EDUCATION 394 Lesson Plan 

Elementary Years

 

Carly Lorntsen ­– Ms. L

Name: 

 

1 (English – Language Arts)	Topic Allotted Time	What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?
December 3, 2021		90 minutes

Grade

Date

 

STAGE 1:  Desired Results

 

Sources used to develop this plan:  

Kirkness, V. J., & Barnhardt, R. (1991). First Nations and higher education: The four R’s—Respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility. Journal of American Indian Education, 1-15. Building Student Success – B.C. Curriculum (gov.bc.ca) What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up | Original Songs | By LBB Junior – YouTube Lesson Planning Guide (adopted from Thompsons Rivers University and the University of Northern British Columbia)

 

Rationale: How is this lesson relevant at this time with these students? Why is it important?

This introductory lesson of discovering ideas in what students want to be when they grow up is relevant and important currently because this is a crucial time in growth and development. Students can explore their personal interests which can help build early identity formation and discover what they want to be when they grow up in terms of a job/career.

Core Competencies: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies (refer to “profiles” for some ideas) Which sub-core competencies will be the focus of this lesson? Briefly describe how and why:

• •		Communication Communicating Collaborating	• •	Thinking Creative Thinking Critical & Reflective Thinking	• •	Personal and Social Personal Awareness & Responsibility Positive Personal & Cultural Identity
					•	Social Awareness & Responsibility
	Students will gain the skill to safely communicate with adults and peers about topics that are deemed important to them. Students will communicate clearly and purposely to their teacher and peers by sharing their work and connecting their ideas to others which will develop active listening skills. Students will build confidence in themselves and acquire the ability to build relationships with other members in the class that also share the same future goals.			Students will develop personal interests and passion during explore and play time in the classroom. Students will gather new ideas that are innovative that will have a great impact on their peers or in the community and will become passionate about pursuing these ideas. Students will recognize that they can explore all ideas and interests while acknowledging that it is acceptable to like or dislike certain ideas.		Students will gain the skill of recognizing their strengths and limits while discovering internal motivation which will create a sense of self growth and will take responsibility in how to handle stressful situations. Students will recognize that they are unique from others and will accomplish this by describing different components of their identity and lived experiences. Students will be taught that they can make a difference in the world and will develop ideas on how to advocate for themselves and their community.

 

 

First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL): 

How will Indigenous perspectives, knowledge & ways of knowing be acknowledged, honoured, or integrated into this learning experience? (Jo Chrona’s Blog: https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/)

FPPL to be included in this lesson:

How will the FPPL be embedded in lesson:

·         Respect ·         Relationships ·         Responsibilities ·         Reciprocity ·         Reclamation ·         Reflexivity

The First Peoples Principles of Learning derived from Kirkness and Barnhardt (1991) are essential in all lessons. With this introductory lesson, six of the nine R’s will be embedded into this lesson including to respect all peers and their cultural differences while allowing everyone in the classroom to feel safe to express themselves freely, to share common interests and ideas with others to form strong relationships, to build responsibility in their learning while looking at the teacher as a mentor to help guide them, to acknowledge reciprocity in that there are no correct or incorrect answers, adopting the worldview of reclamation from Indigenous peoples by searching for identity and considering family, community, land, and nation. Lastly, students will gain the expertise to reflect on themselves as an individual through experiences, beliefs, values, and passions.

Curriculum Connections: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/ (Curriculum)

What Big Ideas (Understand), Curricular Competencies (Do), Content (Know) does this lesson develop?

Understand Big Idea(s): Students will gain concrete understanding that all individuals are unique and have different stories to share while acknowledging that these stories can be shared through prolific pictures and words which can help us to learn about ourselves, our families, and the world around us. Students will also begin to understand literacy and how language can help us connect with others by listening and speaking about our worldviews. Students will then discover that story and language can bring great joy and creativity to our lives which will lead to increased curiosity about ourselves and the future.

Do Curricular Competencies (Learning Standards): Students will be expected to read eloquently at the grade one level, use previous knowledge and sources of information to make meaning of concepts which will build comprehension skills, use notions of print, visual, and oral texts, acknowledge the importance of story in personal identity, family, and community while using personal lived experiences to connect to the elements of story. Students will also be asked to present their ideas in various forms while exchanging these ideas with other peers in the classroom to develop a sense of shared understanding. Adopted from Indigenous worldviews, students will also use the idea of oral storytelling to share their finished product with the classroom.

Know Content (Learning Standards): The students will be expected to demonstrate their learning by knowing how to interpret story and text looking at literary elements such as language, colour, and images. Vocabulary to talk about the learning activity such as what a job and career is, and students should also develop an understanding of reading strategies such as using illustrations to interpret meaning while looking at oral strategies on how to present their work in terms of pace, volume, waiting their turn, and focusing on the speaker that is talking. Students will also gain knowledge of metacognitive strategies where they will be able to reflect on themselves and their goals for the future and acknowledging themselves as a reader and writer and what areas they need to work on. Students will also know sentence structure, letter formation, the distinction between letters and sounds, and frequent practices in punctuation such as capital letters and where question marks and periods go after a sentence.

 

STAGE 2:  Assessment Plan

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: (Assessment as Learning; Assessment for Learning)

This introductory lesson involves a mixture of formative and summative assessment to ensure that students are accomplishing what is expected at their grade level in the specific area of study. Students will be assessed as a means of formative assessment by their journal writing in their journal diaries for this specific lesson.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT: (Assessment of Learning)

With this introductory lesson, there will also be a means of summative assessment by assessing their final presentation where they reflect on their learning about this activity and for the teacher to assess their critical thinking skills and oral communicative skills.

The Learning Intention:  What will students learn in this lesson? (i.e. Learning Standards)	Students will learn new vocabulary, the importance of story, reading, writing, and oral strategies while discovering their own passions and hobbies which will help them develop ideas of what they wish to be when they grow up.
Evidence of Learning:  How will students demonstrate their learning? What does it look like?	Students will demonstrate their learning by engaging in critical thought individually or collaboratively in groups and expressing their thoughts on paper through words, illustration, and orally in presentation.
Criteria: What do students need to do to meet or achieve the learning intention?	Students will be expected to thoroughly reflect about themselves as an individual, their family and jobs/careers they have seen through real-life experiences and will write up to five sentences about what they wish to be when they grow up, illustrate a picture of themselves in that job/career, and share with the class when completed.

Planning for Diversity:

 

Learning Target: In what ways does the lesson meet the needs of diverse learners? How will you plan for students who have learning/behaviour difficulties or require enrichment?
Students need to/must do Students will be asked to look at their personal interests and determine what they want to be when they grow up in terms of a job/career. Access/All	Students can do Students can write a few sentences in their journal diaries about this topic and illustrate a creative picture of themselves in whichever job/career they see themselves in and will stand up and share with the class after the 90 minutes. Most	Students could do/try to For students that experience diverse learning needs, they can choose whichever format they find most comfortable whether it be just an illustration, writing a few sentences, or both. Those that do not wish to share with the class, can share with a close friend or have the teacher share their activity for them while encouragement and praise will always be placed on the student by the teacher and classmates. Few/Challenge

 

STAGE 3:  Learning Plan

 

Resources, Material and Preparation: What resources, materials and preparation are required?  

Before the learning activity begins, students will watch the What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up | Original Songs | By LBB Junior – YouTube  and will be provided with the When I Grow Up worksheet that will include important vocabulary, journal diaries, crayons, and markers afterwards.

Organizational/Management Strategies: (anything special to consider?)

Before and after the materials are handed out to the students, encouragement and praise will be passed on to the students for them to freely express their imaginations in however they wish and to have fun with the activity which will increase their levels of motivation.

Lesson Development:

           

Connect: How will you introduce this lesson in a manner that engages students and activates their thinking? Activate or build background knowledge, capture interest, share learning intention.		Pacing
Teacher will  To spark curiosity and interest in the students with this lesson, the teacher will talk about when he or she was in grade one and what his or her passions and hobbies were while expressing different ideas of what he or she wanted to be when they grew up in terms of a job or career. The teacher can provide students with examples  and have fun with it while engaging the students.	Students will Grade one students will most likely start conversation with the teacher and peers while developing ideas of their own before the learning activity begins which helps with their communication and collaboration skills.	Approximately 10 minutes.

Process:  What steps and activities are you going to use to help students interact with new ideas, build understanding, acquire and practice knowledge, skills and/or attitudes? In what ways have you built in guided practice?		Pacing
Teacher will After the connection piece of the lesson is finished, the teacher will show the fun YouTube video “What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up Original Songs By LBB Junior” What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up | Original Songs | By LBB Junior – YouTube to help students interact with new ideas, build understanding, acquire and practice knowledge, skills and attitudes about the learning activity and themselves.	Students will Grade one students will love the music and animation of the video and will develop their own ideas about what they want to be when they grow up individually and with those around them.	Approximately 10 minutes.

Transform:  How will students apply or practice their learning? Can they show or represent their learning in personalized ways? What are the choices for student task?		Pacing
Teacher will After the students have had the opportunity to reflect and discuss, the teacher will hand out the journal diaries and What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up worksheet with the provided materials.	Students will Grade one students will take their time in representing their learning in the written word in the journal diaries, coloured illustration of themselves in their personalized job/career choice or participate in both methods if they wish. Students will then be asked to share with the class when they are finished if they feel comfortable or can share with a close friend or ask the teacher to share for them.	Approximately 60 minutes.

Closure: How will you solidify the learning that has taken place and deepen the learning process? Refer back to the learning intention, connect to next learning.		Pacing
Teacher will After students finish the tasks asked of them, the teacher will take a few moments to reflect on the experience that the students just endured in to further a sense of deeper critical thought and will take the time that is left to acknowledge and congratulate the students for all their efforts and showing appreciation. The teacher will explain the reasoning behind the learning activity and to show the students that they can do anything they set their mind to.	Students will Grade one students will reciprocate to the teacher and his or her appreciation and encouragement by feeling a sense of accomplishment and gaining the confidence in being able to express themselves in however they wish moving forward and will reflect on how they felt about the learning activity and give ideas on future lessons and activities that they would like to do further into the school year.	Approximately 10 minutes.

WHAT DO I WANT TO BE WHEN I GROW UP? WORKSHEET

Name _________________________________________

Objective: This worksheet will help you find what you want to be when you grow up and prepare you for writing in your journal diary.

Vocabulary:

Job: A place you will go to make money when you are older.

Career: A job that you will work at for a very long time.

When I grow up, I want to be a __________________________________________________

Because…_________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use this page to draw yourself in the job/career you want when you grow up. Make sure to add color

FOUR POINT PROFIENCY SCALE RUBRIC

This lesson plan will be based on the four-point proficiency scale to clearly assess demonstrations of learning with each individual student.

1 indicates that the student is not meeting expectations of learning. The work quality appears to need more development. Alterations will be made to instruction to help assist further achievement and learning in this area of study.

2 indicates that the student is demonstrating a developing level of achievement in this area. The quality of work is indeterminate, and instruction may need to be enhanced for the learner to enhance growth in this area of study.

3 indicates that the student has developed a good level of understanding in what is expected at this grade level. Students are almost exceeding expectations in their learning.

4 indicates that the student is exceeding expectations of the learning expected of them. The quality of work has been deemed as excellent and outstanding with a very promising idea of future learning in this area of study.

                                 

EDUCATION 421: ASSESSMENT AND MOTIVATION JOURNAL ENTRIES

Carly Lorntsen

Weekly Journal Reflections 1-4

Education 421: Assessment and Motivation

University of Northern British Columbia

Week One Journal Reflection

            This week, pondering about the idea of assessment was intriguing. While brainstorming about what I know and wonder about assessment, many different ideas came to mind. While being a student for many years, assessment for myself always drove my motivation and gave me a sense of purpose in what I was learning at the time and gave me that drive to succeed resulting in a sense of accomplishment. Although, I know that assessment has many pros and cons for all learners and not every learner will feel the same as me. In Education 394 last semester, I learned that there are many different forms of assessment including formative and summative whether these forms be exams, research projects and more, they all can determine where students struggle and where they excel. A wonder of mine about assessment during class and afterwards was about report cards and advanced digital reporting. I wonder how educators and guardians feel about the transition of paper to digital report cards. After reading the assigned articles for this week, I learned assessment and motivation indeed go hand in hand, but the goal is to create life-long learners meaning that we must create a sense of adaptive expertise by incorporating helpful pedagogical approaches to help support this including guided, action, and experiential learning. I feel that these approaches will guide learners by helping them make effective learning goals which will lead them to act by attempting to pursue these learning goals and eventually will experiment with diverse areas of study finding their weaknesses and strengths leading to a rich expertise of adaptability. I find that educators must have adaptive expertise where they are required to possess the ability to be adaptive in sharing their knowledge in different situations and it should be just the same for students. Students learn in so many ways and providing them with direct explicit instruction rather than partial guidance will take them from a novice to an expert in adaptive learning. This concept reminds me of myself in that entering college at age seventeen, I had no idea what I wanted to do long term, so I took different courses from all different ranges of study to discover my own strengths and weaknesses. It taught me about adaptive learning and showed me that you must be adaptive to get to whichever your end goal is in learning and how the learning should never stop which will create a lifelong learner within yourself. Assessment should always be there to guide and lead to great discovery.

Week Two Journal Reflection

            After week two’s class, I began to ponder about what I think makes assessment practices conducive to learning. I always believed that assessment practices enhanced motivation while also determining whether the student understands the course material and what the individual may need to work on. I feel that effective assessment practices can also help students develop strong critical thinking skills which will help them grow in classrooms and future career opportunities. These skills created by assessment practices can create a sense of adaptability and flexibility for future learning with each individual student. With my own experiences as a learner, I feel that throughout my time in school, I always aimed for straight A’s and looked forward to report cards and eventually midterm and final grades in college. In my last year of college at the College of New Caledonia in Quesnel taking biology courses, I studied incredibly hard for each exam and would often get A’s but if I received a B, I was upset with myself, and my professor would laugh and say I was way too hard on myself and still considered me as a great student. Reflecting on this moment in time, it is quite possible that I may have been viewing assessment incorrectly. After learning more deeply about assessment in this program, I may have been seeking too much academic validation. Although it may be a strong motivator, it may have led me to overworking myself just to receive those grades when, assessment should be more of a learning journey where mistakes are perfectly normal and part of the process of becoming a lifelong learner. According to Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017), “In many cases, learning has been less about proficiency and more about earning points” (p. 14). This reminded me of the memory I have from the biology classes in that I should have never been so hard on myself about some silly points but rather focussed more on mastering my skills in knowing the different protists or translating DNA sequences. I wish the same for my future elementary students in that they will be more interested in the quality of their learning than the quantity of how many points they can earn or however many A’s they can receive.

Week Three Journal Reflection

            After week three’s class and reading chapter two of the required text, I decided to reflect on the very last quote from the chapter which encapsulated my biggest take away from the reading. Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017) stated that “when the communication of the results clearly points to what comes next in the learning, then students can operate with a high degree of interdependence, hope, and efficacy as they strive to improve along the way” (p. 39). When I seen the word interdependence, I automatically thought about the relationship between two or more people and in the case of learning and the classroom environment, I look at the relationship between the teacher and each individual student. Throughout this program and my entire education journey thus far, building relationships within the learning environment is key to success and motivation. This quote gives me the impression that if the teacher has a strong, respectful, and nurturing relationship with each individual student, feedback for all assignments, tasks and everyday learning will always be welcomed even if it is stating that the student needs to work on a few things. In my learning, I always appreciated feedback on where I am excelling and where I need to improve. If the teacher placed a great effort to build that relationship and interdependence with me, I appreciated that feedback on where I needed to work on things even more because it showed that even though the teacher built a great connection with me, I appreciated the fact that they would provide me with feedback on my weaknesses. Recognizing that the teacher has faith in you encourages you to strive for improvement and working together as a team with your teacher will lead to effective learning. The immediate action I will take because of this takeaway is to ensure that I build strong relationships with all students I have and always cheer them on through feedback and ways that they can improve.

Week Four Journal Reflection

            During week four’s class, the professional development webinar that I chose to attend was the “Race, Class and Reading: Disrupting the Pedagogy of Low Expectations” offered by the IDA Ontario association. I am so happy that I had registered for this webinar because it had plenty of amazing information and viewpoints. Being an individual with a loved one that has experienced a reading disability and the various challenges that came along with it from childhood to later adulthood, the inadequate number of resources to help build reading and writing skills in schools is incredibly disheartening. Throughout the webinar, many panelists spoke about how they had never received instruction on how to teach children how to read in teacher’s college and how a survey was done across Canada with approximately five hundred teacher graduates with only eight of them being provided with knowledge on the science of reading and how it can be taught. I believe that this is strongly troubling, and all teacher candidates should have mandatory courses in their program that illustrates how teachers can teach children how to read. Shortly, I will be going into my three-week experiential practicum in a kindergarten classroom, and it will be interesting to see what the children are exposed to in terms of learning how to read and write. If allowed, I would love to practice reading with each individual student to help increase their motivation in learning how to read and write. I particularly loved how it was stated in the webinar that the ability to read and write is a human right and it needs to be enforced into schools to help our children be the best that they can be.

Carly Lorntsen

Weekly Journal Reflections 5-7

Education 421: Assessment and Motivation

University of Northern British Columbia

Week Five Journal Reflection

February 3, 2022,

            This week, learning about the importance of feedback and the nature of communicating results to the learner was compelling. After reading chapter three of the required text, a question that I decided to reflect on from the “Pause and Ponder” section on page fifty-eight of the text was if I agree or disagree with the statement that grades are feedback. In my opinion, there is a difference between grading and feedback. I believe that grading allocates value to the student and his or her completed work, while feedback provides the student with ways in which they exceeded on the assigned task, and ways that they can improve. According to Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017), “Grades, while technically fed back to learners, do not represent an authentic form of feedback designed to improve achievement while increased achievement happens through the cycle of formative assessment paired with descriptive feedback” (p. 50). Reflecting about this idea of comparing grades and feedback, it reminds me of a finite mathematics course I had to complete last year. With this course, I had daily lectures for approximately two weeks, and would receive an exam to test my understanding of the current material. A couple days would pass, and I would be anxiously waiting to see the grade I received on each exam. When the professor was finished grading all exams, grades would be posted to our course website which was called Moodle at the time. The only type of feedback on each exam that I would see was just a grade with no comments on where I could improve or what parts of the math I was excelling at. Therefore, I would move towards the next lecture material, not being aware of where I went wrong on the exam prior to this which could be detrimental for me when the final exam approaches. I would email the professor to discuss my exams, but this professor would say to just move on, and keep working hard for the next exam. I was never provided with any detailed feedback to see where I was struggling and which parts I was excelling at. Therefore, this example indicates that grades can be a good thing to show where a student is at in that present moment with their understanding of the material, but detailed feedback should always be mandatory to enhance the learning experience of the student for learners to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses with the material, and how to effectively fix the areas that they are struggling with. This example illustrates that grades are not necessarily feedback unless they are thorough providing detail.

Week Six Journal Reflection

February 10, 2022,

            This week, learning about assessment data and how to interpret it was highly interesting. After reading chapter four of the required text for this course, a question that I decided to reflect on from the “Pause and Ponder” section on page seventy-five includes what it means for assessment information to be valid, accessible, and reliable. When I think of the term’s validity, accessibility, and reliability in terms of assessment, I think about three goals that educators in the classroom are attempting to achieve with their students. Assessment validity is this idea where a test of some sort measures what it is supposed to measure such as measuring if a student is at an emerging, developing, proficient, or extending level with their reading whereas assessment reliability is simple evidence of assessment validity in that it measures the performance of the student very consistently over time by having students read for the teacher every day to ensure progress for example. Assessment accessibility ensures that all learners will have equal opportunities with their peers to perform their best in any task that is asked of them. According to Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017), “Educators who believe all students can learn deliberately adopt a tone of influence and possibility as a means to promote learning, especially in the toughest situations” (p. 67). I really enjoyed this quote in that it illustrates how students that are continuously encouraged and feel a sense of belonging in the classroom will become confident and courageous in their learning while recognizing that they can learn anything and reach mastery with all subjects along with their peers. If an educator has effective assessment validity, accessibility, and reliability, students will grow substantially in their learning as the school year moves forward.

Week Seven Journal Reflection

February 17, 2022,

            This week, learning about selecting, planning, and designing assessment methods was very thought-provoking. While I think about my experiential practicum that I am beginning on February 22, there are some concerns and queries about assessment in relation to what I am teaching during this practicum period. While being placed in a kindergarten classroom, I am extremely excited and nervous for this learning experience. With further guidance and advice from my coaching teacher, she has informed me how important assessment is in each lesson. While lesson planning, it is exceedingly important to set realistic goals and determine how the students will demonstrate their learning to me to ensure that they are growing in their learning abilities. Before my practicum begins, I have been given the opportunity to observe my kindergarten placement class and have recognized that all learners are at different stages in their learning. For example, one student still cannot write her full first name while another can write multiple words for me such as the word ‘October’. My biggest concern is how I will ensure that my assessment methods for each lesson are accessible for all students. As I have already written approximately three to four lesson plans thus far prior to my practicum beginning, I have attempted to adjust my assessment methods to ensure the learning experience is rich and enjoyable for all students. For example, using the ‘thumbs up’ in front of the chest formative assessment method when I ask a question at the end of the lesson will provide clarity to me in how well each student is understanding the material while providing confidentiality for each student in their current learning abilities. Being a very young teacher candidate, I am aware that I am still learning, and I recognize that teaching children takes a tremendous amount of time and practice. I will remember this as I go into this practicum journey and to absorb as much as I can in the classroom environment that I have been placed in.

Carly Lorntsen

Weekly Journal Reflections 8-12

Education 421: Assessment and Motivation

University of Northern British Columbia

Week Eight, Nine, and Ten Combined Practicum Journal Reflection

March 11, 2022,

            Throughout my practicum, I learned many new concepts about the career, and had fun while learning. It was particularly interesting to have the opportunity to finally swap positions of being a full-time student for a very lengthy time to teaching for my very first time. Many days throughout my practicum after teaching for the day, I would sit back and observe the kindergarten classroom I was placed in, and it would feel so surreal to be there where I would hear things such as “Ms. Lorntsen, am I doing this right?”, “Ms. Lorntsen, you are a really good teacher”, “I wish you could stay forever and teach us some more, Ms. Lorntsen”, and the list goes on. This was truly an experience that I will never forget as the years pass. When I reflect upon the assessment practices that I carried out and observed throughout my practicum, I recognize that kindergarten is primarily about the progress of each student rather than standardized assessments. In kindergarten, it is important to make learning activities fun and simple for the students to demonstrate mastery and what areas they may need help in to improve. In the beginning of my practicum placed in a kindergarten classroom, making lesson plans was quite tricky for me because I recognized that I had to make my material very engaging and uncomplicated as I quickly realized that kindergarten students cannot sit for too long, and they always need their lessons to be exciting and quick with a large amount of movement breaks in between. Therefore, I used assessment practices such as ‘thumbs up and thumbs down’, asking questions and allowing students to raise their hands to share their answers, think, pair, and share strategies, and different games such as a sight word game where each student would pull a popsicle stick that had a sight word or a book on it, and the student would say the sight word out loud or would create a sentence with that sight word if they pulled a popsicle stick with a book on it. Therefore, I tried to make my own assessment practices of observing, listening, and asking engaging questions to assess the kindergarteners to see where each student is in terms of their progress. Interestingly, my coaching teacher gave me the opportunity to pull some individual students to the back of the classroom and assess their letter and sound recognition while recording on to paper how many they said correctly while looking at their progress starting from September until the current time of March. This was extremely helpful as it was something that she did regularly for report cards and progress reports which taught me a tremendous amount. I have always believed that assessment is exceedingly important, but after being in this experiential practicum, it was incredible to see it happening in real-life time. My coaching teacher continuously gave me lessons on the importance of assessment and how it is essential for lessons to be engaging and motivating but the assessment piece is always key because this is where we can identify individual student performance and progress, student interests, potential struggles, and strengths. After this practicum was completed, I began to believe that assessment is a powerful tool that will potentially create a stronger student and an effective teacher.

Week Eleven Journal Reflection

March 17, 2022,

            After week eleven’s class, I began to ponder about what teachers can do to define and support instructional agility in the school or school system. According to Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017), “Instructional agility is the moment that with precision and flexibility, a teacher engages students in recognizing what they know and then pushing them to learn more or to recognize a misconception in a way that creates that aha moment for students” (p. 110). I really enjoyed this quote because it helps me understand the definition of instructional agility more clearly and puts a vision in my mind as to what it really looks like. The term instructional agility makes me reflect on past experiences with teachers that I have had throughout the years. I have had teachers and professors that have demonstrated excellent instructional agility and those are the teachers that tend to be most memorable. For example, a couple of years ago in college, I had to take a statistics course for the social sciences to complete my diploma in criminology, and my professor was in Prince George, British Columbia, while I was in Quesnel, British Columbia. It was a digital delivery course, but my professor went above and beyond for his students to ensure we were all thinking about the material thoroughly and working exceptionally hard to achieve that desired mastery. He demonstrated strong instructional agility by leaving his current city during his own time to travel to the Quesnel College of New Caledonia campus to spend hours with his Quesnel students including myself to ensure that we were thoroughly understanding the material and ready for each exam. This professor also built strong relationships with his students and was always willing to help outside of class time. For myself, it made me want to learn more than the required material and had me excited to attend his class and his review sessions. In my opinion, this is an excellent example of instructional agility and having teachers such as this one in my experience with my education pushes me to be the same way and having the patience, willingness, and determination to go above and beyond for all my students to ensure that they are learning and having that learning take them to greater and higher places. These are inspirational ways to help define and support instructional agility in all schools and school systems.

Week Twelve Journal Reflection

March 22, 2022

            After reading and analyzing chapter seven of the required text, I decided to reflect on the key characteristics that ground student investment. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter because for myself, I absolutely love being a student and I have invested a great amount of time, patience, and diligence into my education throughout the years. This reflection makes me ponder about what it really takes to induce student investment and what motivated me to want to always learn and aim for success. According to Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017), “Students invest when they believe that they can do it, they know what to do next, and the work is meaningful and worth their time, making self-regulation an integral component of student investment” (p. 120). In my opinion, self-regulation is exceptionally important for children, and it must be taught before emerging into adulthood. Self-regulation is primarily how to cope with large emotions and staying calm in certain situations, and what it means to be adaptive. For myself, I learned about self-regulation at home by my parents growing up and acknowledged that behind every storm will always be a brand-new day full of sunshine and opportunities. I also learned that failure is nearly impossible unless you give up on the task ahead and always had adults consistently in my ear explaining that I am worthy, capable, and smart. Every child needs this reassurance and I strongly believe that it is key in student investment. Erkens, Schimmer and Vagle (2017) also stated that “positive interactions such as teacher to student and student to student can enhance a learner’s desire to invest” (p. 120). This is indeed true simply because recognizing that the environment you are going to everyday to complete tasks such as schoolwork is positive, safe, and loving will increase motivation and investment substantially. Similarly for adults attending work every day, it is highly similar in that adults will aim to invest more in their work when they feel appreciated, and safe in their environment. Student investment is essential for student growth and success for the present and future. My goal is to have students obtain the same key characteristics of self-regulation and positive relationships and interactions like I did which will create a classroom filled with potential and joy.

EDUCATION 400: RAVEN AND THE BENTWOOD BOX: A CROSS CURRICULAR GRADE 3 UNIT

This was a fun group project comprised of the work of two other class members and myself. I am sharing some of our collaborative work with permission, as well as my own work to contribute to this unit of ELA, Math, and Arts Education lessons. This group project was based on the wonderful Raven story told and illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd in Raven Brings the Light, and by Gerald McDermott in Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest. As a group, we are exceptionally thankful for these authors and those who have continued to tell this story for an exceptional amount of generations, and generations to come.

Raven and Bentwood boxes (canva.com) Group Project: Credit goes to: Carly Lorntsen, Heather Raven Tuite, and Emory Georges.

Bentwood Boxes (canva.com) Credit goes to: Heather Raven Tuite

GRADE 3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS SECTION

GRADE 3 ARTS EDUCATION SECTION: Credit goes to Heather Raven Tuite