Alicia Marinis

Practicum Reflection
Dr. Melville
Lakehead University
ED4260 YA

My First Practicum Reflection

My first teaching practicum was a compelling learning experience, and surprised me in
ways I hadnt anticipated. Stepping through the doors of Lord Dorchester Secondary School
(LDSS), I was instantaneously struck by the range of attitudes, personalities and abilities among
the students and teachers despite their small student population of approximately 500 students.
By the end of my experience, I began to see the positive impact I was having on the students. I
had taught lessons to the grade 9 (MPM1D) and 10 (MPM2D) academic math students as well as
the grade 11 mixed math students (MCF3M). They all became accustomed to the new routines
and activities I had introduced and during my last two weeks, I could start seeing the growth and
progress they had made since I started working with them. Perhaps even more exciting than their
growth was what I learned from my students. I learned that relationships mean more than your
position at the school. Students may respect you in the classroom, People dont care how much
you know until they know how much you care (John C. Maxwell). The students pushed me to
understand who I am as a person and as a teacher. I now understand the importance of using the
curriculum documents when creating unit plans in the classroom, and how lessons will be

disconnecting from one another if you only rely on one resource. Before this placement, I
considered myself a high school math teacher, now I consider myself a general educator who
happens to specialize in math.
Knowledge of Self
During my high school placement, I had to consider some very important questions.
These questions included but were not limited to what sort of person am I and whether I have
what it takes to be a teacher. There are many aspects of my personality that I believe to be
qualities of a good teacher. I am responsible and aware of the responsibilities of a classroom
teacher. Every day I was responsible for encouraging as well as motivating 85 students,
preparing lesson plans, teaching and evaluating student progress and maintaining discipline in a
positive classroom environment. I am motivated to improve my education through professional
development and additional qualifications and observing others and improving accordingly. This
will ensure that I am the best teacher that I can be for my students and my associate school. By
obtaining this knowledge, I am also showing my students that learning is important and useful
throughout your entire life.
Every teaching experience I am privileged to have, my character as a person is impacted.
During placement, my own schedule was secondary to the demands of my students who wanted
my help. I made myself available before and after school as well as during lunch time. Many
students appreciated my availability and personally thanked me for putting in extra time to help
them succeed. These moments remind me why I spent my lunches in the classroom, and woke up
early to arrive at school. I always invested my time and energy to finish any task that was
assigned to me. My associate teacher appreciated how diligent I was in my lesson plans and

commitment to the students. This has approved my character as I concentrate on my work,

follow instruction, finish my projects and always hand in my best work. Through this experience
I have become very conscientious of the work I hand in and am always enthusiastic and put forth
my best work.
Another aspect of my personality is my ability to show respect by having high
expectations for myself and others around me as well as respecting students in the classroom. I
was respectful to my students during practicum by teaching them about the definition of a
respectful classroom. During my first day teaching the Grade 11 Mixed Math class, I started by
giving the students 2 minutes to write down on a piece of paper their definition of a respectful
classroom. Afterwards, I informed the students that they would be crumpling their paper and
tossing them around the room to spread the ideas around. After 10 seconds each students was
instructed to pick up one snowball and read the definition in their head. I asked if any students
wanted to share the definition they read and some students raised their hands. As a class, we had
a great discussion on a respectful classroom and I found that I connecting with them. From that
day, I ensured my lessons were engaging and meaningful to the students. I also found that
connecting with the students through interests helped make lessons more meaningful. Many
students enjoyed math, sports and music so I showed my interest in those activities and the
students responded positively. Through that experience I was able to become a mentor to the
students.
I am a firm believer that you cannot be an effective teacher on intellect alone. Emotions
are at the root of all teaching fields. Teachers emotions are important for the quality of
classroom teaching. My first experience with true emotions was my first-time teaching in front

of the classroom. In my Grade 11 year, I was enrolled in a course called Leadership and Peer
Support which allowed me to plan one lesson, and teach the lesson to an assigned class. I was
assigned a French Immersion Grade 10 History Class. I had taken that course the year before and
did not do my usual best in the course. In order to do well in the Peer Support class, I prepared a
very detailed lesson on Anne Frank but was extremely nervous to present it to the Grade 10
students. The day came for me to give my lesson and within 10 minutes my lesson took a turn for
the worse. I began feeling overwhelmed and stressed and began to panic. I could feel my
temperature rising and my heart rate increase; I was having a panic attack. I started feeling weak
and could feel the colour in my face fading away. I decided the only thing left to do was to leave
the room before I passed out in front of the class. I was taken over by my emotions that day and
every teaching moment after I felt anxious. During my first lesson of my placement I felt
optimistic. I was scared and feared a situation similar to my high school experience could occur,
but eagerly anticipated the moment I could finally call myself a teacher. After the lesson was
over I was very proud of myself. I had overcome a large obstacle in my life, and was overjoyed.
However, during the Grade 11 Mixed Math course, I dealt with many opinionated students. I was
frustrated with the attitudes, and lack of motivation from the students. During lessons, they
would announce their frustrations on marks, and quizzes and attempt to get under my skin. As a
teacher, I will always experience a roller-coaster of emotions from euphoria, to despair. In the
future, I plan on responding to each day with a calm and open mind and use my past experiences
to make me a better teacher.
Some personal characteristics I would like to develop would be more attentiveness to
students. I have a difficult time focusing for a long period of time, and my attention span is not as
long as I would like it to be. During my discussion of a respectful classroom, I was able to

discuss distractions in the classroom. Therefore, distractions such as students walking into class
late, cellphones and chatter during lessons were clear and I was able to develop my level of
attentiveness. I also worked on setting single objectives at a time to ensure I could stay focused
until the work was complete. Another characteristic I began developing was discretion. As a
teacher, I was able to be myself more with my MPM2D (Grade 10 Academic Math) course than I
was with my MPM1D (Grade 9 Academic Math). Students in Grade 9 were more afraid of
disrupting the classroom, so I needed to stay firm with the students which did not allow me to
show my personality as much. The Grade 10 class however, was very loud and fun, so in order to
get them to respect me, I needed to be more fun with them. I continued to develop my ability to
recognize when to use and avoid certain words, actions and attitudes in the classroom.
Curriculum Knowledge
My associate teachers philosophy of mathematics education was to prepare students for
their future roles in society by equipping them with the necessary mathematical knowledge and
skill set. The mathematics curriculum encompasses this philosophy by teaching skills of
reasoning, problem solving, and communication along with the ability for students to have the
incentive to further their learning on their own. While creating lessons and unit plans, my
associate teacher supplied me with many resources she used to create her lessons. The resource
she relied on the most was the classroom textbook. I had an advantage, by using the textbook as
a guideline when creating my lessons. The textbook carefully spells out the information on each
subject and each unit is organized as well as balanced in a chronological order. However, the
textbook had answers to all the questions and many times the answers were not accurate.

By being over reliant on the textbook, I was not able to focus on the specific expectations
of the curriculum. I was restricting myself to the textbook as a resource because it appeared to
work. Next time, I would like to rely less on the textbook and consider other types of aids or
materials. During my placement, I used Targeted Implementation and Planning Supports for
Revised Students (TIPS4RM), which is a collection of unit outlines, lesson plans and support
materials allow students to use their problem solving skills. I also used 3 Act Math Tasks, whose
goal is to promote inquire and opening in the classroom. Next practicum, I would like to
incorporate more high-order thinking problems, with an emphasis on problem solving and allow
more opportunities for students to learn in a variety of ways including hands-on experiences,
either independently or teacher-directed.
As a teacher candidate in the classroom, I was able to understand the key concepts, skills
and processes of my subjects and how I could use them to develop genuine links between the
subjects. A concept I learned during my teachers college math course was the large gap between
Grade 8 and Grade 9 math. As the teacher during my placement, I noticed gaps in students
learning and had to foster the students confidence and competence as well as help build on those
fundamental skills they learned in elementary school.
The grade 9 course is built on the belief that students learn best when given opportunities
to investigate ideas and concepts and be scaffolded to the new direction mathematics takes in
high school. One example of letting students investigate for themselves was the first lesson of the
measurement unit. I began by showing the students a 30 second clip of cookie dough being
mixed and rolled with a rolling pin, then cut out using a circular cookie cutter. After the video, I
had the students brainstorm possible mathematical questions that came to mind while watching

the clip. This allowed students to brainstorm and explore any question they wanted instead of a
question directed by the teacher. After the students shared their ideas, I narrowed in on the
question How many more cookies could be made with the leftover dough? The students began
to brainstorm what information was needed in order to answer the question. This was a great way
to get all types of learners involved regardless of their mathematical ability. I played the second
video which showed the extra cookie dough being rolled back out and the diameter of the
circular cookie cutter (8.5 cm). The students now had enough information and were excited to
get started. As I was circulating the room, I was celebrating the ideas students were
brainstorming and was not worrying about their work being right or organized. After five
minutes, the students shared their solutions and received a final answer of three extra cookies. As
a class, we viewed the final clip which showed a little more than five additional cookies being
made. Some students immediately noticed that some cookies were thinner than others and this
was related to their own life and the impact of different size cookies in the oven. I was able to
link the subject of measurement with other relevant subjects. The students were engaged
throughout the entire 20 minute real world math problem.
Overall, I was very pleased with my practicum experience and I learned a lot in a short
period of time. When I first began my placement, I saw the teacher directing the lesson and only
considered the teachers point of view. Now, I am aware of the role the students have and how I
must focus on what the learner is doing when planning a lesson. During a lesson, I can take on
many roles other than the teacher; I can be a resource person, a supervisor or a facilitator.