EFLD 311 - Pre-Internship
March 2021 I was fortunate to do my pre-internship experience. Due to the circumstances, with Covid, all of the third year students did not know if we were going to be able to experience our pre-internship in person. Luckly, with some strict protocols we were all able to experience this important element in working towards our degree. For my pre- internship experience I was placed at Deshaye Catholic school in a grade 3 classroom for 3 weeks. Although these 3 weeks were so quick, I couldn’t have asked for a better pre- internship experience.
At the beginning of my pre-internship I was completely overwhelmed with excitement that I was finally able to be in the classroom and be able to teach students. During my orientation days my cooperating teacher and I were able to plan out what I was going to be teaching. With me being there only half days, my cooperative teacher wanted me to teach a unit in social studies. Once my coop had given me the responsibility in planning a unit in social studies, I was excited to begin planning. Over the weekend, I spent most of my time planning and making multiple lessons for my units. As Monday came, I was very nervous about teaching my first lesson. With that being said, my first lesson was successful. As I continued my pre-internship there were a few big takeaways that I can bring with me moving forward into my internship in the fall.
One of the biggest takeaways that I gained from my pre-internship experience is in the importance of being well prepared for your lessons. I felt like this was something that I really did not understand until I started to teach. I think this is important because when planning a lesson you might think the lesson will take 40 minutes, but in some cases it could end up being longer or shorter than expected. With that being said, I think it has made me realize that as a teacher you constantly need to be prepared and well organized to make changes in your lessons. On that note, another thing that I realized about planning and teaching is when being prepared for your lessons and planning out what is going to be taught each day, things might be set back or move more quickly if students understand. So with this it is important to be changing and make adjustments to your planning.
In the classroom that I was in I was so fortunate to be well behaved. When I first met my cooperative teacher, she told me out of the many years that she has been teaching this has been the best class in classroom behaviour. She said over this year, she has had to do a little classroom behavior adjustments or anything classroom drama with any of the students. With that being said, with this class being so good, it has made me realize the importance of having proper classroom management in the classroom. Although these students were very well mannered, just from observing my cooperative teacher teaching, she is very well routine
and makes sures the reputation in the classroom is critical in allowing the environment to function properly. From taking this into consideration and moving forward, I think it is important for myself to make sure to have classroom routines and repetition in the classroom. By doing this I think the classroom will function better and students will be.
Another thing that I noticed is the diversity between students learning and the type of learners within the classroom. Before beginning my block, my coop made me aware that there are multiple types of learners within this classroom (e.g visual learners, EAL, etc.). She told me that it is important to ensure that there are always visuals when you are teaching because she found that most of the students understand things better when things are demonstrated and presented on the board. With this, for all my lessons, I had a Powerpoint to ensure that students could follow along with what I was teaching.On the other side of this, I alway realized the diversity in how students comprehend the instructions. For example, during some of my lessons I had the students do a worksheets so I could formally understand what I was teaching them. Some students, after I was done giving instructions, needed extra assistance and guidance throughout the activity. With this, moving forward into internship in the fall I think for myself I think it will be important to build strong relationships with my students and make sure I get familiar with their learning.
Lastly, another big thing that I learned is the importance of technology in the classroom. During my own elementary school experience I was never exposed to online platforms. However, during my pre-internship experience, my cooperative teacher introduced me to several online teaching platforms that are great to use in the classroom (e.g Seesaw). During my pre-internship I was very fortunate to be able to use technology within my lessons. My cooperative teacher is a Connected Education Educator so she is given a cart full of computers that her students can use at all times. After being able to use technology in the classroom like this I now have a better understanding of how resourceful integrated
Overall throughout my 3 weeks at Deshaye I gained so much knowledge and learned so much. During this experience I have gained some valuable elements that definitely will benefit me moving into my internship in the fall. Although my teaching journey has just begun I am looking forward to my internship.
At the beginning of my pre-internship I was completely overwhelmed with excitement that I was finally able to be in the classroom and be able to teach students. During my orientation days my cooperating teacher and I were able to plan out what I was going to be teaching. With me being there only half days, my cooperative teacher wanted me to teach a unit in social studies. Once my coop had given me the responsibility in planning a unit in social studies, I was excited to begin planning. Over the weekend, I spent most of my time planning and making multiple lessons for my units. As Monday came, I was very nervous about teaching my first lesson. With that being said, my first lesson was successful. As I continued my pre-internship there were a few big takeaways that I can bring with me moving forward into my internship in the fall.
One of the biggest takeaways that I gained from my pre-internship experience is in the importance of being well prepared for your lessons. I felt like this was something that I really did not understand until I started to teach. I think this is important because when planning a lesson you might think the lesson will take 40 minutes, but in some cases it could end up being longer or shorter than expected. With that being said, I think it has made me realize that as a teacher you constantly need to be prepared and well organized to make changes in your lessons. On that note, another thing that I realized about planning and teaching is when being prepared for your lessons and planning out what is going to be taught each day, things might be set back or move more quickly if students understand. So with this it is important to be changing and make adjustments to your planning.
In the classroom that I was in I was so fortunate to be well behaved. When I first met my cooperative teacher, she told me out of the many years that she has been teaching this has been the best class in classroom behaviour. She said over this year, she has had to do a little classroom behavior adjustments or anything classroom drama with any of the students. With that being said, with this class being so good, it has made me realize the importance of having proper classroom management in the classroom. Although these students were very well mannered, just from observing my cooperative teacher teaching, she is very well routine
and makes sures the reputation in the classroom is critical in allowing the environment to function properly. From taking this into consideration and moving forward, I think it is important for myself to make sure to have classroom routines and repetition in the classroom. By doing this I think the classroom will function better and students will be.
Another thing that I noticed is the diversity between students learning and the type of learners within the classroom. Before beginning my block, my coop made me aware that there are multiple types of learners within this classroom (e.g visual learners, EAL, etc.). She told me that it is important to ensure that there are always visuals when you are teaching because she found that most of the students understand things better when things are demonstrated and presented on the board. With this, for all my lessons, I had a Powerpoint to ensure that students could follow along with what I was teaching.On the other side of this, I alway realized the diversity in how students comprehend the instructions. For example, during some of my lessons I had the students do a worksheets so I could formally understand what I was teaching them. Some students, after I was done giving instructions, needed extra assistance and guidance throughout the activity. With this, moving forward into internship in the fall I think for myself I think it will be important to build strong relationships with my students and make sure I get familiar with their learning.
Lastly, another big thing that I learned is the importance of technology in the classroom. During my own elementary school experience I was never exposed to online platforms. However, during my pre-internship experience, my cooperative teacher introduced me to several online teaching platforms that are great to use in the classroom (e.g Seesaw). During my pre-internship I was very fortunate to be able to use technology within my lessons. My cooperative teacher is a Connected Education Educator so she is given a cart full of computers that her students can use at all times. After being able to use technology in the classroom like this I now have a better understanding of how resourceful integrated
Overall throughout my 3 weeks at Deshaye I gained so much knowledge and learned so much. During this experience I have gained some valuable elements that definitely will benefit me moving into my internship in the fall. Although my teaching journey has just begun I am looking forward to my internship.