Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

1

Dacia Harrison

January 13th, 2016

Education Program

SYMPOSIUM PAPER

Choosing just one significant experience that had an impact on my professional

development during my practicum in a Kindergarten classroom is a hard task because I learned

so much during my practicum. I had an opportunity to participate in extracurricular activates, a

PD session that focused on developing a writing continuum, and experience flexible groupings. I

spent many lunch hours helping with junior choir and the Christmas Musical instead of lesson

planning for the next day. By participating in extracurricular activities, I was able to experience

and take one of the other roles teachers have in a school. When you participate in activities

outside the regular scheduled teaching hours, it gives you a whole new perspective on teaching

because you are no longer using your lunch hours to lesson plan or prepare for the next class,

instead you are helping students practice lines for the Christmas concert, or supervising junior

choir and making sure everyone had their eyes on the music teacher so they knew what words or

actions come next. Not only did I spend many lunch hours working, I also spent many afternoons

helping my cooperating teacher browse Pinterest and Google to find costume ideas for each

student with a speaking part. I also spent time trying to figure out a way to get a Moose to fly

across a stage safely. Taking part in all these extra circular activities made me realize that a

teacher does more than just lesson planning and teaching the assigned subjects for their grade.

They put their heart and soul into other activities just to hear a child say This is awesome as he

flies across the stage on a cloud with his hand in the air and a huge smile on his face.
2

During my practicum I also had the opportunity to participate in a PD session that

focused on creating a new Kindergarten to Grade Five writing continuum. We spent a whole

Wednesday and a few other afternoons meeting combing through different writing pieces from

different grades and trying to place them somewhere on the scale. I found this PD day to be very

interesting because it showed collaboration between every one of the teachers in the school. The

final product of the writing continuum would be posted in classrooms once it is complete. One of

the things that I took away from this very informative information session was if you have to put

up a piece of blank paper to be recognized as the start then that is okay. Students need to have a

blank page to transition to a page with their name in it then so be it. The one thing I found really

interesting to watch was the teachers trying to come up with children friendly language so they

can understand what the teacher is asking them on their writing. This was a trying task because

we wanted the statements to reflect each of the students accomplishments and where they need

to move forward.

My third significant experience that had an impact on my professional development was

participating in flexible groupings. In Kindergarten flex groups are different from the rest of the

school because the teachers take the three Kindergarten classes assess them and then divide them

into low, medium, and high for both math and literacy. I had the privilege of having the

opportunity to work with the medium literacy group and the high math group. Both of my flex

groups resulted in different experiences. In literacy we started with a morning message that

typically reviewed a topic that we completed the day before followed by literacy centers where I

had the opportunity to work individual students for fifteen minutes before we rotated. I was able

to help certain students work on concepts that they were struggling to learn or challenge students

who were advanced. My math group was done a little differently. I tried to balance out the
3

energy by having something hands on or active for the students followed by an activity that

required more focus. My math group really challenged me because I always stressed about what

to plan, but in the end my students really enjoyed the activities I planned. I found the concept of

flex groups to be hard to grasp at first, but once we got going it made lesson planning easier

because each student could focus on the same task and I only needed to make some adjustments

for other students. Flexible grouping really allow the teacher to spend time on explaining a

certain concept or lesson to the whole class.

I really enjoyed my time in my Kindergarten class. I learned a lot from my teacher

mentor, students and other professionals in the school. I was able to make connections to

students in my own class and throughout the school. I got to see firsthand what it is like to be a

teacher that wears many hats and I was able to get a well-rounded teaching experience. My three

significant experiences really taught me how to be a more successful teacher and I will certainly

miss the students and the staff from my first practicum.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen