Harwin Elementary Experience
Our EDUC 421 was able to go to Harwin Elementary three times during the semester to practice teaching a class. I was paired up with a wonderful partner to teach a grade 1 / 2 class. Neither one of us have ever taught a class before so we were both nervous. We had to teach the class about Career Education so we decided to make lessons about who they are and how they fit into a community. Our first lesson included a worksheet that could introduce them to us. They let us know what their favourite things are and allow them to draw a picture of themselves. In this lesson we learned that the students LOVE drawing and colouring and we also learned that it’s important to move the students from the carpet, to the desks, and then back to the carpet.
In our second lesson, we decided to introduce the noise level sheet because we had some unhelpful talking during our first lesson. The students really enjoyed the ninja mode, spy mode, and quiet partner mode. My partner and I saw that these simple techniques really worked and we will both use them during our practicum experiences.
Our third and final lesson was to teach the students how they fit into a larger community. They each decorated a puzzle piece and then we stood in a circle and they put the puzzle together to form one piece. They really enjoyed the book that my partner found “I am We” about fitting into a community.
This was the first time we made a unit plan so it was a very helpful experience for both of us.
