PSIII PROFESSIONAL GOALS AND ATTAINMENTS
Teaching Subjects: English Language Arts 10-1 and 20-1
Goal 1: Learn how to conduct successful parent-teacher interviews.
KSA 12: Parental engagement
Parent-teacher interviews were not part of my previous practicums, so I am inexperienced in this area.
Action Plan
I consulted with my two teacher mentors to learn their practices. I also attended SAPDC’s Beginning Teachers — Parents & Teachers, Feb. 13.
Attainment
For the 10-1s, I brought students' portfolios, which contain students’ work to provide parents with concrete evidence of students’ achievement levels. I also had exemplars on hand for comparison purposes. Feedback from parents was positive.
For the 20-1s, I copied formative and summative assessments to serve as concrete evidence of students' achievement levels; however, parent-teacher interviews were not formally scheduled due to low attendance in Quarter 4 in previous years. Instead, parents were phoned and invited to schedule an appointment with teachers. No parents from my class requested an appointment.
Goal 2: “Chunking” for student success, as per my PSII experience.
KSA 9: Instructional Strategies
Under the quarter system, each class is 3 hours in length. If I do not balance teacher talk with other instructional strategies, I will lose my students’ interest, which will lead to classroom management issues.
Action Plan
I consulted with my teacher mentors to learn how they successfully pace three-hour classes. In my lesson plans, I listed my instructional strategies to make a conscious effort to vary them. “Lessons in Comprehension” by Frank Serafini, “50 Literacy Strategies” by Gail Tompkins, and Bridging English by Joseph O. Milner, Lucy F. Milner, and Joan F. Mitchell were great resources.
Attainment
I broke my lessons into 2 or 3 plans, depending on the day’s events. For the most part, I planned for 8-9:22 a.m. and then 9:30-10 or 10:50 a.m.
I built brain breaks into my lessons to give students a break.
I was conscious about the time spent lecturing and make sure I planned hands-on activities for students, and mixed things up with think-pair-share, jigsaws where groups become the “experts” who present the information to the class, think-pair-share, small group discussions, and class discussions.
For a list of strategies, visit my Professional Inquiry Project by clicking on the link.
Goal 1: Learn how to conduct successful parent-teacher interviews.
KSA 12: Parental engagement
Parent-teacher interviews were not part of my previous practicums, so I am inexperienced in this area.
Action Plan
I consulted with my two teacher mentors to learn their practices. I also attended SAPDC’s Beginning Teachers — Parents & Teachers, Feb. 13.
Attainment
For the 10-1s, I brought students' portfolios, which contain students’ work to provide parents with concrete evidence of students’ achievement levels. I also had exemplars on hand for comparison purposes. Feedback from parents was positive.
For the 20-1s, I copied formative and summative assessments to serve as concrete evidence of students' achievement levels; however, parent-teacher interviews were not formally scheduled due to low attendance in Quarter 4 in previous years. Instead, parents were phoned and invited to schedule an appointment with teachers. No parents from my class requested an appointment.
Goal 2: “Chunking” for student success, as per my PSII experience.
KSA 9: Instructional Strategies
Under the quarter system, each class is 3 hours in length. If I do not balance teacher talk with other instructional strategies, I will lose my students’ interest, which will lead to classroom management issues.
Action Plan
I consulted with my teacher mentors to learn how they successfully pace three-hour classes. In my lesson plans, I listed my instructional strategies to make a conscious effort to vary them. “Lessons in Comprehension” by Frank Serafini, “50 Literacy Strategies” by Gail Tompkins, and Bridging English by Joseph O. Milner, Lucy F. Milner, and Joan F. Mitchell were great resources.
Attainment
I broke my lessons into 2 or 3 plans, depending on the day’s events. For the most part, I planned for 8-9:22 a.m. and then 9:30-10 or 10:50 a.m.
I built brain breaks into my lessons to give students a break.
I was conscious about the time spent lecturing and make sure I planned hands-on activities for students, and mixed things up with think-pair-share, jigsaws where groups become the “experts” who present the information to the class, think-pair-share, small group discussions, and class discussions.
For a list of strategies, visit my Professional Inquiry Project by clicking on the link.
PSII PROFESSIONAL GOALS AND ATTAINMENTS
Grade 8
Teaching Subjects: English Language Arts and Social Studies. Co-teaching: Foods 8
Goal 1: Further explore the Programs of Study in my major and minor subjects
This marks the first time I am able to plan a unit and I want to create lessons that not only feature a unifying theme, but incorporate applicable and authentic GLOs and SLOS while still being meaningful to students.
Attainment
The ELA short story unit involved planning from a product (short story) and finding applicable SLOs. There were also opportunities to do mini units during Collage Week and the final days of my practicum.
In social studies, students explored 8.3 Worldviews in Conflict: The Spanish and the Aztecs. I introduced a product but did not see it to completion due to my practicum's length, so I planned from SLOs:
8.3.4 assess, critically, how the Aztecs were affected by the Spanish worldview by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
• What were the key elements of the worldview of the Aztec civilization prior to contact with the Spanish?
•How did the Aztec civilization’s worldview influence the Aztecs’ choices, decisions and customs?
Goal 2: Differentiation
I want to apply what I have learned about exceptional learners and create assignments that take into consideration students' diverse learning needs, whether that by an exceptionality or acknowledging all styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). I am particularly interested in tiered assignments and would like to offer students at least one of these during my practicum.
Attainment
This is an area that I wish to further explore in PSIII.
My classroom, like any other, is diverse. When students created "I Am" poems, I gave them the option to present in their own language, since language and culture makes up a large part of one's identity. The only requirement was that the written submission must be submitted in English. No students chose this option. During the creation of their short stories, one student strugged with the writing portion. I offered him a chance to create a graphic-novel-style short story in 12 comic-book-like frames that included dialogue as per the assignment outline. Again, the student did not choose this option.
When the class read short stories as part of this unit, the stories were either read aloud by the teacher or volunteer students, presented in video form ("The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier) or presented in audiobook form ("The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe), to accommodate struggling readers and ELL students.
Goal 3: Authentic assessment
This practicum also marks the first time I am creating summative assessment pieces. My goal is to use a variety of "snapshots" linked to specific learning outcomes, to evaluate student learning.
Attainment
Formative assessment: One of the things I needed to work on in this round of teaching is closure of lessons. In my final weeks, I incorporated new-to-me strategies that not only acted as formative assessment, but gave students an opportunity to reflect — and digest — the information that they just learned. After one lesson, students wrote possible test questions on Post-It notes. In another, individual students volunteered review questions and the rest of the class answered them. Another closure had students create a web that drew on that entire week's lessons. I also read the picture book "You Wouldn't Want to be an Aztec Sacrifice! Gruesome things you'd rather not know" by Fiona Macdonald and asked students, as I read the story, to answer questions based on facts we explored earlier.
Goal 4: Cross-curricular connections
I want to create lessons that link across more than one Program of Study.
Attainment
Social studies and English Language Arts are natural cross-curricular fits because they both examine stories. In social studies, we read the picture books
"You Wouldn't Want to be an Aztec Sacrifice! Gruesome things you'd rather not know" by Fiona Macdonald and "The Rabbits" by John Marsden. This gave us an opportunity to explore point of view and narration, as well as theme and kinds of text that differ from a textbook. (ELA PoS: 1.1 Discover and explore; 1.2 Clarify and extend; 2.2 Respond to texts; and 2.3 Understand forms, elements and techniques)
Foods class also incorporates math when doubling a recipe, as well as GLO 5 in the ELA program of study, which emphasizes respecting others and strengthening community, and working within a group.
Teaching Subjects: English Language Arts and Social Studies. Co-teaching: Foods 8
Goal 1: Further explore the Programs of Study in my major and minor subjects
This marks the first time I am able to plan a unit and I want to create lessons that not only feature a unifying theme, but incorporate applicable and authentic GLOs and SLOS while still being meaningful to students.
Attainment
The ELA short story unit involved planning from a product (short story) and finding applicable SLOs. There were also opportunities to do mini units during Collage Week and the final days of my practicum.
In social studies, students explored 8.3 Worldviews in Conflict: The Spanish and the Aztecs. I introduced a product but did not see it to completion due to my practicum's length, so I planned from SLOs:
8.3.4 assess, critically, how the Aztecs were affected by the Spanish worldview by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
• What were the key elements of the worldview of the Aztec civilization prior to contact with the Spanish?
•How did the Aztec civilization’s worldview influence the Aztecs’ choices, decisions and customs?
Goal 2: Differentiation
I want to apply what I have learned about exceptional learners and create assignments that take into consideration students' diverse learning needs, whether that by an exceptionality or acknowledging all styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). I am particularly interested in tiered assignments and would like to offer students at least one of these during my practicum.
Attainment
This is an area that I wish to further explore in PSIII.
My classroom, like any other, is diverse. When students created "I Am" poems, I gave them the option to present in their own language, since language and culture makes up a large part of one's identity. The only requirement was that the written submission must be submitted in English. No students chose this option. During the creation of their short stories, one student strugged with the writing portion. I offered him a chance to create a graphic-novel-style short story in 12 comic-book-like frames that included dialogue as per the assignment outline. Again, the student did not choose this option.
When the class read short stories as part of this unit, the stories were either read aloud by the teacher or volunteer students, presented in video form ("The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier) or presented in audiobook form ("The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe), to accommodate struggling readers and ELL students.
Goal 3: Authentic assessment
This practicum also marks the first time I am creating summative assessment pieces. My goal is to use a variety of "snapshots" linked to specific learning outcomes, to evaluate student learning.
Attainment
Formative assessment: One of the things I needed to work on in this round of teaching is closure of lessons. In my final weeks, I incorporated new-to-me strategies that not only acted as formative assessment, but gave students an opportunity to reflect — and digest — the information that they just learned. After one lesson, students wrote possible test questions on Post-It notes. In another, individual students volunteered review questions and the rest of the class answered them. Another closure had students create a web that drew on that entire week's lessons. I also read the picture book "You Wouldn't Want to be an Aztec Sacrifice! Gruesome things you'd rather not know" by Fiona Macdonald and asked students, as I read the story, to answer questions based on facts we explored earlier.
Goal 4: Cross-curricular connections
I want to create lessons that link across more than one Program of Study.
Attainment
Social studies and English Language Arts are natural cross-curricular fits because they both examine stories. In social studies, we read the picture books
"You Wouldn't Want to be an Aztec Sacrifice! Gruesome things you'd rather not know" by Fiona Macdonald and "The Rabbits" by John Marsden. This gave us an opportunity to explore point of view and narration, as well as theme and kinds of text that differ from a textbook. (ELA PoS: 1.1 Discover and explore; 1.2 Clarify and extend; 2.2 Respond to texts; and 2.3 Understand forms, elements and techniques)
Foods class also incorporates math when doubling a recipe, as well as GLO 5 in the ELA program of study, which emphasizes respecting others and strengthening community, and working within a group.
PSI PROFESSIONAL GOALS AND ATTAINMENTS
Grade 4
Teaching Subjects: English Language Arts, Computers, Social Studies
Goal 1: Publishing
"Language Arts: Content and Teaching Strategies" outlines the final stage of the writing process as “publishing.” In the Language in Education class on campus, we explored ways students may share their writing, including making submissions to writing contests, hosting read-aloud parties and posting online. One of the questions I aim to explore during my five weeks in a Grade 4 classroom for PSI is: How do teachers incorporate the publishing stage of writing in their classrooms? I want my students to believe in their ability to write; I want them to see themselves as great writers because it bothered me to hear my university classmates say that they never thought of themselves as writers because no one ever took the time to recognize their ability. I think when students share their writing with an audience that it boosts their confidence and they start to see themselves as authors.
Attainment
The final task in our newspaper project was to create a front page. Students spent two lessons creating a rough draft of their front page that included the name of the newspaper, the date, price, a colourful picture complete with a headline and caption, a “teaser” to a story inside the newspaper, weather forecast, and index. Before moving on to working on the final, good copy of their front page, I had students do a gallery walk of their rough drafts on Dec. 6 (pictured at left). Students noted elements they liked about others’ pages and we talked about them during a class discussion following the gallery walk. (They had some really great ideas such as weather forecasts that spanned seven days instead of one and including their name as the editor.) Many students incorporated ideas they gathered during the gallery walk into the final copy of their front page. In this instance, students learned from each other and it resulted in better work than if they’d done the assignment on their own and never shared their draft copies with their classmates.
Goal 1B: Book talk
Another PSI goal is to incorporate at least one book talk into every subject I teach during my five weeks in the classroom. Because this goal is linked to literacy, I consider it an extension of my first goal.
Attainment
Teaching English Language Arts presented several opportunities to open a lesson with a book talk. On Nov. 20, I read “My First Best Friend” from “Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme” by Jack Prelutsky to introduce alliteration. Before put our new knowledge of alliteration and onomatopoeia into action on Nov. 22 by creating comics, I read “Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman” by Marc Tyler Nobleman. The book also showed how voice bubbles of different shapes communicate meaning and enhance effect (ELA 2.2). On Nov. 25, I read “Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut” by Margaret Atwood to show how alliteration can be used (A LOT) within a sentence.
Goal 2: Technology
I want to explore how laptops can enhance a lesson.
Attainment
Bam! Beep! Zoom! While working on our newspaper project, students studied onomatopoeia and alliteration through the use of comic strips. After an introduction to onomatopoeia, which describes words that imitate the natural sound associated with an action or object, and alliteration, which is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of each or most of the words in a sentence, students viewed as a class several comic strips to identify examples of onomatopoeia. The group then discussed the purpose of onomatopoeia and its effect in a story. In subsequent lessons, students did the same thing with alliteration — identify examples in poetry, and then discuss the purpose and its effect. Finally, students worked individually to create their own comic strips that include onomatopoeia and alliteration.
There are plenty of free online comic-strip templates available that I could have printed but Learn Alberta offers an online resource that shows students how to design effect posters, newspapers and comic strips (http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/elci/). The resource covered two learning outcomes:
• Explain how language and visuals work together to communicate meaning and enhance effect, and
• Recognize how words and word combinations, such as word play, repetition and rhyme, influence or convey meaning.
Any time you bring the laptop cart into the classroom, the students can’t contain their enthusiasm. The students were eager to complete the assignment that stated they must include one instance of alliteration in the title and at least one example of onomatopoeia in their comic. The laptops also provided a chance to explore some ITC outcomes, including digital etiquette. I do not believe it is enough to create rules and policy; we must show students how to become responsible digital citizens. The lesson included a discussion about why their comics should be of a non-violent nature and not hurtful toward other students.
Onomatopoeia and Alliteration in Comic Strips Lesson that incorporates Goals 1, 1A, and 2
Goal 2B: SMARTBoard
I feel comfortable using computers but the SMARTBoard is a classroom tool that is new to me. I aim to use it not solely as a glorified projector, but have students interact with at least one lesson on the interactive whiteboard.
Attainment
The SMARTBoard is invaluable in the classroom. I incorporated Prezi and PowerPoint presentations, and videos in several of my lessons — all of them were shown on the SMARTBoard. Creating an interactive lesson in language arts that complemented my newspaper unit was a challenge. On Dec. 4, in the final week of my practicum, I helped our science teacher run a Jeopardy-style interactive game with the students as a form of formative assessment for their unit on light and shadows. The students enjoyed coming up to the board and selecting their category and point value. I believe the student involvement held their attention during what could have been an otherwise boring review class.
Teaching Subjects: English Language Arts, Computers, Social Studies
Goal 1: Publishing
"Language Arts: Content and Teaching Strategies" outlines the final stage of the writing process as “publishing.” In the Language in Education class on campus, we explored ways students may share their writing, including making submissions to writing contests, hosting read-aloud parties and posting online. One of the questions I aim to explore during my five weeks in a Grade 4 classroom for PSI is: How do teachers incorporate the publishing stage of writing in their classrooms? I want my students to believe in their ability to write; I want them to see themselves as great writers because it bothered me to hear my university classmates say that they never thought of themselves as writers because no one ever took the time to recognize their ability. I think when students share their writing with an audience that it boosts their confidence and they start to see themselves as authors.
Attainment
The final task in our newspaper project was to create a front page. Students spent two lessons creating a rough draft of their front page that included the name of the newspaper, the date, price, a colourful picture complete with a headline and caption, a “teaser” to a story inside the newspaper, weather forecast, and index. Before moving on to working on the final, good copy of their front page, I had students do a gallery walk of their rough drafts on Dec. 6 (pictured at left). Students noted elements they liked about others’ pages and we talked about them during a class discussion following the gallery walk. (They had some really great ideas such as weather forecasts that spanned seven days instead of one and including their name as the editor.) Many students incorporated ideas they gathered during the gallery walk into the final copy of their front page. In this instance, students learned from each other and it resulted in better work than if they’d done the assignment on their own and never shared their draft copies with their classmates.
Goal 1B: Book talk
Another PSI goal is to incorporate at least one book talk into every subject I teach during my five weeks in the classroom. Because this goal is linked to literacy, I consider it an extension of my first goal.
Attainment
Teaching English Language Arts presented several opportunities to open a lesson with a book talk. On Nov. 20, I read “My First Best Friend” from “Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme” by Jack Prelutsky to introduce alliteration. Before put our new knowledge of alliteration and onomatopoeia into action on Nov. 22 by creating comics, I read “Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman” by Marc Tyler Nobleman. The book also showed how voice bubbles of different shapes communicate meaning and enhance effect (ELA 2.2). On Nov. 25, I read “Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut” by Margaret Atwood to show how alliteration can be used (A LOT) within a sentence.
Goal 2: Technology
I want to explore how laptops can enhance a lesson.
Attainment
Bam! Beep! Zoom! While working on our newspaper project, students studied onomatopoeia and alliteration through the use of comic strips. After an introduction to onomatopoeia, which describes words that imitate the natural sound associated with an action or object, and alliteration, which is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of each or most of the words in a sentence, students viewed as a class several comic strips to identify examples of onomatopoeia. The group then discussed the purpose of onomatopoeia and its effect in a story. In subsequent lessons, students did the same thing with alliteration — identify examples in poetry, and then discuss the purpose and its effect. Finally, students worked individually to create their own comic strips that include onomatopoeia and alliteration.
There are plenty of free online comic-strip templates available that I could have printed but Learn Alberta offers an online resource that shows students how to design effect posters, newspapers and comic strips (http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/elci/). The resource covered two learning outcomes:
• Explain how language and visuals work together to communicate meaning and enhance effect, and
• Recognize how words and word combinations, such as word play, repetition and rhyme, influence or convey meaning.
Any time you bring the laptop cart into the classroom, the students can’t contain their enthusiasm. The students were eager to complete the assignment that stated they must include one instance of alliteration in the title and at least one example of onomatopoeia in their comic. The laptops also provided a chance to explore some ITC outcomes, including digital etiquette. I do not believe it is enough to create rules and policy; we must show students how to become responsible digital citizens. The lesson included a discussion about why their comics should be of a non-violent nature and not hurtful toward other students.
Onomatopoeia and Alliteration in Comic Strips Lesson that incorporates Goals 1, 1A, and 2
Goal 2B: SMARTBoard
I feel comfortable using computers but the SMARTBoard is a classroom tool that is new to me. I aim to use it not solely as a glorified projector, but have students interact with at least one lesson on the interactive whiteboard.
Attainment
The SMARTBoard is invaluable in the classroom. I incorporated Prezi and PowerPoint presentations, and videos in several of my lessons — all of them were shown on the SMARTBoard. Creating an interactive lesson in language arts that complemented my newspaper unit was a challenge. On Dec. 4, in the final week of my practicum, I helped our science teacher run a Jeopardy-style interactive game with the students as a form of formative assessment for their unit on light and shadows. The students enjoyed coming up to the board and selecting their category and point value. I believe the student involvement held their attention during what could have been an otherwise boring review class.