I did my second Practicum for a duration of 4 weeks teaching for 2 blocks. This experience was really great for me to see how it feels to teach for a longer time with more students. The length of this practicum was really great because I had another week and another class to try out my ideas with and get more feedback on my style. The month was tough at first and took some time to adjust to my class and find out how to connect with them. I tried to break the class up as much as possible. I started by breaking up the classroom with different seating plans and activities and then overtime the class got to know me and I understood what worked for them. I found that my students started to get used to my style and techniques in the classroom. At first my students grumbled as each day they came into the classroom the desks had moved to new layouts but by the end of my practicum they were coming in the door disappointed when nothing had changed. I realized that my students had begun to understand and even enjoy the different approach I used to engage the class. I was also able to adjust to them by creating altering my style to suit them. My students had become used to research projects and written essay presentations but I chose to stretch them by getting them to do different oral and visual presentations for their class. When this presented a difficulty for the students I was able to alter my presentation parameters to be more achievable for the students without compromising on the skills that I wanted the students to develop. I learned a lot about how routines can influence a class but also how trust can be built in a classroom. I was also really happy to see the changes that took place in my students learning as they realized my expectations and continued to develop their ideas and understanding. The joy I felt at having more room to explore my approach to teaching cannot be overstated as I felt that I improved and refined my approach to teaching throughout my time with some strategies that were immediate successes and some that were failures. One of my failures was in using a storyboarding activity with my students that I had used with a similar age group and similar lesson. In this instance however, my students reacted poorly and very few even completed the assignment so I pivoted and used it to start a class discussion. What I realized was that my class did not want to engage with a sketching activity when they already felt pressure to complete other tasks. I had to pivot and find a way for the activity to help inform their other work and projects or they did not see the value in it. I realized that I needed to keep a close eye on how my students were handling their work load while also finding activities that matched their interests so that they might be more engaged. The important thing was not to get angry at the students but instead to refine my approach so that I can deal with these types of situations in the future and continue to find ways to engage my students in the meaningful learning we are doing.
