Only two weeks left?!

I can't believe there's only two weeks left to this!  I've worked really hard, hardly gotten sleep, and I love these students!  I don't know how I can go back to university after this, except that the students have given me a renewed longing for knowledge.  I love seeing their brains take in new information and add it to the things that make sense for them.  I'm so glad for this experience.  I feel like a real teacher, I think the the kids think of me as such, and I know I can do it!

Lessons I've learned after one whole class

Well, I survived my first ever class taught completely on my own.

All in all, it wasn't actually all that bad! However, there's a few things I want to take note of for future use:

1) If I'm doing any kind of reflections journal, I should hang on to it and not let them take it home.  During this class I used them more at the beginning, and when I stopped using it regularly, something else that needs to be kept in mind is the need for consistency, students would forget to bring their journals to class or they lost them.

2) If I'm going to take a lot of time for them to do some kind of project, it better be something that they're going to remember and care about for a long time too.

3) If they're going to spend a long time doing something in class, have plans for things to fill up more time after if they finish quickly or maybe give set amount of time during class and extra time at the end to work more. *Note: Make sure there's extra time to work on it, especially if that's the only time being allotted.

You'd think a girl would learn...

Well, I'm giving up...

Don't worry! not on teaching, but on looking for a lost item.

This week, I lost my USB.  It had absolutely all the work I have done this semester... Luckily, most things I have a hard copy of it or an older version of it, but it's not the most ideal situation.  I meant to back it all up for weeks now, but, of course, didn't.  Last professional semester I broke my USB and had similar issues.  Henceforth, I am backing it up on staff folders, email and the external hard drive.

Internship

It has been a good few years since I last posted about my career.

I'm excited to be posting again... It really feels like it's been too long.

I feel like I need to apologize in advance for any random french posts or phrases.  For this last placement, I was SUPER lucky and I am teaching in a French immersion program, and to boot, I work at a francophone school on the side, so French is actually pretty dominant in my life right now, which I LOVE but makes it harder to talk to people since my mind is going in French.

Anyways!  This semester started out great, I'm learning a LOT!  I love this experience!  That's not to say that I don't think it's really hard, but I am always one to take on a challenge, especially when I was the one that chose it.  I find myself scrambling to keep up with the bright minds I get to help develop.

I'm not going to lie... many times I've wondered if this is truly what I want... and some days I still ask myself that... and it only takes me coming in and spending a few hours with the blessed children I get to teach, or rather who teach me, to remember that this profession is truly a blessing.  It takes a selfless person to be a teacher.  I look at my colleagues and I see such Christlike examples of what leaders need to be.  It's reflected in the students' behaviours too!  I have students correcting students and calling them back to attention and to remember the class rules : Respect and French... I only have two, but they are both important, and they know it and, usually, keep them.

More to come! Especially on classroom management and engaging students!

Classroom Management

It has been oft times said that I need to work on my classroom management skills... both by observers and by myself.  It is for this reason that I will hereby list the methods I have seen, tried, etc. and comment on them.

• HOT (Hands On Top) - While I have found that getting students to put their hands on their heads can be very effective, I just can't bring myself to shout out HOT! haha!
• Hand Clap - mighty effective for getting students' attention, so long as they're not being louder than your clap... otherwise you're doomed
• The Countdown - This one's good, especially when there is some kind of reward/consequence whenever peace is restored (or not) in the 5 (or whatever the number might be) seconds
• The Stare - I've found this one to be least effective, mainly because people tend to not be paying attention to you in the first place, so a silent and subtle hint tends to often not have any effect, but with the right individuals paying attention, this can prove quite successful and is also a very pacific way of calming a class

While I've found that no one works 100%, I've found that they can all be enhanced with a little patience and with some individual rebuking (as in naming the students that are still not paying attention by name)

Eureka

I've been trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to reflect on my lesson plans and show my growth and not scare myself out of my pants with the amount of work I want to get done.  It finally dawned on me that in those moments when I just can't seem to focus on my lesson plans, I could be doing something useful on my computer instead of wasting my time away with useless bubble games or whatever else I might distract my mind with.  That something is now blogging about my adventures as a teacher.