It has been so super hectic the past MONTH, I do not know where the time flew!
There has been a LOT going on, I don't know where to begin but will try my best :)
All I can say is that everyday is packed with things to do, faces to see, things to say, but I have been enjoying every minute of it. I feel like I am learning so much by actually experiencing all kinds of situations. Everything I do and learn is applicable so it makes sense and I see an immediate result to what I am doing.
Here are some highlights!
1. Morning- Grade 1/2 split class English
- There are two grade 1 students and sixteen grade 2 students
- We have the students from 7:50am-10:45am, then they go to French
- Me and my co-operating teacher are responsible for Language Arts and ERC: Ethics and Religious Culture
- Student population: the area is one of the poorest in Montreal, and the majority of the students are immigrants from southeast asia/middle east.
It is an amazing bunch, and I feel very lucky to spend time with all those wonderful children. I don't want to think about leaving them in December :(
2. Afternoons
Since our class moves to the French teacher, we have the afternoons for resource teaching and teaching ERC for the other grade 1 and 2 classes
For people who do not know what resource is, we go around and offer extra small group help for the students who need more attention and help. Many of the children in the school have different learning and other needs, and sometimes, being in a different class and having one on one or a small group situation can have a very helpful impact.
I have three students from grade 2 coming in- In the beginning of the year these children did not know the names, sounds and words of the letters of the alphabet. We have been working on writing and sounding out each letter, and we see a huge improvement already.
In grade 1 we have had different students coming in: mostly for catch up work and during those times, students seem more focused just because we can give more concentrated attention.
We also do resource for grade 3- it has mostly been helping out children who has trouble in spelling or need to do catch up work.
Twice a week, we also cover some of the Kindergarten class time. We have been doing Fall activities and will be moving on to Fall Celebrations, such as Thanksgiving...etc.
It has been really great to see all these different ages, because the way of instruction/talking to the children, the content and so on differ slightly. I also feel that I have gotten a good balance of doing both full class instruction and small group instruction.
ERC- Ethics and Religious Culture is a new component in the Quebec Education Program. It intends to present an overall open mind about Ethics and religion. From the very beginning, my teacher has asked me to cover it, and although it has been a challenge, it has certainly been a good experience.
In the beginning I was very much caught up in the title of the subject, and found myself struggling to find out HOW to teach these matter to 6/7/8 year olds. I still need to improve on making things more hands on, interesting and enjoyable while learning about having an open mind.
Some of the routines:
Some of my lessons:
Will write about them next :)
