February 23

What a week! It's been so busy in this P7 classroom. Wednesday we started the day off with swimming at the high school followed by maths. The kids are continuing working on perimeter and I introduced area to them. They are catching on great. We then started working on haikus. For the lesson, we had the kids watch a short clip of the movie Robin Hood, and had them focus on the arrow that was in the scene. They all came up with some great haikus. The afternoon was spent at an all-school assembly and then the kids had french. Thursday morning the kids had an opportunity to go to the computer suite to work on either poetry or their Peru project that they started. Following that we had maths. For the lesson, I had the kids go around the room and find various objects, such as the whiteboard, desks, or books, and measure the perimeter and area. They loved this! I only had about 5 students for maths because most of them were at the net ball tournament that was taking place. After break, we continued working on haikus. I had them watch another clip from Robin Hood. I had them focus on Robin Hood's face and eyes. I then switched gears a little bit from action to something a little bit more mellow. I put on the very beginning part of Pride and Prejudice when the sun is first coming up. I wanted them to use their own experiences of sunrises they have seen. The next part I showed them was right after that when the girl is walking and reading. I had them come up with various words that could describe her and then had them write their haikus. After, I gave each student a piece of paper and they were able to pick one of their 3 haikus and illustrate it. For this lesson, I was being observed by Neville. I was very nervous but he said it went very well. There were a few things he said I should have done different, such as when we came up with a list of words I should have written them on the board. He also said that I should have had each table come up separately to get the paper instead of having them all come up at once. But overall he said I had good authority in the classroom and that he feels I will succeed when I get my own classroom. I was so relieved and excited when he told me this! The afternoon was spent at Street Jam where each class gets a chance to learn a dance with a professional dance teacher. It was a lot of fun and I even got to join in with them! Today, we began the day by looking at another movie clip from North and South. I had them focus on the face expression of the main character. We then had maths where we did a review game. I set it up kind of like Jeopardy and they absolutely loved it! Neville came in and watched this lesson as well and he said it was an excellent lesson that got all the kids excited and involved. He was also very impressed that the students asked if we could continue it on Monday. This afternoon we began observational drawings in art and went for some more Street Jams.

I'm very happy with the outcome of this week! It was very reassuring to hear Neville tell me that I will become a great teacher and that he would put me on his staff anyday. He also said that I had a lot of confidence in the classroom.