Associate: Jim Di Caro
Grade: SK/1
William Davis Elementary School
2855 Rivard Ave, Windsor, Ontario N8T 2H9
519-945-1147
Principal: Roz Breshgold
Vice Principal: Wendy Iatzko
Formative Report: Practicum 1a Davis Formative
Summative Report: Practicum 1b Davis Summative
Self Reflections:
1a:
My practicum experience took place in an SK/Grade 1 split class at Davis Elementary with a total of 20 students in the class—six are in SK and fourteen are in grade one. A significant challenge that we faced in this class was keeping the students engaged during lessons and getting them to follow directions. One way to address this would be to create as many cross-curricular lessons involving Drama as possible—that way students would feel less restless and bored. For the most part, the knowledge that students are taught in this class is episteme knowledge, but I liked to rack the students’ brains with questions that developed their gnosis knowledge. I taught them to questions their questions. Over these two weeks, I had come to understand just how much I learn with my students. In this class, we often explored interesting topics, like why the leaves change color in autumn, and at first, I did not know the reason, so discovering the answers with my class really connected me to their learning.
1b:
I stepped out of my comfort zone when I began planning and executing my lessons, since I had never truly done so before this. Now that I have actually had the chance to create and execute my own lesson plans, I have found that this challenge is a constant one, but there are many ways to keep students engaged and it usually all comes down to their interest. When creating a lesson plan, it is essential to consider the age of the students being taught, as well, it is important to know what the students are interested in. In my practicum class, I found that the majority of my students were very intrigued by superheroes, so when I was creating a lesson for Media Literacy on the overt and implied messages that the media portrays to us, I used superheroes and villains to demonstrate how the media depicts “good” and “evil.”
My first practicum experience introduced me to who I want to be as a teacher and I am excited to develop my perceptions with every new experience in the classroom.