This week’s post is for ALL of you—my EPE friends, as well as my URG friends. This may be the case for the next three weeks, as this is the three week teaching block, which I think you might all be interested in. For those of you that have not gotten there yet, I am going to provide you with a quick look at the whole four year Elementary Education degree because I desperately wish I had this overview in my first year!
Year 1: one semester, once a week, observing and helping in a classroom
Year 2: volunteering 20 hours in an organization that is not a school for one semester; also one hour a week EAL tutoring/additional support one semester (ELNG)
Year 3: Pre-internship (Fall—once a week full day for eight weeks; Winter—3 week block, all day every day. This is when you are asked to teach a full unit, every subject at some point, and a full half day. Both experiences this year are in the same school.)
Year 4: Internship! (Fall—all day, every day, anywhere in SK (well, in certain divisions, as we have to share the province with the U of S students) or an international placement in England)
Photo Credit: Darwin Bell via Compfight cc
I’m very excited to be done school and classes for three weeks and be in the classroom full time. I expect to learn so much this March. My co-op teacher is awesome, the students are fantastic, and my faculty advisor seems great too.
In regards to physical education, I hope to teach at least one lesson, but to simply observe and assist in one, too, would be great, as I have not yet even seen one taught yet! I am also teaching a unit on playground safety, and have tied in some physical activity and Phys Ed. Knowing what was in the Phys Ed curriculum was hugely beneficial, and I knew how to easily include the healthy living and safety aspects. The students are also doing three days outside, and I hope they can get a good chance to get some exercise, too!
Although I’m excited, I’m also very nervous as this will be my first time teaching a unit, and I’m exclusively responsible for everything—assessment, management, time, etc. Here’s to hoping I’ll learn lots, the students will learn lots, and there won’t be too many disasters! I’ll keep you posted!
brooke plant
March 11, 2013 at 7:21 pm
It is crazy how fast these past few university years have gone! The three week block has finally arrived and I think everyone is a little nervous. Of course we are all so excited to be in the classroom putting our theory into practice but with that comes a bit of nerves! As you said, none of us have ever taught a unit before so this is totally new to us. It is going to be the best learning experience for us because we get to see what it feels like being a teacher. We get a chance to work on classroom management skills, assessment tools, getting to know our students, teaching strategies, and find out how we are as teachers through this experience. Best of luck in your three week block, I know you will do great!
alyshiavankannel
March 13, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Thanks for the input and supportive encouragement, Brooke! Hope it is going fantastically for you so far! You’re right– there are so many things that we are putting into practice and we can begin to really see what kind of teacher we might be. One of these big ones for me was assessment, I’m finding!