posting

i have posted on patrick, harmony, niki and Carlo A.'s blogs

camping!

in my last week of practicum i was fortunate enough to chaperone a school trip to the scarborough outdoor education centre (soec). this was exciting, not only because it was three days of having meals prepared for me but it was also three days up north with my AT and students right before the end of practicum.
the trip started out on monday with a long morning of travel. we arrived at the camp just after noon.

we loaded all of our things into the cabins setting up our bunks and getting settled before having our introductory session with our host... pete and kris. they spend 4 or 5 days a week at SOEC depending on the schedule, this could be over a weekend or for a full week. it would be a bit much for me to be away from home for the majority of my week but they loved outdoor education and were a lot of fun!

we spent our afternoon touring the grounds. we got to see the lake and high ropes course (only used during the summer for the camp that they hold there to raise money to keep the centre running)

the camp had a pretty strict policy of letting the kids do whatever they wanted to as long as it was out side. this was interesting because it goes against all of the instinct you have as a "grown up" to make sure younger people dont hurt themselves.

needless to say the three days were interesting having kids falling off of rocks and trees, getting hit in the face with branches and being covered in mud, the one thing that i'll remember forever was the time i told the students not to go on the pond, but they thought they were smarter than me because it was cold in the morning and the ice was a little bit thicker than the day before... i mean they couldn't even break it with their hand!!!... after the morning started to warm up we had a student fall through the ice. she was waist deep in mud and water. other than a bruised ego she was fine, i;m happy to report.

it was an expreience that i'll hold close to me through out my early years teaching, letting kids be kids is important! and as long as you remind them to think they usually will not make decisions that would put themselves in too much danger.

i feel like i'm rambling now so i will sign off,

but if you have questions feel free to ask.



art stuff

so i spent a lot of time during my practicum teaching art and art related things!

there were acouple of things that i learned are very difficult to do with students, 1. getting kids to clean up after themselves 2. getting students to listen to your idea for a project if you've already handed out the materials (make it clear that students are not to start making stuff until you say go!) 2. if you think a lesson is going to be tough to squeeze into a period... it will be!!! hahaha

there were acouple of lesson plans that i did with the students. my first week i did a pretty generic landscape assignment because there was a request for remembrance day decorations. my teacher suggested an assignment that she has done in the past, i went with her idea but added and introduction to colour theory in with it.

this was interesting because as i found out not all students can create an image with a cross in it. my teacher had mentioned this, so we made the option of using gravestones instead of crosses. all in all i thought that the students did a good job of not making exactly what the example looked like and the range of colours used was really exciting for me!

the other major art project i got into was a print making assignment, very much in the same vein that we made in art class. we used styrofoam to create printing plates, and then because we didnt have ink in the classroom we managed to do the assignment with acrylic paint. this doesnt work with the liquid tempera paint... just a heads up! 



i also tryed to couple this assignment with a social studies lesson on potlach having the students make multiple prints and redistributing their wealth pf prints to the other students in the class... i dont really think it worked for everyone because at the end of the class a couple of students asked, "what am i supposed to do with these? do i have to keep them?" hahahah

there were a couple of other lessons but i forgot to take pictures of the results. these lessons included:

-how to draw a portrait

-how to draw using one point perspective

-a lesson on group drawing

stay tuned for a post about camping!

-mike

co-teaching

first off i just wanted to thank effie, and miss mckay (sp?) for hosting the co-teaching session today. i was really exciting and informative to see how someone else handles not only a 3 part lesson, and a math lesson. but also how another midtowner handles the students in the classroom.

i must say that as weird as having an extra 6 adults/teachers in a room must have been for the students, they participated extremely well. they seemed engaged and responded to the activities and style of lesson in a really focused and excited way. i was also glad to see the math posters on the walls for all the extra ideas i got for my lessons over the next week.

the only thing that i found incredibly difficult was to not say anything to the students while they were working on their math problems even though they were getting confused and arguing.

my highlight however was how one of the students made fun of me and praised effie bc she was a teacher before i was!

i'll wrap-up by saying thanks once again for having us.

-mike

first week

The first week at school was an interesting one...  the first day being Halloween was a tough one, mainly because my AT was away. She told me it was because her son was sick; however I believe it was because she lost a challenge with her class resulting in her having to wear a chicken costume designed by the students at a school wide assembly. Not being one to rescind on a challenge (more so a bet), and since I really didn’t want to disappoint anyone on my first day. Not only did I wear the chicken costume in front of the entire class I also did the chicken dance for what seemed like 15 minutes straight. It was a nice way to break the ice with the staff and students on my first day.

At first I was a little apprehensive about having to travel over an hour to get to my school, but after spending a week here with the staff and students I really don’t mind it at all. The kids are super fun to be around, they can be challenging at times, but can’t we all.

So far I have done a couple of lessons with them if you are curious about any of them let me know. They are:

-4 health lessons (I find dividing the time between the class and gym makes them more receptive to health)

-2 double period art lessons

-1 drama lesson

(and tried co-teaching a little bit with language and math)  

Having started week 2, i already have some interesting stories for post number 2