YEAR 6 PB SECONDARY – PRACTICUM PRE-LEARNING

ASSESSMENT
SCHOOL COMMUNITY
1) Where is the school located? (district and where in BC) What is the school enrollment?
Describe the socio-cultural and ethnic representation in the school.

2) What is the size of the community in which the school is located? What are the main
industries/economic bases in the community?

3) Does your school have a large number of students who take the bus (school or city)? If
so, how does this affect their arrival time in the morning and departure time after school?

4) What is the vision/mission statement of the school? What are the stated school goals?
These can usually be found on the school website or in the school handbook.

5) What is the socio-economic mix of the students in the school? Is there a high percentage
of students in the school from low or high socio-economic backgrounds?

6) Describe some of the prominent programs within the school. For example, is there French
Immersion? IB or gifted? Academies and sports? Specialty academic, trades, or cultural
programs? Fine arts? School-community links? Clubs?

7) Does the school have a breakfast or lunch program for students in need? If so, briefly
describe it below.

8) Who are the principals and vice principals in the school? How is their caseload divided
(ie/ by grade or alphabetical order?) If a student needs to be referred to the office, what is
the procedure?

9) Who are the counsellors in the school? How is their caseload divided (ie/ by grade or
alphabetical order?). If a student needs to be referred to a counsellor, what is the
procedure?

10) What are the names of the people who work in the office? Who is the custodial staff
person who works in the school/your classroom? Be sure to know these people’s names!

11) Who is the librarian? What is the procedure for taking your class to the library in terms of
“booking” a time/block?

12) What is the procedure for taking your class to a computer room in terms of “booking” a
time/block?
 13) If there is a large First Nations population in your school there is likely a person in the
school whose role it is to support these students (the title is usually something along the
lines of “First Nations support teacher”). Does your school have a person in this role? If
so, who is it and what supports can s/he provide your students and yourself?

14) When are staff meetings held? It is bad form for a student teacher to miss these so be sure
to know when they are

15) Does your sponsor have any before or after school duty that you will have to take on
during your time at the school? (ie/ bus supervision, hall monitoring, etc) If so, describe
below

16) In the space below or on a separate page, provide a copy of the school timetable.

CLASSROOM CONTEXT

1) Before you take over a class from your sponsor, you must have a conversation with them
regarding what their expectations are of you in the area of assessment and evaluation.
Detail below what your sponsor expects of you for each class in regards to the assessment
and evaluation you will do.

2) How does your sponsor deal with students who skip out?

3) What is the policy of your sponsor surrounding late work? Accepted as is? A penalty? A
zero?

4) Are all of the materials you will need for practicum stored in your room/teaching space?
Or does your department have a “storage room” somewhere in the school that will
contain some of the materials you will need?
5) Fill in one of the charts below for EACH class you will teach on practicum. Use
pseudonyms in place of any student names

TEACHER:
SUBJECT/GRADE:

CLASS STRENGTHS: What are some of the strengths and positive attributes of this
class as a whole?

CLASSROOM NEEDS: Are there any specific needs, concerns, or accommodations

your sponsor wants/needs you to take into consideration with this group? Detail these
below

LANGUAGE: Are there any ELL needs in the class? If so, how does your sponsor
work with/support these?

EA SUPPORT: Does this class have an EA working in it? If so, are they assigned to a
specific student or more than one student? Describe the role of your EA(s) with their
assigned student(s).

IEP’s: Are there any students in the class with an IEP? If so, describe what
accommodations you will have to make for this student (or students).