Giulia Lato: My Teaching Portfolio
Education in Everything
Cycle 2, Level 2
English Core
First Field Experience
Duration: Three Weeks
Fall 2013
This field experience, although short in duration, was my first real glimpse into what being an elementary school teacher truly means. Through observation, I took note of different teaching methods and styles, since I had the chance to sit in on several different classrooms. However, I spent the most time in a fourth grade classroom, which is where I really learned how to develop a bond with my students. During my first field experience, I got to experience many aspects of teaching, which helped me develop some Professional Comptencies:
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Make detailed observations of different teaching strategies (PC 11)
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Supervise groups of children inside and outside of the classroom (PC 6)
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Manage student behaviour (PC 6)
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Provide personal assistance to students during class work (spelling, math exercises, reading, etc.) (PC 7)
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Discuss IEPs and differentiating with the resource teacher (PC 7 and PC 10)
Classroom Rules
Although the fourth grade teacher I assisted during my field experience introduced me to many teaching strategies, one of the main ideas she made clear to me was the need to establish classroom rules together, as a unified class, at the beginning of the year. By doing so, students feel as though they have participated in classroom decisions, which makes them more likely to respect the rules as well as each other. The images below show the rules that the students of my class agreed upon together.
Literacy
I also learned a lot about literacy because my cooperating teacher worked a lot on English Language Arts with her students. Although I am in a French Immersion specialization, I feel as though some of the language arts techniques I learn during my field experiences can be transferred to a French context. In this Grade 4 classroom, I was very interested in the library because all of the classrooms in this school organized their libraries in the same way.
In the image to the right, there are boxes of book, each with a different letter of the alphabet. Each box contains books of different difficulty levels. Students track their reading progress and as their reading skills improve, they move through the alphabet. The further along they get in the alphabet, the more advanced the reading level is. I observed that this organizational strategy worked quite well and allowed students to work at their own pace, and to make their own reading choices.
Art Education
Art was a big part of this field experience because I worked closely with the students during art class and in my free time to prepare decorations for the Christmas breakfast. Together, we created paper trees and banners to celebrate the holidays. The students thorougly enjoyed their art class and the activities they participated in. The art teacher always encouraged the students to make their own creative choices and to be as independent as possible when doing art. Even if I am not in Arts Education, it was a great learning experience because I think art can play an important part in any classroom.
The teachers gave me a crash course in the International Baccalaureate Program, which my host school used. I had the chance to sit in on IB meetings between teachers and worked with the IB coordinator who taught me a lot about the prorgram and its implications for the students and teachers, including portfolio keeping.
IB Program Schedule
International Baccalaureate Program
Reflections and Evaluations
After this field experience, I wrote an action plan that outlined my strenghts, weaknesses, and strategies for improvement. I also detailed how I targeted certain Professional Competencies (1, 2, 9, 11, 12). View my Action Plan here and my Professional Competencies Development here.
As in all stages, I was evaluated by a McGill supervisor and by my cooperating teacher during my first field experience. View my performance evaluation here.