Looking back on my practicum, it’s interesting to consider how my confidence changed over the course of the three weeks. I was incredibly nervous to teach my first lesson. Although I have prior experience working in schools, I had never had the attention of an entire class on me or instructed students. On the first day, when my coaching teacher and I sat down to plan when I would be teaching, I asked if I could teach the following day, rather than waiting until day 3 of the practicum, like ripping off a band aid. So, I taught my first two lessons the next day.

My first ever lesson was in math. I introduced a new unit on measurements and how to use a ruler. I was so nervous and remember being a bit shaky as it started and all the kids had their attention on me. Part of the introduction involved showing a video that talked about units of measurements and other related facts. Playing the video gave me a chance to take a breath and relax a bit before continuing the lesson. Overall, it went well. The students understood what was taught and successfully demonstrated using a ruler on the worksheet included in the lesson.

After lunch that same day, I taught my second lesson. It was in writing and it marked the beginning of a three-lesson writing process based on Adrienne Gear’s book, Powerful Writing Structures, that I implemented throughout my practicum. My coaching teacher introduced me to the structure and I based three writing plans off it each week, each week using a different mentor text and theme. There was a planning day, a draft day, and an edit and revise day. Although this was only my second lesson, I already felt less nervous and had more confidence to manage the students throughout the lesson. The feedback my coaching teacher gave me was helpful and included tips on classroom management that I was able to practice in following lessons.

The feedback provided by my coaching teacher throughout the three weeks was greatly appreciated. For most of the lessons, she took detailed notes about what occurred during the lesson and how I responded and then we discussed the lessons either at lunch or the end of the day. The feedback always included things I did well and things to work on. A lot of the tips in the beginning were related to classroom management, both at the carpet where the students gathered for the opening of lessons and while students worked independently or in groups at their desks. With almost twenty kids in the room, it’s so easy to miss something that a student is doing off to the side or quietly behind another student. As I got more used to teaching, I got better at surveying the room and making sure as many students were on task as possible.

When thinking back on how my first few lessons went compared to my last, they feel like a life time apart. By the last couple days, I better understood how long the class could focus on something before getting fidgety and overloaded cognitively. I felt more confident about correcting students’ distractions throughout the lessons and doing it in a polite and respectful way. I also got much better at modeling activities before sending them off to work independently. There are many lessons that, upon immediate reflection, could have gone much better with a few management tweaks; However, those are the lessons I learned the most from. They helped me to understand the importance of small details in how instructions are presented as well as maintaining high expectations for behavior. The overall positive experience of my first practicum has left me looking forward to the next one.