Practicum Experience

My Practicum experience was in a grade 6/7 class at Juniper Ridge Elementary School. My class in specific had 20 boys and 8 girls, in which I quickly learned to adapt my lessons into more of a competitive alternative so that the majority felt the need to complete the tasks. I had such a wonderful time with this experience because of the competitive nature. I did manage to express to the class for those students who are not as competitive, that the lessons are still is nonetheless, a reflection of their final grade. I had the experience working with many divers-abilities, and high needs from various students. I found myself thinking at times that I wish I was able to divide myself in half to be able to branch out to more students in the timeframe being there. The way I managed this is that I created a checklist of students who I needed to hit and be present with. I went around the room during their working period and had conversations with them 1 on 1. Depending on the situation, I choose to either talk to them there where they were working on the lesson/activity or I chose to pull them into the hallway to talk to them in a quieter environment. That being said, I can confidently say that without a doubt, I truly believe that building authentic relationships with the students is the key ingredient to success. I think that the more the student’s respect, trust, and appreciate you, the more you are setting yourself, as well as the classroom environment up for success. I also decided to take on a floor hockey extra-curricular activity for Grade 3’s and 4’s during lunch periods. I found that due to the lack of opportunities for the younger grades to be involved in clubs, I decided to focus on that age group. I have a background in hockey, and therefore, I enjoyed every minute of this. I do plan on being a coach for volleyball, basketball, and even track & field if the opportunity arises as I have a strong passion for sports.