Description: To start our in-situ, we all met at the front of Lindsay Park Elementary. Personally, this was my first time at LPES; therefore, I was quite excited to be in a new school! One thing I really like about this school was the location. LPES was located in a gorgeous and quiet area of Kimberley. Another thing I liked about it was that it is only a Kindergarten to Grade 3 school!

We broke into 2 different groups. My group started in the library with grade 1’s. Their goal for the class was to log onto Epic Books and find a Read To Me story to listen to. The students for the most part had little to no issues when logging in a finding a story to listen to. There were a few technical difficulties, but really no big bumps in the road.

Once the groups switched, we went into Ana’s classroom and worked with her grade 1/2s. They were also using Epic books today; however, instead of using iPads, they were trying to log on via webpage. This caused a few more issues as some kids couldn’t even log into their computer. We were definitely more involved in the section of the in-situ compared to the library.

Feelings: During this in-situ I was feeling a variety of emotions. I was really excited to be in the classrooms, but at the same time I was nervous for the experience. The whole time I was really focused on what the mentor teachers were saying in different situations. For example how Ms. Rice managed her off task readers in the library or how Ms. Pakenham interacted with her students at the start of that lesson.

Evaluation: Things I felt were good about the experience was that there was not too much pressure regarding what our jobs were as adults in the classroom. We were simply there to help the students log onto Epic books and navigate the site; therefore, it did not feel like there were high expectations, it was a great introduction to being in the classrooms.
The only down side to this was that I found there was not much for us to do. For example once the grade 1’s logged onto Epic and found their book, there wasn’t;t really any need for us to help anymore so we just observed.

Analysis: This experience was a really good first step into the classroom for me! I took in a lot of information from the teachers in the building as well as from the students. Navigating how to teach and help students figure out things when it comes to technology was a new task for me and I would say that moving forward this time was very beneficial for me.

Conclusion: I look back at my experience at LPES and I would say that some things I could have done would be ask more questions. The principal gave us time to ask questions but I couldn’t really think of questions at that time. I wish I would have taken advantage of being in the school with teachers and principals that were willing to answer questions and give advice.

Action Plan: For my next in-situ I think I would prepare some questions in advance in case there is an opportunity to ask questions. I also think I will be going into it with less nerves than I went in with this first time, which I think will lead to feeling more comfortable and being able to interact more.