The Ups and Downs of Practicum

Practicum Day One!

Kaylee Fry

My first day of practicum experience was definitely one that I will never forget. To begin with, my teacher had no idea that she even had a practicum student this semester. This set the day off to a whole lot of playing catch up to accommodate me and welcome me into her classroom. That being said, my CT made me feel so welcomed and accepted. By the end of the day, I felt like I had been in their classroom all year and like I was slowly becoming a part of their school as a whole. I knew I was right where I was supposed to be. She immediately encouraged me to take part in the lesson and help answer the students questions during their morning work. 

During their morning work time, the teacher gave the students handouts for them to complete. These handouts assessed what they knew from the previous day/weeks lessons. They were appropriate to the level of knowledge the students should have on the topic, while being challenging in introducing a new element in to the tasks they had to complete. I liked how she allowed collaboration between the students by inviting them to help each other if their neighbor was stuck on a part of their work. I will definitely take into consideration how well the students enjoyed working together. Just by being in their classroom, I could feel a strong sense of community, which I hope to foster as well.

During their whole group reading instruction, she introduced the students to a few movement educational videos that they were allowed to dance and sing to, all while learning their letters, the days of the week, and reviewing their months of the year. I will definitely incorporate a song into my future classroom. I feel like this allows the students to get their sillies out and wiggle around before preparing for their lessons, all while introducing the schema they will need to participate.My classes here at JSU have really shown me the light of how important it is for children to be able to move in the classroom. I want to allow these experiences in my lessons as well. 

Throughout the entire day, my teacher worked hand-in-hand with the other kindergarten teacher in the school to plan lessons and facilitate small group centers. The teachers had a joint lesson plan template that they both had access to to plan their lessons for the week and collaborate on what they were doing. They would divide their classes up into a low ability group and a high ability group. Then, one teacher would deliver a lesson to each group while the other students in their classes worked at stations until it was their time for the lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this much collaboration between the two teachers. I feel like it made the students more connected to their teachers and to the other students they were grouped with as well. Additionally, the teachers met before the students arrived to discuss what they were doing in each session and how that tied to their weekly themes and overall goals. 

Overall, my day at practicum was all the I hoped it would be and more, thanks to my accepting teacher. I am so excited to learn from her and get to have even more ideas to use for my future!