Practicum Goals

I can hardly believe October is here! Monday is my first day of my teaching placement, and I'm very excited! There are so many things I'm hoping to observe, practice and learn over the four weeks that I am in the school, but I'll try to narrow this down to the ones I intend to work on first. These are:

1. I plan to develop my ability to motivate my students to strive to do their very best in both academics and personal character. It's a big goal I know, but I think intrinsic motivation in these two areas is very important, so I hope to make as many strides in this direction over the next four weeks as possible. Practically, I intend to nurture this self-motivation by establishing a positive rapport with the students, so that they know I am on their side, helping them achieve their goals rather than forcing them to learn what I tell them to learn. I hope to make those connections through extracurriculars, simply chatting before and after class, engaging them respectfully during class, and connecting the classroom to their world - be it farming, skateboarding, etc. I want to foster an environment where we take time in class to discuss or (for shyer students) write anonymously about specific ways that we have shown or will show good character growth, and encourage each other in that. I want to provide my students with a glimpse of how amazing and beautiful Physics is through POE's, connections to the arts and creative writing, and other engaging activities so that my students will have the opportunity to fall in love with Physics.

2. Hand in hand with developing intrinsic motivation to learn academics and strong character, is of course providing the environment in which the now motivated students (hopefully) can learn and practice these things. I want to work on my communication skills, so that I can explain and facilitate the discovery of Physics in a way that is easily accessible to students. I want to help my students set realistic and specific goals for themselves in terms of what aspects of their character they want to further develop. I hope that since I have such a small class (only 7 students!), it will be easier to work with each student on his/her personal learning goals.  

3. I intend to make as much use as possible of the expertise of those around me. Even in brief conversations with teachers, I've learned a lot from them. So I can't wait to see what I can learn when I'm in a staff room of experienced teachers, discussing ideas with my associate, and commuting 2-3 hours everyday with other teacher candidates who are also bubbling with ideas.

There are so so many things to learn, but I do hope to make the a good sized dent in the mountain of learning over the next four weeks. I can't wait to meet the students and teachers on monday!