the tournament started. When the time came for the finals we decided to hold off until the next gym class so that all of the students could watch the final games. Now remember how competitive some students are in Grade 5. This tournament was all that the students were talking about… Read More
Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday: "C School" Update
After patiently waiting for more science classes (we don’t have science everyday) I am finally able to give you all an update about how whole brain teaching has been going with our Grade 5s. Compared to my last student teaching placement in the fall I am teaching much less, but spending more time with our group of students. In the fall I was teaching more than one subject (Grades 10-12 for hour long classes) but only had a group of students once per day. In contrast, I am now just teaching one subject (Grade 5 for 25-30 minute… Read More
AIM Language Learning Program
So yesterday I shared my enthusiasm regarding my school’s french teacher possibly using WBT-style strategies while she taught: read all about it here. A friend of mine who is a recent education grad and now a successful teacher let me know that what our teacher was doing was not WBT but most likely the AIM Language Learning Program which is a program that his school also uses. Now I had never heard of the AIM program but I went to their website and was so impressed! I invite you all to check out their website because they provide a… Read More
Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday: Parlez-vous Francais?
Spring Break is officially here and although I have only been able to start a brief introduction of WBT with my Grade 5s I can’t wait to hit the ground running on Monday. I feel as though I have just been full of exciting news the last little while and my ninth Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday post is no exception! I hope that this focus on WBT is helpful to those of you who are wishing to learn more about how a certain strategy may work and what my personal experience with it has been. Last week I was… Read More
Whats in a Name?
Well my first week of student teaching at “C-Shool” is completed. My accomplishment for the week… learning all 28 of my homeroom student’s names by Tuesday! Now before you get too impressed, remember that it is student conferences this week so we spent all day on Monday and Tuesday preparing portfolios to share with parent(s)/guardian(s). Therefore, we were handing back a ton of copies of assignments which resulted in me having to pick up names quite quickly or be left standing blindly in the middle of the room! To compare, during my student teaching placement in the fall I… Read More
First Day at "C School"
Today marked my first day student teaching with Mr. R’s Grade 5 class at “C School”. This is my second of four student teaching placements that I will finish before next spring when I will officially be a certified teacher! I completed my first student teaching placement in a Grade 10-12 social studies classroom but will be teaching science this time around. This first week I am just observing, assisting as needed and getting to know the students before I begin teaching my lesson plans on Tuesday next week. My day started out with reading records which was… Read More
My Visit to "C School"
Today I drove out to visit my cooperating teacher for the first time at “C School”. I had never been to the town before but Google Maps assured me it was about an hour commute from the university and, wanting to be early, I scheduled to be there about 5 minutes before our meeting time. Well, needless to say, it was only a 35 minute drive and I arrived at the school over 30 minutes early (oops)! The secretaries were very friendly, however, gave me a great welcome, went over some paperwork and I was able to meet my… Read More
5 Years Down, 1 To Go!
My first year in the Faculty of Education (and 5th year in university) is DONE! After exams in Individuals with Exceptionalities, Classroom Management and Social Studies Methods (all written today) I can officially say I have completed my first year as an education student! My fiance and I celebrated with a congratulatory brunch at Smitties and going to the theater to see Dr. Suess’ The Lorax (the teacher in me couldn’t stop thinking of the inferential thinking scenarios and the social studies curriculum: sustainable development, environmental implications, ecosystems, infrastructure, politics, economy, etc). One more year to go! I have… Read More
My Thoughts on WestCAST
I’m back safe & sound! All 41 of us from our university survived the 11 hour bus ride (22 hours round trip) to and from Calgary without killing each other (almost) haha. All-in-all it was a great time! I really enjoyed spending time with other students from my faculty, some of whom I had not even met before, and I learned a lot from the sessions I attended. I give props to the U of C who organized a wonderful event with some amazing presenters and super helpful volunteers. I was able to visit family, see the mountains and… Read More
And the Results Are In!
I haven’t posted in a few days as I was at a resort and spa for the weekend celebrating my fiance’s birthday with my in-laws-to-be! It was a wonderful holiday but I’m now back to the world of laundry, homework and a staggering 30+ emails to catch up with. I am happy to report that our first Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday was a fabulous success with several hundred people checking out the post! The WBT website has so many amazing strategies and resources that I will be able to highlight different ones on Wednesdays for quite some time. Thank… Read More