Reflection # 2

Shae Dauncey

Time has been flying by. It is hard to believe that it is already the end of the fourth week
of this practicum. Although I continue to learn new things daily, I have also fallen into the
routine, which helps the days run smoother and makes me feel more confident. Building
relationships with my students is going well, for the most part. I still need to work on
boundaries and expectations with students. For example, when I was teaching math last week,
one student constantly said she did not know what to do or how boring math was. I understand
that is not the case. She is just using this to try to get out of doing math. So, I have been working
on finding a way to keep her motivated to do the math; she is often most motivated when she is
sitting at my desk working and knows there is no option not to do the work. Other than my
pushback from her, I would say I have made strides with my other students and the
relationships.

I have also been working on ensuring that my learning outcomes target the correct level
of learning as this guides my assessment. I have figured out the pattern for science and math
and continue to work on social. My TM has helped me break down the learning objectives to
ensure I am assessing precisely what I want to be.
I have become more comfortable with the curriculum, so my lessons are smoother. I can take a
small step away from my plans and use them as needed rather than rely on them as heavily as I
did in the first few weeks.

Doing the building unit in science feels like being organized, cautious, and constantly
swaying to ensure everyone is getting the help they need. One thing I learned from building air-
powered cars this week is first that students problem-solve better when they have an assigned
partner rather than asking a friend. Second, I need to talk to them about how frustrating science
can be, and that is okay; perseverance is a skill we need to work on, and I will incorporate that
into my next lesson. I have been enjoying teaching math. It is a subject that is easy to teach me,
and breaking down math into steps is something I enjoy. Social Studies has been a little
challenging as the topics were so large. Still, with the help of my students, we found ways to
make them more digestible, such as thinking of confederation, adding the chocolate chip
colonies to the cookie dough batter and making one cohesive cookie.

On Wednesday this last week, we had a PD session about Give‘Em Five—a responsibility-
centered discipline strategy to work with students and admin. The strategy of giving the
students space to come up with a solution that will work for them as opposed to the teacher
giving them a solution. It was very interesting to learn about the steps to help the students
come to their own conclusion to solve the issue that has arisen. Being that I have not had many
strong behaviours in my classes yet, I look forward to implementing this strategy when it is
necessary. They also suggested making a supportive Give’Em Four conversation as a way to
practice the algorithm. I will try to do these steps in the coming weeks.