Professional Semester III Final Report

Faculty of Education
Field Experiences
Fall Spring Semester, 20 (Please check appropriate semester)

Professional Semester III is a five-course equivalent integrated semester including half-time teaching and
professional study in curriculum design, leadership, advanced methods, and reflective practice. Intern Teachers are
assigned full time to schools for the semester during which they assume responsibility for approximately one-half of
the teaching day. PS III professional study is designed to complement and enhance the internship. The
professional study components may occur on or off-campus and are coordinated by the Faculty Mentors in
collaboration with Intern Teachers and school personnel.

Place a checkmark () in front of the course in which you are registered

Education 4571 Elementary Education
Education 4572 Secondary Internship
Education 4573 Special Focus Internship
Education 4574 Fine Arts Internship - Art or Drama
Education 4575 Fine Arts Internship - Music

Intern Teacher Grade Level(s)

School Administrator

Teacher Mentor Faculty Mentor

Intern Teachers Descriptive Report:

Upon entering my Professional Semester III Internship, I was confident that I
had chosen the appropriate career path for myself. I was excited and eager
to come to a school that was close to Lethbridge where I would hopefully be
able to create meaningful relationships with students and staff. This
practicum has been perhaps my most challenging, but has provided the
most growth and solidified my desire to become a teacher.

I had to opportunity to work with Melanie Vegter as my teacher mentor and

she has challenged me to grow as a teacher. Melanie is an English major,
where I am a Kinesiology major and on paper that seems to be a miss
match, but I believe it has enabled me to become more versatile and
complete as a teacher. I was given the opportunity to teach my major, grade
5 Social Studies, and a Language intervention class. Teaching social studies
and a language class was out of my comfort zone, but I am thankful I had to
opportunity to diversify my experience. I have noticed the most growth in

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PS III Final Report for Lane Koentges

my teaching during these classes. Initially my instruction and content was

focused from the front of the room in a lecture type delivery. A lecture
dominant grade 5 social studies class is not appropriate or effective and,
with the guidance of my teacher mentor, I have made strides in how
students learn in my classroom. I aim to try and create activities for my
students that keep them active because I feel when my students are active
they are more engaged, and the more engaged the students are the more
they retain the information. I used a variety of activities such as art
galleries, group work, matching activities, and even just relaxation
strategies. Through these techniques I hope students enjoy themselves, but
I focus on reinforcing the content and reasoning behind each activity.

As a person who has excelled at sport and, in turn, has excelled at teaching
them for the most part, whether it be swimming lesson to coaching
badminton, I had high expectation of myself coming out of a very successful
PSII practicum. Initially, I felt as if I did not excel in the gym; in fact, I felt
that I struggled, especially with my grade 8 class. This was disheartening to
me because it was where I felt most comfortable and I was not comfortable:
students lacked intensity, participation, and engagement. As my practicum
went on, I created meaningful relationships with students and their intensity,
participation, and engagement increased. With this change in the classroom,
I regained confidence in myself and started thoroughly enjoying my
practicum. Being able to work with Adrienne Vanhell has been an incredible
experience because she is so knowledgeable in every facet of physical
education. I have learned multiple new games, different ways to instruct
games, how to manage students and equipment, create tournaments, run
intramurals, and coach.

During my practicum I took over supervising and running intramurals.

Initially, the students started with basketball and it was a great way to
interact with kids that I did not get a chance to teach personally. Once
basketball ended, I decided to run mixed indoor soccer intramurals. I wanted
to break down the separation of boys and girls in and create a more
inclusive environment for sport. Intramurals is part of my Professional
Inquiry Project by conducting a qualitative study on the effects of physical
activity on academic performance. After each game I would go and observe
students in their classroom, how attentive they were, their engagement
levels, and academic performance. It was another successful way to interact
with a variety of other students as well as get the opportunity to view other
teachers classroom management and style.

Being a kinesiology major and wanting to be involved in curricular activities I

jumped at the opportunity to help coach the Badminton team at R.I Baker.
My involvement mainly consists of coaching the singles and mixed doubles
teams on Tuesdays and Thursday from 3:30pm to 5:00 pm. By being
involved in activities like coaching, I was truly able to create important

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PS III Final Report for Lane Koentges

relationships and get to know students on a deeper level. I have learned

how certain students respond to different tones, some students need more
delicacy, where other can handle being pushed. Knowing more intimate
details is beneficial and transfers to the classroom and helps immensely with
management.

My time at R.I Baker has been extremely diverse and enjoyable. I have
taught two complete social units, have taught Multicultural games, Floor
hockey, Dance, Handball, and Badminton, as well as covering classes for
other teachers. I have spent time observing other teachers and spending
time in other classrooms trying to gain as many techniques as I can to help
me in my teaching career. I feel very fortunate to have spent my final
practicum at R.I Baker Middle School.

Intern Teacher Signature Date

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

School Administrator Comments:
During Lanes time at RIBMS he has shown growth in many areas of the
teacher quality standards. Lane has taken constructive feedback from his
colleagues seriously and strived to improve his practice as a beginning
teacher.

Lane is very in touch with the learning needs of the students in his
classroom. He is aware of the demographic variables in his classroom and
modifies his lessons accordingly. Lane and I have discussed holding those
students accountable to their learning. This can be challenging and will look
different in each case. Lane is able to differentiate his lessons and
assignments.

I have appreciated the thought Lane has put into his lessons and the
objectives he aims to cover. He looks for innovative and engaging ways to
get students involved in their learning. Through post observation dialogue,
we have discussed the balance between engaging activities and the learning
of outcomes. Lane ensures the fun activity is deeply rooted to the
outcomes. I have complimented him for this.

During Lanes time at R.I Baker he has built many relationships with
stakeholders. He has always strived to be involved with as much as possible
in the building. He has attended all staff meetings, volunteered his time with
extracurricular sports, and even emceed an assembly. One of my highlights
for Lane was his involvement with the dance unit. He worked closely with
the instructor and was a positive role model for all students. He made it
cool to participate.

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PS III Final Report for Lane Koentges

I am very pleased with Lane as a PSIII student. He has carried himself

professionally throughout his practicum. He has realized that in this
profession, you need to lean on your colleagues and they will need to lean
on you. Lane will take this collaborative model with him and it will only
make him better as his career progresses.

School Administrator Signature Date

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

Teacher Mentor Comments:
Lane Koentges completed his PSIII internship in my grade 5 classroom at RI
Baker Middle School. During this time Lane taught Phys. Ed. 6, 7, Social
Studies 5 and a portion of Language Arts 5. Class sizes were all around 25
students and included children with both mild/moderate and severe needs.
Part way through the practicum two international students were part of the
Social studies and Language Arts classes.
In Phys. Ed., Lane planned and implemented a dance, badminton, ping pong
and track and field units. Three regions of Canada were the focus in social
studies, combining the geography and history of the areas. In Language
Arts, independent reading and Word work were the focus. His lessons were
activity-based and he utilized a variety of teaching strategies. Lane
demonstrated knowledge and skill in Phys. Ed which was his subject major
but paid special attention to learning and incorporating Lane was able to
provide timely feedback on learning to all students in each subject area.
During his internship Lane was also involved in organizing and supervising
students during intramurals. Afterschool he coached the grade 6-8
badminton team. As well, Lane emceed a school assembly and participated
in a dunk tank during a school wide activity day.
Lane demonstrated commitment to the subject areas he was asked to teach
and always presented himself poised and professionally. He developed
relationships with the students quickly and worked to maintain those
throughout the practicum. He always brings a high amount of energy to the
classroom and looked to implement suggestions immediately. He has high
expectations of your students, help them strive to be the best they can be
and keep them accountable for this.
Areas of future growth should include student accountability; monitoring
students for engagement often, adjusting your teaching style, if necessary.

Mentor Teacher Signature Date

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PS III Final Report for Lane Koentges

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

Faculty Mentor Comments:

In addition to those teaching and professional responsibilities previously outlined in this report,
Lane was required to complete an Inquiry into Teaching professional inquiry project to
demonstrate his emerging skills as a teacher-researcher. To do so, he followed a model of
inquiry-based professional learning in which he first identified his strengths and challenges
specific to the competencies outlined in the Teaching Quality Standard. Next, based on these
reflections, Lane set two goals to improve his practice, and formulated inquiry questions to
guide how he might attain those goals. An important aspect of this process was the evidence
that Lane committed to collecting that would demonstrate the extent to which he had reached
his goals and was able to answer his inquiry questions.

Lane grew a great deal in establishing supportive, firm, and friendly rapport with students. This
was apparent in lessons that were appropriately paced, had smoother transitions, with higher
engagement levels, more positive reinforcement, and less behavior management. In addition,
he demonstrated lessons in social studies and physical education that included a wide variety
of instructional strategies. He made large gains in his ability to attend to the individual diverse
needs of students, and his lessons incorporated activities that were relevant to his students
interests and needs.

Lane also demonstrated his increased competence in translating curricular outcomes into
relevant learning activities accompanied effective formative and summative assessments. He
improved his questioning techniques, and began creating a classroom environment in which
students were participating in a focused and productive manner.

Lane also participated in many professional activities at the school and jurisdictional level, as
well as provided support for intra-curricular and extracurricular opportunities for students.
During cohort seminars, he was a collaborative and engaged participant. In his interactions
with me, he corresponded in a timely and consistent manner, was conscientious in meeting
timelines for assignments and other professional responsibilities, and was always seeking
feedback about areas in which he could improve his teaching and students learning.

It is my opinion that Mr. Koentges aptitude and competencies for professional practice meet
the expectations outlined in the Teaching Quality Standards for the Province of Alberta.

I have read the complete Final Report, including the sections authored by Principal Jason
Prebushewski, Teacher Mentor Melanie Vegter, and Intern Teacher Lane Koentges, and certify
that the assigned grade is PASS.

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PS III Final Report for Lane Koentges

Pamela Adams, PhD

University Consultant April 5, 2017

I have read the complete Final Report and certify that the assigned grade is PASS.

Faculty Mentor Signature Date

September 2000
FE_Forms_PSIII

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