PSIII FINAL SUMMARY QUESTIONS For: John Loree Please complete the following and return it to John by Monday,

December 2nd , 2013 Name: Carmen Giancarlo Subjects Taught what was your favourite preparation for the content 1. Grade 7 Art 2. Two classes of grade 7 Social Studies 3. Digital Citizenship I really enjoy teaching Social Studies and am continuously searching for ways to make the content more interesting for my students. I am a Social Studies major, so it comes more naturally to me to teach this subject area. I was surprised how much I enjoyed teaching Art class. I am not an artistic person, and had only previously taught about 10 Art classes, and half of those were through the Elementary Art Education course I took at Mount Royal University a few years prior. At first, I was frightened with the idea of teaching a subject I was so unfamiliar with, but realized that I knew more than I thought I did. I was able to apply a lot of what Id learned in that course about the Art curriculum and the types of materials, techniques, and projects. I am pretty proud of what I put together throughout this course and the reception I got from my students. Part of what I enjoyed the most was seeing a new group of kids and working with them outside of a core subject, to get a sense of the similarities and differences involved in interests, classroom management, and abilities. Of course I cant speak to two subjects and not the third, because I really did love teaching Digital Citizenship as well. I was thrilled to be able to bring in a lot of the informative videos and material that Ive collected from the Internet (Im a bit of a social issue buff). I even got so excited about it that I parodied a song to share with the grade 7 classes. This was also an awesome experience in collaborating with other grade 7 teachers, as we all took turns planning and sharing lessons. What is the greatest thing you have learned about your pedagogy / teaching strategies during your Internship? I would say that the greatest thing I have learned about my pedagogy is how essential it is to connect to students. This is an area that I struggled with during my first practicums because I didnt spend enough time with my students to really learn about them and to open myself up to share who I am. In PS3, all of that has changed; I feel a really strong connectedness with all of my students and this has helped with my teaching in an immense way. The relationship I have with each individual allows me to understand how they learn, what they find the most interesting, who they can and cannot work with, and, probably most influential, the other parts of their lives that positively and/or negatively affect their school-selves. Contact with many of my students parents/guardians in person, through emails, or on the phone is also something that has helped my relationships with students, and is something that I had not even considered until PS3. What is the greatest thing you have learned about you as a professional as you begin your teaching career? I think that what PS3 has ultimately shown me is that I can do it. As I mill around the school, passing by students and staff and smiling or greeting them as I walk, I feel like a teacher. As Im sitting in staff,

grade-level, and club meetings, and sharing my thoughts/concerns/stories, I feel like a teacher. When Im mediating a dispute between two 12-year-old girls who wont learn a single thing in any of their classes until they hash things out, I feel like a teacher. As I stand in front of a room of 28 students who have given me their attention so long as I make it worth-while for them, and when I settle down a room of 28 students who are all roaring with laughter and yelling about a joke someone told, I am a teacher. This experience has shown me that it isnt just a practicum anymore. Although there is so much more to learn, I am fully capable and ready to be a teacher, and that is what I think has surprised me the most. I entered this practicum feeling like a young, nave, and shy University student, and, as I finish up, I feel like another member of the staff. Consider your professional growth plan. What is one goal you selected and what have you done to meet that learning goal? One of my goals was to acquire and perform classroom management techniques that minimize disruptions to learning. Because my prior teaching experience has been with younger students, I felt a bit overwhelmed with some of the student behaviours that I had not experienced much of before. My mentor, Carianne Widdifield, helped me set up a discipline plan that we outlined to students on the first day of school and stressed the importance of sticking to the plan so that students wouldnt test what they can get away with. Over the past few months, I have seen a lot of improvement with students who tend to frequently misbehave. One of the issues in my classes was the students who tended to call out a lot during class. In this case, as with other behavioural hiccups, I would give students one warning by writing their name on the board and any subsequent time meant they had to stay and make up time at lunch or after school. I have found that establishing rules and routines early on has really helped manage my classes. Students are aware of my expectations of them, so if they do misbehave, they dont tend to protest the repercussions. These strategies have helped minimize classroom disruptions and enhance student focus. I have established a lot of little management techniques by watching other teachers as well as through experiencing what works and what doesnt. It is amazing how much of a difference it can make to a class by giving them little cues and being able to recognize potential problems before they blow up. Something like having an attendance sheet at the front of the room so that I can get students started on their work before going over to the computer and inputting it makes a big difference to the focus of my class. I have learned that students seem to learn best if class time is broken up into chunks of 10-15 minutes. My students are better at staying on task when they have to write as they listen to me or watch something and they benefit from visual prompts. I have learned how important it is to plan what ELL students and students with modified curriculum will be doing during lessons as well as everyone else. I have added these as well as other classroom management strategies to my tool belt. What activities have you been involved with at the school? Outside of teaching, I have latched onto many activities. I will outline each area below. Breakfast Program I help volunteers from Park Meadows church run the school Breakfast Program twice a week before school. I began helping with the club on Sept. 9, coming every Monday and Wednesday morning to help set up, prepare, and monitor the students as they

grabbed breakfast in the cafeteria. I would arrive just after 7am and wrap things up at 8:50am. Those from Park Meadows did the majority of the preparation and clean-up, but I was there to lend a helping hand by pouring juice, buttering bread, washing dishes, ensuring students were signing in, and to shoo them all out to get to class. It was great to see some of my students outside of class, as well as to see and meet other students. I reminded myself that I might be the first interaction they have had that day, or even the first friendly face, and it was great to be there. Improv Club With a passion for drama, especially for comedy, I thought it would be fun to start an improv(isation) club. This way I was able to get in the drama room and work with students who wanted to have some fun at lunch. Seeing as I wasnt teaching drama, I thought Id take the opportunity to work on some drama activities and see how the students enjoyed them. My biggest fear wasnt running the club, but rather, that no one would show up. Fortunately, on the first day (September 10), I had a turnout of 20 students! We worked together every Wednesday at lunch to build a basis of trust and respect. I ensured that we did a variety of things that everyone enjoyed and could participate in. I have gotten a lot of really good feedback from students about the club and how they wish it were for longer and more often. I think this has been an excellent way for students in different grades, and others who wouldnt normally interact, to get to know each other and to build their confidence. ELL Beginning on September 19, I helped Judith Meunier one period a week by reading with her ELL students individually. This allowed her to carry on her lessons while I worked with students one-on-one at their level. She has the beginner group of ELL students. It was amazing to hear these students read and to see how much they have progressed over the term. I love walking into that room and instantly having five or more students say, Ms. Giancarlo! Can I go first?!. On November 7, I even had the pleasure of teaching the ESL class in place of Judith. We did some individual silent reading, I read a story to the class (and then discussed it), and we went through an interactive lesson on Remembrance Day vocabulary. I also met with Judith and David Fuller on October 15th for PD to discuss a prospective ELL program at the middle school level. This program has since been put into place and I think it is really cool that some of my ideas went into building it. Leadership Do Crew I teamed up with a teacher (Tammi Foreman) who started up this years Leadership club and we each took on half of the students. I have been responsible for the Do Crew, a group of students who want to improve our school and community by helping others and inspiring other students to become leaders themselves. We held leadership meetings once a week where both the Do Crew and the Spirit Crew (who focused on building school spirit) got together. The Do Crew has volunteered at the Food Bank, raked leaves at the school, and made friendly greetings for the residents that live around our school. I have also put in an application to the TD Friends of the

Environment for funding of recycling bins. Together with the Leadership crew, I volunteered in the concession for the Wolverine Classic (volleyball tournament), the Tip-Off Classic (basketball tournament) and the Halloween Dance-A-Thon, for a total of 18 hours. We made decorations for the Halloween Dance and put them up in the gym. Knowledge and Employability Beginning the last week of November, I have been helping Melissa Walls grade 8 K&E class when I have free periods. So far Ive been there during Language Arts, Math, and Science. Because a lot of what they do involves different levelled tasks, Im able to help make it around to every student to help them as they work. Earlier in the term, on October 3, I helped supervise and direct 11 students from this class at the Soup Kitchen for three hours as we prepared, served, and cleaned up food for their clients. Other Extras - August 30: I attended a Fountas and Pinnell and Jerry Johns information session by Lisa Gonsalvez to learn more about Language Arts assessment. - September 26: I helped set up for the Wilson awards night and picking up the coffee order - Nov. 13: Ran a station at the Grade 7 Survivor Night and helped supervise students as they worked together to build a model shelter and ate dinner. At the end of the event I judged each team on their event points, team cheer, and shelter to select a winning team. - January-April: I am planning on helping with the school play Hansel and Gretel that will be performed at the Collage of the Arts. Think of your professional inquiry project. What did you do and what impact do you think it had on teaching and learning? My professional inquiry project also ties in with one of my goals on my professional growth plan. I aimed to research and implement strategies for the beneficial inclusion of ELL (English Language Learner) students within the classroom. I have several ELL students in my classes, but only two that are LFS (limited formal schooling). Most of my experience of working with LFS ELL students has come from my weekly interactions with them in their ELL class. What I then did with my Professional Inquiry Project is learn more information about ELL students by starting up a website that teachers could reference. My goal was to make it for teachers who, like me, didnt know much about where to begin and what to do when these LFS ELL students are in their classes. I have learned a lot myself through this project and feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of having ELL inclusion in classes and what that can look like. I am hoping to share what I have found with some other teachers and link it to the school website to have available. I think it is a good starting place to see what information and types of resources are available. What was the most challenging part of the Internship experience and how did you face that challenge? I think the most challenging part of the Internship was getting established as a teacher and figuring

out all of the little things. On my first couple days I had a list of everything I could think of that I needed to know, for instance: how to logon to the computers, what bathrooms to use, what the school dress code was, how to input grades, etc. Although I was able to get the answers to these questions within the week (for the most part), there were constantly things that came up that I would have to figure out, ask about, or get someones help on. This was such a huge difference from PS1 and PS2. For the first time, I was experiencing emailing, calling, and seeing parents. For the first time I was the one to input students marks into the database and write their report card comments. Even just being a teacher from day one and not having someone to hold my hand through everything was a big change, although it has been very rewarding. There were so many of these first times that I often felt overwhelmed, but with each one that I crossed off my list, Id feel more and more like an established teacher. What was the most rewarding part of your Internship / why? The most rewarding part of my Internship has, without a doubt, been my relationships with the students. It brings me so much joy to experience building such strong relationships with my students over this term. Not only does this improve my ability to accommodate to them when I teach, but I really feel like I am making a difference in their lives. Even my participation in events and clubs outside of class has bonded me with students that now know that I am here to support them and that I care about them. Its going to be really hard to leave them behind, which is largely why I think Ill still be at the school a ton next semester. If I were a principal interviewing you for a position, why should I hire you? What makes you the best choice? Based on my experience this semester, I wouldnt say that a principal would hire me based on my teaching ability (alone). This is something that would very much surprise myself up until this point in my life. I do think that I am a great teacher and that I can adapt easily to different classes and different students, but it is my passion for all things school related that would make me the best candidate. For example, something like how fervent I have become about the grant we are trying to win through Aviva has shown me how much I am willing to put into my school. I have done a lot of extra activities with the school because I wanted to. I love spending more time with students and working to improve our school and community. I have really grown to feel like I am part of Wilson and want to work to make it the best it can be. It has become clear to me that teaching is not just an 8-4 job, but that it is something you carry with you every minute of every day, and I love it.