Today I visited a new school for my observational practicum – this one much more rural than the last. After an hour drive at the crack of dawn this morning I found myself situated in the most adorable little school in the middle of a seemingly self-contained community. The sense of community followed me through the doors of the school and I was immediately surrounded by posters, artwork, cozy reading corners, music rooms, and many other elements that contributed to a wholesome and inviting learning environment.
Once all of us teacher candidates arrived we were greeted warmly by the principal. She was beyond prepared, handing us maps of the school and individual schedules for the next three Tuesdays showing us where we would be and at which time. She made sure to give us a tour of their tight-knit school and introduce us to all five of the faculty members as well. She quickly made it clear that her role within the school was to facilitate a welcoming and smooth education system for all involved.
The class I was assigned to for the day was a grade 3/4 split comprising of mostly grade 3 students. The students all had voices larger than their bodies and a level of energy that adults could only wish for and I was curious to know how a teacher structured their day to take on the challenge of capturing their fleeting attention. I had expected the teacher to be soft-spoken and overly nurturing because of the grade level being taught but I was genuinely surprised by her immediate level of assertiveness over the class. She was the perfect picture of a woman who demanded respect and hard work while still holding onto a sense of empathy for the fact that she is teaching young students who get the wiggles after sitting for too long or easily drift into imagination without provocation.
She achieved this balance by implementing a few interesting elements to her school day that I had not seen yet: short lesson plans and set aside times to get up and move around. She also made sure that not all assignments and work were conducted in the same way. Reading time was followed by group discussion, spelling and word work used cutting and pasting paper, and individual whiteboards were used for math. The teacher ensured that no two parts of the day were too similar and she allowed the students to express their work in whichever way worked for them while still maintaining a structure that she could use to equally assess the students’ learning. She would also only spend about 10-20% of the time for each lesson plan explaining the learning intention and then the rest of the time would be dedicated to the students working out problems or reading to themselves while she walked around the classroom and helped out when needed. I really liked this approach because it seemed to have given the students a sense of autonomy over their own learning which is something that I feel not a lot of children their age are able to have.
Within five minutes of being in the classroom I could tell that this teachers pedagogy was certainly more authoritative than I had expected, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it did not ruin the children’s spirits as I had previously thought it would. I learned today that a classroom can have both a sound structure as well as freedom and that a healthy balance of both can greatly aid in a students’ learning experience. I really look forward to visiting the school again for the next two Tuesdays and exploring other classrooms so that I can see how the other teachers manage their classrooms in that same school climate and environment and to see how the school culture evolves depending on the teacher and students’ styles of teaching and learning.