Yesterday was my last day of placement. I enjoyed my time there but the time seemed to have flew by. I was able to connect with the students and they enjoyed my lessons *phew* Grade 1's are not hard to impress but they have very short attention spans. lol Something I enjoyed most was asking them questions during my lessons. I love oral discussions because students learn from another by listening to each other, and I get to direct them to think more by extending the questions. Something I least enjoyed was chatty students-- they never get any work done. lol I tell them to get started, after circling the classrooms and helping others, they still have not picked up their pencils. lol I think the parts of the school day where i get to care for them and have our little chitchats is recess time when I zip up their winter coats and closely working with some one on one. Something that I really needed to stress was for them to put up their hand before they speak during instruction time on the carpet. They are such eager beavers, all of them want to give their 2 cents.
Since it was my last day, I received cards with many "i love you's" and pictures of me and them. My associate was really nice also, she gave me Godiva chocolates and a giftcard to Winners. When I did OFIP with the students, we studied the book called "Lillie's Purple Plastic Purse" By: Kevin Henkes and she got me the hard cover book to remind me that the students and I studied it together.
By far, this was the best placement I've had in a classroom setting.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
First Teaching Block
I know everyone is excited about their teaching block! We will do well and learn from many mistakes. We will go out there to make a difference and to build on our character to become teachers who inspires students. Be confident and Good luck everyone!
Social Issues Day
1. Sexual Orientation
What I liked about the workshop: They gave out a folder with lots of resources and information booklets. They also had lots of children's books about gays and lesbians laid out on the table.
What I learnt from the workshop: There are a lot of stereotypes about gays and lesbians that we should avoid, we also need to becareful of what we say and watch our vocabulary. For example, in the teacher's staffroom, don't ask your colleague, "so, what does your husband do?" That automatically assumes that person is straight. There was also a discussion about whether to address students as "boys and girls" or not. If you say "boys and girls", it automatically places students in categories. What if students prefer to be a girl instead of a boy? I also learned in my undergrad to use the terms "Good morning class" or "Gr. 1's, please sit on the carpet". I don't think there is anything wrong with using 'boys and girls', but I will use the general term for my class to be on the safe side.
2. Early Stages/Symptoms of Psychosis
What I liked about the workshop: There was a man who testified his past experience with psychosis. The slides were informative about the symptoms and about their Cleghorn Program.
What I learnt from the workshop: Psychosis is a disorder of the brain that usually involves a distortion of reality. Key symptoms include: false beliefs, paranoia, hallucinations, disorganized speech/behaviour, emotional dysregulation, and social withdrawal etc. After learning about the symptoms, I sometimes am paranoid, but I refuse to believe it will lead me into psychosis. My thoughts are that people who do drugs to get lead into psychosis. I think drugs plays an important factor. Psychosis often occurs from ages 15-34. I'm glad the primary/junior students will not experience this while they are very young.
3. Media Workshop
I was disappointed with this workshop. I'm not saying I had high expectations nor did I expect anything out of this workshop. We know what media is, where it comes from, and what it portrays, know what the influences are and what kind of culture it tries to promote. We spent a lot of time identifying what media tries to portray and not enough time learning how to deal with it in the classroom. The lady who ran the workshop did show us many materials on racism, prejudice, and equality, but in a very dry manner. I was frustrated that my time was being wasted. I walked out of the room with no tools to use nor ideas on how to facilitate students to be critical thinkers, to not give into media.
What I liked about the workshop: They gave out a folder with lots of resources and information booklets. They also had lots of children's books about gays and lesbians laid out on the table.
What I learnt from the workshop: There are a lot of stereotypes about gays and lesbians that we should avoid, we also need to becareful of what we say and watch our vocabulary. For example, in the teacher's staffroom, don't ask your colleague, "so, what does your husband do?" That automatically assumes that person is straight. There was also a discussion about whether to address students as "boys and girls" or not. If you say "boys and girls", it automatically places students in categories. What if students prefer to be a girl instead of a boy? I also learned in my undergrad to use the terms "Good morning class" or "Gr. 1's, please sit on the carpet". I don't think there is anything wrong with using 'boys and girls', but I will use the general term for my class to be on the safe side.
2. Early Stages/Symptoms of Psychosis
What I liked about the workshop: There was a man who testified his past experience with psychosis. The slides were informative about the symptoms and about their Cleghorn Program.
What I learnt from the workshop: Psychosis is a disorder of the brain that usually involves a distortion of reality. Key symptoms include: false beliefs, paranoia, hallucinations, disorganized speech/behaviour, emotional dysregulation, and social withdrawal etc. After learning about the symptoms, I sometimes am paranoid, but I refuse to believe it will lead me into psychosis. My thoughts are that people who do drugs to get lead into psychosis. I think drugs plays an important factor. Psychosis often occurs from ages 15-34. I'm glad the primary/junior students will not experience this while they are very young.
3. Media Workshop
I was disappointed with this workshop. I'm not saying I had high expectations nor did I expect anything out of this workshop. We know what media is, where it comes from, and what it portrays, know what the influences are and what kind of culture it tries to promote. We spent a lot of time identifying what media tries to portray and not enough time learning how to deal with it in the classroom. The lady who ran the workshop did show us many materials on racism, prejudice, and equality, but in a very dry manner. I was frustrated that my time was being wasted. I walked out of the room with no tools to use nor ideas on how to facilitate students to be critical thinkers, to not give into media.
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