Weekly Reflection - Week of March 22

Emily Ann Toews

1. This week I experienced a key moment that changed my learning when…

There were two really big moments that I experienced this week that will probably shape
the way that I teach for the rest of my life. First, as a follow up from last weeks reflection and
talks from my TA and UC, I started to make my transitions a lot more meaningful. Trying to
make each educational experience mean something musically- giving it a purpose without
telling the students that “this is what we are going to do now…”etc.
The second is taking my classroom management and starting to see the positives in
behaviour rather than the negatives. For me, it is so easy to let a lesson become dictated by
negative behaviour with me trying to curb the negative behaviour before moving on rather than
looking for the positive behaviour that I want to see and focussing on that to move the negative
behaviour towards something that I want. It was exhausting; my voice and my energy would be
drained by the end of my classes. In talks with Kathy on Thursday, she suggested simply
changing my mindset from the negative to the positive, and already- my last grade 2/3 lesson
and 4/5 lesson for the week was a lot more rewarding and I did not feel as drained afterwards!

2. This has impacted my teaching the most because…

First, the students were far more engaged and honestly so was I. Being able to move
from one thing to the next without explaining what was happening made the students far more
interested and quizzical as to where we are going with the activity. They are excited to see what
is happening next. For me, it forced me to know exactly where I wanted my lesson to go and
forced me to think of how to make the transitions meaningful.
Second, as I already said, I felt so much more energy after teaching by looking for the
positive behaviour, setting that as my expectation, and then focussing on that. I also found that I
did not feel as “harpy” on my students. I felt in control and that my expectations were being met,
but I was not continuously harping on my students, telling them: “don’t do that”, “I dont
appreciate that” “We have talked about this before, I don’t feel respected when you do
that”...etc. My students appreciate me more as a teacher as well. They dont feel like I am
constantly nagging them. They feel respected and those that are doing what I expect in terms of
behaviour are also being seen for once allowing for relationship building
3. Is this experience course-specific or can it be transferred to increase your
development in all the courses you are teaching?
I think both of these things can be applied to teaching in a homeroom or in another
classroom as well! With the first- students want to be engaged and to be curious! And so
making your transitions filled with opportunities for that natural curiosity and experience to take
place is, I believe, essential for every classroom! And the same goes for the second point.
Believing the best in your students and focussing on the positive behaviour instead of the
negative opens up relationship building and sets the bar high for behaviour expectations while
giving room for success as well.
4. My goal for next week is....
● Continue working on my post-it reflections! I was getting better this week, but need to
work a little harder to make it a habit
● Focus on the positive behaviour more
● Try to take my quizzical transitions that I do well in with my grade one lesson plans, into
my grade 2/3s and 4/5s.
● Review and improve my rubric for my performance tests!