Personal Reflections: Week 6

Cheers to the 4 day weekend! And, Happy Easter everyone ! ​🐰🐰​
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Quelle belle semaine! Wow.. Je dois avouer que c’est la première fois depuis semaine 1 que je me suis sentie confiante, authentique et dynamique devant mes classes. J’ai trouvé un rythme de travail qui me convient, j’étais plus préparé et j’étais aussi plus proactif pour des imprévus. ​

FINDING MY GROOVE 

Starting out Monday, I just felt genuinely good. These positive vibes translated throughout the week as well. I couldn’t believe the change in me; especially in the things I was saying, the conversations I was having and the way I felt in front of the class. I believe that I have started to build REAL relationships with the students. How?

Well, checking in with them; talking with them in the hallways; giving them constructive feedback; having difficult conversations with them (when needed); being honest with them; telling them how PROUD I am of their work; sending in des “bon coups” e-mails; building on things I already know about them and showing them that I care about them and their success - I want them to succeed! With all of these things came more genuine conversations, I was able to joke around and kept things fun.

Sincèrement, je me sens comme si le fait que je me sens plus confiante devant eux affecte grandement mon efficacité de leur enseigner. J’ai pris le vol!

​STUDENT LEARNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

I gave myself a tap on the back this week for providing the students more opportunities to take ownership and responsibility of their learning. I made them become accountable, by presenting in front of the class, leading discussions or reflecting on their #GOALS. While doing this, we worked on RESPECT and our LISTENING SKILLS. Putting the learning back on the students, instead of spoon feeding them the answers made them more engaged, it was truly remarkable. This came from a reflection I did last weekend; I realized I had a tendency to give the students the answers to their questions, instead of making them work for it… It’s so easy to do this, so now I am changing my ways.

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NE PAS RÉINVENTER LA ROUE

Cette semaine, j’ai aussi constaté que je ne devais pas toujours réinventer la roue et commencer à 0. Modifier des devoirs déjà créés par mes enseignantes accompagnatrices (avec une petite touche de Sarah Lalonde) bien sûr m’a permis d’être plus efficace dans ma gestion de temps et de mettre plus d’énergie dans d’autres régions de mon enseignement.

​#goals

This week in one of my classes, we had a couple work periods for this oral presentations coming up. I was finding students getting unmotivated and distracted (surfing the web, social media and watching unrelated Youtube videos). That night I tried to find a way to have my students stay focus on their work. So, what better way then to make them set #goals.

The next period, when students walked in they had a sticky note with their names on it. “Before receiving your Chrome, I want you to set a #goal for this period. “This goal has to be attainable and realistic. For example: completing my Works Cited, completing 3 slides, putting all of my slides point form, writing out my cue cards… etc.” was written on the board. When students had set their goal I checked it over and handed them their computer.

I did find a big difference in their work ethic and believe that simply writing down their goal, being aware of what they wanted/needed to get down helped them stay on task. Throughout the period, I checked in with each of them.

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