DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education

PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER THREE

Final Report

PS 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 University Consultants in collaboration with Intern Teachers and school personnel.

Education 4571: Elementary Education Internship

INTERN TEACHER: Lyndsay Hirsche

SCHOOL: Divine Mercy School

Grade Level(s): 4

Teacher Mentor: Helen Muszynski

Administrator: Travis Bonertz

University Consultant: Alastair Wilson

Checklist

Final Conference Date: X Date: November 30th 2021

Review the Portfolio: X

Review the Professional Inquiry Project X

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

University Consultant Comments:

Lyndsay Hirsche has a had a successful practicum in her placement in grade 4 at Divine Mercy School with
Helen Muszynski. Lyndsay began her time with enthusiasm and this energy was sustained throughout her
PSIII experience. She was conscientious about her responsibilities and ensured that her planning documents
were submitted on time, lesson plans were completed, and time was set aside for seminars and university
requirements like her PIP project and E-portfolio.

Lyndsay effectively demonstrates a capacity for preparing short and long-term plans for instruction. Her plans
are very detailed, directly connected to the Program of Studies and form the basis of interesting learning for
the students. Her task design is considerate of student engagement and activities were well thought out and
planned well in advance of their implementation. Materials needed for the lesson were easily available to the
students and it was clear that the students understood her classroom expectations. Student learning was
through a variety of assessment tools including observations, anecdotal records and checklists. She met
regularly with her mentor to review student progress, develop strategies, and adjust the learning plans as
necessary. Based on her on-going assessment, Lyndsay was able to modify and adjust programming to meet
the learning needs of the students.

One observed lesson was a lesson on toxic waste. Lyndsay had done a lot of work in getting this lesson
prepared and the students were engaged from the start. She began with a video and then moved into the “oily
eggs” demo. Lyndsay had taken the time to soak hard boiled eggs in motor oil for different amounts of time.
She was then able to use the demonstration to purposefully have students engage terms like observation and
hypothesis, giving the students an opportunity to practice these processes in a scaffolded activity. Students
had lots of questions (and stories!) and she was able to deftly keep the questioning on track and on topic.

Throughout the “Oily egg” lesson students were engaged in the scientific process including predicting,
observing, documenting, recording and analyzing. Lyndsay was able to impart the idea that the students were
really doing the work of “scientists”. This kind of messy science could be the basis for a pretty disastrous
lesson if mishandled and Lyndsay was nicely in control for the whole period. The students were actively
involved, and Lyndsay had students straining to see and feel the “oily eggs” as they waited patiently for their
turn to be a part of this experience.

I have read the complete Final Report and certify that the assigned grade is Pass

12/4/2021
University Consultant Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

University Consultant comments (Page 2 continued):

Lyndsay was also able to leverage the work she was doing in the classroom into her Professional Inquiry
Project. She and her cohort partner Chelsea looked at the efficacy of “body breaks” in the classroom. They
were able to accumulate and document a number of body break ideas and implement them in the
classroom. Lyndsay noted that adding these breaks into the classroom routine helped in maintaining
student engagement and behaviour. Lyndsay was even able to incorporate FNMI themed body breaks into
her repertoire.

Lyndsay has shown herself to be a committed, reliable and knowledgeable teacher intern. She has
demonstrated initiative and flexibility in working with students and her teacher mentor. Lyndsay
demonstrates care and understanding in working with children coupled with thoughtful, informed planning
and instruction. She has worked hard to successfully maintain an active, safe and caring environment
where students are able to engage in their learning. She has been reflective throughout this internship,
taking input from others and acting upon that advice. The relationships she has developed are those of a
professional and caring teacher.

I have read the complete Final Report and certify that the assigned grade is Pass

12/4/2021
University Consultant Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Intern Teacher’s Descriptive Report:

In my PS3, I was tasked with teaching Social Studies, Science, Art, Health, and Religion. I created unit plans for
each subject and executed them within a reasonable time frame.
In terms of classroom organization, I worked with my TM on google classroom to organize content and daily
announcements. I used a bucket system to organize student materials—the buckets correlated with the students'
rows to ease transitions between subjects. Since the afternoons are my time to teach, I established routines for
after lunch, transitions between subjects and end of the day routines. Once the students adjusted to these
routines, they streamlined the afternoon.
To manage student behaviours, I used a class currency that incorporated both individual points and group
points. After I established routines, I worked with my TM to transition to intrinsic motivators for students. Positive
reinforcement is the most significant component of my classroom management strategy to develop a positive
classroom culture.
Throughout my practicum, I completed many different kinds of planning, including long-term, unit plans, and
individual lesson plans. I also incorporated a daily PowerPoint and daily posts on Google Classroom.
I did my best to diversify my techniques for instruction while still keeping to a routine. Direct instruction with a
daily PowerPoint to aid those students who struggle with auditory learning was proven to be quite effective. It
minimized the number of questions and times I needed to repeat myself. I often started my lessons with this kind
of instruction. From there, I moved to several other methods. Kinesthetic learning through stations and activities
made the content more memorable. Inquiry-based learning was a strength among my students. They shined in
research projects that we completed in both Social Studies and Science.
Halfway through the Regions of Alberta, which we covered in Social Studies class, I found my students getting
rather bored with the combination of direct instruction and research projects. After pondering what engages my
students most, I chose to move to a Game-Based learning approach where students moved through a story-like
quest with objectives to earn badges. The students responded exceptionally well to this approach. I am proud of
the work I completed with my planning and student engagement.
I am passionate about incorporating FNMI content into Social Studies and held myself accountable for this
throughout the term. Many of the resources available for teachers focus on the hardships that the Indigenous
people of Canada have faced. I made a conscious effort to shift the narrative for my students and teach them
about cultural protection, the importance of language, traditional Indigenous practices, and other Indigenous
successes.
I incorporated formative and summative assessments through the units. Each unit included at least one
performance task, one research assignment, and one test or quiz. I wanted to integrate many different
assessment techniques to diversify my assessment and make it authentic. For formative assessment, I began
each lesson with a summary question of the previous day's content and ended each day with some form of exit
slips or an all-student response system. The website Plickers was a way for me to integrate technology and
formatively assess students. The website uses QR codes to collect answers and has a function where you can
track student progress. I found this extremely useful when reflecting on my teaching and seeing which instruction
method aided students' short and long-term recall.

11/30/2021

Intern Teacher Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Intern Teacher’s Descriptive Report (Page 2 continued):

I pride myself on building strong and trusting relationships with my students while still maintaining
professional boundaries. When I don't know the answer to a student's question, I never pretend to know but
rather model my excitement for all of us to learn together. I found this extremely effective as an intrinsic
motivator tool. I enjoyed building relationships with my colleagues and asking their professional opinion when
I needed help with diversifying lessons, creating more engaging content, dealing with specific student
behaviours, etc.
Overall, my PS3 experience was positive, and I feel I gained valuable knowledge that I will carry with me
throughout my teaching career. As I move forward in my career, one of my professional learning goals will be
to continue to develop my understanding of how to best support student learning through the development of
scaffolded projects and performance tasks.
I look forward to having my own class to establish routines and procedures and experiment with which ones
are most effective. I appreciate how I was able to begin to develop these skills at Divine Mercy. I will always
be grateful for this experience.

11/30/2021
Intern Teacher Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Teacher Mentor Comments:

Lyndsay was assigned grade 4 Science (Waste in our World and Light and Shadow units), Social (the
regions of Alberta, Religion, Health and Art. Lyndsay started out with the planning part of her practicum and
spent the entire summer planning her units and lessons for each subject assigned. She reached out with
great questions as she dove into dissecting the curriculum. The result from her effort was a well thought out
plan that was easy to follow and covered all the big ideas and connections within all areas. Her passion and
enthusiasm showed through from the beginning.
Lyndsay incorporated various activities and strategies to meet all leaners needs and learning styles. She was
able to shift gears when lessons did not go as well as expected and always came back with a new plan of
action. She was very reflective throughout the practicum and always looked for new ways to achieve her
focus which was to make learning fun foe everyone.
Day to day classroom management was an area of growth for Lyndsay. I encouraged and challenged her to
look for new ways of moving from extrinsic motivation (rewards) to a more sustainable and intrinsic approach
(love of learning and self-motivation) approach. She did work on this concept and made some great gains.
Overall, Lyndsay’s strength is relationship building with students and she did that very well. She was always
involved in conversations with each student at their level and found things in common or something to
encourage each of them. She looked for student individual strengths and had positive ways to look at what
they need to work on. I wish her well in her in future career path wherever it leads her and thank her for her
positive and hard work with my class.

11/30/2021
Teacher Mentor Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Teacher Mentor Comments (Page 2 continued):

11/30/2021

Teacher Mentor Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Administrator Comments:

Lyndsay, as a final practicum student, has been a positive addition to Divine Mercy School. Lyndsay has
displayed a strong implementation of technology into the classroom and used this knowledge to support
other teachers in our school. She has built a very positive relationship with her students and parents in
the classroom. Lyndsay has gained in her understanding of scaffolding of learning and the use of
extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation techniques. Lyndsay development can grow by continuing to work in
collaboration with her grade team and taking constructive feedback to grow in her practice. Overall,
Lyndsay’s practicum was successful practicum for Divine Mercy and the students that she worked within
the classroom.

11/30/2021
Administrator Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)

DocuSign Envelope ID: 73A19DFF-3283-419E-8C3B-67F031D5B5FB

Administrator Comments (Page 2 continued):

11/30/2021
Administrator Signature Date

U of L: PS III Final Report: (Revised: January 2021)