VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Summary of Field Experience - EDFE 610
Year 6 Final Practicum

Student Name: Annie Zurrer VIU Student #:

Date: Dec. 15, 2017 Course Code: EDFE 610

Practicum School Tansor Elementary Program: EDFE 610

Grade(s)/Subject(s) Grade 3/4 School District: Cowichan #79

Supervising Teacher(s): George Knight/Cassie Ward Date: Fall 2017

Practicum Supervisor: Carol Minchin Regional Coordinator: Mr. Ted Zinkan

Context (school, class/teaching):

Annie completed her final practicum at Tansor Elementary School. The school is situated in a rural
area in the Cowichan Valley. The school is in a blue-collar area with a low socio-economic base. The
school has 14 divisions and approximately 280 students.

Annies sponsors, George Knight and Cassie Ward, have a grade 3/4 classroom. There are 12 grade
3 students and 7 grade 4 students. An educational assistant helps to supervise 4 students with
Individual Education Plans.

Annies matrices for her teaching units showed thorough knowledge of the big ideas, curricular and
core competencies, and content for this grade level. Lessons were well sequenced, outlined age-
appropriate activities, incorporated multi-modal methods of presentation, and described a variety of
assessment techniques to be used.

The units taught were: Math (subtraction with regrouping), Language Arts (novel study and writing),
Science (experiments on density, temperature, and pressure), Social Studies (First Peoples of
Canada), P.E. (informal games), and Art (First Nations Art integrated with Social Studies).

Annie and her sponsor teachers worked well together and a calm, supportive, inclusive classroom
environment was created. Annie successfully modelled established routines and this allowed a
smooth transition from teacher to student teacher.

Summary:

Standard 1 Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests.

Annie brought a very professional approach to all aspects of her teaching practicum. She was
punctual, well-dressed and began each day with a positive, welcoming demeanor. Her sponsor had
sent pictures and short biographies of each student for Annie to study. She remembered names
quickly and made note of the individual interests of each student. She also visited the classroom a
number of times before the practicum started. The students enjoyed the Power Point presentation
about herself that Annie presented the first week. She and the class became attached quite quickly.

When teaching, Annie demonstrated her love of learning and she regularly gave positive recognition
to individuals, recognizing each students strengths. She understood that each student approaches
learning in their own unique way. She provided emotional support both to the class as a whole, and to
individuals who needed a one-on-one approach.

Annie spoke respectfully to her students and delivered her lessons in a calm and relaxed manner. It
took a number of weeks for Annie to find her firm voice, but she did. When needed, she could use
that firm voice to deal with inappropriate behaviour.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

Document1 / REVISED June 2017

Giving students opportunities to share their ideas and opinions was important to Annie. Students
often shared likes and dislikes about a lesson and shared their work with the whole class or a small
group. Students sometimes voted for certain activities. The students felt that she really listened to
them.

Annie used her observation skills to recognize when students were confused and needed more
modelling. She could adapt her lessons, on the spur of the moment, to better match the needs of the
class.

As the practicum progressed, Annie began to feel more comfortable with how to adapt lessons for
struggling or more able students. She followed the behaviour plans set up by her sponsors or
described in I.E.P.s. She sometimes asked students to come up with plans to help themselves better
handle a situation.

The class quickly grew to trust and respect her and they accepted her as their teacher.

Standard 2 Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.

Annie has read the BCTF Code of Ethics and she is well aware of its implications. She is fully
cognizant of the B.C. Teachers Council Standards. She respectfully participated in sensitive
conversations with staff regarding struggling students in the class. She spoke with her sponsor
teachers, principal, colleagues and specialist teachers, to gather ideas of how to teach the unique
learners in her class.

Professional courtesy was demonstrated to me, her sponsor teacher, members of the teaching staff
and parents. She was always honest and open to self-reflection and constructive criticism. She
realized that by being open to new ideas, she could best meet the needs of all her students. She
often asked for advice from her sponsor teachers and from me, discussing pacing, content and
management issues.

Annie accompanied her sponsor teacher on outside supervision to better understand a teachers role
in this situation. Often, parents would converse informally with her at the bus line and when they were
picking up their son or daughter from the class. She demonstrated integrity and dignity both off and
on duty.

Annie was always available to help struggling students at lunch or other convenient times during the
day. The principal noticed that she always arrived at school early and stayed late preparing materials
for her lessons.

It is always appreciated by staff when student teachers volunteer to assist with extracurricular
activities at lunch. Annie and another student teacher supervised a floor hockey league at lunch-
break. She also assisted another teacher with coaching basketball. She is accompanying the floor-
hockey team for a tournament at George Bonner Elementary on the last day of her practicum.

Standard 3 Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.

Helping students make connections was important to Annie and she tried to help students make real
life connections to the big ideas, core competencies, and content descriptions in her units. Her
students really enjoyed the Science experiments as they were always hands-on and involved
activities that were familiar and relevant to them.

Annie used prior and newly-acquired knowledge about her students to design interesting topics for
her lessons across all subject areas. She believes that students learn best with a multi-sensory
approach and hence used a variety of learning techniques during her practicum. Individual work,
group work, stations, and games were incorporated regularly into her lessons. Annie often used the
document camera and Smartboard to model assignments and to view appropriate videos on the
internet to share and discuss with the class. She learned how to use the iPads for spelling activities,
math, research and writing.

As the practicum progressed, she was better able to gage the type of questioning to use for this age
group. She encouraged higher level thinking. She tried some whole-class answering techniques to
help students to focus during lessons.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

Document1 / REVISED June 2017

Standard 4 Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families, and
communities in schools.

At the beginning of her practicum, Annie sent an introduction letter home to parents.
She implemented suggestions from a parent on how to adapt lessons for her son. Annie attended an
I.E.P. meeting for one of her students.

Annie is comfortable chatting with parents informally when they come into the classroom.

Standard 5 Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning,

instruction, assessment, evaluation, and reporting.

Classroom Management:

Annie was well aware of the social and emotional needs of the class. When behaviour concerns
arose during lessons, Annie handled those concerns sensitively and professionally. She practiced
many management techniques such as; giving positive feedback; mentioning specific student names
and stating which behaviour needs to be changed; stopping the lesson, reviewing behaviour
expectations and explaining consequences. For the last few weeks of her practicum, Annie was
practicing using various attention-getting techniques and one minute brain-break activities to keep
students focused.

Annie found that she often had to be a counsellor, mentor, learning assistance teacher, and
classroom teacher. Together with her sponsors Annie adjusted assignments for some students to
help them focus. During writing activities, some students needed some of their work scribed or their
assignments shortened. Annie had a number of math sheets at various levels for students to choose
from. She became familiar with using the iPads for math and spelling as they were motivators for the
students.

There were some students in this class who needed assistance with self-regulation.
Annie learned to focus on dealing with negative behaviours quickly before they escalated. She was
always scanning the class for attentiveness and was quick to redirect students who were off task. She
completed her practicum feeling confident with her ability to follow through with behavioural
expectations and to use techniques to keep positive energy flowing throughout the day. Noise levels
varied throughout the day as Annie learned to set noise level expectations for certain types of
instruction. She allowed a respectful level of noise when students were focused on their work as
partners and in groups but learned to expect quiet when students were working on individual
assignments.

Good management skills were demonstrated when Annie taught Physical Education inside the gym.
She set out clear rules for games and monitored fair play. She always asked students for positive
feedback and concerns after a P.E. lesson. When time allowed, Annie incorporated a cool-down
activity to calm the students before they headed back to class.

Planning and Instruction

Annie provided detailed and well sequenced lessons to me and her sponsors. Learning intentions
were clear and the description of how she was going to present the concepts was easy to follow.

The pacing of Annies lessons improved with experience and she learned to adjust her lessons as
she became more familiar with the academic abilities of the class. She often realized when students
needed more practice with, or modelling of, a concept. She would then extend her teaching time
beyond what she originally planned. There were often changes to the daily schedule and she learned
to shorten or lengthen or change lessons completely!

Annie was constantly reflecting on her lessons and she listened intently to any suggestions given to
her by me or her sponsors. She implemented suggestions quickly. She felt comfortable asking for
advice as she planned, especially when she was trying to adapt lessons for students with I.E.P.s.

Worksheets at varying levels, were designed by Annie, to complement her lessons. These
worksheets were uncluttered and easy to follow.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

Document1 / REVISED June 2017

Modelling is such a necessity for every lesson and Annie became very adept at modelling
assignments in various ways. She asked students to repeat instructions, used the Smartboard and
document camera to show examples, asked students to come up to the board to demonstrate a
concept, and wrote steps for their assignments on the board.

Annie had students share their work with the class. She had them retell or explain main points to the
class in their own way. Sometimes students took down written notes to retell and at other times they
drew pictures.

Assessment and Evaluation

Both formative and summative evaluation techniques were incorporated into all unit plans.
Annie marked assignments daily and kept anecdotal records on student academic performance and
social and emotional needs. She gave weekly quizzes in spelling.

A rubric was given to partners to help them organize their Social Studies poster project. This rubric
was also used for self-assessment and teacher assessment. Partners shared their posters by giving
oral presentations to the class. Rubrics were also developed for Math and the Language Arts.
The iPads were used by students to produce good copies of their summary of the novel, Frindle.

A practicum assignment was to compose three mock report cards based on Annies evaluation of
students progress over her practicum. She chose an above average student, an average student and
a student working below average. She used the template used by the school and she completed
these in a very professional manner.

Standard 6 Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.

Annie demonstrated a sound understanding of the subject areas she taught. Her unit planning
allowed her to create a sequence of lessons which built understanding as the unit progressed. She
explored a number of sources for materials. i.e. the school library, classroom resources, school
resources, resources recommended by her VIU teachers and colleagues, resources collected from
professional workshops and online resources. She realizes that concepts are built upon one another
and students cannot progress from one level of understanding to another until the previous one is
mastered.

Annie has a very good grasp of the English language both orally and in the written form. For further
development, Annie would like to take part in professional development workshops for the teaching of
French in the classroom.

Standard 7 Educators engage in career-long learning.

Adrienne Gears guidebook called, Writing Power, was used by Annie, as a resource for her
practicum.

Annie attended all staff meetings, PLC meetings and Professional Development day activities. She
attended one professional development session which focused on, Understanding Behaviour.

As the document camera, Smart Board and iPads were regularly used by her sponsors, Annie
learned how to use these devices. On the iPads, she learned how to set up Spelling City and Math
practice assignments and she learned how to film the S.S. presentations.

Standard 8 Educators contribute to the profession.

Annie supervised lunch-hour floor-hockey and basketball over the course of this practicum. She
worked with grade 5, 6 and 7 students. During last years practicum, she assisted with coaching of
rugby.

Bulletin boards were used to display many of the Art projects, completed by the students, over the
practicum.

A strong collaborative relationship was formed with Annies sponsors, educational assistant and many
other staff members, including the principal.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

Document1 / REVISED June 2017

Concluding Comments:

Annie has completed a very successful practicum. She has shown a commitment to the teaching
process and has shown the desire to constantly improve her practice.
She cares deeply for her students and believes that making meaningful connections with her students
is a key to their receptive learning. Her sponsors and I commend her for a job very well done!

Annie Zurrer has / has not successfully met the requirement

(Student Name) outcomes of EDFE 610 (Field Experience)

SIGNATURES:
Annie Zurrer Dec. 15, 2017
(Student Name) (Student Signature) (Date MM/DD/YR)
George Knight/Cassie Ward :
sponsors Dec.15, 2017
(Name / Role) (Signature) (Date MM/DD/YR)
Carol Minchin : supervisor Dec.15, 2017
(Name / Role) (Signature) (Date MM/DD/YR)

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

Document1 / REVISED June 2017