Week 1: My First Day in the Classroom
I wanted to begin by saying how excited I was finding out I was placed at St. Jerome for my fieldwork. St. Jerome Elementary was my Dad’s first pre-internship placement too! Having this background information calmed my nerves for the first day, because I knew I could come home and share my experience and have a special connection made with my Dad.
Walking into St. Jerome, I was greeted by a male teacher who guided me to a lady who I would be spending the afternoon with. The Grade Two/Three teacher who I was placed with, is currently on sick leave for the next two weeks. So, Mrs. W., a retired elementary teacher substitute, will be who I learn alongside with for the next couple of weeks.
As Mrs. W. introduced my partners and I to everyone on the St. Jerome team, I was made aware how friendly and welcoming St. Jerome was. We walked from the staffroom to the very end of the portable portion of the school where the Grade Two/Three classroom was located. The classroom I am placed in is quite petite in comparison to other classrooms I have visited and helped in. One observation I noticed right away was the seating arrangement. There were only two 'real' desks. Seating consisted of; a horse shoe table with padded milk crate seats, standing desks, ‘wiggle pads’, benches, table and chairs, wobble seats, fiddle bands for wiggly feet, soft mats and clip boards for seated work. There were SO many options for the students to choose how they felt that day to do their work. I want to make note of this accommodation when I have my own classroom as I truly believe in flexible seating. It is so important to have options and resources to help each student produce their best work.
Once the bell rang, the students began to come into the classroom. They all knew the drill, indoor shoes on, outdoor gear in the bags and find a spot. There was not any arguing over who was sitting where- since the teacher had provided so many great seating options. Once settled in, I had the opportunity to take C., a Grade Three boy, out to the hallway and read a book with him for 15 minutes. C. was a very advanced learner. His reading skills for his age were exceptional (words of Mrs. W.). I was “WOW-ed”, and this made me excited to go back into the classroom and get to know the other students.
Mrs. W. had stated when we first arrived that we should just “dive right in”. So that’s exactly what I did. When the children had seated carpet discussions I noticed students who became distracted, so I hopped right in and sat next to them or asked them to re-centre their focus. When they had individual work, I walked around and helped where needed. Each student had their own strengths and weaknesses. This classroom is filled with very diverse, active and busy Grade Two’s and Three’s.
I remember in my Grade Two/Three classroom there were 30 students and one teacher. That does not leave a lot of time for one-on-one help. I also do not recall having helpers come in when needed, like this classroom has. So, to have three helpers walk around and be ‘hands-on’ is hopefully very beneficial for the students and teacher.
I had one little girl come up to me near the end of the day and say, “Miss Haley, uhm, come here… we need to get to know each other a little better”. I giggled to myself and responded, “OK! What would you like to know?” We chatted while cleaning up. I got to know this little girl on a different level. I thought it was special that she wanted to know why I was in the classroom and hearing that she is looking forward to having me again in her classroom.
I cannot wait to go back next week to see what else is in store and to get to know the students even better!
Ps. I snapped a few pictures of the classroom and around the school. I found many Indigenous themed, Orange Shirt Day and kindness bulletin boards that caught my eye and wanted to share.
- I admired all of the flexible seating options. I wanted to share some of the choices Mrs. S has for her students
- The grateful tree was made by the students in the Grade 2/3 classroom with the help of my classmate and I
- I really liked the idea of this Orange Shirt Day bulletin board, done by the classroom across the hall- Mrs.Sh.
A blurb taken from my Week 1 blog post said, "One observation I noticed right away was the seating arrangement. There were only two 'real' desks. Seating consisted of; a horse shoe table with padded milk crate seats, standing desks, ‘wiggle pads’, benches, table and chairs, wobble seats, fiddle bands for wiggly feet, soft mats and clip boards for seated work. There were SO many options for the students to choose how they felt that day to do their work. I want to make note of this accommodation when I have my own classroom as I truly believe in flexible seating. It is so important to have options and resources to help each student produce their best work."
I later wanted to do my own research on flexible seating and found a great article-
"Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Seating":
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1942412260?pq-origsite=gscholar
- The grateful tree was made by the students in the Grade 2/3 classroom with the help of my classmate and I
- I really liked the idea of this Orange Shirt Day bulletin board, done by the classroom across the hall- Mrs.Sh.
A blurb taken from my Week 1 blog post said, "One observation I noticed right away was the seating arrangement. There were only two 'real' desks. Seating consisted of; a horse shoe table with padded milk crate seats, standing desks, ‘wiggle pads’, benches, table and chairs, wobble seats, fiddle bands for wiggly feet, soft mats and clip boards for seated work. There were SO many options for the students to choose how they felt that day to do their work. I want to make note of this accommodation when I have my own classroom as I truly believe in flexible seating. It is so important to have options and resources to help each student produce their best work."
I later wanted to do my own research on flexible seating and found a great article-
"Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Seating":
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1942412260?pq-origsite=gscholar
A blurb taken from my Week 3 blog post states, "Another area where Mrs. S. promotes knowledge is through her “Dogo Points”. It is a reward system. When a student is caught on task or doing something well, they gain a Dogo point. She hasn’t talked to us about what she does with those point, but I liked the idea of this point system. It definitely would help promote good behavior in the classroom."
Class Dogo was a site used in my fieldwork. It connects teachers with students and their parents/guardians. It helps build a positive school community. It allows students to share and showcase their school work. It also gets parents engaged, as the teacher can share pictures and videos of their children during classroom moments.
https://www.classdojo.com/
Class Dogo was a site used in my fieldwork. It connects teachers with students and their parents/guardians. It helps build a positive school community. It allows students to share and showcase their school work. It also gets parents engaged, as the teacher can share pictures and videos of their children during classroom moments.
https://www.classdojo.com/