Month: March 2024

Lesson #1/2

For the last three weeks, I have gotten to be part of a grade 2/3 class and have seen three English language arts lessons. In the first two weeks, the lessons were the same, one group of students was reading chapter books independently, while two other groups read shorter stories together. Once the students finished reading they were then to complete a short worksheet that was connected to their books. In the first week I was assigned to check after the novel readers, I went around and asked them to read a page for me and would then ask if they liked the book, why or why not. During the second week, I was with one of the small group reading, together we read the book, and then each student took a turn reading one page. Afterward, the teacher asked the students to grab their whiteboards and began completing a Ufli module. The teacher was very kind to the students and it was obvious the students liked her and listened to her, she had great control over the class and was able to stop misbehavior quickly, even being proactive in stopping the behavior before it started, allowing students to take breaks and short walks.

Big Idea: Stories and other texts help us learn about ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Curriculaur Competencies: Read fluently at grade level

Content: Reading Strategies

Lesson #3

The third lesson we saw was different from this, instead of reading from a book the students practiced and preformed reader theatre. There were three groups all with different stories, each one of us Uvic students took a group and began practicing the play with them. We were able to get through it only once before they presented the play making me stressed out it wasn’t going to work great. Boy was I wrong though, as soon as the students were presenting they were focused and ready to do their best. One member of our group arrived late and didn’t even get to practice, we had to reorganize parts right before the play and even then they still nailed it. By having the students practice their reading and create a short play with it the students were more engaged and excited to share their creativity. This was a great experience as I have not seen this used with a class yet, after seeing it I realized how great of a tool it is to get all the students reading and participating.

Big Idea: Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy

Curriculaur Competencies: Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community

Content: Elements of story

After Primary school and the beginning of high school, I stopped reading, and the only time I would spend reading was maybe subtitles on a movie, video games, or an article. Very rarely did I read a book, even books we did for school I did not like and did not put much effort into. In grade 12 we had the choice of which book we could read and I loved my book and read it super quickly, however, after the book I went back to not reading. It was only my second year in university when I was assigned to read a book by John J. Ratey called Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain for my gym class.

The book was so informational and interesting that I read it way quicker than any other assigned reading (lol). I have always been very active and have never read a book on a science topic made for adults, mixing the two was amazing and I have learnt so much from it. It helped me understand the extent how which exercise helps us not just stay “fit” but also helps us in social-emotional regulation even as adults. the book dives deep into different topics in every chapter such as: Brain cell regeneration, anxiety, ADHD, depression, stress, addiction, and even aging.

While the book is made for adult health these facts are important to me in a professional sense as well. As a teacher, I am striving to teach my students how to create a life full of healthy relationships. To do this exercise is vital to help your body and mind regulate, allowing you to make smart decisions and think critically. If I can help my students in creating healthy exercising habits the students will live healthier and happier lives.

While I didn’t pick up another book for my own time during the rest of the semester as I was already drained from reading other stuff I was so excited to go to the bookstore after my semester and pick out a few books. I spent hours in there that first time and now love going into every bookstore I see to find the books I’ve been searching to get.