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I was surprised to see the amount of technology used in the classroom. Everything is submitted through google classroom. I have not seen the students write anything on paper (except math). This can definitely go both ways as Ive noticed its very easy for these children to get distracted on these chrome books. I was also surprised to see how the math curriculum has changed. So far I am enjoying it.

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I was surprised how welcoming and friendly everyone was, I was very nervous on my first day and this made me feel so much better! My mentor teacher also let me take on a lot in my first week, it was so nice that he trusted me to take on tasks already, this also really surprised me!

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Teacher burnout is real. I noticed that there are always at least 2 students who do not come to class each day. This is an issue in other classes as well, where a lot of the students are having a hard time staying motivated and engaged, so they choose to take days off. Also, I'm in a grade 2/3 classroom and for literacy, a big chunk of students are a couple of years behind and so my MT has both grades doing grade 1 worksheets.

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Something that surprised me was the amount of students that aren't at the grade 6 level and continue to struggle. We start to see it more as the semester goes on and the work gets harder and the workload gets more intense.

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I was surprised to see how good the students were with wearing their masks all day. They are completely used to it and you rarely have to remind them to wear their masks properly, and they will even remind each other about their masks as well.

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I was surprised to see changes to the math curriculum and the use of technology in the classroom. I was also surprised by how different this placement is compared to my first placement, which was in a kindergarten class.

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How easy it was to manage a split class. I'm in grade 1/2 and despite them learning different things, its been good so far

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Not enough supply teachers = not enough staff and students having to stay indoors for recess.

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How well behaved my grade 2 class was and how different the learning was for grade 2s compared to my grade 5s at my last placement.

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Something that surprised me was the amount of students that need 1 to 1 help in order to complete work. In my grade 3 class there are a handful of students that are not at a grade 3 level. Most cannot read, write or complete a math worksheet on their own. I find if we leave these students to do it independently, they can't do it. My MT teacher said she wouldn't know how she would get everything done if I wasn't there. I think that would be challenging on your own, as teachers are only one person so I can see how this would be hard and stressful keeping everyone on track and not falling behind

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I was surprised with the use of technology in the classroom (laptops, ipads, phones).

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A teacher lost it; she was screaming at the top of her lungs and was very frustrated at one grade 2 student boy who has a language barrier and misbehave. She went to the office to call the father to pick him up. Teachers look burned out and complain to each other.

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what surprised me was seeing a student put his mask back on between each bite of food he was eating! it is interesting see how the mask mandate is affecting children

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What surprised me is how advanced my class is they are very high learners. I was also surprised with the scheduled washroom breaks as students are forced to go to the washroom at scheduled times and lastly how tired I was this week, I didn't think I did enough to be as tired as I was

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What surprised me was that the school is that they changed math in the school. Changing the way they teach the math to all the students from grade 1-8.

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Something that surprised me is that my MT told me a lot of the class is working on a grade 2 level despite being grade 4 because there was almost no progress for a lot of them being online for the last 2 years of the pandemic and learning stopped for a lot of them when covid began. There was very limited independence among students because they were so used to having parents home with them to help them learn 1 on 1 and got frustrated not having that in the classroom.

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Something that surprised me is how the students want to be engaged in the feedback and want to give me feedback on my teaching. What they think I am doing good on and what I have to improve on.

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Students have started working on a specific project in our classroom and I was surprised to see how much the students in this class have progressed since the beginning of the year.

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I taught my first lesson yesterday (Kindergarten music), and what surprised me was how excited the students were to be taught by me. At the end, I was surprised again when the students said I did a great job and they had a lot of fun. This really made my day!

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I didn't realize that students who attend ESL classes begin from grade 4. I used to assume that it would start from Grade 1.

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I was surprised at how smooth the transition has been for students in kindergarten. For a lot of these students they have never been in a structured school setting because of the pandemic so it was surprising to see how they have adapted so well and are excited to come to school.

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Surprised by teacher burn out that alot of people experience!

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I was surprised to see the Halloween List for my school. The teachers were not allowed to give out candy, pencils etc. to the students. It made me question who put these rules into place and what the difference was between a teacher giving a student a pencil out of a package vs the students taking the pencils from the classroom that the teacher provided as well.

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What surprised me is how independent the students are. Since my classroom is within a portable, the students are required to constantly leave the classroom for many subjects and they have been able to do so without any supervision and with minimal reminders.

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I was surprised about how fluent students were using their devices to code and complete classwork using digital platforms.

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What surprised me this week was learning about about how much detail goes into building a case for a student who is already recognized to be on the spectrum. It was very interesting to learn that the process takes so long, even for those who already have assessments, to be moved into a program better suited for them and their learning.

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I was surprised at how energetic the students were on Monday coming back from Halloween (if the students celebrated Halloween).

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My classroom had a covid-19 scare and ended up being online yesterday (the student ended up testing negative) so the class is back in person. Online teaching was very interesting and the kids got really silly. I had a good laugh yesterday.

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My school starts at 7:55am and I finish at 2:40! It's difficult to teach in a mask, and the Kindergartener's masking isn't mandatory. A lot of the teachers wear microphones over their masks to project their voices.

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I was surprised with the use of laptops and ipads during lessons.

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I was surprised by how fast the school day goes! I do not remember it going this fast when I was in elementary school.

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Student lunches were not full of Halloween candy!

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I was surprised by how good the students are with using computers for class work

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What surprised me is how exhausted I am! I totally forgot that you are running around 24/7! What also surprised me is how hard it is to teach in a mask. It is often hard to project my voice and hear other students through their masks so learning takes longer and more effort.

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I was surprised (but thankful) that teachers don't have to wear shields anymore!