All About PSII
For my second professional semester I had the opportunity to teach Grade 9 at Brooks Junior High School in Brooks, Alberta.
PSII Goals
Below are the goals I developed for my second professional semester. After completing my first professional semester I was able to identify new goals to further my growth as a teacher. These goals identified specific areas that I wanted to work towards and are going to be used as reference points to measure my progress. Having these goals outlined before I start practicum provides me with results to strive for, as well as gives me direction for my professional development. My PSII Goals provide evidence of the ability to critically reflect on teaching and learning experiences and identify strengths and areas for improvement. (KSA 15)
Curriculum - What I Taught
Social Studies
In social studies we studied Issues for Canadians: Economic Systems in Canada and the United States. With sticky notes the students made guesses to where they thought the Canadian economy was and then we compared economic systems along the economic continuum to find where Canada and the United States fell. The students evaluated the advantages and disadvantages to the different economic systems used in various countries. Before writing a persuasive essay on "What Canada's Future Economy Should Look Like", the class participated in a debate to develop the arguments for both sides.
After exploring different economic systems, we examined the role of consumerism in our economy and the effects on quality of life. The students analyzed popular commercials to understand various marketing techniques that are used to promote the products we buy. This topic was especially interesting for the students, as we were able to discuss how consumerism relates to them specifically and the the result was meaningful learning activities. I was able to plan for instruction, translating curriculum and outcomes into meaningful learning activities. (KSA 6) To wrap up our unit on consumerism, the students were presented with the project of having to develop their own advertisement for a "hypothetical product."
Language Arts
For language arts we started into a Looking Forward: Imagine the Future Unit and the goal of the unit was to have the students engage in all 6 strands of language arts: reading, writing, viewing, speaking, listening and representing. The students read, viewed and listened to various futuristic texts including short story The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury, New Terra Poem by Nigel Darbaise and YouTube video Why I Think the World Should End by Prince Ea. After exploring these and other texts we discussed the difference between implicit and explicit texts, character development, mood and theme. Students responded with a "Show Me What You Know" project, where they had to analyze a text of their choice and explain each of the concepts we covered. This project was great, because it allowed students to incorporate their interests into what we were studying and represent their knowledge in a format of their choice. I recognized that there were learner differences in my class and was able to respond with a project where the students could demonstrate their learning in a way that worked best for them. (KSA 5)
To connect the language arts goal of essay writing and the outcomes of what we were studying in social studies, students had to argue in a persuasive essay with reasons and support on the topic of "What Should Canada's Future Economy Look Like?" Through this cross-curricular assignment, the outcomes for both LA and Social Studies were met as students researched their position and developed arguments in their essay. The cross-curricular nature of this project demonstrates my use of the programs of study to inform and direct planning instruction and assessment. (KSA 3)
RTI
In the Response to Intervention class I was able to teach we completed a CTF challenge together. The students were from grade 7-8 and had been previously been exploring concepts of financial literacy. During my time with the class I presented them with the challenge of imagining that they have graduated high school and it is time to move out! They were asked to identify aspects of money and money management that would be helpful to learn in order to be budget savvy when it comes to food before moving away from home. Their task was to develop a food budget based on what they thought their hypothetical “living on your own” situation after high school would be. In your budget you will include: After the challenge they communicated what they have learned during the budget developing process with the class. My background education in business and finance courses helped me demonstrate knowledge of what I was teaching. (KSA 4) I really enjoyed helping the students understand the importance of financial management and the advantage of learning the concepts at a young age.
In social studies we studied Issues for Canadians: Economic Systems in Canada and the United States. With sticky notes the students made guesses to where they thought the Canadian economy was and then we compared economic systems along the economic continuum to find where Canada and the United States fell. The students evaluated the advantages and disadvantages to the different economic systems used in various countries. Before writing a persuasive essay on "What Canada's Future Economy Should Look Like", the class participated in a debate to develop the arguments for both sides.
After exploring different economic systems, we examined the role of consumerism in our economy and the effects on quality of life. The students analyzed popular commercials to understand various marketing techniques that are used to promote the products we buy. This topic was especially interesting for the students, as we were able to discuss how consumerism relates to them specifically and the the result was meaningful learning activities. I was able to plan for instruction, translating curriculum and outcomes into meaningful learning activities. (KSA 6) To wrap up our unit on consumerism, the students were presented with the project of having to develop their own advertisement for a "hypothetical product."
Language Arts
For language arts we started into a Looking Forward: Imagine the Future Unit and the goal of the unit was to have the students engage in all 6 strands of language arts: reading, writing, viewing, speaking, listening and representing. The students read, viewed and listened to various futuristic texts including short story The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury, New Terra Poem by Nigel Darbaise and YouTube video Why I Think the World Should End by Prince Ea. After exploring these and other texts we discussed the difference between implicit and explicit texts, character development, mood and theme. Students responded with a "Show Me What You Know" project, where they had to analyze a text of their choice and explain each of the concepts we covered. This project was great, because it allowed students to incorporate their interests into what we were studying and represent their knowledge in a format of their choice. I recognized that there were learner differences in my class and was able to respond with a project where the students could demonstrate their learning in a way that worked best for them. (KSA 5)
To connect the language arts goal of essay writing and the outcomes of what we were studying in social studies, students had to argue in a persuasive essay with reasons and support on the topic of "What Should Canada's Future Economy Look Like?" Through this cross-curricular assignment, the outcomes for both LA and Social Studies were met as students researched their position and developed arguments in their essay. The cross-curricular nature of this project demonstrates my use of the programs of study to inform and direct planning instruction and assessment. (KSA 3)
RTI
In the Response to Intervention class I was able to teach we completed a CTF challenge together. The students were from grade 7-8 and had been previously been exploring concepts of financial literacy. During my time with the class I presented them with the challenge of imagining that they have graduated high school and it is time to move out! They were asked to identify aspects of money and money management that would be helpful to learn in order to be budget savvy when it comes to food before moving away from home. Their task was to develop a food budget based on what they thought their hypothetical “living on your own” situation after high school would be. In your budget you will include: After the challenge they communicated what they have learned during the budget developing process with the class. My background education in business and finance courses helped me demonstrate knowledge of what I was teaching. (KSA 4) I really enjoyed helping the students understand the importance of financial management and the advantage of learning the concepts at a young age.
Health
The body image unit of study we took a look at the effects of media on body image. The class examine various advertisements to analyze whether the effects were positive or negative and who the target audience was. After this, the students discussed how to change the negative opinions towards body image and brainstormed a possible project they could as a class to accomplish this within their school. There was a broad range of instructional techniques used throughout this unit, from teacher directed to student led projects. (KSA 9) The students decided to create a school Positivity Project modelled after the "People React to Being Called Beautiful" YouTube video. During health class, they pulled students from various classes and filmed themselves giving compliments to these students to spread positivity. All the video clips were assembled into short video that was shown to the school.. |
This was the YouTube video that the students in my health class modelled their project after. For privacy concerns, the school Positivity Project video that they created cannot be posted here.
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Instruction to Create a Learning Environment - My Teaching Strategies
They say if you can teach junior high then you can teach at any level. Junior high teaching is known for classroom management and this practicum gave me lots of opportunities to refine my classroom management skills. Here are a few things that I used in my instruction this semester to make sure all students were able to learn. (KSA 5)
- Build relationships! Getting to know the students helped me understand what they needed from me and how I could help them learn best. Teachers establish relationships with students that respect human dignity. (KSA 8)
- Seating arrangements: After I got to know the students, I was able to arrange the classroom desks so that students were seated to learn best. I found that when the students were able to sit next to their friends that there was lots of off topic chatter and that there was little interaction between different groups of students. By moving the desks into small groups and breaking up the cliques, the discussions were much more on topic and the class was more focussed and on task.
- I learned to use my teacher presence in the class and this helped with management. By showing students that I meant business and that when I was standing at the front and calling their attention towards me, they needed to be quiet. This, along with my teacher voice was something that I had to work on, but by the end of practicum I had it down.
- Providing students with options was something that worked well in situations where a student refused to do the work. I found that instead of sending them out of the room right away, I could present them with the choice of doing the work or leaving the room and most of the time they would choose the work.
- Not talking over students, but rather wait for them to stop talking before I started talking. The rule: When I talk you listen and when you talk I listen worked well with this age group. They needed to know that I wanted them to respect me and that I was going to respect them. Teachers create and maintain environments that are conducive to student learning and understand student needs for physical, social, cultural and psychological security. (KSA 7)
- Build relationships! Getting to know the students helped me understand what they needed from me and how I could help them learn best. Teachers establish relationships with students that respect human dignity. (KSA 8)
- Seating arrangements: After I got to know the students, I was able to arrange the classroom desks so that students were seated to learn best. I found that when the students were able to sit next to their friends that there was lots of off topic chatter and that there was little interaction between different groups of students. By moving the desks into small groups and breaking up the cliques, the discussions were much more on topic and the class was more focussed and on task.
- I learned to use my teacher presence in the class and this helped with management. By showing students that I meant business and that when I was standing at the front and calling their attention towards me, they needed to be quiet. This, along with my teacher voice was something that I had to work on, but by the end of practicum I had it down.
- Providing students with options was something that worked well in situations where a student refused to do the work. I found that instead of sending them out of the room right away, I could present them with the choice of doing the work or leaving the room and most of the time they would choose the work.
- Not talking over students, but rather wait for them to stop talking before I started talking. The rule: When I talk you listen and when you talk I listen worked well with this age group. They needed to know that I wanted them to respect me and that I was going to respect them. Teachers create and maintain environments that are conducive to student learning and understand student needs for physical, social, cultural and psychological security. (KSA 7)
Evaluation and Assessment Strategies I Used
Moving from an elementary classroom in PSI to a junior high class for PSII meant that there was a greater emphasis on assessment and marks. I worked hard to include a variety of formative assessments, along with the summative assessments in the units that I was teaching. The variety of assessments I used provides evidence of my ability to gather and use information about students’ learning needs and progress and assess the range of learning objectives. (KSA 11)
- I kept anecdotal notes for each of the classes that I taught, where I wrote down any observations on the student's' progress.
- Checklists were very helpful for me to use, especially during the projects that we did. They allowed me to keep track of the different stages that the students were on and helped me to know what students I needed to meet with.
- Note Web meetings was an assessment technique that was suggested to me by another social studies teacher that I tried out with my classes. After we went over concepts as a class, I would meet with small groups of students while the rest of the group was engaged in activities. With the small group of students I would ask them questions about the material and they would verbally respond back their answer. I used a rating scale to evaluate how well they understood the material and then would allow them the chance if they wanted to look over the material some more and meet with me again. This worked GREAT with the ESL students in my class, because they were able to explain their answers and didn't have to write them down.
- I kept anecdotal notes for each of the classes that I taught, where I wrote down any observations on the student's' progress.
- Checklists were very helpful for me to use, especially during the projects that we did. They allowed me to keep track of the different stages that the students were on and helped me to know what students I needed to meet with.
- Note Web meetings was an assessment technique that was suggested to me by another social studies teacher that I tried out with my classes. After we went over concepts as a class, I would meet with small groups of students while the rest of the group was engaged in activities. With the small group of students I would ask them questions about the material and they would verbally respond back their answer. I used a rating scale to evaluate how well they understood the material and then would allow them the chance if they wanted to look over the material some more and meet with me again. This worked GREAT with the ESL students in my class, because they were able to explain their answers and didn't have to write them down.