My First Semester as a Teacher Candidate

Throughout my first semester of teacher education at the University of Ottawa, there have been many amazing opportunities for growth. In PED 3150, I have grown my professional knowledge, where we have learned about ethics, policies, legislations, learning theories, and pedagogy. My professional practice has grown immensely by learning about the available assessment and evaluation resources. My associate teacher has recommended that I use “On Solid Ground” by Shelley Harward, Marie Clay’s research on language, and Fonuntas and Pinnel’s Prompting Guide. I have created an on-going list of resources from the semester to refer to when creating lessons and activities for Science, Math, Social Studies, Language and classroom management tips.

I treat every student with respect and help them with what they need to become successful in school and our community. I have a very diverse class with many learning needs, such as ELL, blind and low-vision, developmental delays and ADHD, and I will continue to stay committed to their learning. This may include extra reading support, manipulatives, extra time, and, but not limited to, body breaks. This is especially important in my class, as it is grade 1, 2, and 3, and many of the students need one-on-one attention. I offer Adam, a student who is blind with materials to hold while I am teaching or I give extra explanations and details, when we watch videos. I am a leader by modeling a professional example when interacting with the students during the lesson, at independent work periods, in the hallways, on duty, and during craft club.

As an adaptive expert it’s important to observe modeled practices from professionals who have more experience. From observing my professors, workshop presenters and teachers from Alta Vista Public School, I was able to observe and communicate about the process and learn from their teaching styles with the students. From observing, I can gage what is important to me, ranging from tone, to attitude and activities. I can use those examples to guide how I want to teach my students, and what techniques and strategies I would like to use in my own practice. Co-planning and co-teaching are a part of being an adaptive expert, it can be a difficult process with so many minds and opinions. However, it can also make it easier when everyone is cooperating collaboratively to create one cohesive idea. I co-planned and co-taught in all of my courses during the first semester. There were many group lessons plans and activities where we had to come together to create lessons in subjects such as science, math, language, and social studies. Having one goal in mind makes this process easier to complete when working with multiple people. I also co-planned with my Associate Teacher, in terms of what Science units I could teach and some aspects include in my lesson plans. After each lesson, I take time to reflect upon what went well and what went wrong, why that was the case, and how I can improve it for next time. For example, I had a chaotic lesson about forces, which involved using magnets; I have learned to hand out the magnets after I am done explaining everything to the students.

I continue to work on my social presence in the school, getting to know the staff and being friendly with other students and parents. I use my Twitter to post updates about my learning experiences and to build my online presence. I am constantly teaching my students, whether it is social behaviours with their peers, in the hallways, or on the carpet reading. This in turn, leads to my cognitive presence that I continually review to grow my mind and improve myself.

I have realized that teaching is not easy, a lot of energy and effort in prepping and planning is required to be an amazing teacher. I have learned so much, and I will continue to learn from all of my professors, teachers and colleagues, as a had minimal knowledge of resources, curriculum, lesson planning and professional practices prior to this program.