PSI PRACTICUM GOALS

Name: Lindsie Arsenault

Dates: Nov 16 Dec 16
Grade Level: 1 4
Goal #1: Establish a strong teacher presence in the classroom.
Rationale: It is important to establish a strong teacher
presence in a classroom because it will enforce my classroom
management techniques, as well as my classroom leadership
skills.
This goal
relates to the following KSAs:
KSA #7
Students needs for physical, social, cultural and psychological
security.
KSA #8 Importance of respecting students human dignity.
KSA #13 The importance of career-long learning.

Strategies: Look back at my notes that I took from the

Teacher as Performer workshop and practice my low and high
teacher status. Practicing my wait-time, bumps, physical
proximity, and eye level will be crucial in successfully establishing
a strong teacher presence in the classroom.
Observe my TA in the classroom and look for
the different classroom management strategies that she uses and
write them down in my notebook.

Resources: My notes and textbooks, my TA, my UC, the

teacher assistant, and the other teacher from the grades 5-9
school.

Timeline: Nov 16- Dec 16.

Indicators of Success:
-Detailed lesson plans laying out clear procedures
and expectations.
-Responds to inappropriate
behaviour promptly, using the appropriate teacher status (high or
low), being firm and consistent and following school policies and

procedures.
-Clearly showing confidence and composure when teaching,
as well as when addressing students individually or as a group.
-Classroom is a positive learning
environment and there are positive relationships between the
students as well as between myself and the students.

Reflection: Going into PSI I felt really uneasy about

being able to develop strong, positive and friendly
relationships with the students while also maintaining a
strong teacher presence within the classroom.
Throughout this semester I have actually surprised
myself. I never realized how natural it would come and
within a week I felt as if I had noticed that I was able to
check off many of my indicators of success that pertain
to this goal. The classroom was a positive learning
environment and I worked hard at maintaining positive
relationships between myself and the students, as well as
the students amongst one another. At first I paid a lot of
attention to my teacher status (high vs low) and then
eventually as more time went on it became second
nature. I did notice at first that I was a little easy on the
students and werent exactly following through with
consequences when dealing with inappropriate
behaviours (I would put their name on the board and then
forget about it and they wouldnt receive any
consequence for their actions). However, I worked hard
on consistency and following through and by the end of
the semester I was able to ensure I was following through
with appropriate consequences for any inappropriate
behaviour. I have definitely reached this goal and I am

happy with the progress that I have made throughout this

semester.

Name: Lindsie Arsenault

Dates: Nov 16 Dec 16
Grade Level: 1 4
Goal #2: Time Management.
Rationale: It is important to have strong time management
skills as it allows for the proper amount of time for each section
(Intro, body and closure) and allows for lessons to flow more
smoothly rather than rushing or running out of time.

Strategies: One of my main strategies is being aware of the

students learning levels. Being aware of this will allow me to
properly prepare the appropriate amount of materials for one
lesson and the time allotted for that period.

Resources: Observation of the students and of my TA.

Observing the students will allow me to be more aware of how
much they can do within a specific time period. Observing my
teacher will allow me to see how she splits up her time and how
many objectives she associates to each lesson.

Timeline: Nov 16- Dec 16.

Indicators of Success:
-Creating lesson plans with a reasonable amount of
objectives (not too much and not too little).

-Being able to complete a full

lesson without much time leftover and without running out of time
and rushing.
-Feedback from my
UC and my TA on my time management skills throughout my
lessons.

Reflection: During the first week of practicum I quickly

realized that choosing time management as a goal was a
very good idea on my part. I lost track of time during my
very first lesson and my TA (thankfully) gave me a heads
up that there was only 6 minutes left of class. By the time
I got everyones attention and everyone in their desks it
was time to go outside for recess and I missed the entire
closure of my lesson. I had a few lessons that were too
long and I had to rush my closure, miss it entirely, or go
overtime into the next block (when my TA would say it
was okay). Once I got to know the class and each
individual student a lot better I was better able to judge
the amount of objectives that I was able to put into each
lesson without it being too much or too little. I had a
better sense of how long it would take the students to
complete the activities that I had planned which then
allowed for me to plan lessons that worked very well in
terms of the time limit that I had. Focusing on my
objectives for each lesson really helped as I became more
comfortable as time went on in confidently judging what
is too much and what is too little for the students in each
lesson.