During this term’s experiential practicum, I had the absolute joy of working with a grade 5-6 class at Kildala elementary school. These students were engaged in their learning, creative, energetic, and absolutely everything a new teacher could hope for. Designing lessons for this group was an absolute pleasure and I hope they learned half as much from me as I learned from them.

I wanted to take an opportunity to share some of the highlights quickly on my portfolio, along with a collage of some of the work they shared with me.

  • The students participated in a cross curricular language arts and arts education unit focused on various cultural representations of the Sun, Moon, and Stars in local and international cultures. The students then created their own stories using a variety of formats including Tik Tok style videos, stop motion, and an original song.
  • In math students learned portions of their fractions unit using games (like Fraction bingo which focused on equivalent fractions), and puzzles (a large group activity that used the fraction foundations the ovoid, a shape from Northwest Coast Indigenous formline). Other sections of this unit were taught explicitly using an I do, you do, we do approach to new content.
  • Cross curricular lessons focused on water, health, the environment, and food sovereignty spanned outcomes and competencies in science, physical education, and social studies. Amongst these were lessons on repatriation of Indigenous artifacts, an opportunity to engage with authentic resources on traditional health outcomes impacted by water access, and an outdoor education trip to see an ancient spruce tree.
  • In French, the students completed a novel study on the novel L’ours et la Femme Venus des Etoiles – the students created wonderful creative reflections on this novel and wrote their own stories that explored the structure of the “creation legend” in local and world cultures.

What most struck me about this practicum, was the continued curiosity, creativity, and excitement these students showed me when presented with opportunities to learn. As I’ve reflected in the days following, I’ve wondered how we can support all students in maintaining their love of learning and personal curiosity, in the way that these things have been protected for the students I got to work with over the last month. Most of all though, I am so grateful for this group and my coaching teacher – what a spark for the start of my career.