My first lesson!

Teaching my first lesson was a great experience, and I realized the true value of having a completed example to model to students when explaining the task.  I was so glad that I created this example for our word work lesson on "am" words today!

Trading Cards!

Trading cards are an excellent way for students to demonstrate their understanding of class concepts.  They also encourage students to make connections between what they have learned to how they can use what they have learned in a new way.  We made trading cards as a part of our Fine Arts course, with each trading card resembling something significant from class.  I have included a picture below for you to see what I created, as well as the descriptions explaining why I made each trading card the way I did, and how the activities related to these cards connect with PLOs from various subjects. 

 

Trading Card #1: Dance

            For my first trading card, I decided to focus on dance, and more specifically the signature exercise we did in class.  There were a number of words that came into my mind surrounding the ideas of dance and the exercise that we did in class. I decided to display these words in the shape of a foot because while doing the signature exercise, the last body part that I used to sign my name was with my foot, which linked nicely with the importance of our feet when we dance.    

            I decided to use Tagxedo to create this image on my trading card.  I found that by doing this, I could include the main words that came to my mind, and have them displayed in the shape of a foot.  Dance and signature immediately came to my mind as words to include because of the activity that we did in class.  I also thought of body because we used our body to sign our name, expression because it was through our own freedom of how we signed our names,  creative because each person signed their names in original ways, movement because we were active, personality because as I signed my name I could see that my personality was reflected in it, and enjoyment because of the smiles and laughter that was shared all around the classroom during this activity.  The word, dance is written in a form of handwriting to resemble the activity as well.   

            I found that this related to a grade one PLO in the English Language Arts Integrated Resource Package:

C10 - Use some features and conventions of language to express meaning in their writing and representing, including capital letters at the beginning of people’s names and of sentences and capitalize the pronoun “I”, words from their oral language vocabulary as well as less familiar words from class-displayed lists, and legible printing from left to right of all uppercase and lowercase letters.   

This signature exercise could certainly help students when they are trying to remember to use capital letters at the beginning of a person’s name.  Students could spell out the names of their fellow classmates using the signature exercise, while the teacher reminds and emphasizes the importance of beginning with a capital letter.  This exercise could also be used to become more familiar with their oral language vocabulary words by spelling out different words using the different stages of the exercise.  Practicing the process of printing from left to right could also be practiced during this signature exercise, as well as repeating individual letters from the alphabet in both uppercase and lowercase forms.  There are many ways that this signature exercise fits with this PLO, as it would provide an additional method for students to practice their writing in an enjoyable way that builds confidence. 

Trading Card #2: Drama

           For my second trading card, I decided to focus on both the Forum Theatre demonstration and the pencil exercise we did last class.  My trading card has the shape and appearance of a pencil to represent the activity we did in class.  I thought it was very useful to give students an object to work with, and to create a story from.  Since many students get stuck when they are given opportunities to be creative, I found that this serves as a helpful starting point.  I also really liked the follow-up of picking out key words and writing a simple poem from those words because this helps students think of their story in different ways.  Connecting a line of their poem to body movement is yet another way for students to tell their story. 

            Another reason why I decided to make my trading card into the shape of a pencil is because of the words “Forum Theatre” written on it.  During Forum Theatre, students are basically writing their own lines, so I thought it would be fitting to place the words “Forum Theatre” on the pencil because students are individually writing their own script on the spot.  Although this script does not appear in written format, their script is written in their mind with the words they choose to say.

            I am doing my practicum in a grade one class, so I decided to link Forum Theatre and improv games to grade one drama PLOs. 

A1 – Use exploration and imagination to create drama: Students must imagine themselves in the role of their character in order to successfully play their character when acting in an improv situation.

A2 – Demonstrate engagement in drama activities: During improv games, students will have to focus on the task, follow directions, and be paying attention to how the other students are acting in order to participate.

A3 – Demonstrate co-operation in drama activities: Students must be listening to their fellow students and showing interest in order to respond appropriate to the improv situation they are acting out.

C1 – Participate in drama in a variety of contexts: The grade one students in my class would experience being both a participant and an audience member during improv games. 

Evidently, I was able to find a number of PLOs that I could link to Forum Theatre and improv games that I could do with my grade ones.  I could give the class a basic scene with some simple characters that they could identify with.  Students could also first practice role playing in partners before acting in front of the entire class.  I would observe my students for their ability to act within their role, follow directions, participation, and being a respectful audience member.

Trading Card #3: Props as Metaphor

For my third trading card, I decided to focus on the props as metaphor exercise.  My group used the dowel to create a metaphor of the cycle of plant growth.  Between the four members of my group, we represented a seed, the sun, the rain, and a flower (which was myself).  The dowel represented the stick that is sometimes used to support a growing plant – to help it grow straight.  My trading card, therefore, has a seed, a flower, the sun, and a cloud with raindrops to reflect our roles in the props as metaphor activity which my group personally created in class. 

I decided to focus on grade one Prescribed Learning Outcomes for this write-up, as I am doing my practicum in a grade one classroom.  I found PLOs connecting with the props as metaphor activity in different subject areas. 

Drama: B2 – Use movement and their bodies to explore a range of ideas, feelings, and actions.  Students learn how to use the movement of their bodies as another way to express ideas – an excellent alternative to pencil and paper activities.  

Drama: B3 – Represent ideas and feelings through a variety of drama forms.  Students can represent ideas from other subject areas by using drama, such as this props as metaphor activity.  Students could also use this exercise to demonstrate how events in history affected various people groups.   

Drama: D1 – Participate in and share drama work.  Students would demonstrate their participation while creating their movement with their group, and sharing their drama work would occur when they present what they have created with the class. 

Science: Life Science – Describe the basic needs of local plants and animals (e.g., food, water, light).  Students can use the props as metaphor exercise as my group did, and show that food for plants comes from sunlight and water – that these are essential for plants to grow.  Students could also use props to show what animals require for food.   

I think it could also be useful for grade one students to use the props as metaphor exercise in an illustrative way, because they are building lots of new connections and illustrative techniques could be a way for them to gain some concrete understanding.  Alternatively, students could first start with an illustrative movement, and then for the next activity, the teacher could demonstrate a non-illustrative movement and students could try that afterwards.  Especially in grade one, it may be helpful to actually do an illustrative movement first, so that students can more clearly differentiate the difference between illustrative and non-illustrative movements.  For example, a student could first act as an animal drinking water (illustrative), and then next show a movement of how important water is to an animal (non-illustrative).  This would be cross curricular as it meets some of the life science PLOs for grade one.  By using movements in drama, students could also gain a greater understanding in other subject areas, such as science. 

Trading Card #4: Music

For my fourth trading card, I focused on the music activity with our found objects.  On my trading card I drew the candy jar that I brought in, filled with mini rainbow chocolate chips.  The jar acted as a shaker, and could make a rhythmic or constant sound.  The music notes on the trading card resemble the sounds that came from the jar I participated in the music activities with the class.  My found object only made one sound, but with everyone together, we could create music that was more unique and more complex.   

I again chose to focus on grade one PLOs since that is the grade I am placed in for my practicum.  I focused on Music PLOs because there were so many outcomes that the found object activity related to in this area. 

B3: Perform rhythmic patterns from classroom repertoire.  One of the suggested achievement indicators for this outcome is to “use body percussion, voice, or non-pitched instruments to produce rhythm.”  By using the found objects exercise, students could use objects as their non-pitched instruments to produce rhythm and experiment with rhythm.

 

B5: Identify elements of tempo, dynamics, articulation, and timbre in classroom repertoire.  The teacher could use the found object exercise to have students create sounds that are faster and slower (tempo), louder and softer (dynamics), or smooth or jumpy (articulation) with the objects that they have.  Doing this actually matches with the achievement indicators for this PLO as well.

 

D1: Demonstrate appropriate performance skills in music settings.  This could include students paying attention to the teacher as she provides instructions of how to use their found objects as instruments.  Students would be actively participating and following cues that the teacher gives to instruct when students should make sounds, and how to make sounds.  Students would also be sharing their work with their classmates, showing what sounds their found object makes.  They would also be listening attentively to learn what objects their classmates are working with, and students would practice waiting quietly for their turn to explain the object that they have.  All of these points would be excellent foundational skills for students to learn in grade one. 

The found objects exercise is an excellent activity for grade one students, because it creates a foundation of music for students that have no background in music.  By beginning with rhythm, students can start with the basics without feeling like they need prior knowledge to participate.  This also helps students build their confidence in music and participating in new activities, and will encourage them to participate in other music activities in the future – after having a first positive experience.

A Little About Me

        Hopefully this mini biography will help you learn a little more about who I am.  For starters, I have always wanted to become a teacher for as long as I can remember.  Growing up, I loved teaching my younger sister what I was learning in school and I have always enjoyed working with children.  It is so exciting to finally be in the stage of learning how to become a teacher, as I am currently in the Teacher Education Program at the University of the Fraser Valley  
 
        Other pieces of information about myself include that I am married, I love playing the piano, and I grew up on a dairy farm in the Fraser Valley.  I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of the Fraser Valley, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with extended minors in English and Geography.  I enjoyed my degree, despite its busyness, and always looked forward to the summers where I volunteered at a summer camp for kids.  I spent five summers volunteering at this summer camp, which greatly increased my enthusiasm of working with children.  I thoroughly enjoy hiking and being outdoors, which was another aspect of camp that I appreciated so much. 

        Now, during this year of becoming a teacher, I am excited with all that I am learning.  I feel as though I have already grown so much and anticipate everything that is still ahead of me.  I am eager to use the knowledge and skills that I am learning to become the passionate teacher I have always dreamed of being.