Although I have many goals for this practicum I want to focus on awareness. Being more self-aware of my limitations and not taking on so much planning at once. How I will do this is by laying out what I need to do in a day/week planner and practice control in not procrastinating and giving myself ample time to get planning and tasks done. I am also still in the “learning” stages and while I have a coaching teacher, I will be sure to take in all the information I can while I am teaching students that he has some experience with and the fact that he brings years of experience to the profession that I can learn from.
I am going to be aware of my classroom everyday and as part of a holistic approach to teaching/learning being aware of the class atmosphere and how everyone is feeling. This includes nurturing some social awareness skills like observing body language, listening actively, and adjusting my communication to different contexts depending on the classroom.
As part of my practicum, it is important to practice social awareness, I am mostly an introvert, which is okay but being part of a department means I am practicing the ability to understand others, the relationships I have with them, and the relationships they have with each other as not only a department but as part of a larger community.
While I was reflecting on awareness I thought about mindfulness and how it is one of my goals to practice mindfulness through breathing because it is something I can do to make myself feel better without letting anyone know what I am doing.
