This final practicum has turned out to be the most difficult (and closest to making me question if I really want to do this!). But, now that I’m through ‘survival mode’, and have time to reflect once again, it has probably contained some of the richest learning that I will take with me as I begin establishing my own classroom next year – Yes, I still have a desire to be a teacher :-)
I’m aware that I still don’t have all the answers (will I ever?), but as the saying goes ‘forearmed is forewarned’. This brings me to my determination to make the best possible start I can to establish a classroom culture of learning. Easier said than done!
What I do know is that my priority in term one will be to establish routines and expectations that will support such a culture of learning. What these are need to be strategically considered before I start. They need to cover issues such as routines, student accountability, ‘stand-by’ resources, and personal reflection.
The following is a reference to a book that covers issues relating to much of this. Particularly classroom culture, managing the learning environment, assessment and evaluation, and beginning teachers.
McGee, C., & Fraser, D. (2005). The professional practice of teaching (2nd ed.). Southbank, Victoria: Thomson Dunmore Press.
Some of my general thoughts at this stage about practical things I need to do are:
- Clear routines including:
- Class rules that promote a learning community and personal responsibility/accountability for learning
- Introducing, reflecting/concluding, and transitioning of lessons
- Start of school day, after interval and lunchtimes
- Tidy classroom organisation
- Continued reflection on teaching programme and timetable to improve personal practice and student engagement
- Establishing a regular means of marking/reviewing student work, both for formative assessment and student accountability
- ‘Stand-by’ resources for various curriculum areas
- Research and list/store references to books & websites
- Make up ‘packs’ of resources that can be reused
- Design a system of storing/filing these for easy/quick access
- Discuss with various teachers/lecturers what they do to ‘fill spaces’
