Kris Buell’s Practicum Portfolio

What did you learn?

Since I had two coaching teachers, there were a number of great learning experiences and opportunity for my growth. Bouncing between multiple different grades and students allowed me to get a better understanding of how important it is that we get a clear understanding of our students learning and where they need to go. It provided me with a better opportunity of watching and learning from teachers and seeing their different styles. It also helped me learn that to be a quality teacher, I need to be more open and willing to find more ways to bring “Me” into the lessons and classroom. It also reminded me of how much we need to change up and make adjustments to our teaching to help benefit all the different students in the classroom. One last thing that I realized, to be a successful and affective teacher, one needs to know how to properly handle all the stress, expectations, and responsibilities that comes with being a teacher.

Why was this important to learn?

To be the best teacher that we can be for our students, it is vital that we absorb and learn all the important things that come with being a teacher. Personally, it was important for my learning and development to get a better understanding of the different learning needs and styles among a wide range of different ages and grades. It helped remind me of the expectations that are placed on teachers, and that we continue to learn/grow as we continue on into our teaching career.

What are your next steps for EDUC 491 practicum?

This practicum reminded me of how much I still need to grow, learn, and develop to become an ideal teacher. Whether that be diversifying my teaching skills and abilities, it’s important that we continue to grow as an educator.  It reminded me of how much I need to be willing to step outside of my comfort zone to provide the most diverse and best learning experiences for students.

Our cohort was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a workshop based around Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, also known as FASD. I liked attending this seminar as this hasn’t been something that we have covered a whole lot in our program. It has popped up on occasion, but we didn’t do that much of a deep dive into it.

There were a couple of things from this presentation that I was able to really latch onto. The first was when we are dealing with students who may be on the spectrum. That it’s important that bring concepts and ideas into our classroom that the students are use to experiencing. Whether that be the use of pictures or hands-on manipulatives, they can be great tools for their learning. Especially since we want to build a positive learning environment that provides the best opportunities for all our students.

The importance of differentiating assessment to benefit students who are on the FASD was something that was important in the workshop as well as for my future practice. It’s important, when it comes to assessment, that we soften our students workload and provide them enough time to get everything done and to not experience overload. One that stood out to me was that we allow them to fidget if they so feel like it.  Students may also need to be guided in a sequential order, so taking it step by step whether it be visually or orally will be important for their learning.

In the end, this was a great experience for myself and I taught be quite a bit about FASD that I didn’t already know about. This who experience really reminded me of the problems that students face. It’s important and vital for my learning that I be aware of  any problems that my students may be facing in their lives. That’s the great opportunity that we have been given with these professional day experiences, it reminds me to remember my students and what I need to do so as to provide the best experiences for their development and growth.

What Did I Learn?

The profession development day that we had today provided me with a great learning experience. Whether it was the keynotes from Dr. Louie and Dr. Niigaanwewidam or the workshops we participated in, they were great opportunities to learn. The two keynotes showed me. In the second keynote, what stood out to me was the word assimilation and how it still reflects a loss of identity. It results in people losing who they are and give way to whatever is the dominant culture. I really enjoyed the two workshops that I went to. Both the puppetry and restitution/restorative showed me the importance of how we talk and interact with our students. That placing accountability and forming strong relationships is vital and important to forming a good classroom community.

Why Does This Matter?

Our pro-d day helped bring more of a sense of comfortability to me when it comes to bringing indigenous knowledge and traditions in my classroom and practice. What has sometimes bothered me was if I said the wrong thing or if I’m even the right person to be teaching this to my students. Even though I knew that I’m probably not the only person to ever feel this way, it was still something that stuck with me. Why is it important to learning and teaching? If I want To be the best teacher, while providing the best learning opportunity for the students, it’s vital that I become more comfortable and confident when I’m going to step outside of my comfort zone.

What is the Next Step?

After all this, I believe the next step is for me to continue becoming more confident and comfortable with teaching/incorporating Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and language into my classroom.  As it relates to my pedagogy, it will help bring more of a sense of open-mindedness and create a better learning experience in the class. It will lead to a better relationship between the teacher and students.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a number of great teachers and experiences throughout my first twenty-five years on this planet. They in some way helped influence my decision in becoming a teacher, and I hope I can leaving a lasting impact on my future students like them.  When I think about the learning experiences that influence me the most, the first one that popped into my head was one that happened quite recently. I felt that my actual practicum experience was much more informative, dynamic, and eye-opening than when we were learning theory and writing academic papers in our university classroom. My first practicum really provided me with a huge learning experience, and having a supportive coaching teacher really helped me as well.

I was in the second grade, and after my first couple of lessons with writing and mathematics went well I was feeling pretty comfortable and relaxed. It was when my first science lesson plan didn’t go perfectly that I experienced one of my more influential learning opportunities. It was the final class of the day, and I decided to conduct a food colouring experiment. Since the students were having a pretty good day, I decided that they would watch me do the experiment and then they could do it themselves after. My demonstration went well, it was when the students tried to conduct it themselves that problems arose. Jealousy, indecision, and a lack of teamwork contributed to a botched experiment activity idea.

I felt pretty heartbroken and devastated. I wondered whether I should even become a teacher, that maybe it wasn’t something for me. This lead to the realization that I was more disappointed that I failed the students, that I couldn’t provide the best learning opportunity for them. I really cared and wanted to be the best teacher that I can be. My coaching teacher could tell that it disappointed me. They said that not every lesson would be perfect and that it would be a great learning experience. That it will help me prepare and adjust if I wanted to do another lesson similar to it. The ensuing lessons after were smooth sailing.

The practicum experience provided a much more interesting and better hands-on opportunity than studying in a university classroom could ever provide.