VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Summary of Field Experience - EDFE 521 (Spring)
Year 5 B.Ed Final Practicum

Student Name: Dylan Taylor VIU Student #: 58585756

Date: Feb.19th – Mar.2nd April 9th – May 18th Course Code: EDFE 521

Practicum School : Bench Elementary Program: Bachelor of Education

Grade(s)/Subject(s) Grade 6 School District: Cowichan #79

Supervising Teacher(s): Ian Low

Practicum Supervisor : Carol Minchin Regional Coordinator: Ted Zinkan

Context (school, class/teaching):

Dylan has completed his final practicum, in Mr. Low’s grade 6 class at Bench Elementary School.
Bench Elementary is a rural school situated in the community of Cowichan Bay, just south of Duncan.
The school has approximately 400 students from kindergarten to grade 7.

Mr. Low’s class is comprised of 29 students. Three students have Individual Education Plans. One of
these students has a full time Educational Assistant. There is a wide range of academic abilities in the
class. Many students have difficulty with self-regulation and with the guidance of Mr. Low, Dylan has
strived to provide support and guidance to these students.

The VIU framework, which Dylan collated for this practicum, was well organized and sequenced. His
unit matrices showed thorough knowledge of the big ideas, curricular and core competencies, and
content for this grade level. Lessons outlined age-appropriate activities, incorporated multi-modal
methods of presentation, and described a variety of assessment techniques to be used.

Dylan prepared lessons for the following units: persuasive writing and coding (writing precise
instructions) for the Language Arts; probability for Math; body systems for Science ( nervous,
reproductive, excretory, and Hormonal); co-operative games and track and field for P.E.; and the
study of line for Art.

Mr. Low and I were impressed with the enthusiasm that Dylan brought to the classroom each day.
He was excited to teach and the class could tell that he enjoyed getting to know them. His concern for
the students was clear from the beginning of his practicum. He wanted to learn how to motivate those
students who were having difficulty with self-esteem and were working below their potential.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
Summary:

Standard 1 – Educators value and care for all students and act in their best interests.

Dylan brought a very professional approach to all aspects of his teaching practicum. He was
punctual, well-dressed and began each day with a positive, welcoming demeanour which fostered a
positive classroom atmosphere. Dylan remembered names quickly and he made note of the
individual interests of each student. This helped him to build a positive relationship with each of his
students and to include their interests in his lesson planning.

As his practicum progressed, Dylan recognized that each student approached learning in their own
unique way. Dylan and his sponsor worked hard to provide emotional support both to the class and to
individuals who needed a one-on-one approach.

Dylan spoke respectfully to his students and delivered his lessons in a calm and relaxed manner. He
presented himself as being approachable and his students were comfortable speaking to him during
instruction time and during breaks. Safety concerns were always addressed in class, in the gym, and
outside.

Standard 2 – Educators are role models who act ethically and honestly.

Dylan has read the BCTF Code of Ethics and he is well aware of its implications. He is fully cognizant
of the B.C.Teachers’ Council Standards. He respectfully participated in sensitive conversations
regarding struggling students in the class. He spoke with his sponsor teacher, principal, colleagues
and specialist teachers, to gather ideas of how to teach the unique learners in his class.

Professional courtesy was demonstrated to me, Dylan’s sponsor teacher, members of the teaching
staff and parents. He was always honest and open to self-reflection and constructive criticism. He
realized that by being open to new ideas he could best meet the needs of all his students. He was
comfortable asking for advice from me and his sponsor teacher, discussing all aspects of his
teaching.

Dylan accompanied his sponsor teacher on outside supervision to better understand the teacher’s
role in this situation. He demonstrated integrity and dignity both off and on duty.

Lacrosse takes up a major part of Dylan’s spare time. He volunteers to help with the administrative
duties of the club he plays for. He has volunteered to help with the B.C. Summer Games in July. The
class enjoyed hearing about his experiences in this sport.

Dylan has enjoyed sharing ideas with his colleagues that teach the upper Intermediate grades. The
teachers in his wing often team teach and Dylan has observed and helped in 3 other classrooms. He
appreciated the camaraderie of the group and their willingness to mentor a student teacher.

Dylan was always available to help struggling students at lunch or other convenient times during the
day. He often arrived at school early and stayed late, preparing materials for his lessons.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
Standard 3 – Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.

Dylan showed a good understanding of which activities would be age-appropriate for the units he was
teaching. As he assessed student assignments in the various subject areas, he realized that he
needed to slow the pacing of his lessons and he needed to spend more time modelling the criteria for
assignments.

Dylan often used the document camera and Smartboard to model assignments and to view
appropriate videos on the internet to share and discuss with the class. Mr.Low uses technology
regularly as a tool for research and Dylan continued to do so.

Dylan spent a significant amount of time interpreting the core elements of the new curriculum and his
lessons reflected a good understanding of the content to be taught.

To better understand how his students reacted to different situations, Dylan observed his students
when they were: helping their grade 2 buddies, taking music class, working with the learning
assistance teacher, participating in team teachers’ classes and listening to guest speakers. These
observations helped him to better understand how to work with certain students.

Standard 4 – Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families,
and communities in schools.

At the beginning of his practicum, Dylan posted an introduction letter to parents on the class’s web
page on Fresh Grade. He communicated with parents, throughout his practicum, using this
programme.

He attended and sometimes participated in, a number of parent/teacher meetings throughout his
practicum.

Dylan and his sponsor ran an all-day badminton tournament at another school. Dylan interacted with
parent volunteers and chatted informally with visiting parents from the different schools that were
participating. His experience coordinating lacrosse tournaments was helpful.

Standard 5 – Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management,

planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation, and reporting.

Classroom Management

As Dylan began to teach full time, many students decided to test his behaviour management skills.
His sponsor and I explained that, using a firm voice and giving clear behaviour management
expectations, would make his lessons more effective. Dylan experimented with strategies we
suggested and he found his, “firm teacher voice.” He continued to work diligently on management
throughout the day.

In P.E., either inside or outside, Dylan tightened up his behaviour management plan. Students were
more respectful and listened more intently. When some activities did not work out the way he
planned, he quickly adapted them or moved on.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
Dylan’s ability to effectively respond to student off-task behaviour improved significantly during his full
time teaching and he ended his practicum confident in his ability to manage behaviour in numerous
situations. His students commented, in a respectful fun way, “Mr. Taylor, you’re really getting tough
with us!”

Planning and Instruction

Dylan’s lesson plans showed that he understood how scaffolding worked for progressing students
from one concept to another. However, he quickly realized that this class needed more time, than he
originally thought, to thoroughly grasp each concept. He began taking more time to help students
make real-life connections to the concepts being taught. He found appropriate videos, books, and
hands-on materials to share. He explained and listed key vocabulary needed for each lesson.

Dylan worked hard at trying to state the learning intention of each lesson in student-friendly language.
He learned to ask students to repeat their understanding of what was to be learned. He also applied
this to his P.E. lessons and checked for students’ understanding of what skills they were to be
focusing on and how the activity was benefitting the development of good physical health.

Initially, Dylan wanted to involve students in lot of group work. This class is very diverse in abilities
and personalities and their group skills are not strong. Dylan pared down the amount of group work in
his lessons. He focused on individual work, partner-work and small-group work for short periods of
time. He learned to group students strategically to better ensure co-operative learning.

Dylan planned games, experiments, Readers’ Theatre activities, outside explorations, computer
searches and class discussions to peak students’ interest. He played “The Price is Right” game to
review probability concepts in Math. Students made up questions for a game of “Jeopardy.” The
game was played to review facts about the body systems unit. Dylan successfully had small groups
present Readers’ Theatre stories to the grade 2 buddy class. Both classes thoroughly enjoyed these
presentations.

As the practicum progressed, Dylan was better able to gauge the type of questioning to use for this
class. Teaching higher-level thinking skills is a complex task. Dylan guided their research with specific
questions, while allowing students to create their own questions. He asked the students to choose
one of the four body systems he had introduced, for a Science research project. Students needed to
answer 5 questions (his or theirs) in their research information book and add facts that they found
interesting.

Taking notes while watching and listening to text or a video is difficult for students. Students are not
usually able to write and listen at the same time. Dylan learned to: 1) give students a purpose for
listening, 2) have students take notes on the second or third showing/reading, 3) ask students to
share notes with peers, 4) write a paragraph using their notes, or retell their notes orally.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
Assessment, Evaluation and reporting

Dylan built in both formative and summative evaluation techniques into all his unit plans. He regularly
kept marks and anecdotal records for his sponsor teacher, noting student academic performance and
social and emotional needs. He posted assessment marks onto Fresh Grade, an online programme
used by Mr. Low.

Dylan composed three mock report cards for his university professor earlier in the year. He chose an
exceeding grade expectations student, a meeting expectations student and a working below
expectations student from this class. These reports were well-written and could be easily interpreted
by parents.

For his coding unit, Dylan asked students to write a set of instructions for one of the following:
playing a game, creating an object, performing a skill for a sport, drawing a picture, conducting an
experiment etc. Students chose a friend to follow their instructions to evaluate the clarity of what they
had written. One student, who had written instructions on how to play Ga-ga ball, asked Dylan to go
and play the game. The class enjoyed watching him join in the fun. Students self-assessed this
project using a list of criteria.

Students completed a Jump Math summative test on probability. As an adaptation, Dylan gave one
student an oral math test and he was pleased that the student did well explaining his thoughts.

Dylan found that one student completed more work when he was given a checklist for each
assignment. He benefitted from using a list and physically checking off criteria.

His sponsor showed him how to assess student performance on the district-wide D.A.R.T. testing.
(reading assessment tool )

Standard 6 – Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they
teach.

Dylan showed a very good understanding of the new B.C. Curriculum for grade 6. He learned to
make the content interesting and relevant for this age group. Dylan has stated that he would like to
continue studying and reflecting on how to best present the curriculum content to all learners.

Dylan is aware that he needs to double check his spelling and grammar in all of his written work
presented to his class. Dylan uses spellcheck on his computer, asks friends and colleagues to
proofread, has vocabulary lists available when teaching, and asks the class to correct him if he
makes a mistake.

Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office

Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
Standard 7 – Educators engage in career-long learning.

Dylan attended all staff meetings, Professional Learning Committee meetings and Professional
Development Day activities during his practicum.

The Professional Development Day workshops dealt with:

 developing empathy in the classroom
 classroom management
 meeting the needs of “gray-area” students
 creative writing

Dylan visited other classrooms at the school, at various grade levels, to observe teaching styles and
classroom management methods.

Standard 8 – Educators contribute to the profession.

Dylan watched Mr. Low coaching his students on how to prepare for entering the Hector MacIntosh
Speech contest. He attended the speech presentations and found the experience valuable. At the
badminton tournament, he took charge of organizing games in one gym while Mr. Low was in
another. Dylan helped observed Mr. Low teaching a “robotics” unit and he assisted another staff
member teach robotics for an exploratory course.

Developing staff camaraderie was important to Dylan. He regularly interacted with staff and other
student teachers in a friendly and professional manner.

Concluding Comments:

Dylan has shown a commitment to the teaching process and a desire to constantly improve his
practice. He worked diligently to implement all the suggestions given to him. He completed his
practicum being able to manage behaviour and to make concepts meaningful for all of his students.

He believes that making meaningful connections with his students is a key to their receptive learning.
He cares deeply for this profession and his sponsor and I commend him for completing a very
successful practicum.

Dylan Taylor
☒ has / ☐ has not successfully met the requirement outcomes of
(Student Name) EDFE 521 (Field Experience)

SIGNATURES:
Dylan Taylor 05/18/2018
(Student Name) (Student Signature) (Date – MM/DD/YR)
Ian Low 05/18/2018
(Name / Role) Sponsor Teacher (Signature) (Date – MM/DD/YR)
Carol Minchin 05/18/2018
(Name / Role) VIU Supervisor (Signature) (Date – MM/DD/YR)
Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office
Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017
 Please provide a signed copy to Student / Field Experience Office
Education Office, Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5
Phone: 250-740-6223 Fax: 250-740-6463

C:\Users\Carol\Documents\Dylan Yr 5_BEd_EDFE 521_Spring_Final Practicum Summary Report3 (3).docx – REVISED April 2017