Year One Learning Outcomes
The experience at St. John the Evangelist Catholic School has helped me to put into perspective who the stakeholders in education are and how they all work together to contribute to a students learning environment. Educations is enriched when the school and community work together, and I have seen prime examples of this at St. John the Evangelist.
My mentor teacher does an outstanding job in regards to actively engaging in the work of the school and classroom by creating and sustaining an engaging, safe, and equitable learning environment, and she achieves this through various methods. One examples is developing strategies and tools for communicating effectively with families, school faculty, staff, and community. At the beginning of the year she establishes schedules and routines for the children and their families. She creates visuals to use in her classroom daily and she makes copies and sends them home with the children for their parents and caregivers as displayed in the photos above. It is important to establish routines and schedules so that both the children and families know what is happening on the particular day and they can come prepared for the day. It is also important to read the schedule out loud in the classroom throughout the day because so that nothing comes as a surprise to the children, it creates a safe environment for the children because they know what to expect.
As seen in the photos my mentor teacher has a display of classroom rules the students are to follow. Not only are these rules posted where all the children can view them, the teacher recites them daily with the students so that they have a reminder on how to be safe, and create a welcoming environment for all the students and the teachers in the room. It is important to remind the children about these rules and to explain the meaning of each one so that they know what is expected of them. It's also important for them to follow rules because they help teachers and schools create standards of quality for learning and safety, as well as expectations and accountability. Without these, schools would lack structure and function necessary to provide the educational needs of students.
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Fall Outcome One
Teacher candidates will actively engage in the work of the school and classroom to understand the role of all stakeholders in creating and sustaining an engaging, inclusive, safe and equitable learning environment.
Fall Outcome Two
Demonstrate a professional manner in keeping with the Ontario College of Teachers Standards of Practice and Ethical Standards of Practice (OCT Professional Standards).
THE ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION
CARE-The ethical standard of Care includes compassion, acceptance, interest and insight for developing students' potential. Members express their commitment to students' well-being and learning through positive influence, professional judgment and empathy in practice.
RESPECT-Intrinsic to the ethical standard of Respect are trust and fair-mindedness. Members honour human dignity, emotional wellness and cognitive development. In their professional practice, they model respect for spiritual and cultural values, social justice, confidentiality, freedom, democracy and the environment.
TRUST-The ethical standard of Trust embodies fairness, openness and honesty. Members' professional relationships with students, colleagues, parents, guardians and the public are based on trust.
INTEGRITY-Honesty, reliability and moral action are embodied in the ethical standard of Integrity. Continual reflection assists members in exercising integrity in their professional commitments and responsibilities.
​I have shown to have:
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Punctual Attendance
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Appropriate professional attire
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Professional manner
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Development of co-learning professional relationships
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Engagement in supporting student learning
At St. John the Evangelist, I have shown to interact respectfully with students and school faculty and staff, as well as always maintaining confidentiality. I demonstrate care, trust, integrity and respect in all professional interactions. I also, maintain an equity mindset, using a non-judgmental approach in teacher, student and parent interactions. Not only do I engage in the school activities, I also participate in ongoing professional development outside the placement setting. I have attended workshops, grade level meetings, and conferences. I am aware of and adhere to school policies, and practices.
Fall Outcome Three
Develop professional relationships with students, teachers, other teacher candidates, school staff, parents and others.
At St. John the Evangelist I have developed professional and positive relationships with my mentor teacher, the early childhood educator, the students, the administration office, and most of the other teachers in the school. I have also had the opportunity to attend parent teacher interviews and therefore I have also established positive and respectful relationships with the students parents. Every Thursday I engage in professional dialogue with my mentor teacher, I am constantly asking question as to why she does an activity a certain way, how she got to the thought of providing the students with that particular activity, and how she assesses the students. I am always eager to learn her unique and very helpful tips and tricks. With the students I have developed individual professional relationships. They now ask me for help with a task, they want me to play with them and they want me to read them stories.
Fall Outcome Four
Actively engage 100% of the day in the work of the school to support student learning.
With the support and guidance from my Mentor Teacher I was able to successfully create and implement my own lesson plan and activity. On this particular day, I was given the opportunity to introduce the new math unit, patterning. Through my observations of my Mentor Teacher creating and implementing her own lesson plans and activities, I was able to create my own. I was able to use the observations and resources my Mentor Teacher provided me with to choose a book, an online story, and song which helped me explain what patterning was to the students. I created a worksheet where the students would be able to show that they understood the lesson and could show us a pattern. During this experience my Mentor Teacher supported me and guided me when communicating with the students. Reflecting back, I realized what I had missed during the implementation of the lesson, which was the inquiry questions. This was definitely a learning curve for me and something that I will from now on keep in mind and prepare prior to a lesson. Not only did I teach the lesson and provide the activity, I also had the opportunity to assess the students and, set up the table activities, which were focused on creating patterns.
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I am very fortunate to have a Mentor Teacher that is willing to answer all my questions. Coming from an Early Childhood Educator background, I don't really have many questions regarding child development or how to interact and engage the students, so I am taking this opportunity to ask questions regarding assessment.
My Mentor Teacher has been amazing, she explains all the details that go into assessing children, she shows me all the resources that are used to assess the students, she explains how to use the resources, she has been providing me with copies of tools and criteria, and she has been giving me pointers and tricks that she has learned over the years. She has also given me the opportunity to observe her assess the students and, she has allowed me to assess the students under her supervision. One of these opportunities was in regards to the above activity I created. I assess the children's process in completing the worksheet.
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The photos above display the lesson plan and activity that I created and implemented with the students. The photos also show documents of the Running Record's Assessments which I have been able to inquire about with my Mentor Teacher and I have also had the privileged to observe my Mentor Teacher complete a Running Record. It was truly an amazing opportunity and I am very fortunate to have a Mentor Teacher that takes the time to teach me about assessments.
Fall Outcome Five
Reflect on how the school structure (physical environment, committees, extra-curricular activities, etc.) impacts student learning.
The classroom environment is crucial for student learning and development. The classroom environment should promote the children to become independent learners as well as collaborative contributors. Therefore it is essential to set up and organize the room accordingly.
My Mentor Teacher ensures that all materials are accessible to the students, that they are placed at their height level and that there is enough for each student individually. She also sets up the activities in a way that the child can either engage individually or collaboratively.
My Mentor Teacher also tries to always set up table activities that reflect the lesson she taught. In one of the classroom photos above the tables were set up by me on the day I implemented the patterning lesson and activity, therefore the tables show patterning activities.
It is important to ensure the children feel comfortable and welcomed into the classroom. My Mentor Teacher does this by show casing work and projects they have completed on the walls of the classroom and hallway; some photos are displayed above. She also includes photos of field trips and special activities done as a classroom, these photos are usually accompanied by a story written by the children that explains the photos. Lastly, the teacher ensures the classroom feels and reflects their home environment by posting a picture of each child with their family in their cubby area. This definitely makes the child feel warm and welcomed.
Winter Outcome One
Reflect critically on the links between theory and practice in Ontario schools.
My mentor teacher was a great person to shadow and she was great example to see how theory and practice should be linked together, and for that I am extremely grateful. My mentor teacher embodies everything that inquiry based learning stands for and represents, and she ensures that it is incorporated and reflected into her classroom, and daily lesson plans. She takes her time teaching her lessons, and when the children are off exploring their activities and work, she guides and helps the students become actively involved in their learning by sparking their curiosity and enhancing their motivation and skill set. My mentor teacher sets up the environment and develops her lesson plans and activities in a way that enriches collaborative learning. She engages the class with open ended questions that results in hearing different opinions and perspectives from each student. My mentor teacher does an outstanding job of following the Ontario Ministry of Educations (2010) theory “An understanding of child development frames the process and guides the focus of observation and monitoring”. She observes the children in order to gather data and evidence of student learning, she listens, watches, and interacts with students who are engaged in tasks and conversations. These observations give her greater insight into what the students are thinking and learning. My mentor teacher also accompanies her observations with picture documentation. This provides a record of growth over time, it allows her to reflect on her own professional practice, and it supports the diverse ways that children learn (Ontario, 2010). My mentor teacher did an outstanding job in showing me the importance and benefits of observing and documenting the students learning and development.
Winter Outcome Two
Investigate learning from a micro-level perspective in support of small group and/or individual student learning.
This photo represents an activity that I completed with a small group. The activity consisted of making play-doh. Before I collected the items that were needed to make the play-doh, I called over students that were interested in this activity. I had four participants. I began by informing them that we were going to be making play-doh. I then proceeded to ask the students open-ended questions, regarding what materials we would need to make the play-doh. The students proceeded to mention “flour, rainbow things, food colouring, and sugar). Once the students gave me these answers, I asked effective inquiry questions to provoke student thinking and provide the students the opportunity to improve their current knowledge as they construct explanations that help them solve the task at hand (Ontario, 2011). After asking the children the questions, “why do we need flour, what will happen when we mix in the food colouring, what rainbow things are you referring to, and why do we need sugar?”, I provided the children with wait times because I wanted to give all the students the opportunity to gather their thoughts and have an opportunity to state their ideas (Ontario, 2011). Not only is there benefits in wait times, and asking open-ended inquiry questions, there is also a huge impact on the students learning when we work in small groups. When working in small groups students are able to take ownership of their work, they develop communication and teamwork skills, improves understanding through additional discussion and explanation, and it forces all the students to provide an answer (Ontario, 2011). After these discussions took place, I gathered all the materials necessary, we read the recipe, measured the ingredients and took turns adding them to the bowl. We also took turns mixing the mixture until it was smooth and ready to be played with.
Winter Outcome Three
Observe and reflect upon the impact of Ontario Ministry of Education policy and/or documentation on learners and the school’s learning environment (e.g. Safe Schools Act (2000), First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Framework (2007), Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools (2010), Supporting Minds: An Educator’s Guide to Promoting Students’ Mental Health and Well-being (2013), and others).
Describe your image
Describe your image
Mental health problems have a variety of causes and take a variety of forms (Ontario, 2013). Mental wellness includes our emotional, psychological, physical, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being (Ontario 2019). It affects how we think, feel and act. These factors together also have impact on, how we handle stress, how we relate to others and make choices. Mental health is crucial at every stage of a person's life, from childhood to adulthood. Some of the many ways that one can improve and maintain good mental health is: by being aware of one's own emotions and reactions, expressing feelings in appropriate ways, thinking before acting, managing stress, striving for balance, connecting with others, etc. (Mental Wellness, 2019). Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behaviour among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance (Warning Signs for Bullying, 2019). The types of bullying include: verbal, social and physical. It is important to talk with children who show signs of being bullied or bullying others. These warning signs can also point to other issues or problems, such as depression or substance abuse. Talking to the child can help identify the root of the problem. Based on this, myself, along with two other group members created and implemented an action plan.
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The intention for our action plan was to instill awareness amongst the students on being kind to one another, focus on our mental health, and reduce bullying within a classroom setting. The school has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. In our classrooms, we have seen patterns of students being unkind to one another, as well as have observed other issues regarding self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-regulation. For our Catholic Action Plan, we wanted to strategically implement a strategy that would target these issues within the classroom environment. Therefore, we planned to create and implement a random acts of kindness jar/board. This allowed the students to be the best version of themselves, in and outside of their school community as well as to one another. Our goal was to get students to recognize how words and actions affect others around them. We aimed to focus incorporate faith in our activity through self-respect, self-love for themselves and everyone around them. Additionally, we reminded them to be responsible, and reliable students, as well as to be respectful to one another.
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I first began this action plan with the junior and senior kindergarten students on February 14. After reading the story “How Full is your Bucket”, we proceeded to have an open-ended discussion on the story. When asked “why do you think the bucket kept filling up?” the students gave a variety of answers, including “when we do nice things, when we help others, when we are good, when we take turns, when we listen, etc.” Going in, I didn’t have a set way as to how to document and track the good deeds the students were completely, I went in, wanting to give the students the opportunity to come up with how they wanted to track their good deeds. Following our group discussion, I asked them how they wanted to document their deeds. One students said” since its Valentine’s Day, can we do a big heart”, another student said, “can we use stickers,” the rest of the class agreed and that’s how our “Lets Fill our Heart”, documentation came about.
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Students were so excited to get started. The first good deed that I noticed was between two students who were playing in the sandbox. One student accidentally let sand fall on the floor, he noticed that he did that but didn’t want to stop playing to sweep it up. The other boy saw what happened, he went to get the broom and dust pan, and sweeped up the sand for his friend. He did this without any second intentions, he didn’t tell the teacher, he didn’t point out that he had to clean it up; he simply took matter into his own hands and cleaned it up. When he finished cleaning, I thought for sure that he was going to come up to me and tell me that he did a good deed and wanted to place a sticker on our heart; however, he didn't. I stood there for a little to see if he would approach me and when he didn't, I approached him and said “you did a really nice thing for your friend, you cleaned it up without having been asked to, and you cleaned up for him, I think that deserves a sticker on our heart, what do you think? And he said really!” His face brighten up and he was so proud of himself and excited to go place our first sticker on the heart.
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From that moment on, once the students saw the first sticker up there, I noticed they began to be more aware of their good deeds. They started lending a helping, they started listening to each other, and they started being kinder, etc. The following week, the students were so excited to show me how many stickers they had placed on the heart. They were, and I was so proud of them. The students had such a good time with this action plan. They enjoyed tracking and becoming more aware of their good deeds. The teachers in the room also pointed out that they noticed a difference in the children and their behaviour towards one another. They said that it brought out more calming and helping students because they all wanted to place a sticker on the heart. This action plan went so well, that the teachers and students decided that they wanted to continue this action plan through lent. Therefore, they chafed up the heart to a cross, and they are going to continue tracking their good deeds, but they are now also making more connections to Jesus. We will read bible stories about Jesus’ acts of love to inspire them to follow his loving ways each day of Lent.
Winter Outcome Four
Observe and reflect on the impact of strategies and resources on learners (teacher talk, text books, technology, manipulatives, transitions, success criteria, timing, planning, assessment, etc.).
My mentor teacher uses a variety of strategies, techniques and resources. These have an immense impact on the diverse learning style of the students within the classroom. Her strategies and methods keep the students engaged, motivated and focused on the lesson and activities. She incorporates resources and manipulatives into her activities that are cross curricular; this shows students how subjects, although different, can be connected to each other. Throughout my entire year, I have seen my mentor teacher use a variety of different strategies, techniques and resources. When it came time me to create and implement a lesson plan, I too tried my best to incorporate a variety of strategies and make it cross curricular. The activity I implemented was during the Bell Let’s Talk week, and focused on feelings and emotions that we feel. We disused how God created us individually and unique, and that God created us to feel these emotions and feelings. We wanted the children to be able to identify the feelings and emotions they were experience, and be able to describe why they were feeling that way. I began my lesson by showing the YouTube video “The Feelings Song”, and “The Way I Feel” book which then proceeded with an open-ended discussion as to what feelings are, why we feel emotions, how we show emotions, and how we can describe them. Once this discussion ended, we took a white board and the children’s name tags, and as a class we decided which emotions we wanted to talk about it. We decided on happy, sad, mad, and scared. We drew those facial features and words on the white board and then each child had the opportunity to place their name tag under which feeling they were experiencing that day. Once everyone had identified how they were feeling, we counted how many people were feeling each emotion. Following this activity, we read a book titled “Make a Face” which illustrates how to use 2D shapes to create a face. We then proceeded with an activity that allowed the children to use 2D shapes to create a face that showed how they were feeling. Once they created a face, together we used the computer to type up a sentence on what they were feeling and why. We then displayed our project in the hallway during the Bell Let’s Talk week to bring awareness of our mental health, feelings and emotions we all feel, and acknowledging that what we feel is okay. During this activity I was able to use books, music, manipulatives, and technology. During this lesson I was able to make in cross curricular by touching upon: religions, language and math.