Educators implement effective planning, instruction, assessment and reporting practices to create respectful, inclusive environments for student learning and development.
I created a unit plan on bears with 2 other classmates. This unit plan focused on the FPPL and touched on the 6 different language art skills (writing, speaking, visual representing, reading, listening, and viewing).
We work better as a team! I truly believe in collaboration and I find it a lot more efficient to create lessons with different individuals. Collaboration is important because it is less intimidating and it is nice to bounce ideas with those who have had different experiences as you. Below are some lesson plans I co-created with classmates who had practicums in Grade 2 as well.
I have always been a super organized person and it has definitely come in handy in my teaching journey thus far. I make sure to finish all of my lesson plans in advance so that I am not frantically trying to wipe up a lesson last minute. I like to prepare all of my materials ahead of time as well (e.g. cutting and photocopying always take a long time). Although, I create my lessons in advance, I continue to make small adaptations to my lessons the more I get to know to my students. I also always take time to reflect after each lesson (what went well, what I need to change for next time). Reflection is the key to a growth mindset because we do not continue to grow as educators if we are not willing to learn from our mistakes or successes.
During my practicums, I would always write the learning intentions for a lesson on the board so that it was visible for students to see. I would also state the learning intention at the beginning of the lesson and again at the end of the lesson. At the end of the lesson, I would do a self check with students to see where they were at with regards to the learning intention. A self check is a great tool for formative assessment.