Practicum Reflection By: Brianna Rattray For the five weeks of practicum I was placed in grade 11 biology classrooms

at Assumption College in Brantford. I was fortunate to have two associate teachers, giving me the opportunity to see different approaches to teaching. I was also exposed to both college and university streams proving to be an excellent learning experience. Through out the five weeks I strived to push past my comfort zone and learn as much as I could in what seemed to be a very short period of time. The areas I feel I made the most progress in were general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of context and knowledge of learning and teaching. General pedagogical knowledge was one of the areas I found hard to make progress in under the circumstances and time restraints of the practicum experience. It is a knowledge that will take many years of teaching to truly master. It is also knowledge that forces teachers to change teaching strategies for each individual class to properly meet the needs of students. During observation weeks I tried to soak in how my associates interacted with the students as a group and individually. I took note of classroom management strategies and began learning names of students and some of their interests. I had never been in a college level class in my life so learning different strategies to help them learn was a definite learning curve for me. College students did not seem to be motivated by grades, showing up for class was a milestone for most of these students. The majority of the class had IEPs

and they did not have high perceptions of their own academic abilities. Sparking interest for these students was key because otherwise they had no real motivation to learn the material. My associate teacher was excellent with these students and I learned a great deal on how best to teach these students. Fill in the blank notes were used to keep writing and note taking to a minimum. Hands on activities, and inquiry were key to keeping these students engaged and to help with general understanding. Concept maps worked excellent to help students visualize large concepts and labs really helped students internalize what they were learning. One of the major differences I saw between the university and college classes was the way in which they were treated and taught. Different teachers taught these classes so it may have been merely a difference in teaching styles but it was quite apparent that these students had different motivations and expectations. University level students were in the habit of copying notes and regurgitating information when it came time to be tested. When asked to think or problem solve they often just wanted you to give them the right answer. They were only interested in learning what would be tested. I feel like the way we teach college students should be the way we teach all students, modifying the difficulty of material and what is expected for different levels. All students benefit from hands on activities and inquiry labs, however it appears to me we are doing a disservice to our academic stream students. These students have been taught to take in information and spit it back out. It seems like

they have lost their passion and love of learning. They remind me of robots, they ask minimal questions, are hesitant to participate in activities and just want an A. When I have my own classroom I would like to foster an environment that is open to questions, inquiry and discovery. It was hard to walk into a classroom half way through the semester and completely change teaching styles. I could have tried a little harder to incorporate more inquiry for the University class and in the future I will. I feel to truly improve your own pedagogy you need to have your own classroom, with your own teaching methods and your own classroom management tools. Walking into a classroom where rules were already set and the same teaching methods had been practiced for months made it hard to develop my own ideas and styles. Knowledge of context was another area I was able to grow in over my placement. Assumption College is a Catholic school so most of their values are in line with that of the Catholic teachings. I had the opportunity to attend a professional development day that went over the Catholic graduate expectations and how every classroom should be exemplifying these values. In the end it comes down to caring for all of your students and being an understanding and positive role model for them. I found I was really good at getting to know students and understanding where they were coming from. This is a skill I have developed working with teens as a camp counselor and hope to always possess. While on placement I had students struggle with deaths in their family as well as other family issues and they all felt comfortable talking to me about the struggles they were having. Being a high school

teacher it is important to be flexible and understanding, many students are taking on more than they can handle. Assumption is very close to a first nations reserve as well as low income housing in Brantford. This makes the demographic different than other catholic schools in the area. I learned quickly that the Aboriginal student population was quite high, that many of my students were involved with drugs and possibly gangs and that students had high responsibilities at home for their age. This was especially true of my college class. Homework is sometimes needed to get everything finished but trying to give students enough class time to complete work really seemed to increase their success and decrease undue stress. One area I was a little surprised about was the amount of pressure put on some students to get good grades. Certain parents were very persistent and communicative of their desire for their son or daughter to increase their grade. I never would have thought so much anxiety could be brought forth by a little quiz. I tried to have small assignments and labs to be graded so not as much weight was put on the test. I am unsure of what the appropriate balance should be with this regard. I would like to say that high stakes tests are unnecessary and that students can be evaluated by other means. This being said this does not actually prepare University students for University. Undergraduate programs unfortunately put almost all weight on high stakes exams and students need to learn how to study properly and deal with this stress. Maybe in the future I could go over study skills and stress relieving strategies with the class to avoid such anxiety.

Students in the university classes may have just wanted an A and stressed about the attainment of this grade, however college students were almost the opposite. Many college students did not think they were capable of getting an A, which ultimately turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I often would get labs back with whole sections left blank, when asked why they didnt do the graph students would reply that they couldnt do math. For these students it was essential to truly believe in their ability to succeed. Many of these students were rarely told they were intelligent enough to succeed. I learned quickly that this had to be forced for some students. I handed back labs and would point to the empty section and stand beside them until they answered the question. I would force answers out of them for tests. What was interesting was that they usually knew the answer but would rather write nothing than get the question wrong. I found teaching these students challenging but extremely rewarding. In the future I would love to teach a college level class and try my best to instill in them more confidence in their abilities. Knowledge of learning and teaching was my last major area of development during my placement. It was eye opening to try and teach the way you feel is best versus falling back into the regular pattern that you are used to. I found that grade 11 biology had a ridiculous amount of content to cover and that it was difficult not to revert back to lecture style note taking and using the textbook as a major resource. This is an area I would like to continue my growth in. In the university level class I followed the way my associate teacher taught which involved a great deal of note taking. I did not enjoy teaching this way and

would definitely change the way I did it in the future. Students were disengaged and the lessons felt lack luster. I did attempt a couple of new strategies with this class including a collaborative review for one of the chapter tests. This involved students teaching each other particular parts of the chapter as review. It worked well, but in the future with such a large class I would separate the class into smaller groups and do the activity within those groups. Another method I found useful was having an interesting fact at the beginning of every lesson. The plant unit was somewhat dry so having an interesting plant of the day before every lesson made students excited to begin class. Also diagrams proved to be extremely useful in the anatomy unit. When students were given diagrams to label (ex. draw arrows to show blood flow through the heart) it helped to solidify the concept. I would try to use more diagrams and less actual notes in the future. With the college class I feel I did a better job of changing up activities, they had less material to cover and this made it easier to do more activities. One activity I tried was using pipe cleaners to demonstrate the difference between mitosis and meiosis. It worked quite well, crossing over got a little messy and I would try to think of a better way to demonstrate that in the future. Overall it was worthwhile to have students demonstrate the process hands on and my associate said she would use the activity again in the future. I created an investigative circulatory and respiratory lab for the college students in which they all seemed to enjoy completing. I found labs were able to

bring out the best in some of the students who other wise did poorly or were not always attentive. One thing I would like to improve on in the future would be introducing increased responsibility for the creation of labs on the students. It would be difficult to get them motivated to do this but I think it would be extremely worthwhile for them to create their own labs. Overall my practicum experience was amazing. I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunities I was given and to have access to knowledge from both teachers. I learned a great deal on pedagogy but look forward to developing my own personal style of teaching and finding what works best for me. I was made aware of many different contexts with regards to Assumptions College community; the struggles teens face today and the differences between college and university level classes. My knowledge of learning and teaching started to develop and push the boundaries of my comfort zone. I look forward to my next placement where I can further push those boundaries, rely less on the textbook and be more genuine to my own intentions and values as a teacher.