We had a guest lecturer for this topic, and man, was it ever interesting! I took about three pages of notes, but I will bullet point my key takeaways from the presentation and Q&A so it’s easier to follow than my ramblings of excitement.

Connectedness

  • Daily routines are key with students!
    • Start the day with something engaging (a daily joke, a funny video, the wordle)
    • Have a class playlist on when students come into the room (you could also use this for a Friday afternoon game of music bingo!)
    • Using mood scales (whether a simple 1-4 or a funny meme picture of raccoons or something) are a great way to have a daily check-in to see where students are at. Feeling like a 4? They must be having a great day! Feeling like a 1? Now I know to check in with them later or let them know I am available if they want to talk
  • Have fun!
    • Write notes on the board that get students involved
      • Start low risk at the beginning of the year as you’re getting to know them (eg. your favourite animal, favourite food, etc) and build up to more high risk ideas later on (eg. What’s your favourite thing about being in this class?)
    • Leave space for doodling at the end of a test or use memes for review (this works especially well with middle school students)
  • Find what works for you and stick with it!
    • It’s great to want to try 1000 different things to see what you mesh with, but don’t try to do it all at once. You’ll give everyone a headache and won’t be able to establish a routine if it’s always changing!
    • Maybe try one thing a year to see if it works for you (and if it isn’t working, you’ll know pretty quickly that you need to make an adjustment sooner than later)
  • Classroom behaviour
    • Make sure you meet each student with fresh eyes and an open mind (regardless of what last year’s teacher may have said about them). They deserve to be respected and valued for who they are, not who you’ve heard they may be
    • Get to know what skills, interests, or strengths each student has that you can help foster in your classroom
    • Respect your students
      • Don’t talk over them (this may lead to a bit of awkward silence but if you are respectful, chances are they will get the idea to do the same for you)
      • Set a method for the class (countdown, raising a hand means finish your sentence not your paragraph, etc)

Assessment

  • BC Education’s Proficiency Scale
    • More of a focus on skills (core competencies) than on grades (this can be huge for students who were used to grades as they no longer receive a letter but instead receive emerging, developing, proficient, or extending in terms of their work)
    • Model your expectations (provide at least two examples – proficient (the goal) and emerging/developing)
  • Differentiate your instruction and assessment!
    • Not everyone learns or shows their understanding the same way. Let me repeat that.
      • Not everyone learns or shows their understanding the same way.
    • We need to make sure we are reaching all students, not just the majority in the middle (for a great explanation, check out Shelley Moore’s video on inclusive learning)
    • Differentiating also builds confidence and skills for students (Not a fan of written work or presentations in front of the whole class? Shoot a video instead!)
    • Assignments don’t have to be dull. Spice them up and let student creativity shine! This allows for more buy-in and more interesting marking!

Practicum

  • Take risks and have fun! Your mentor is there to catch you if something goes wrong
  • Always have a back-up plan
    • If your lesson is going sideways, have a Plan B to get it back on track!
  • Failing is okay!
    • You obviously don’t want to plan to fail, but being able to adapt and correct is important!

I was talking with a couple I know after our class and they were asking how my classes were going, where I would be for practicum, that sort of thing. I told them I was excited but nervous to be going into a grade 7 class in just a few weeks. I hate not feeling competent, and that is exactly how I feel when trying something new. One of them used to be a teacher and she asked me if I had a teaching motto yet. When I said no, she offered me hers. She told me that not only did she use this with her students, but they used it with all five of their kids when they were growing up and even to this day! Her motto is:

“Do your best and no less.”

This is the kind of teacher, parent, and human I want to be. Even if you don’t do well, as long as you do your best, that’s all that can be asked of you. Maybe you don’t understand calculus, and maybe you never will, but if you try your hardest and give 100%, you should be proud and that should be celebrated. Because putting yourself into it and trying is more important than anything else.