Category: EDUC 391

These are some of the great practical ideas from my practicum experience in a Grade 6-7 Classroom.

Weekly Jobs List –   On the side of the Whiteboard, the Classroom Teacher has premade jobs: Backup, Runner, Handout, Line Leader, Caboose, Whiteboard, Gym, Plants, Sink, Recycle, Books, Floor, Art.  Each Monday, she draws student names with popsicle sticks and each student shouts out the job they would like to do that week.  They cannot choose the same job three weeks in a row. They can pass for only two weeks in a row. All the jobs need to be filled. Students have responsibility for their job all week.

Daily Math Drills – math-drills.com  Throughout the year, every day, the students do one of 26 multiplication drills (0 to 12 times tables).  There are 100 questions on each page.  The Classroom Teacher hands out the drill upside down.  She also does the drill and modelling a positive growth mindset.  The class does the drill in two minutes. Each day, the results are recorded in a book and when students reach 90 out of 100 questions, they receive a prize (a gift certificate for a free booster juice). Students are challenged to beat their own scores.  On a regular basis, she talks about how scores can go up and down based on your emotions, your physical needs, the amount you practice, the number of days off, or the time of day.  Near the end of the year, students will use their records to create tables and graphs of their progression over the year.

Weekly Reading Comprehension – Each week, students are given a reading comprehension worksheet and ten to fifteen minutes to work on it.  The worksheets are available on K12 Reader.com.  The Classroom Teacher takes a few quick minutes to review the activity concept.

Plan PE for the end of the day!  Pre-teens can smell kind of funky!  They are also mentally done in the afternoon.  Getting out of the classroom and doing physical activity at every age is important, especially in this age group.

Genius Hour – https://www.weareteachers.com/what-is-genius-hour/   Once per week students participate in a self-directed passion project block.  Students make an application for materials and spend this block learning about topics they want to learn about.  Students must present at least one of their Genius Hour projects during the school year.

Daily Reading Buddies – Fifteen minutes every day fosters not only strengthens the literacy skills of a Grade 6-7 class, but promotes leadership skills and a sense of community within the school.  This class prioritized two reading buddy classes every day!

Allow other Teachers to Share the Course Load – In this practicum, the Library Teacher taught the class Coding during my Coaching Teacher’s prep block as well as had them for Library.  They worked together to develop a plan and communicated effectively.  There were also times when the two Grade 6-7 teachers traded students to teach particular content or to manage other times in the school where it is better to have all of the Grade 7’s together, like during assessments and occasional PE classes.