Thomas Westfall, OCT
On Wednesday September 19th, I embarked on my first experience in a classroom as a Teacher Candidate. I went in early with lots of expectations and just a little nervousness in my belly. I met with Samantha LeClair, an experienced grade 5 French immersion teacher at Summerside public school who will be my associate teacher. She shares a class with Mr. Tompkins who focuses on math and English studies, while Miss LeClair focuses on French, social studies and science. One of my first observations is that Miss LeClair is diligent in her classroom management. She clearly gives them indications so they can meet her expectations as they more through the hall and as they work on their projects in a calm and supportive way. When she needs to get their attention, she counts down backwards from 5 to zero and the class becomes silent. She also reminds them of the importance of lowering their screens when she is talking. One of the more unique observations I saw was in regards to the usage of technology in the classroom. For instance, she uses a tablet with an application called "Classroom dojo" to constantly update the children's behaviour and performance, they get positive reinforcement for things like helping others, being on task and participation. They also get negative points for doing things like speaking English when they aren't suppose to or being aggressive with a classmate. This information gets updated so parents can know in real-time the behavioral patterns of their children when they aren't there. I believe this is a great tool to correct negative trends and offer positive feedback. It's also powerful tool for creating individual student profiles to help development a differentiated teaching plan.We started with a reading activity where our group went to a second grade french immersion class and they helped the younger kids read French books. The children paired up together and they were well behaved, but often would slip into English which they are not supposed to. After the first period, the class listened as I introduced myself, told them about what I did before going to Teacher's Education and about myself personally. They asked some interesting questions, it's part of the reason I've liked teaching in front of Grade 5 students before. The next activity was a "qui suis-je?" where the kids are making a presentation on their Chromebooks. This will help them do an oral presentation and is a way to introduce themselves to their classmates. I saw the teacher correct the child's French in a supportive and fun way, to make sure they understood how to say it. She even made it come off as a song and said it with a smile.During recess, we went to a smaller group and practiced with the kids for an assembly they are doing about the Terry Fox cancer foundation run. The children demonstrated strong reading and oral skills, they clearly had been practicing for this for some time.The second part of the day was similar to the first as the split groups switched and I again introduced myself to the kids. I quickly taught them about of vocabulary and the etymology of the words cinéphile, kindergarten and Volkswagen. I assisted with the distribution of chrome books to the class and then helped the students with their projects.For classroom management, the teacher would make the kids stand behind their chairs and before they could leave for the next task, they had to demonstrate they were calm & silent. I think this is a technique I would see myself use in the future.Overall, it was a wonderful first experience and I look forward to getting to know some of the kids more over the next few weeks.