« School's out! | Main | "Ohhhh, We're Halfway There…" »
A great Spring Semester has just ended!
By cavallib | May 16, 2010
Monday, May 10th, was my last day for this semester. It ended on quite a busy note, as I submitted two individual assignments and one group assignment. The group assignment was in my EDCH543 class, Elementary Mathematics Instruction, which also involved a PowerPoint presentation. The topic we covered dealt with some of the ways that technology enhances and supports mathematics instruction beyond traditional means. We had already been introduced to some of these techniques earlier in this course and we saw them being applied during our pre-student teaching placements, which helped us considerably in completing this assignment. My two group partners and I had a good time preparing the presentation and ultimately adding some theatrics when delivering it to the rest of the class.
Still in our Elementary Mathematics Instruction course, I submitted a comprehensive personal reflection encompassing several topics that we studied during this semester. I used a three-step approach in completing this reflection. First of all, I reviewed the material that we covered in class, as well as the assignments and the lesson plan that were submitted during the semester. Secondly, I reviewed the notes that I took during my pre-student teaching placements, which included over 30 hours in a grade 1 class, and over 70 hours in a grades 3 & 4 split class, paying particular attention to my anecdotal notes pertaining to the mathematics classes. I then proceeded to explain how I could take the techniques that I learned and apply them to actual classroom situations. Some of the techniques and activities would be more appropriate for the younger students, while some would be more appropriate for students between grades four and six.
In my Multicultural Social Studies class, EDCH546, I submitted a comprehensive reflection pertaining to the primary sources lesson plan that I submitted recently. Not only did I benefit significantly from completing the lesson plan because of everything that I learned while doing my research, but I also gained an appreciation for the added value generated by using primary sources. My future students will ultimately benefit from what I’m learning about using primary sources to generate my instructional material.
The last day of this semester also included our Elementary Science Instruction class, EDCH545, where we performed several basic in-class experiments, with either four or five students per group. I have always enjoyed conducting science experiments, so this was a great way to end the semester.
Although I usually drove home to Newmarket (Ontario) every Monday night during this semester, this time I stayed in the Buffalo area overnight so that on Tuesday I could visit a 1st grade class at Hillview Elementary School in Lancaster, New York where I enjoyed 30 hours of field placement during the Fall Semester. It was great seeing the children that I worked with six months ago, which brought back a lot of happy memories for me, and I could tell that they were happy to see me too. It was also great to see their teacher, Kyle Doody, whose teaching style really appeals to me. Kyle had some baby pictures to show me, as in mid-April he and his wife welcomed a beautiful new daughter, Addison Patricia Doody.
Until next week’s blog, take care, and please feel free to respond to this entry.
Topics: Childhood Education | Comments Off
Comments are closed.