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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

INTERN TEACHER: Erin McFadden

SCHOOL: Dr. Gerald B. Probe School

Grade Level(s): Two

Teacher Mentor: Bernadine Boulet

Administrator: Keith van der Meer

University Consultant: Rocky Wilson

Checklist

Final Conference Date: X Date: April 5, 2022

Review the Portfolio: X

Review the Professional Inquiry Project X

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

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University Consultant Comments:

Erin had a very successful combined PS II/III practicum. She clearly excelled in all of her duties as an
Intern Teacher. Erin displayed exemplary dedication and professional excellence as a classroom teacher.
She also demonstrated that she is ready to take on her own full-time classroom. Without question, Erin
definitely belongs in the teaching profession.
Before the practicum started, Erin was responsible for creating the unit plans for the classes she was
assigned. The planning was exemplar which included good detail and were well thought out. This exemplar
workmanship carried over into her long-range plans and her daily lesson plans. Bottom line is that Erin
definitely knew where she was taking her students.
Erin brings a solid presence to the classroom. Through her involvement in athletics, she has great posture
and carries herself with a lot of confidence. Along with her confidence, Erin uses her voice well (melodic
contour and inflection), makes good use of her non-verbal communication and she demonstrated a high
degree of enthusiasm and energy in the classroom.
Through her solid presence in the classroom, Erin did not have any classroom management issues. To
compliment this, Erin developed a strong student rapport which resulted in a safe and caring atmosphere in
the classroom. There is no question that this rapport went a long way in creating a trusting and work-oriented
environment.
Erin is very coachable. Through her own self-reflections and the feedback provided from her teacher
mentor, Erin constantly worked towards improving herself in the classroom.
Erin was able to effectively demonstrate for her students the concepts they were covering. Along with a
solid job of scaffolding the steps required to facilitate the understanding, Erin was able to effectively question
her students to elicit the proper responses.
Erin is a Kinesiology major, so it was great that she was able to facilitate physical education classes
where the students were very active. Erin had a great presence in the gymnasium setting. The students
responded immediately to her commands which was great from a safety viewpoint. Due to her Kinesiology
background, Erin was able to effectively facilitate the proper breakdown of a skill to allow the students to
enhance their own skill levels. This class was unique in that it was one that was team taught. It was a great
opportunity for Erin to experience a team-teaching environment.
During the course of the practicum, Erin worked on two professional growth goals. These included
enhancing her classroom management practices and facilitating lessons that resulted in more student
involvement. It would be safe to say that Erin was able to show solid growth in both of these two areas. With
her presence and preparedness, classroom management was minimal. When inappropriate behavior did
arise, Erin was able to deal with it in a quick and respectful way. In area of providing more student
involvement, here again Erin was able to conduct classes where students were indeed very involved.
In closing, it has been a pleasure to work with Erin. I am very excited for Erin as I know that she is going
to become a truly valued member of the teaching profession. All the best Erin!

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

4/5/2022
University Consultant Signature Date

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

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University Consultant comments (Page 2 continued):

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

4/5/2022
University Consultant Signature Date

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

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Intern Teacher’s Descriptive Report:

PSIII Final Descriptive Report
Erin McFadden
March 21, 2022

My Professional Semester Three (PSIII) experience was busy, challenging, and extremely memorable. I will
not soon forget the growth and support I experienced throughout this internship. During my practicum I taught
Grade Two science, social studies, physical education, art, computers, health, as well as a short ‘math task’
time. I covered multiple units in each area of instruction. I was very fortunate to have constant feedback from my
mentor teacher during my practicum, and gratefully took this feedback, applying it to my teaching. It was a goal
of mine during this internship to incorporate as many ‘hands-on’ learning experiences for my students as
possible to encourage meaningful learning.
Over the past few months, I have been very privileged to make strong connections with my students, my TM,
and my grade-level team and maintain a positive classroom environment. This started with connecting with my
mentor, but quickly evolved to connections with the entire Grade Two team, as well as the other interns within
my school. Knowing that I had several people I could go to with any questions or needs I had was very
encouraging and being able to rely on the relationships I built was a very rewarding experience.
This positive experience was compounded by the wonderful group of students I had. I began building
relationships with these students from the minute I walked through the door. During my very first lesson, we did
an ‘All About Me’ art activity where I shared with students a poster detailing who I was, what I like, and fun facts
about me. I felt that it was important to let students feel they knew me in addition to me knowing them, so I made
certain to allow them to ask questions about me. Following this, students created their own ‘All About Me’ poster
where they shared their likes and interests with me. From here, I was able to springboard to include their
interests in my lessons, activities, and our formal and informal conversations. Although they tested me at times,
they were a very willing audience and were very receptive to building relationships. I can say with complete
certainty that these students were the biggest stakeholders in my growth as a teacher. One of my fondest
memories of this class was how eager they were to participate in my Professional Inquiry Project, and how
excited they were to get to bolster a positive classroom environment.
Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 situation there were no extra-curriculars offered through the school during
my practicum save for a running club which started my second last week. I was excited to be a part of this club -
which met before school and did three runs weekly - even if it was just for this short time. Outside of my school,
however, I was involved in coaching a U14 girls volleyball team and I found it to be a very meaningful
contribution to my experience. Despite the pandemic, I was fortunate to get to engage in multiple staff meetings,
PL days, collaborative times, parent-teacher interviews, and even a teachers’ convention which were wonderful
learning experiences.
As a class we have taken on several projects that the students were very engaged in. In one of these, we
created a thermos to keep an ice cube from melting using an insulating material students selected. In social
studies, we created a poster at the end of our Lethbridge unit detailing fun facts, events, and activities to do in
Lethbridge. In our Iqaluit unit, we explored a box of Inuit artifacts and created a booklet of sketches and notes
about them to take home as souvenirs.

3/31/2022

Intern Teacher Signature Date

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

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

From my reflections, one of my biggest areas of growth was in classroom management. Throughout the
semester I was continually investigating, exploring, and implementing new classroom management
strategies, and at the same time discarding practices that did not suit my teaching style or my students. I
learned a lot about classroom management from my TM and the many teachers I observed throughout my
placement, and incorporated strategies such as attention-getters, brain breaks, ‘show me what this looks
like/show me what this does not look like’, waiting for attention before speaking, using random group
generators, giving ‘compliments’, and many others. Not only did these methods aid in creating a conducive
learning environment, but they allowed students to feel comfortable in routines and structures within the
classroom.
Throughout the semester I also gained an improved understanding of planning and preparation. Initially, I
was planning far too much material for each lesson, which often meant that I was unable to achieve the
closure I wanted at the end of a lesson. After gaining an understanding of what Grade Two students were
able to accomplish in a set amount of time, I was much more concise and effective in my planning. Being
confident in my plans and not having to push through too much material for my time meant that I had more
time and energy to devote to engaging with my students, assessing formatively during the lessons, and
adapting to questions as they arose.
Finally, as mentioned above, I was able to engage in a variety of assessment practices over the course of
my PSIII. Being as this internship took place in Grade Two, there was not an abundance of room for
summative assessments such as formal exams. However, at the conclusion of my science units, I did give
students worksheets which acted as ‘quizzes’, giving me a final picture of students’ understanding of the
learning outcomes covered in the unit. Similarly, at the end of each unit in social studies, students
participated in culminating activities where they were given the opportunity to showcase what they learned in
the units. These included creating a poster with ‘Remarkable Facts About Lethbridge’ at the end of our
Lethbridge unit and at the end of our Iqaluit unit, writing a postcard to a friend or relative describing the
reasons the recipient should visit Iqaluit. In addition to these summative assessments, I grew immensely in
my ability to formatively assess student learning based on the learning outcomes of the lesson. I steadily got
more proficient at asking students questions that required deeper-level thinking. Through discussions,
activities, and questions, students were given many opportunities to put their learning on display. Finally, to
increase my organization of outcomes, I built a graph into my long-range plan which tallied every time I hit an
outcome in a lesson. Thus, over the semester, I have a count of exactly how many times each outcome was
addressed.
In conclusion, I could not be more thankful for my placement at Dr. Probe School. I truly feel that I have
grown by leaps and bounds with the help of my mentor teacher, the other teachers who helped mentor me,
my administration, my university consultant, and the other intern teachers with whom I shared my practicum. I
am leaving this practicum feeling much more confident in my teaching and feeling very excited to have a
future in this profession. I love connecting with people, and I am beyond grateful to have found a career
which places this passion at the forefront.

3/31/2022
Intern Teacher Signature Date

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

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Teacher Mentor Comments:

Final Report for Erin McFadden

I have had the pleasure of working with Erin during this spring semester here at Dr. Gerald B. Probe
Elementary School. This was a time when we continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its
protocols, restrictions, and illnesses. Joining a school staff in the middle of the year is never easy and the
pandemic added an extra layer to this internship. However, Erin easily became a part of the Dr. Probe family
and was an active staff member. More importantly, she became a respected and loved teacher in our Grade
Two classroom. Her drive to improve and learn more as a teacher plus her kind, considerate manner has
made her a valued colleague in our Grade two team.

There has been a mutual respect developed between Erin and the students of the class as she treated each
child with respect and dignity. She looked at the children as individuals and took the time to talk with each of
them to try and know them better in their lives outside of the classroom.

Erin has successfully taught physical education, social studies, science, health, art, and math tasks to our
class. She team taught P.E. with our cohort class, which allowed her the opportunity to work closely with
another teacher and to collaborate in planning units and activities. She also planned and facilitated Tech
Time and found websites and activities that integrated with lessons being taught in the class, while learning
skills to better use technology at a Grade 2 level. Erin was also part of the weekly planning done by the
Grade 2 team, which supported her own planning. She willingly took on teaching assignments that were both
in her comfort zone and those that were new to her. Her background of coaching rugby and volleyball at
various levels with a variety of age groups has helped her greatly in her teaching and presence. She would
seek help, guidance, and information from myself, other teachers and staff members in our school, and her
PS III colleagues to assist her in her planning and implementation of her units. In reflecting on her lessons,
Erin asked for feedback on areas she thought went well and on ones needing improvement. She was always
positive about any feedback that was given, and future lessons reflected the advice.

Erin consistently had extremely carefully planned lessons and activities and came fully prepared to teach
those lessons each day. She became knowledgeable about what she was teaching and was able to
comfortably implement the activities and lessons with the students. As the internship went on, Erin was no
longer fixed on the plan for teaching, and she has developed the skill of “changing on the fly”, showing
flexibility adapting a lesson/activity to better fit the needs of the students or the happenings of the class and
school. She was conscious of the different abilities of the students and worked to adapt and differentiate
activities to better suit the needs of the students. She circulated very well to try to touch base

4/1/2022
Teacher Mentor Signature Date

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

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Teacher Mentor Comments (Page 2 continued):

with all the children. Students were actively engaged in the activities planned by Erin, and they looked forward
to her teaching. They especially enjoyed the unit in science as Erin had several hands-on lessons to better
explain and demonstrate concepts for students. The activities and lessons planned by Erin varied from
teacher-directed to student-directed and from individual to small group to large group settings. She has used
discussions, brainstorming, hands-on activities, demonstrations, movement, games, and technology in her
lessons to try and reach the diverse learning styles of the students. Erin became quite comfortable in each of
these settings and has worked to develop management skills to monitor each type.

Erin has shown growth in her leadership role in the classroom. She established routines with the students that
have made them very comfortable with her. She has worked to develop her own expectations for behaviour
and has grown greatly in responding to the behaviours of the students in the best ways possible. She is
developing a repertoire of techniques that will suit her when dealing with the variety of students a homeroom
classroom comprises of.

Although mixing between cohorts and grade levels was possible in only the latter weeks of her internship,
Erin became involved in activities outside of our classroom and outside her teaching time. She assisted with
Probe Running Club, was part of preparation and rehearsal with the Grade 2 students for our school Green
Shirt Day Assembly, connected with parents, and supervised during Nutrition Break eating time. She willingly
gave her time at breaks and after school to plan, prepare, and organize activities.

I have been very fortunate to have taught with Erin this spring and to share a classroom with her. Her
sincerity, hard work, dedication, and desire to be a better teacher have made it extremely easy to share the
classroom and these students with her. She will be a truly valued member of the school and staff that she
joins as a teacher. It would be wonderful to be able to teach with her again.

4/1/2022

Teacher Mentor Signature Date

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

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Administrator Comments:

I had the opportunity to observe Erin teach a physical education, science and social class during her PS3
assignment at Dr. Probe School. As Erin undertook a hybrid PS2/3 designation as a result of implications
caused by the pandemic, she was tasked with an accelerated practicum experience. In response to this
challenge, Erin has done an exceptional job in meeting the expectations outlined for a PS3 student.
Further, Erin has demonstrated a tremendous amount of growth and professionalism during her time at
the school.
In consideration of my observations, Erin has met the following areas as related to the TQS:
Fostering Effective Relationships: Erin has worked to better understand the learning needs of her
students. She has consistently demonstrated an ability to develop positive relationships with both
students and staff based in mutual respect. She has also done a tremendous job in working alongside her
teacher-mentor in developing and delivering lessons that are student-centered.
Engaging in Career-Long Learning: Erin has participated in all professional learning days at the school.
Her instructional planning is also a clear indication of her ability to be reflective and seek further
understanding in developing learning activities that are relevant and engaging. Erin is open to feedback
and has applied it successfully in the goal of continued growth and improvement.
Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge: Erin has created lesson plans that are thorough,
thoughtful and effectively target the learning outcomes in the Alberta Program of Studies. She
understands the importance of assessment and is working towards balancing how best to formatively
assess students and encourage their own awareness of their progression as a learner. Erin effectively
has developed and used rubrics as forms of assessment across each of the subjects she has taught.
Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments: Erin has established a safe and caring learning
environment for her students. She has begun developing an understanding of how to best support
individual learning needs.
Applying Foundational Knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit: Erin has done a great job sourcing
curricular knowledge and resources to help students have a more holistic knowledge of the diversity in
their community. She has also been intentional in finding cross-curricular ties with regards to learning
surrounding FNMI.
Areas for Continued Growth and Development: Erin has done a tremendous job during her tenure as a
PS3 student at Dr. Probe. Moving forward, she is encouraged to continue her reflective practice and her
willingness to seek out support and resources. It is clear she values students as independent learners
and should continue developing her understanding of how best to support student learning goals through
inclusive and responsive instructional practice. Her ability to establish positive relationships with students
and staff will continue to serve her well as an educator.

4/3/2022
Administrator Signature Date

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

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Administrator Comments (Page 2 continued):

4/3/2022
Administrator Signature Date

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