All semester I have worked with an incredible mentor teacher in their classroom every Wednesday, observing and doing the odd lesson or classroom task here and there as part of the VIU Education Baccalaureate 'Embedded Practicum' program. I, along with my fellow student teacher Mr. Heatcoat, absorbed a lot of practical lessons about class dynamics, classroom management, routines and teaching strategies from Teacher Bunz, a creative Humanities 8 teacher and her students at Dover Bay Highschool. As our two-week practicum approached, Teacher Bunz gave Mr. Heatcoat and I an amazing opportunity. They let us design the first half of a unit for teaching a novel study on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. That is a pretty big opportunity for two studeddnt teachers with barely a semester of training under their belt! Our enthusiasm got the better of us at first as we had dreams of teaching the novel while incorporating character analysis, theme analysis and comparative analysis with the movie. We wanted to incorporate film study and teach elements of film while also doing a creative writing assignment that would have them put themselves in the movie! A practical look as we began planning paired all those big ideas down pretty quickly and Teacher Bunz gave us some realistic feedback on what we might be able to accomplish in those two weeks. So, we focused on a more practical approach to the planning. What did the students need to start the novel, and how do we enhance their connection with it? More importantly, what were our learning intentions over those two weeks? What would the students be able to DO or UNDERSTAND by the end of our time there?
With that in mind, we came up with a focused series of lessons with built-in activities, novel study and a creative writing element that focused on one of the novel's main themes: identity. Students would understand the book's setting, how to analyze and develop characters through the study of the characters in the first two chapters and identify with the characters in a personal way. Mr Heatcoat and I decided that we would co-teach these lessons. In week one he would take the lead in teaching the class and I would provide support and then we would switch in week 2. Week 1 consisted of opening the unit by heading to the library to get the books and then presenting a WebQuest for the students to undertake on the 1960s (the time period when the novel is set). We foolishly thought that this would only take one class to complete! After 2 classes, we completed the WebQuest and began the novel study. As we read through chapter one, the students of Teacher Bunz's class took down the characteristics of each character as they were introduced. This was a fruitful process that allowed students to understand the characters' various physical characteristics and attitudes. This activity, along with the WebQuest, would be important groundwork for future lessons to build on. The activities in week one were designed to build on each other to create a framework for a creative writing project relating to the theme of identity and characters that I would introduce in week two. In discussions with Teacher Bunz I very quickly realized that this type of unit was going to be difficult to do for the large number of ELL students in some of the blocks. I was able to gather (with the help of my fellow student teacher, Teacher Bunz and the Library Resource person) resources to provide support for those students with language challenges that included text with pictures, vocabulary words that we could post around the room on posters, and text slides for all my lessons along with exemplars to assist learning. I learned a LOT about building in accommodations into my lesson plans and was happy to see that I wasn’t excluding anyone in the learning process. I acknowledge, however, that I still have a LOT to learn about making accommodations for the vast range of learners (skill levels, background knowledge, maturity, disabilities, etc) in designing and delivering lessons.
The two things I feel I did well during my practicum were plan and adapt. The planning of the lesson had me doing a ton of research, reading the book (I had never read The Outsiders before!), and creating materials for physical and digital distribution; including worksheets, presentation slides and exemplars to follow. The overall flow of the unit went well and achieved the intended learning outcomes:
- Learners will learn and apply strategies for analyzing and developing literary characters.
- Learners will make connections to their own identity and how the characters in The Outsiders identify.
- Learners will understand and utilize story structure in a creative writing process.
In teaching the lessons, I was fortunate to deliver the same lesson in a day to 2-3 different blocks of students. Each class had a very different dynamic and provided different opportunities and challenges to adapt the lesson. This enabled me to reflect on each lesson with my mentor teacher and fellow student teacher and change things here and there, making it more effective each time it was delivered. I most often found myself pairing back information and making the lesson more focused on 1 or 2 main takeaways I wanted the students to understand. By the end of the day, the lesson was usually dialled in, and I could have more fun with it as my confidence in the process and knowledge of the material made everything much smoother. Adapting quickly and effectively was a new strength I discovered as part of the process.
Aside from being prepared and able to adapt, I found that my past teaching experience both privately and in classroom situations gave me the confidence and skills I needed to quickly understand the class dynamics and connect with the students in the different blocks. This, and the strategies I learned in my Education Professional Studies class, helped with classroom management and engaging the students in the content.
As we were teaching, I realised that, much like being an artist or making art, teaching is a process. It is a process of reflecting on methods, refining your skills, and being creative in your delivery. Becoming a great teacher is as much an art form as being a musician, painter or dancer. That being said, there are many areas that, like my guitar, I need to practice!
The two main areas for development I recognized over my practicum both fall under the category of ‘pacing’. The first one was learning that 80 minutes is NOT a lot of time. Coming up with ONE learning intention per class (maybe 2 if they are closely associated…) is enough. My tendency in my lesson design is to see the full unit picture, which leads to packing too much information into a class lesson. I realized early on in my practicum that this can quickly overwhelm and lose students. I found things went a LOT smoother when relevant activities and information were focused through the lens of the learning intention for that class. Asking the fundamental question of ‘what will they learn in this lesson?’ combined with a ‘the student can…’ statement will help me to focus my lesson design during my next practicum..
The other area of pacing I need to work on is allowing appropriate time between asking questions and receiving a response along with transitions between activities. I realized during my practicum that the goal is not to race through the information and get it all in before the class is over. Waiting until a class is settled and attention is re-directed to where it needs to be is an important aspect in teaching and learning. One that I need to be more aware of. Strategies for improving my pacing in class include:
* Actively incorporating the 7-second rule when asking questions.
*. Providing time and guidance during transitions and ensuring that the entire class is fully engaged and ready before continuing when transitions happen in the classroom.
*. Building in or making time for ‘brain-breaks’
*. Setting timers for activities to understand better how long things actually take vs. how long I THINK they should take.
*. Ensuring lessons aren’t incorporating too many outcomes for one class.
The main thing I learned from my two-week practicum however, was this: I can't wait to start teaching!
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