After completing my EDUC 490 practicum I have reflected on the learning that took place for me on this journey. I learned about verbal feedback, how to gradually increase my own assessment forms within the classroom, and a variety of classroom management strategies to implement that will ensure my students can engage in the lessons effectively with minimal distractions. All of this was essential to my growth as an educator as it is important to understand how to assess students both formatively and summatively within a classroom. Formative feedback became a focus of mine when engaging students in classroom conversations. Responding to students to validate their learning encouraged other students to participate and allowed me to gain insight into students who struggled to put their ideas onto paper. My practicum was in a grade 1 and 2 class, which meant that students were still developing their reading and writing skills. The classroom conversations gave me the extra pieces to the assessment puzzle so that I could really understand where to take the next learning and what skills needed to be touched on some more. Verbal feedback provided to students was important within my classroom management skills. At the beginning of the practicum, I would often phrase my instructions as questions (“Can you please continue your reading?”) and then I learned to be more assertive in directing the learners. “I need you to ____” was a great strategy that demonstrates to students that the instruction is essential to their learning and that there is no option to say no to this particular instruction. Gradually increasing my assessment forms within the classroom started with marking student work and moved into keeping a grade book for the students. I learned about using colours to indicate where the student was at in their learning which made it easy to gauge the classes general needs when glancing at the books. Green indicated that the student is succeeding in understanding this area of the unit. Orange meant that students understood some of this area. Red demonstrated that I needed to spend some more time teaching this student about this topic. I found this easy to follow and showed which students needed support in certain areas.
Moving into EDUC 491 I would like to bring these meaningful conversations forward again and enhance my abilities in questioning. I feel as though the questions I was posing at the end of this practicum were effective and thought-provoking and I would love to bring these thoughtful questions in again to encourage deeper thinking in my students. I would also like to practice further my skills in transitioning and work on adding new ideas to my “teacher toolbox.” So far, I have implemented the hands-on head strategy to gain the attention of my learners, alongside the clapping and lights off techniques. All of these skills were effective, but it would be helpful to have a few new ideas to use so that they don’t become too monotonous in my teaching career.
To conclude, EDUC 490 was one of the biggest learning journeys of my life so far. I learned so much about myself as an educator and about education in general. I am moving into 491 with a positive and eager outlook, ready to learn and excited for the experience.
