The never ending rotary rotation

This practicum I've been teaching 12 gr. 7/8 classes....teaching each lesson 12 times! I've really gotten to experience what it feels like to be a rotary teacher.  Just when you think you've taught your lesson for the last time...there's still a couple more runs at it.  BUT I've had lots of opportunities to refine and improve my lessons as I teach them which is a huge plus.

 I've also been able to modify my lessons depending on which kind of class I'm teaching - there are various programs at my practicum school; there are the A and B classes which are considered "regular" classes, gifted classes, and immersion classes (French immersion in which students are required to maintain their marks in all subjects).  So with each class there is usually a different level of reflecting and questioning I can get to the students to delve in to and different paces at which to teach the lesson.  I've never thought of modifying lessons like that until this practicum - for a whole class as well as individual modification rather than just individual.

With 12 different classes all doing the same unit, I wanted there to be some kind of connectivity between all the students. So I came up with the idea of creating a Mandala for each class to contribute to.  We learned about Mandalas in our visual arts classes and I loved the idea of them.  A Mandala is a circular work from the Hindu tradition. The circle is split up into different sections that all connect and relate to each other.  Therefore, I drew a large circle (with the help of Mr. Skiperis) and divided it into 12 different sections - one for each class.  I lead a music listening activity with each class in which the students were invited to add to the Mandala while we listened to psychedelic rock music that was being covered in the lesson that day. They were allowed to draw anything - a symbol, a line, a word, or add colour - as long is it was not racist, sexist or homophobic.  Of course, with psychedelic culture, a lot of students went straight to drawing drug references and symbols - a grey area which my AT and I decided that was ok to have represented on the Mandala as it was a large part of 60s music.  However, most of the students added very creatively to the Mandala. Here it is:

Students are allowed to keep adding to it as they learn about the 60s, so it won't be totally complete until I'm done my practicum, but that's as far as it's gotten to as of week 4.

The psychedelic movement was also inspired a lot by Eastern and Indian cultures so the Mandala has a good connection to the topic. Also, the 60s were all about change and people coming together so I felt this activity was a strong way to incorporate one of the big ideas in my unit.

Ukulele and the 60s!

I was super excited when I found out that I would get to teach ukulele (as I learned the instrument) and talk about the 60s with the gr. 7/8 music classes at my second practicum! Pretty much a match made in heaven!

However, for the first week my AT was wrapping up his 50s Rock n' Roll unit so I had the opportunity to teach his lesson which was still really interesting and fun.  It was a good learning experience to be teaching a lesson that another teacher had planned while adjusting to my new placement.  

I also got a good start with my learning wall in the first week. Here was the beginning stage:

It's a jukebox! And as the classes learn the material for the unit, students will write important facts on the records and add them to the jukebox collection.  I'll be mainly focusing on rock, soul, and folk of the 60s - the main musicians/bands and the social going on in society at the time. The 60s were a HUGE period of change in North America and there will be lots of opportunity for me to incorporate some equity and social justice aspects into my lessons.