Two Weeks Left!!

As I cross off each day on my calendar I realize that time is going by much faster than I could ever imagine.  In about two weeks I'll be able to go back home and begin my month-long practicum session.  I still don't know which teacher I'll be working with or what grade I will start with but my associate teacher tells me that by the end of this week I will have that information (hopefully).  The minute I do I think I will run straight to our resource library because we'll be allowed as student teachers to take out a max of 50 items (big books, kits, instruments, novels, pop ups etc) for the ENTIRE practicum session...so excited!

In addition to that excitement is the anxiety of what is to come.  Our assignments at school have become more focused in lesson planning, classroom management, observation, etc.  For example, this week for language I need to prepare a book for modeled reading.  We were requested to borrow Canadian works and after grabbing about three I've decided to go with Barbara Reid's "Fox Walked Alone"...it's the story of Noah's Ark in the perspective of a lonely fox journeying with the other paired animals to the ark.

To get us familiar with linking images and thoughts to ourselves and the students, we've been instructed to use sticky notes on each page to help us to pause, reflect and discuss in a relevant way when reading the story.  Eventually I'll be able to do this with fewer sticky notes and maybe less writing on them....but for now my pages are going to be covered (baby steps!).  Discussion in our group reminded us of how often we were unaware of what the teacher was truly accomplishing in something as (seemingly) simple as story time.

In addition to that, I will have to finish up a group project on a critical issue in education and also submit the infamous summer reading book report.  In between these more time consuming assignments are the daily readings on class observation, learning needs, math & science lesson planning and psychology of learning language plus many more.  

What I find interesting is that all of my professors keep telling us that we're not really listening until we come back from practicum.  I guess it's hard to pack all this knowledge and advice into your brain when you have no idea what to expect... but it seems that it's a common pattern and they're more than excited to see us afterward when we have an even deeper thirst to learn everything possible before our next round of teaching.

I also need to start thinking about where I'd like to do my alternative practicum.  This will be a two week period near the end of the school year where we can choose and orchestrate a practicum session with anyone anywhere.  The problem for me is making the decision in time for the proper arrangements to be made.  Options vary from hospital reading programs, government work to science or museum centers.  To narrow it down to one seems impossible at the moment... I'm going to keep thinking about it and maybe visit the career office for some suggestions.  We've been told to treat the official practicums as business and the alternative as a fun exploration. For now I think I'll just stay focused on what I need to do to prepare for my first practicum session.

Oh and I also forgot to mention that two of my classes have specific assignments about personal development.  For math, we've been told to pick anything new or unfamiliar to learn over the course of the year and to keep in mind the perspective of a new learner, how math is incorporated and the emotions involved as you learn and succeed in a new task.  For my visual arts course, we've been asked to pick any media (or multimedia) and focus on developing our skills and interests in that field... I love the arts so the minute I heard this I was just ecstatic that something I had personally wanted to do for a long time could now serve dual purpose for a course.

So what did I end up choosing?  Well, for the math course I've decided to explore professional cupcake and cake decorating...it sounds random but I've had a few peers who've established their own side business once they learned the technique. Plus, the artistry involved is something that really appeals to me right now.  My roommates are also MORE than willing to help in any which way (particularly the tasting haha).  For visual arts, I've decided to explore water colours.  It was one of my favourite mediums to work with way back in high school and I think it's just a very calming process.  I think it will do wonders to my sense of self and also help me to alleviate stress in a healthy natural way.  I've done a few practice pieces experimenting with watercolour pencils and different brushes etc.  I'm tempted to share them with you all but I'll need to swipe a friend's camera to do it.

In the meantime, I need to finish filing all my notes and worksheets I've collected over the past week or so.  I hope all of you are having an exciting September as well!

Happy Teaching!