Mr. Rabie Teaching - The Website

Over the course of my time at Brock and through my first practicum, I have been building a Google Site where my colleagues and students can access a variety of information.  My website, Mr. Rabie Teaching, is accessible to anyone.  The site is broken into several sections and includes a calendar of upcoming events, a forum for discussion and questions, a link to this blog, a daily posts section where students can see what they missed if they were away or just clarify something from that day, and of course links to the current courses I am involved with.  Over the course of my first practicum I taught Ancient Civilizations and Canadian History.  Students from these courses can download all relevant handouts, they can link to videos used in class and they can see pictures from my travels to many of the places we discussed.  The site is easy to navigate as it is broken into specific sections for each course and topic and materials are easily downloadable.

The obvious purpose of having a site like this is to have a connection to my students outside of the classroom.  A student who cannot make it to school or who has lost something, can easily access another copy from the site.  They can see what they missed and find out what is coming up so they can prepare.  I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to put up a forum that works but I finally did it and I hope my students will take advantage of this to ask me questions and make NICE comments.  The other great thing is that it all totally public and therefore safe for everyone to use.

Prezi on the website

Digital Storytelling

This was our first week back at Brock and it was really nice to see everyone again and share our stories from our practicums.  In tech class today we had an incredible presentation from Alan Levine (http://cogdogblog.com/) who is leading the charge in the use of Digital Storytelling.  Alan presented to us through another awesome Elluminate live session and we discussed several different ways to tell a digital story, many of which Alan lists on this wiki site, http://50ways.wikispaces.com/.  We discussed where you get inspiration for telling a story and it was really interesting to see different peoples ideas.  Some told stories about historical figures or their last vacation.  I know for sure as a history teacher I will be using Digital Storytelling in my classroom.  During my first practicum I told the story of the Illiad to my students. We sat in a circle and each read parts of the story in a traditional storytelling setting.  However, I am sure if I could create an amazing Animoto video or Bitstrips story, the story of the Illiad would come alive without having to show them Brad Pitt's abs.  Alan has also created some really cool games by using Flickr.  My favourite is Pechaflickr where you get random pictures and need to tell a story based on the pictures.  I can think of so many uses for this game in the classroom as well as at home.

Thanks again Alan, you have really opened up my eyes and given me a great set of tools to help make learning a more interactive and fun experience!

The Independent Learning Centre

During my first practicum, I volunteered in the Independent Learning Centre (ILC).  I worked mainly with an amazing student who was having some trouble with her English and History credits.  During my volunteering before I applied for teacher education, I had worked with some special education students and I had forgotten how truly rewarding it can be.  The student I worked with was a very bright girl who just had some trouble focusing.  Reading and writing together, she managed to push through most of her English credit and completed several history assignments which may not have been otherwise completed.   Going in, I must say I had my preconceived notions about the abilities of students in the ILC to analyze and comprehend certain concepts.  I was pleasantly surprised at how with a little bit of guidance, my student was able to not only comprehend but truly analyze and apply the concepts to the real world.

Of course I have to give amazing praise to Mrs. P and Mr. B who are the supervising teachers of the ILC.  Their guidance and kind words are really inspiring and I was so fortunate to have spent even just a little bit of time with them and view the amazing work they do to make sure all their students succeed.

I was very sad to leave and was thrilled at the little surprise party that the students and teachers in the ILC gave me on my last day.  To the students that I worked with, I know that you will succeed if you just keep on the path that you were on when I left and remember I am always here for extra help or questions.

My work in the ILC has truly inspired me to continue working in the area of special education and I hope to work alongside more amazing students and teachers in the future.  

To SMART board or Not to SMART board?

Going into my first practice teaching block, I was very excited to use some of the tools I had learned in 8Y59 (my technology class).  One of the things I was most excited to use was a SMART board.  Unfortunately, the classroom I was working in did not have a SMART board, only a regular whiteboard.  I was upset because I had all these amazing ideas for interactive lessons and I wanted to show the students somethings they probably had not seen before.  Instead of giving up, I improvised.  I created presentations where I would use the whiteboard as the interactive SMART board.  Of course this had its limitations in that I could not do things like "erase and reveal" and some other fun stuff you can do on a SMART board. However, matching games, timelines and brainstorming (mind map) activities worked just as well with a slide template and having the students come up and write on the board using dry erase markers.  I did several lessons like this and the students really enjoyed them.  I am still waiting for my chance to use a SMART board in the classroom.  I am really starting to realize how amazing technology is for learning and how important it is that we as teachers adapt our teaching styles to meet the needs and wants of the new generation.  

Practicum finis!

Last week I finished my first practice teaching block.  The experience that I had in the classroom is so different from what I was expecting after my first two months learning about the theory of teaching.  Though I felt I was prepared in some areas, I quickly realized that it was in the schools where I was going to really learn how to be a great teacher.  Though there were many "ups" and "downs" during my four weeks, I think in the end I came away knowing what I did well and what I really need to improve upon.  For all those people out there who think teaching is a job where you start at 8 am and are done by 3 pm, you are WRONG! Although I know as I go a long I will get better, lesson planning during my first block took more than several hours a night and that is after an entire day of school plus the daily grind of fighting Toronto bound traffic.  There is no doubt by my fourth week I had improved significantly from my first week and my lesson planning times did decrease, though I still need a lot of work.  The biggest thing I learned about lesson planning is that you really need to understand what you want your students to know by the end of the class.  It needs to be clear and concise and totally achievable in that time period.  When I first started, my lessons were fun and interactive but were way too packed with information that the students did not need.  When I was living in Israel, I gave some tours of the Old City of Jerusalem and I think I brought some of that tour guide style with me to my teaching practice.  I thought that the students would need to know everything about a topic rather than just the most important points.  However, I have learned a valuable lesson and I now know how to streamline my information and to wait for the students to ask questions if they have a deeper interest.