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PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER THREE: Final Report

University Consultant: Debra E. McTavish

Intern Teacher: Katrina Szumlas

University Consultant Comments:

I have enjoyed working with Katrina throughout her teaching internship at Our Lady of Fatima School. OLOF is a large,
Catholic Elementary School serving a culturally and linguistically diverse group of Kindergarten to Grade 6 students from the
suburbs of Taradale and Martindale. The school has a dual track program with some classes that follow the traditional school
calendar and others a year round balanced calendar. Katrina's internship has been in a Grade 6 class (traditional calendar)
and she has been responsible for planning, teaching and assessing science, health, religion and physical education. She team
teaches/assesses Language Arts with her Mentor and the double Physical Education class is also team taught. Katrina has
assisted in other classes and enjoyed the opportunity to learn from a variety of teachers and students at varying grade levels.
Katrina has excellent planning and organizational skills. Her initial and subsequent long-range, unit and lesson plans were
submitted early, allowing opportunity for her Teacher Mentor and I to review them and provide feedback. Her initial long range
plan provided a succinct outline of anticipated units and Katrina has become very aware of the need to be flexible as time-lines
for some subjects needed to be adjusted at various points to align the learning activities of students following both calendars.
Unit and lesson plans were well detailed and the format Katrina used was very effective. Unit plans clearly outlined all required
elements such as a rationale, general and specific learning outcomes, a sequence of lessons (each with specific goals and key
activities), resources, and assessment strategies. Lesson plans were equally well detailed. Specific goals and key questions
were clearly identified along with an appropriate sequence of learning activities, questions and necessary resources. New skills
were carefully scaffolded upon prior activities and transition points between each activity were also taken into consideration.
Katrina is learning to plan accommodations for students with special learning needs. A formative assessment strategy was
included in most lesson plans and a wide range of activities were used. She incorporated observations, discussions, exit slips
and assessment of various projects. Students were regularly involved in self-assessment activities. Summative assessment
activities were completed at key points and Katrina used the data she gathered to complete report cards comments using
Power Teacher.
Katrina's strong planning skills lead to very successful instructional activities. She demonstrated consistent growth in her
ability to provide information and directions in a clear and logical manner. Each lesson had a brief but specific opening during
which Katrina identified the goal of the learning activity, linked it to prior activities and explained the process that would occur.
In all of the lessons I observed, Katrina incorporated at least 2 or more different activities for her students, often engaging them
in ongoing projects. She identified the transition point between each activity, had her resources organized and clearly stated
the process and behaviour expectations so transitions were quick and smooth, even when children were changing locations in
the room or moving amongst learning stations. There was a high level of student engagement at all times. Katrina provided a
wide range of activities and used a variety of strategies to accomplish this. She often prepared slides to be used to explain
parts of the lesson, used interesting video clips, drew examples on the white board, had the students work with concrete
materials, prepared various handouts that facilitated note taking and taught students various note taking strategies. Katrina
actively moved around the room as children worked, providing assistance when it was needed, often posing questions that
assisted the children in figuring out the answer to the question themselves. She showed continuous improvement in asking
strong questions, encouraging students to try to give responses and helping them build upon the contributions of classmates.
Each lesson also had a planned closure during which Katrina perhaps summarized the key learnings, asked questions to clarify
student understanding or set them up for the next lesson in the sequence.
Katrina is friendly and enthusiastic and has demonstrated excellent skills in building positive and caring relationships with
her students and they interact comfortably with her. Classroom routines and rules are clearly communicated and she became
increasingly consistent in following through on expectations. Katrina has maintained at least weekly contact with me to share
information about her weekly challenges and successes and to share information about the artifact(s) she added each week to
her digital portfolio. She has organized her portfolio around the 6 Teaching Quality Standards and has a strong selection of
artifacts that represent her competence in each of the standards.
Katrina has had a very successful internship, making consistent growth throughout this 16 1/2 week term. Although she has
one kinesiology and a few option courses to complete in the spring term, Katrina has demonstrated that she has the
knowledge, skills and abilities to begin her teaching career. She is enthusiastic and keen to participate fully in school life. I
wish Katrina well as she completes her combined degree and moves forward.

I have read the complete Final Report and certify that the assigned grade is: Pass

University Consultant Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: Page 2 of 5

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PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER THREE: Final Report

Katrina Szumlas
Intern Teacher:
Debra McTavish
University Consultant:

Intern Teacher’s Descriptive Report:

In August 2019, I began my PSIII internship at Our Lady of Fatima School (OLOF). OLOF is a Catholic Elementary School
that serves a culturally and linguistically diverse community of Kindergarten to Grade 6 students in NE Calgary. The school
offers an optional dual track program with some classes that follow the traditional school calendar and others that follow a
year-round balanced calendar. My internship has been in a Grade 6 class following the traditional calendar and I have been
responsible for planning, teaching and assessing science, health, religion and physical education, as well as team teaching
and assessing ELA. Throughout my practicum I have assisted in all Grade 6 Subjects. In addition, I have assisted in other
classes and valued the opportunity to learn from a variety of teachers within the school.
An area of strength is planning and organizational skills. In preparation for this internship, I spent many hours acquiring
knowledge and seeking out resources that would enable me to teach the content addressed in the programs of study for my
designated subject areas. I am able to establish effective long-range, unit and lesson plans built upon the mandated
curriculum and in accordance with the school calendar. My unit plans include all required elements such as a rationale,
general and specific learning outcomes, a sequence of lessons, resources, and assessment strategies. My lesson plans
identify specific goals and key questions, along with the explanation of sequential learning activities. In regard to
assessment practices, I utilize various formative and summative strategies. It is important to involve students in the
assessment process, which I do primarily through self-assessments and rubric building. Over the term, I collected and
documented data from various formal and informal assessments to complete documents like, report cards, ELL benchmarks,
and learner support plans. I had the opportunity to conduct the MIPI, Schonell, and Fountas and Pinnell assessments.
My organizational skills and ability to plan has attributed to my success with instructional activities. I provide information
and directions in a clear and logical manner that are paired with visuals so all students can understand. I assess student
learning prior to each lesson and recognize when I need to be flexible and change my plans. If the students are not yet
where I expected them to be, I respond by reviewing concepts. Each lesson begins with a brief introduction where I
communicate lesson objectives to the students and tell them what they can expect during the lesson. I recognize the value
of making learning student led and hands on therefore I provide chances for students to review the topic. I try my best to
ensure that learning activities are broad, use multiple modalities, and are engaging for students. Any resources are prepared
beforehand, and I consider transitions prior to the lesson to maximize time spent learning. Another strength is my ability to
remain present during the day. I consistently circulate throughout the room as children work, providing assistance when it is
needed, most of the time posing questions to help students discover the answer themselves. I am proud of myself for my
growth in my ability to ask strong questions and provide meaningful responses that build upon the contributions of students.
In addition, this ongoing communication has allowed me to build mutually trusting relationships with the students. I accredit
this to my responsiveness and caring personality.
Aside from being in the classroom, I have taken part in a number of other school activities. I had the opportunity to co-
coach the OLOF Cross Country team. This involved leading practices twice a week. I have also been involved in the school
Christmas play, social club, wellness class, and the Calm Club leader. During Calm Club, sixth grade students are invited to
come for a mindfulness activity that teaches them a strategy for practical use. The club was open to all students however
primary attendees were students that experienced elevated levels of stress and anxiety. The goal of Calm Club is to help
students recognize their thoughts and feelings and develop coping strategies for times of stress.
My experience at OLOF has helped further my growth but has also helped me identify areas for continued improvement.
An area I have improved upon and seek continued growth in is my ability to differentiate lessons and assessments for
diverse learners, especially with the high ELL population at the school. In addition, I can work to develop a more strategic
implementation of my program so that I can maintain a healthier work-life balance. I recognize that my wellness impacts the
wellness of my students.
Over the past 4 months at OLOF, I have had the opportunity to take on the daily responsibilities of a teacher. I have been
eager to take part in obligations such as parent-teacher interviews, parent phone calls, staff, SRT and benchmark meetings.
This professional semester has prepared me to enter the teaching profession with experiences that will help set me up for a
successful career.

I have read and received a complete copy of my PS III Final Report.

Intern Teacher Signature Date

This page is to be returned to the UC to be included in the PS III Final Report.

U of L: PS III Final Report: Page 3 of 5

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PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER THREE: Final Report

Teacher Mentor: Amy Harper

Intern Teacher: Katrina Szumlas

Teacher Mentor Comments:

Working with Katrina during her PSIII internship has been an absolute pleasure. Since the beginning of September Katrina
has had the opportunity to work with two groups of students in my Grade 6 classroom. The group she has worked most closely
with is the class we started with in September. However, because we are a dual track, school Katrina had a two week period in
October where all of our year round education students left and we gained ten "new" students for that time. In those two weeks
Katrina had to adapt to a new group of students and pause the curriculum she was doing with our regular group of students to
achieve the outcomes that the Grade 6 team had agreed upon covering during the year round break. Katrina showed that she
was able to quickly build a rapport with those ten students and integrated them nicely into our classroom routines and
expectations.
Katrina has been teaching 100% of the Grade 6 Science, Health, Religion and Physical Education curriculum. She has
shown strengths in all of these areas, including her thorough planning, knowledge of the curriculum and delivery of her lessons.
She has taken the time and effort to make sure that she is preparing the students for their upcoming PAT exams and also
making her lessons meaningful and fun for students. Katrina has shown knowledge and passion in all of the subjects she
teaches, especially Science. I believe that Katrina has genuine strength for teaching the Science curriculum. She focused on
the Trees and Forests unit for much of her time here and created activities for students to show their learning in several ways,
both formative and summative. One thing the students particularly took an interest in was being able to show certain concepts
they had learned by sculpting the concepts with Play-Doh, an activity that Katrina took upon herself to plan and execute. This is
something that I will continue to do with students as they found it very engaging and were able to really show their
understanding in a tactile way. Planning activities like this shows that Katrina understands not all students excel and learn in
the same ways and that giving options to show understanding is important. In our current unit of Evidence and Investigation,
Katrina continues to make her lessons real, meaningful, relevant and fun for students by making crime scenes for the students
to actually go and solve, for example matching shoes to shoe prints. She has also incorporated a riddle or problem of the day
for students to solve and they look forward to trying to solve it each class. Katrina has also taken the time to create her own
Powerpoint slideshows for her Science lessons. She has personalized them and has obviously put a great deal of effort into
her work. In addition to this she has taken the time to make her own quizzes and Unit tests, taking into account the curriculum
outcomes as well as the types of questions that students are likely to see on the PAT exam.
Katrina has had the opportunity to work on and become familiar with the PowerSchool program for writing progress reports
and taking classroom attendance. She created all of the progress report comments for her subject areas. She also worked with
me as we wrote personalized student work habit marks and comments. She has shown great professionalism by carefully
considering what marks and comments students will be receiving on their term one progress reports and making sure they
were all finished and handed in by the scheduled deadlines.
Katrina is a kind and caring teacher who positively motivates the students and has gotten to know them on a personal level.
Her calmness balances out the high energy of the classroom nicely and she has shown that she understands when she needs
to have a firm hand to keep students on track and behaving in a respectful manner. Katrina has developed a positive and
encouraging rapport with students both in the classroom and through her Grade 6 Calm Club, which has been her Professional
Inquiry Project. She has shown great leadership in introducing this club to the school and the staff have expressed how
impressed they are with the activities she has had the students doing. One of the things the group did was create inspirational
and positive sayings with water colour paintings and post them all around the school. It lights up student and staff faces alike
when they read the messages and see the beautiful work the students did in creating them.
There is no doubt in my mind that Katrina will be an excellent addition to any staff and any group of students would be lucky
to have her as their teacher. I know that whatever path Katrina chooses to go down in her teaching career she will meet
challenges with poise and professionalism. She has shown that she is dedicated to the profession of teaching and that she
understands all that teaching entails, not just the planning and delivery of lessons. As she continues to navigate the teaching
profession her strengths and talents will shine wherever she goes. It has been my absolute pleasure getting to know Katrina
and having had the opportunity to work so closely with her I can say honestly that she will be greatly missed by myself and our
students and staff at Our Lady of Fatima.

Teacher Mentor Signature Date

This page is to be returned to the UC to be included in the PS III Final Report.

U of L: PS III Final Report: Page 4 of 5