Professional Semester III Final Report

Faculty of Education
Field Experiences
Fall

Spring

Semester, 2015

(Please check appropriate semester)

Professional Semester III is a five-course equivalent integrated semester including half-time teaching and
professional study in curriculum design, leadership, advanced methods, and reflective practice. Intern Teachers are
assigned full time to schools for the semester during which they assume responsibility for approximately one-half of
the teaching day. PS III professional study is designed to complement and enhance the internship. The
professional study components may occur on or off-campus and are coordinated by the Faculty Mentors in
collaboration with Intern Teachers and school personnel.

Place a checkmark () in front of the course in which you are registered

Education 4571
Elementary Education
___ Education 4572
Secondary Internship
Education 4573
Special Focus Internship
Education 4574
Fine Arts Internship - Art or Drama
Education 4575
Fine Arts Internship - Music
Intern Teacher

Hayleigh Johnson

Grade Level(s)

7, 9, 11

School

Stirling School

Administrator

Darren Mazutinec

Teacher Mentor

Morgan Schaufele

Faculty Mentor

Pamela Adams

Intern Teachers Descriptive Report:

During my PSIII internship I had the pleasure of being a part of the Stirling community. I
was welcomed on the first day by many teachers in the district during our first PD Day of the year.
I had the opportunity to meet other teachers from various schools and collaborate with them on
our professional development. Within the first week, it was made clear that we were a part of a
team at Stirling School and as such, I was treated like a fully certified staff member. We were
asked to participate in activities outside the classroom and volunteer for extracurricular activities.
I played volleyball and soccer in high school and for a small part of my university career, and I
was eager to sign up to help coach. I had the pleasure of assistant coaching grade 7/8 girls
volleyball from September to November.
I expressed interest in teaching senior high and with my English major and History minor I
was delighted when I was given the opportunity to teach Grade seven and Grade nine Language
Arts and English 20. I have thirty-two grade seven students that I have been teaching a Speech
unit to every Wednesday. They are an energetic bunch who prove to be a challenging group at

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

times. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to exercising my classroom management skills and
maintaining a positive classroom environment. My grade nine class consists of twenty-four
students who all contribute in their own way to the classroom. Our first unit was Business Letters
in order to prep them for their upcoming PAT exam. Our second unit was Poetry and the students
were actively engaged throughout the unit as they created three poems. Our current and final unit
is a novel study: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne where students are able to
Intern Teachers Descriptive Report contd

understand the cause and effect nature of historical events. My grade eleven class consists of
sixteen students who actively participate in daily activities and assignments. Our first unit was a
lot to tackle due to challenging concepts with our novel study of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Fitzgerald. Reflecting on it, I realize that planning never goes according to plan. Originally, I
dedicated five weeks for this novel study and we ended up taking almost eight! However, we
were getting very in-depth with the novel and explored major themes through a variety of
assignments. Our Poetry unit was a short one but I wanted them to focus more on understanding
the content versus learning literary elements. Their blackout poetry was some of the best work I
have seen. Currently, I am combining two units: Shakespeare and Film. I have the opportunity to
tackle The Merchant of Venice and its film adaptation. With each of these grade levels, I have a
range of ages, abilities, and skills that I have experienced throughout these fourth months.
In addition, I have had a variety of experiences in which I participated as an active member
of the Stirling community. Such experiences include: D.E.A.R supervision, PIP project, teacher
collaboration for Flex Friday, the Book Fair, the Terry Fox run, Coaching; Basketball supervision,
lunch supervision, staff lunch, Everyday Hero (character education), contact with parents,
assisting students in other classes, and PD Days. Before school wide literacy testing, students
across grade levels were assigned a home room dedicated to Drop Everything And Read.
During that time period, I was asked to supervise a classroom of students during this time. It
enabled me to participate with the students and model that I was participating in a school wide
policy. Parallel to this policy, as part as my PIP project, I am assisting my teacher mentor with a
D.E.A.R intervention where we are working with six grade twelve students to improve their
reading abilities. Each day, during this time period, we have been working with these six students
and implementing active reading strategies for them to practice. By the end of the term, our
project will be presented to the staff providing them with a couple strategies to implement for
future pullout groups.
Recently, another student teacher and I collaborated for Flex Friday where we introduced the
cross-curricular connection between graffiti and politics. It was a new experience to co-teach and
I enjoyed bouncing ideas off each other. We each brought something valuable to the table. The
Book Fair was an opportunity for me to express my joy of reading and literacy to the rest of the
school. I volunteered a few after school slots (for a couple hours) to assist in supervising,
assisting, and selling books. The Terry Fox Run was wonderfully planned and executed by my
fellow PSIII interns and I was happy to volunteer to be a checkpoint during the run. My job was
to stand by a specific location and direct student foot traffic. During my post, I cheered and
encouraged students and teachers to push hard and continue to the finish line.
I enjoyed assistant coaching immensely as I was able to work with a few grade seven and nine
students outside the classroom setting as well as being introduced to new students in grade eight.
The team consisted of eight girls in total. Practice was every Tuesday and Thursday morning,
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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

games were after school on Thursdays, and tournaments on the weekend. The season ran from the
beginning of September to the beginning of November. I am proud to have coached this dedicated
and energetic team. I hope that I will have the opportunity to coach again in the future.

Intern Teachers Descriptive Report contd

Basketball is an important sport for schools across Alberta and it is a unifying sport that brings the
Stirling school and community together. During the season, I volunteered for a tournament
hosted in Stirling to assist in Hallway supervision and clean-up during the evening hours. I
enjoyed participating and witnessing the school spirit surrounding this sport.
Being a part of the Stirling school community also involves collaboration and cooperation
between staff. In saying that, I enjoyed lunch time supervision where I was able to engage with
elementary students. It was an interesting transition between teaching Junior High before lunch,
supervising elementary, to teaching Senior High after lunch. I viewed it as a learning experience to
interact and manage a wide range of age groups. Lastly, the staff lunches were something I looked
forward to every week because I was able to talk with other teachers that I do not often see
frequently and to enjoy other peoples cooking! It definitely brought the staff community together
as we go from a normally ten to fifteen in the staff room to thirty or so people.
Our Everyday Hero project was a team effort on behalf of the PSIII interns. We wanted to
promote the school wide goal of building character education. The project allowed for teachers
and students across all grades K-12 to write a friendly letter to someone they appreciated. These
letters were then sent across Stirling and the area. We wanted students to have the opportunity to
express their gratitude to someone and to pause and reflect on a positive experience.
Contacting parents has proven to be, I believe, the most valuable learning experience. I
understand that the relationship between home and school is crucial. I was able to communicate to
parents in person, via email, and on the phone on numerous occasions. The conversations
consisted of both positive comments and some concerns regarding behavior or school work.
There were positive experiences and some negative experiences but regardless I learned from
them. Recently, I completed parent/teacher interviews which was a nice way for me to have face
to face contact with parents Id only talked to over the phone. I enjoyed this experience and I
now have parent/teacher interviews as a practiced skill.
Overall, my internship was a positive learning experience. I do believe that a third practicum is
necessary in order to receive the full experience and to fully become a part of the community. I
feel prepared as a complete my certification to become a teacher.

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

Intern Teacher Signature

Date

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

School Administrator Comments:

STIRLING SCHOOL
Box 340, Stirling, Alberta, Canada
T0K 2E0

Respect, Responsibility, and Integrity

Home of the Lakers

Principal Mr. Darren Mazutinec

Vice-principal Ms. Inge Pot
Vice-principal Mrs. Charlene
Teramura
Phone (403) 756-3355
Fax (403) 756-2189
www.stirlingschool.ca

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To Whom It May Concern:

Hayleigh Johnson has been a PSIII student teacher with us for the Fall of
2015. Hayleigh was given the responsibility to teach LA 9, English 20, and
one class of LA 7.
Hayleigh was consistent in her planning and lesson preparation. Her year
plan submissions to me were detailed and included both formative and
summative evaluation plans as well as a monthly/weekly breakdown for all
of her assigned units.
Her daily lesson plans throughout the semester always started with a
General Learner Outcome followed by a Specific Learner Outcome as
found in the Program of Studies. Hayleigh would give a brief summary of the
previous days learning followed by an overview of the pending lesson.
Every student knew what the days lesson was going to bring. Her lessons
were broken down into detailed segments that would guide her thinking
from start to finish. At the end of every lesson, a summary of the days
learning was part of her daily plan. If Hayleigh identified students who may
not have grasped the days learning intentions, they would then be invited
to our day-end tutorials where she would help them with their
understanding.

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

Hayleigh demonstrated sound content knowledge in all of her LA/English

assignments. I appreciated her composure and confidence as she taught her
students.
Hayleighs class management was consistent and known to all of her
students. Hayleigh demonstrated a willingness to confront any unruly and/or
off task behavior that was not appropriate for class. She always handled the
management in a firm and confident manner while respecting the dignity of
the student.
Hayleigh had a solid understanding of the role of formative assessment in
her assignment. I witnessed entrance and exit slips, student questioning,
and classroom walk-around as methods employed to help her understand
the impact of what she was trying to accomplish with each lesson. As I
visited with her about the purpose and role of formative assessment, I am
confident that she has a solid understanding about the role and purpose of
this pedagogical tool.
In our school, we are committed to bettering our understanding on what
research has determined are the best teaching practices for student
learning. We talk/discuss/PD about the role of Marzano and Hattie and what
they have concluded are the best strategies for student understanding. As
post-lesson discussions were had with Hayleigh, I was impressed with her
beginning understanding and purposeful use of nonlinguistic
representation, similarities and differences, advanced organizers, and
direct instruction. It was fun to see her understand and use the jargon and
then implement a purposeful use of these strategies as part of her teaching
plan.
Hayleigh recognized the complexity of a public school and the dynamics that
are involved in providing both an academic content and an extra/cocurricular component to our students. Hayleigh volunteered to be part of our
Terry Fox run, coach our grade 7/8 girls volleyball team, helped out with our
school book fair, Flex Fridays, division and onsite PLC work, and helped
supervise our senior boys basketball tournament. She also took her turn
with lunch hour supervision and would volunteer in any areas of our school
that she could. Her efforts were very much noticed and appreciated.
Hayleigh demonstrated a solid grasp of what is required to be a daily
classroom teacher. I was happy with her efforts and results she produced in
our school. Please give me a call to discuss any element of this report as
needed.
Sincerely,

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

Darren Mazutinec
Principal

School Administrator Signature

Date

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

Teacher Mentor Comments:

ToWhomItMayConcern:
IworkedcloselywithHayleighJohnsonwhileshecompletedherinternshipatStirlingSchool.
Duringherfourmonthinternship,shetaughtEnglish201andEnglish9,aswellasaonceper
weekELA7class.HayleighwascreativeinherapproachtoEnglishlessonsandquiteregularly
incorporatedgrouptasksaswellasanumberofvisualrepresentationprojectsforherstudents.
HayleighhadtheknowledgeandbackgroundinEnglishtoteachEnglish20andEnglish9
withoutdifficulty.Nevertheless,whensheneededadviceorwantedasecondopinion,sheoften
soughtmeoutanddiscussedherplans.Hayleighwasalwayspreparedwithtypedoutlesson
plansandyetwasflexibleinhertimingwhenschooleventsorstudentabilitynecessitated
adjustments.
OneareaHayleighworkedtoimproveuponwasindesigningspecificlearningactivitiesand
assessmentsthatwereexplicitlycorrelatedwiththeskillsoutlinedintheprogramofstudies.She
learnedtobeginwiththedesiredoutcomesinmind,andthenintentionallydesignherlessonsand
unitsaroundthesegoals.
IwasimpressedwithHayleighswrittencommentsonherstudentswork,aswellasthefactthat
sheregularlyprovidedfeedbacktoherstudentsinatimelymanner.
Earlyoninthesemester,Hayleighvolunteeredtohelpcoachourgradesevengirlsvolleyball
teamaswellashelpoutourlibrarianwiththeschoolsbookfairinNovember.Forher
professionaldevelopmentproject,HayleighteamedupwithanotherPSIIIstudentinourbuilding
andthetwoofthemworkedwithmetodesignaninterventionreadingplanforsixgradetwelve
studentswhohadbeenidentifiedasstrugglingreaders.Wemetregularlytoevaluateour
progressaswellasplanforfuturemeetingsandreadingactivities.

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

Hayleighseasygoingpersonalityandcalmdemeanorintheclassroomhelpedherworkwith
studentsinameasuredandproductivemanner.Iappreciatetheprofessionalconversationsweve
hadaboutteachingEnglishaswellasaboutHayleighsroleasadevelopingteacherwithinour
school.
Sincerely,
MorganSchaufele

Mentor Teacher Signature

Date

This page is to be attached to the Intern Teachers Report.

Faculty Mentor Comments:

In addition to those teaching responsibilities previously outlined in this report, Ms.

Johnson was required to engage in half time professional study and professional
learning that included collaborative inquiry, reflective practice, exploration of
selected educational issues, and portfolio development. Hayleigh was an active and
insightful contributor to seminars that focused on classroom management and
leadership, parent conferencing and communication, differentiated instructional
strategies, professional relations, and employment issues.
As part of her responsibilities for this internship, Ms. Johnson was also required to
complete an Inquiry into Teaching professional research project that demonstrated
her emerging skills as a teacher-researcher. This project employed a micro-action
research process in which Hayleigh focused on specific KSAs in the Teaching Quality
Standard. She created an essential question, implemented selected strategies, and
gathered data to provide evidence of the extent to which her strategies were
effective in enhancing student learning. A unique element of this inquiry process
involved Hayleighs use of a Teaching Learning Guide that is being researched at
the provincial level as an alternative to existing Teacher Growth Plan model.
Hayleigh complete her Inquiry into Teaching project in partnership with another
Intern Teacher and focused on the question:
What reading strategies can I implement that will enhance students reading
abilities?
As part of this exploration, Hayleigh implemented strategies such as focused
frequent reading-to-self, oral reading, and individual tutoring, and presented the
results of her study to the entire school staff. In addition, Hayleigh planned lessons
that implemented a number of teaching strategies that were relevant to the context

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PS III Final Report for Hayleigh Johnson

and age of her students, using technology to support her lessons and to meet the
learning needs of a variety of students. She also made attempts to create relevance
in converting curriculum into learner-accessible understandings through the
frequent use of I can statements.
With increased confidence and experience, Hayleigh will grow in providing feedback
to students that is specific and formative; as well, her increased familiarity with the
curriculum will allow her to more effectively initiate and sustain discussions during
class time.
Ms. Johnson consistently corresponded with me in a timely and professional
manner, and was conscientious in meeting timelines for assignments and other
professional responsibilities. She accepted all feedback with a positive disposition of
growth and learning, and acted on suggestions in an immediate and demonstrable
way. It is my opinion that her aptitude and competencies for professional practice
adequately meet the expectations outlined in the Teaching Quality Standards for
the Province of Alberta.
I have read the complete Final Report, including the sections authored by Principal
Darren Mazutinec, Teacher Mentor Morgan Schaufele, and Intern Teacher Hayleigh
Johnson and certify that the assigned grade for Professional Semester III is PASS.

Pamela Adams, Ph.D.

PS III University Consultant

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