Quite a eventful day today. My partner teacher was away for the second part of a workshop so we had another sub. Also, my field advisor came to visit me to observe how I taught students. I had to say that it was one of my most thorough observations for she mentioned a lot of things that I found useful in advancing my career as a teacher.
For the most part, the lesson seemed to be alright. Most students seemed interested, until the note section came about. I guess I'll need to find a way to make notes more interesting. I tried just 10 minutes of notes, but that really seemed to be disengaging for students.
Tired, so that's all for today!
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Busy Busy!
Busy day!
School was essentially quiz in Math and more presentations in Science. There was a good group for Science in where a student was able to demonstrate the ability to present, rather than read off the slides. (It'll be something that I will work on with the students. My partner teachers had an idea that may help with that task!)
After school, I went to get some supplies for my lesson tomorrow. I finally get to introduce a topic with my own set of notes! I'm actually quite stoked to see how it goes. I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong, but that's what being a teacher is!
School was essentially quiz in Math and more presentations in Science. There was a good group for Science in where a student was able to demonstrate the ability to present, rather than read off the slides. (It'll be something that I will work on with the students. My partner teachers had an idea that may help with that task!)
After school, I went to get some supplies for my lesson tomorrow. I finally get to introduce a topic with my own set of notes! I'm actually quite stoked to see how it goes. I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong, but that's what being a teacher is!
Monday, 25 February 2013
Week 3 Monday and interview with the Catholic Board
My first Monday in my last practicum. It's kinda hard to believe it's already week 3...
Anyways, I got the chance to teach Volume to the students today. The first time I taught it, I realized that there was no coherent flow of my steps on the whiteboard. It was like if a tornado hit my whiteboard and scattered my notes all over the place!
Of course, I corrected it for my second batch of students. =P There were a couple of students that were struggling to vision volume, so that'll be something I need to think of to help students figure it out.
Science was presentations. All I can say is that they were a lot different than the presentations I observed at my first practicum school. Of course, they weren't the same type of presentation...
And that marked my day at school! I left early today since I had an interview with the Catholic Board. I managed to arrive about 20 minutes early, so I sat in the waiting room filled with anxiety, yet some sort of confidence. (I seem to be filled with a weird mix of emotions lately...)
Anyways, when I did have my interview, I was greeted by a gentleman. He led me to a medium sized conference room and started by going over my qualifications. After he listed them, he asked me if I would like to add any more qualifications. Since I never mentioned taking IB, I mentioned that.
After that, he asked me a questions that related to the Catholic faith in school, questions on classroom management, dealing with parents, teaching philosophy, passion, and other questions that I can't quite pick up. I think I dealt with each question well, though I noticed that my mouth was EXTREMELY dry after the second question he asked me.
However, I was surprised that I wasn't sweating bullets. The atmosphere was quite easygoing, which I think really helped me with the interview. True, I think there were a question or two that kind of slipped me up, but he helped guide my thinking.
The good thing about this interview was that I found out their (or his I guess?) decision right away. Since I'm not Catholic, I'm unable to work on their sub roster, but I'm on a wait list for a position if it opens up! Pretty good I think since I wasn't expecting an interview from the Catholic Board! =)
Now time to focus my attention for the CBE interview in a couple of weeks...
Anyways, I got the chance to teach Volume to the students today. The first time I taught it, I realized that there was no coherent flow of my steps on the whiteboard. It was like if a tornado hit my whiteboard and scattered my notes all over the place!
Of course, I corrected it for my second batch of students. =P There were a couple of students that were struggling to vision volume, so that'll be something I need to think of to help students figure it out.
Science was presentations. All I can say is that they were a lot different than the presentations I observed at my first practicum school. Of course, they weren't the same type of presentation...
And that marked my day at school! I left early today since I had an interview with the Catholic Board. I managed to arrive about 20 minutes early, so I sat in the waiting room filled with anxiety, yet some sort of confidence. (I seem to be filled with a weird mix of emotions lately...)
Anyways, when I did have my interview, I was greeted by a gentleman. He led me to a medium sized conference room and started by going over my qualifications. After he listed them, he asked me if I would like to add any more qualifications. Since I never mentioned taking IB, I mentioned that.
After that, he asked me a questions that related to the Catholic faith in school, questions on classroom management, dealing with parents, teaching philosophy, passion, and other questions that I can't quite pick up. I think I dealt with each question well, though I noticed that my mouth was EXTREMELY dry after the second question he asked me.
However, I was surprised that I wasn't sweating bullets. The atmosphere was quite easygoing, which I think really helped me with the interview. True, I think there were a question or two that kind of slipped me up, but he helped guide my thinking.
The good thing about this interview was that I found out their (or his I guess?) decision right away. Since I'm not Catholic, I'm unable to work on their sub roster, but I'm on a wait list for a position if it opens up! Pretty good I think since I wasn't expecting an interview from the Catholic Board! =)
Now time to focus my attention for the CBE interview in a couple of weeks...
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Week Two Wednesday
One of my partner teachers was away for a workshop, thus I had my first official lesson with the students! I taught a brief review on calculating the surface area of a cylinder. For the first batch of kids, I think I blew their minds a bit by going through a ton of detail that isn't really necessary for them to grasp at their level...
Therefore I toned it down a notch for the second batch of kids!
Science was mostly a work period. I had a mini lesson on what a presentation should look like. Last night, I whipped up a Prezi on sleep deprivation following the criteria that my partner teachers were looking for in the students' presentations. I hope I did it justice, for I really rushed through the Prezi to get other things done.
*cough cough* unit plan (almost done the skeleton... and onto making notes!)
Therefore I toned it down a notch for the second batch of kids!
Science was mostly a work period. I had a mini lesson on what a presentation should look like. Last night, I whipped up a Prezi on sleep deprivation following the criteria that my partner teachers were looking for in the students' presentations. I hope I did it justice, for I really rushed through the Prezi to get other things done.
*cough cough* unit plan (almost done the skeleton... and onto making notes!)
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Week Two Tuesday
I've been a lazy bum over the last couple of days for no real reason. I blame it on LoL. And unit planning! I'm not sure how many activities I can fit into my lessons!
Anyways, today went by without a hitch. For math, they learnt to calculate the surface area of a cylinder. I was working with a couple students that had difficulties with these concepts. Unfortunately, I don't think I was able to get the main points across in solving these types of surface area. I think I have an idea of what I could do tomorrow (since we have that math class to continue working on SA) to help facilitate their understanding. *HINT* --> Coloured pens can be quite helpful! I hope though, that I'll have a chance to eventually view their IPPs to see what I can do to better help their understanding.
In science, students continued the experiment we did last Wednesday by trying to figure out whom the source of infection was. Initially, I thought it would be highly difficult to figure it out due to the many variable in play, yet one of my partner teachers had a theory on figuring out the solution. We implemented his theory and it turned out to be pretty helpful in figuring out the culprit. Unfortunately, there were some mismatched data in the first group of grade 8s we couldn't continue with the experiment since it prevented us from "figuring" out the origin of the source.
The second group of grade 8s redid the experiment today, and even managed to single down the class to five possible suspects. I was quite impressed at how fast they actually could figure it out! They were a bit less engaged with the latter part of the experiment compared to the first group of grade 8s, but they still managed to come close to figuring it out!
And that pretty much marks my day!
Anyways, today went by without a hitch. For math, they learnt to calculate the surface area of a cylinder. I was working with a couple students that had difficulties with these concepts. Unfortunately, I don't think I was able to get the main points across in solving these types of surface area. I think I have an idea of what I could do tomorrow (since we have that math class to continue working on SA) to help facilitate their understanding. *HINT* --> Coloured pens can be quite helpful! I hope though, that I'll have a chance to eventually view their IPPs to see what I can do to better help their understanding.
In science, students continued the experiment we did last Wednesday by trying to figure out whom the source of infection was. Initially, I thought it would be highly difficult to figure it out due to the many variable in play, yet one of my partner teachers had a theory on figuring out the solution. We implemented his theory and it turned out to be pretty helpful in figuring out the culprit. Unfortunately, there were some mismatched data in the first group of grade 8s we couldn't continue with the experiment since it prevented us from "figuring" out the origin of the source.
The second group of grade 8s redid the experiment today, and even managed to single down the class to five possible suspects. I was quite impressed at how fast they actually could figure it out! They were a bit less engaged with the latter part of the experiment compared to the first group of grade 8s, but they still managed to come close to figuring it out!
And that pretty much marks my day!
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Teacher's Convention Day 1
No practicum today since it's teacher's convention!
I didn't want to risk not being able to find a parking spot (nor pay for parking for that matter), so I took the train to downtown. It was the first time, from what I can recall, being in the Telus Convention Center. The building has a nice look to it and the rooms are quite posh. I started off my morning with a "Coffee and Coaching" session, hoping to learn some skills that I could use if I'm able to coach the badminton team this year.
It turned out to be a life coaching workshop, which is nice and all, but not really helpful in the stage of my career. Right after the workshop, I ventured to the next workshop, which was for graduating student teachers. Now this workshop was more useful since it explained the steps I needed to do upon graduation. I've heard this lecture from this particular guest speaker before at PD, but it was useful to hear it again and in greater detail.
After that workshop, it was time for lunch. A&W was quite packed with teachers. After a brief lunch, it was onto the next workshop, which was on creating critical thinking questions to ask students. I wasn't able to gleam off much from the lecture, but I'll be getting a package from the guest speaker by post so I can ponder on the process more.
Since we ended that session early, I had an hour to roam around the exhibition hall. I was amazed at all the vendors that were present at convention! There were so many interesting booths that actually caught my attention. I wasn't there for the free stuff (well not really...), more I was looking forward to how these vendors could help me with my career. I saw an interesting math booth that could be very useful for the students I'm teaching now, but the issue would have to be with costs. It's an online program that helps students get the help they need, potentially, but I'm not quite sure what the costs are at the moment. =/
Besides math, I even saw a Canon booth! They had all sorts of cameras, from point-and-shoots to dslrs. They even had the 5D MIII on display!! Apparently, some schools purchase 5Ds for their schools to use. All I can say is that they must be ballers! (I would assume that most schools would go for the T3, since I believe it's the cheapest Canon dslr are the moment).
After walking around for about 50 minutes, I ventured to my last workshop, which was on quantum physics. Aside from the graduating workshop, this was one of the more useful ones for me. I learnt more about experiments I could use with my students. Also, I even learnt/reviewed some quantum physics myself! Double slit experiment!
I also met an old physics teacher at that particular workshop! It makes it hard to believe that time really flies by quickly. It still really feels like I've just graduated from high school... even though I wish I was done with university (practically, I am I guess... Just the practicum now!)
And to finish my post for today, here's a picture I took last night. It took me about 30 minutes to get the picture, since I was trying to write the letters with my iPhone's LED flash.
I believe my settings were: ISO 100, f/11 and bulb setting for the shutter (I think it took me about 30 seconds to take that image).
It was a really fun photo shoot, and I'm planning to do something similar to that again in the future!
I didn't want to risk not being able to find a parking spot (nor pay for parking for that matter), so I took the train to downtown. It was the first time, from what I can recall, being in the Telus Convention Center. The building has a nice look to it and the rooms are quite posh. I started off my morning with a "Coffee and Coaching" session, hoping to learn some skills that I could use if I'm able to coach the badminton team this year.
It turned out to be a life coaching workshop, which is nice and all, but not really helpful in the stage of my career. Right after the workshop, I ventured to the next workshop, which was for graduating student teachers. Now this workshop was more useful since it explained the steps I needed to do upon graduation. I've heard this lecture from this particular guest speaker before at PD, but it was useful to hear it again and in greater detail.
After that workshop, it was time for lunch. A&W was quite packed with teachers. After a brief lunch, it was onto the next workshop, which was on creating critical thinking questions to ask students. I wasn't able to gleam off much from the lecture, but I'll be getting a package from the guest speaker by post so I can ponder on the process more.
Since we ended that session early, I had an hour to roam around the exhibition hall. I was amazed at all the vendors that were present at convention! There were so many interesting booths that actually caught my attention. I wasn't there for the free stuff (well not really...), more I was looking forward to how these vendors could help me with my career. I saw an interesting math booth that could be very useful for the students I'm teaching now, but the issue would have to be with costs. It's an online program that helps students get the help they need, potentially, but I'm not quite sure what the costs are at the moment. =/
Besides math, I even saw a Canon booth! They had all sorts of cameras, from point-and-shoots to dslrs. They even had the 5D MIII on display!! Apparently, some schools purchase 5Ds for their schools to use. All I can say is that they must be ballers! (I would assume that most schools would go for the T3, since I believe it's the cheapest Canon dslr are the moment).
After walking around for about 50 minutes, I ventured to my last workshop, which was on quantum physics. Aside from the graduating workshop, this was one of the more useful ones for me. I learnt more about experiments I could use with my students. Also, I even learnt/reviewed some quantum physics myself! Double slit experiment!
I also met an old physics teacher at that particular workshop! It makes it hard to believe that time really flies by quickly. It still really feels like I've just graduated from high school... even though I wish I was done with university (practically, I am I guess... Just the practicum now!)
And to finish my post for today, here's a picture I took last night. It took me about 30 minutes to get the picture, since I was trying to write the letters with my iPhone's LED flash.
It was a really fun photo shoot, and I'm planning to do something similar to that again in the future!
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
2nd Day
Even though it has only been a day, I feel like I pretty much fit in with the environment of my practicum school. The morning was pretty uneventful as I went about my daily routines. I helped a student with math and then helped set up a science experiment. For the science experiment, students were trying to learn how widespread an infection could potentially become. To demonstrate that, they had test tubes filled with water. One person had a test tube that had a mixture of water and vinegar (which was to represent the origin of the infection). Then each person had to trade droplets of their water with a couple other students in the class. After trading with four other people, they went up to the teachers to get "tested", which is essentially dropping a droplet of phenol red.
If their test tubes turn yellow, then that means they were infected with... Vinegaritis. For the morning batch of students, the lab didn't turn out so well because the vinegar solution was initially to diluted. We learnt from our mistakes and did the same experiment with the second batch of grade 8s with a test tube filled with pure vinegar. It was able to work this time since we were using a pure solution of vinegar!
After lunch, the students watched a movie for social class. It focused on Japan, since that's their unit of study.
And that was pretty much my day! After school, I got a phone call from the Catholic Division to set up an pre-screening interview! I'm quite nervous since this will be my first formal interview (the other interviews I had were pretty laid back). Luckily, I have time to practice! Good thing I already bought a suit!
If their test tubes turn yellow, then that means they were infected with... Vinegaritis. For the morning batch of students, the lab didn't turn out so well because the vinegar solution was initially to diluted. We learnt from our mistakes and did the same experiment with the second batch of grade 8s with a test tube filled with pure vinegar. It was able to work this time since we were using a pure solution of vinegar!
After lunch, the students watched a movie for social class. It focused on Japan, since that's their unit of study.
And that was pretty much my day! After school, I got a phone call from the Catholic Division to set up an pre-screening interview! I'm quite nervous since this will be my first formal interview (the other interviews I had were pretty laid back). Luckily, I have time to practice! Good thing I already bought a suit!
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