Monday - Horticulture class went well. There was a student that did not want to participate again, but we worked through it. The students conducted hydroponic water tests and we analyzed them to see if they are suitable to grow our plants in hydroponically. We had a good discussion that tied in everything that we have been talking about thus far.
Leadership - today I had a work day, the students peer reviewed each others speeches, learned how to work echalk and worked on other homework for the class. I gave them ample opportunities to ask me questions or voice concerns about the class that they may have. I did not receive any type of those things. My student teaching time has been pretty easy since my students have not been hanging in their homework. They are going to get a glimpse of mean Jeanne tomorrow so they know that I ma serious about making my assignments count and if they do not hand them in, they will fail the class.
Ag Mech went well. The students continued to work on their welding and we started reminding them to bring engines in to work on for next week.
Tuesday - Horticulture class went really well today. We had a inquiry-ish lesson today. We were creating primitive hydroponic systems like that the Aztecs did. I gave them directions, but I changed some of the supplies based on what we had available in the shop. Some of the students followed the directions, some of them tried their own version of the project. The students were a little frustrated initially that it was not all laid out for them, but as the class period went on they got more creative and I believe were really enjoying the work. Only about a third of the groups finished, so we will be finishing it up before class another day this week. I think it was really good for them to be able work through the problem themselves and complete the trial and error since that is what they will have to do in the real world. They need to learn how to figure things out for themselves.
Leadership - Today I had to be a little grumpy with the class and put their nose to the grind. I am having problems with students completing their homework at home. They just don't hand their assignments in and thus, are doing bad in the class. I have them their grades today, which lit the fire under some of their butts. I told them that I would work with them during homeroom or during 5th period, but that they had to schedule it with me and that I would not hound them down to make sure they had everything. They are in high school and they need to have that own personal responsibility to make sure they are passing their classes.
Ag mechanics went well. One of the students said I was cool. I keep teasing two of the students telling them that they better pay attention to my small gas engines lessons so they will be able to get first place in the small gas engines career development event.
Wednesday - In horticulture class we went to a local nursery. At the nursery students were able to learn about potential job opportunities and see what what we are talking about in class REALLY does relate to the outside world. We recently talked about pH in class and the nursery owner asked questions and talked about how important it was for them to keep track of pH in their operation. I will discuss with my students tomorrow about what we learned there. I really want them to see that connection and why, I do what I do. The students behaved really well during the trip. I kept track of who asked questions about what and how many times they spoke.
Leadership - we went over the POA today and created committees in class. For the powerpoint introduction for the POA I had one of my squirmy students be my clicker to change slides. This really helped him out, however, I did have to actually yell in class today because the individual kept taking his friends stuff and was out of his seat when he was not supposed to. I am going to have a chat with him tomorrow to let him know that it is not acceptable behavior and he will get morning detention if he does not shape up.
Thursday - Horticulture - Apparently today was the day to miss. I had four students missing. Today we reviewed what we learned from the field trip and talked about how what we are learning in class related to it. After that we headed out to the greenhouse for some students to finish their chinampas (Aztec hydroponic systems). Groups that finished early work on transplanting the geraniums that we got yesterday from Trail Nursery. They learned how to properly prepare the soil for transplanting, making sure it was moist but not too wet, how to break up the bottoms of the plug trays then transplant them into the larger pots. I taught a set of three students how to do all the steps first. I then traveled around the room and worked with various groups of students at different stages. Later in the class period I heard the first group that I taught explain to another group how to transplant.... and they did it perfectly. It make me really happy how well they were listening. The class went well, they followed all the procedures correctly, cleaned up, and had three minutes remaining before the bell rang. We went over what we were going to do tomorrow, and if they finished their class work efficiently then we would have more time in the greenhouse.
Leadership: Today we finished the reading of Wilber and Orville Wright. The students took their last quiz and most of them finished it in two minutes (they're crazy). We then had another Socratic seminar. These are really interesting because it forces the students to answer the round robin questions. There was not as much individual participation, but that will come with time I guess. I am thinking about assigning other reading assignments so we can have more class discussions and see if we can get more people to participate.
Ag Mechanics - I worked more with the students on their welds and discussed what they did wrong and correct. I think that I am gaining good rapport with them despite not being their main teacher. I am glad that they have opened up to me a little more as the weeks have gone by since I think that will make it easier to transition to being the teacher next week.
Friday - Horticulture- today we went over different hydroponic systems then went to the greenhouse. I assigned groups today so the students could get use to working with other people. I did not have many issues while they were working with each other. One student did not really want to participate but I will keep working on him. After the students presented with their groups about the different systems, we went to the greenhouse to continue transplanting. One student was just kind of standing there and I asked him if he wanted a job. He said that he did, so I sent him back to work with another student and fill pots. That was the first time that the student seemed actually interested to be in class. I am hoping that it will continue as class goes on and he becomes more engaged and will eventually become active in FFA.
Leadership class - today we messed with AET. I really should have spent some more time on the system before trying to explain it to the students. We got a decent amount accomplished, but I did not feel as prepared as I could have been. I also wish that I would have talked with my teacher a little more about what she wanted them to complete or leave alone. One of the students thought it was "cool" that I was not even facing him and still saw that he took some thing from one of his friends. I told him to give it back and he is like but, uh what? How did you see that?? You were not even facing my direction!. Muahahaha I have teacher eyes now, so he better watch out. Only three students sent me their speeches for me to review, so I hope that everyone else is prepared for Tuesday and Wednesday next week when we will be going over speeches in the class. Ohh and a student made me so proud today. I asked one to help one of their table group mates with AET and he did! Without complaining! And he was really nice about it! That is something that really makes me happy.
Ag Mechanics - the students started to bring in their engines today. Others have again been showing me their welds and talking about them.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
ACES - Paving the Way
ACES has always been a conference near and dear to my heart. It was a place where I actually got to meet and interact with other chapters from across the state and get to hang out with my cousins chapter. This weekend was the first time since high school that I have been back to the conference and it did not let me down.
The maturity of my students will never cease to amaze me. Knowing what my adviser had to deal with along with horror stories from other teachers, my students are very well behaved. Earlier in the week my leadership watched an etiquette video that was created by a national officer. I heard the students in that class educating their fellow chapter members about the proper etiquette for the dinner -- this made me excited that they were actually paying attention in class :p! Some of the gentlemen needed a little extra prodding and reminding that the napkin goes on their lap, but they complied with my and my fellow teachers wishes and did what we asked. They do not understand it now, but the soft skills of proper manners that they are learning will be so beneficial to them later in life. Whether it is a dinner or lunch meeting with a boss or clients, or sitting down with their significant others families for the first time. Knowing how to properly conduct ones self is vitally important and something that is not typically taught in the classroom. This is one of the many advantages of FFA.
I also saw the maturity at the dance. I never felt like they were not conducting themselves properly. Some of the students had wanted me to teach them how to line dance but they did not feel comfortable going to the front of the dance floor where I was with the past state officers, so I found them later after talking to Mrs. B. They also played a swing dancing song where I taught two of the gentlemen how to correctly spin a girl in a circle. When I was checking the students into their rooms later that night, a comment was made that "the boys actually danced this year!!". I am happy that the students enjoyed themselves at the dance and got a kick out of that comment.
The students then continued to impress me at breakfast the next morning. Only one comment was made for them to put their napkins on their laps then one of the older gentlemen started policing the rest of them, which was most likely to tease Mrs. B and I, but hey it got the point across. They were also really good about paying attention to the state officers and not being on their phones the whole time. It is these little things that really makes a student more employable.
Besides being thoroughly impressed with the students I worked with, I also learned some other things while I was there.
1. Other teachers are always there to help (i.e AET record books) I already knew this fact, but it was reinforced over the weekend.
2. When students know your expectations, great things can happen. All of our members conducted themselves in a manner that made me proud to call them mine.
3. It is okay to dance like a fool. I drug a past state officer with me into my group of students to dance to gangnam style. I heard my students go "look at Ms. Case, look at Ms. Case" which really made me laugh.
4. Ya snooze you loose with getting seats at dinner or breakfast - either have a plan to all sit together or force the students to practice talking to people they do not know and meeting new friends.
ACES was a really great experience and I will have the members who went talk about it in class and promote it to the younger students for next year. Now, I am looking forward to SLLC in two weeks at it is my first time going!
The maturity of my students will never cease to amaze me. Knowing what my adviser had to deal with along with horror stories from other teachers, my students are very well behaved. Earlier in the week my leadership watched an etiquette video that was created by a national officer. I heard the students in that class educating their fellow chapter members about the proper etiquette for the dinner -- this made me excited that they were actually paying attention in class :p! Some of the gentlemen needed a little extra prodding and reminding that the napkin goes on their lap, but they complied with my and my fellow teachers wishes and did what we asked. They do not understand it now, but the soft skills of proper manners that they are learning will be so beneficial to them later in life. Whether it is a dinner or lunch meeting with a boss or clients, or sitting down with their significant others families for the first time. Knowing how to properly conduct ones self is vitally important and something that is not typically taught in the classroom. This is one of the many advantages of FFA.
I also saw the maturity at the dance. I never felt like they were not conducting themselves properly. Some of the students had wanted me to teach them how to line dance but they did not feel comfortable going to the front of the dance floor where I was with the past state officers, so I found them later after talking to Mrs. B. They also played a swing dancing song where I taught two of the gentlemen how to correctly spin a girl in a circle. When I was checking the students into their rooms later that night, a comment was made that "the boys actually danced this year!!". I am happy that the students enjoyed themselves at the dance and got a kick out of that comment.
The students then continued to impress me at breakfast the next morning. Only one comment was made for them to put their napkins on their laps then one of the older gentlemen started policing the rest of them, which was most likely to tease Mrs. B and I, but hey it got the point across. They were also really good about paying attention to the state officers and not being on their phones the whole time. It is these little things that really makes a student more employable.
Besides being thoroughly impressed with the students I worked with, I also learned some other things while I was there.
1. Other teachers are always there to help (i.e AET record books) I already knew this fact, but it was reinforced over the weekend.
2. When students know your expectations, great things can happen. All of our members conducted themselves in a manner that made me proud to call them mine.
3. It is okay to dance like a fool. I drug a past state officer with me into my group of students to dance to gangnam style. I heard my students go "look at Ms. Case, look at Ms. Case" which really made me laugh.
4. Ya snooze you loose with getting seats at dinner or breakfast - either have a plan to all sit together or force the students to practice talking to people they do not know and meeting new friends.
ACES was a really great experience and I will have the members who went talk about it in class and promote it to the younger students for next year. Now, I am looking forward to SLLC in two weeks at it is my first time going!
Friday, February 21, 2014
Week 5 - Happy National FFA Week
Monday - Horticulture went pretty well today. I had the students sit back in their assigned seats that Mr. Stollar had made earlier in the semester. I didn't run out of content today! I beefed up the lesson and added more group activities, and I even had a paper for them to read at then end of class if we got to it. The students behaved well, they answered questions and completed the lab. I just feel like we have not reached that sweet spot that I had the second day last week. Maybe it is due to the fact that we had a four day weekend and now they had to get up early again and it is their first period. I did have two students totally disengage today. That kind of bummed me out since we were doing hands on activities, however it is an interesting situation for the one student and the other is rather close to the first one. I will continue to watch them throughout the week and try to get them engaged in class. Sometimes there are outside factors that the students cannot control and I don't want to make them feel bad. However, if it becomes a regular habit, it will be addressed.
Leadership class went really well today. The students were engaged and when they were working on their speech outlines they were actually quiet and working on their work! Which, is to be expected, but I was still proud of them. I did not have as many problems with talking and phones today either. With the snow days, I reminded them that their outlines are due tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how many I get. They tried to pull well you only have us like 20 minutes to work on it in class, and I said yes, but you have had a lot of time to work on it at home and I expect it tomorrow. So we will see how it goes.
Ag Mechanics went well today. Some of the students like me to look at their beads and talk to me about technique, which I enjoy. A student that I typically talk to in that class seemed upset, or not their usual self, and they were not using the correct welding gloves, so I had to enforce the rules. By the end of the class the student seemed more like normal, which was good.
We finally had an FFA meeting today and it was good to see how the officers worked together and how the members reacted. I think that there can be a little more excitement and enjoyment about being there rather than just the facts, but I don't really know how to change it. I will think about how to jazz it up a little bit while I am here.
Tuesday - Today we had a two hour delay so my classes were only an hour long rather than almost 90 minutes.
Horticulture class went well. The students finished their labs from yesterday. The soil had settled and separated in the jars enough for them to be able to measure it and complete the math problems on it. I should have spent more time going over how to complete the math to make sure that the students really understood it. That is something that I will have to focus on the next time we complete an experiment that involved math. We then connected the experiment to what we were going to talk about for the day and that is the importance of pore space in the growth medium of plants, and then the different types of growth mediums for hydroponics. Each student had to research a different growth medium and create a poster on it; the students will then complete a gallery walk around the room. The two students that were disengaged yesterday were more engaged today. Instead of getting mad at them I would ask them to join a group, so they joined a group, but they didn't move yet, so then I went to another group and talked to them before coming back, then I asked them to please move, and I walked away again, and they moved. I think that by me not jumping down their throats that they were not as engaged in class as the other students and giving them there space that they were more receptive to me. The rest of class I did not have a problem with them and they were working on their projects just fine.
Leadership is always a fun time. Today we learned about how National FFA week was started, what the Dover chapter is doing this week, and the importance of official dress. I tried to incorporate different activities and facts into this to make it interesting and engaging. I really have not had any problems with them so far this week in regards to excessive chattyness and phones. I hope that this continues. We also went over how to talk to adults since they will be helping serve the lunch tomorrow to the faculty and staff at Dover HS tomorrow during the teacher appreciation lunch. I hope that it goes well and the students enjoy themselves and also learn more about the people that work at their school.
Ag Mechanics was fine. One student kept coming up to me to show me their beads. It is a work in progress and we discussed different techniques for him to try and to make sure that they kept their stick close to the metal when welding.
For National FFA week we had our own version of Hoss's night. Some students and parents joined us at a local Hoss's and we had dinner together. I found a floral shop close by and went there with Mr. Stollars wife and she helped me pick out flowers for the students to create boutonniere and mason jars that were going to be used tomorrow at the teacher luncheon.
Wednesday - Horticultural class went well, we spent the time preparing for the National FFA Week Teacher Appreciation Lunch. The students signed up for the different sections to help out with. One student helped with creating logos for the mason jars so the winner of the flowers would understand what is going on this week in the Ag Department. Some students helps to create flower arrangements in the mason jars. They learned how to create appealing arrangements with an odd number of flowers in the jars to make them appear nicer (its a floricultural rule). Then the rest of the students helped to clean the shop and move the shop tables away and set up nicer tables and chairs for the teachers to come down and enjoy lunch at during their lunch period. After all the mason jars were prepared then the students helped to decorate them with ribbon. Everyone was working on something at one time and all the students were engaged, especially some of the ones that are not typically engaged and I think I gained some ground with some of those students because they did a really good job.
Leadership did a good job today. I read the students the riot act and explained how I wanted them to behave. They acted very well and I was really proud of their behavior. A lot of the students were greeters for the teachers, while others served some of the food and informed the teachers about the flower center piece raffle. I will praise them for their good behavior tomorrow so it will happen again and they know what I expect.
Ag mechanics was spent cleaning up from the luncheon. The students helped clean up and I got to work more with the class in giving directions and directing them to help with different things.
Thursday - Horticultural class went well. I really need to find that sweet spot of balance between the academic students and the students that school is a little tougher for them. I was waiting for students to finish their posters on different growth mediums. I also had a problem when it took some of the students longer to write down what was on the posters than others and the academic students got really bored with the slow pace. I also forgot that my stuff from dropbox was moved yesterday and when I went to load my powerpoint it was not there and I had to improvise with a random powerpoint from off the internet. Phew. All students were engaged at least and I did not have any behavioral problems.
Leadership class went well. They took their reading quiz in about five minutes and most did not do well, maybe they will learn to read the book a little more closely and to actually take their time completing the quiz. We then talked about upcoming assignments and when their speeches are due. We also had a group collaboration about SAE ideas since they need to bring them in tomorrow. After lunch Mrs.B ran a Socratic Seminar. It went well since it was the first time for most of the students. It was cool to hear their different opinions and to dig deeper than the simplicity of the group.
During mechanics I helped a student in the office prepare for the interview CDE that she would participate in the evening. I helped her format her resume and cover letter. She ended up getting 1st place! The two students in mechanics class that I convinced to do the mechanics CDE spent their time brushing up on electricity.
We had CDE's at a neighboring high school. The students all had fun in their individual contests and learned a lot. I got to catch up with Tyler and Casi as well as meet other teachers in the area. One of which graduated from Penn State with my FFA adviser! I helped Mrs. B with the dairy products and evaluation CDE and plugged scores into the computer. I really need to prefect this whole excel thing while I am here because it will be really helpful when I am an adviser.
Friday - Horticulture: Sometimes I think my students just pay attention to me because they like me. Today is a 5th period day so the class was shorter and we had a fire drill so that took up time as well. I wanted to go over greenhouse procedures with them and to teach them how to plant seeds and the proper way to do that. I had various students help me with getting water and lifting soil into the bin, but I don't really think they got the importance of making sure there are not clumps in the soil and that it is at the proper moisture content. Granted, I don't think I really paid attention when I worked for my parents at that age and just listened to the directions without trying to understand the importance or why aspect of it. I then demonstrated how to plant seeds and had two other students demonstrate as well, but it is kind of hard to keep everyone's attention during demonstrations like that. I don't know how to fix it. I do however, like the procedures that I set up for the greenhouse. There is a chart for the students to fill out in the greenhouse to keep track of what is being planted when and who is doing the planting. There is also a sheet for them to self grade their productivity, cleanliness and how well they worked with others. I will enjoy seeing how that works out for me. My goal for next week is to be REALLY prepared for class and to have it exciting enough to keep all students engaged and for them to learn and enjoy what is in the class. I am glad that I set up the greenhouse protocol today because a lot of planting needs done and the students that work fast can work out there and it will give me more time to work with some of the students that academic does not come as fast -- while keeping everyone happy.
Leadership - I did not accomplish everything that I wanted to. I am also having problems with students turning in assignments that I need them to. I mean it is affecting their grade negatively but they do not have that work ethic developed yet since a lot of them are freshman. We are going to be going over a lot of stuff Monday to review and make sure everyone is on the same page. I feel like the issue is stemming a little from my clarity and a little from their work ethic/ lack of organization. I want to help them to become more organized so all of us will have a better time in class with out all of that frustration.
Ag Mechanics - Went well. Some of the studnets keep coming up to show me their welds and we dicusss what they can improve and how to do that. I talked with another student about bringing in an engine for the next unit that I will be teaching. It is important to remind them a lot about that now so they will remember to bring the engines in. He asked if he should bring a tractor engine in and I said ohhh nooo. SMALL gas engines, SMALL! :)
Today was a 5th period day so all of the FFA students were in the ag end. I got to meet some of the other members that I have not met yet and talk to them about the different career development events coming up in the spring and trying to spark their interests.
This week was over all a good week and next week will be better. Cheers to the first full week of school!
Leadership class went really well today. The students were engaged and when they were working on their speech outlines they were actually quiet and working on their work! Which, is to be expected, but I was still proud of them. I did not have as many problems with talking and phones today either. With the snow days, I reminded them that their outlines are due tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how many I get. They tried to pull well you only have us like 20 minutes to work on it in class, and I said yes, but you have had a lot of time to work on it at home and I expect it tomorrow. So we will see how it goes.
Ag Mechanics went well today. Some of the students like me to look at their beads and talk to me about technique, which I enjoy. A student that I typically talk to in that class seemed upset, or not their usual self, and they were not using the correct welding gloves, so I had to enforce the rules. By the end of the class the student seemed more like normal, which was good.
We finally had an FFA meeting today and it was good to see how the officers worked together and how the members reacted. I think that there can be a little more excitement and enjoyment about being there rather than just the facts, but I don't really know how to change it. I will think about how to jazz it up a little bit while I am here.
Tuesday - Today we had a two hour delay so my classes were only an hour long rather than almost 90 minutes.
Horticulture class went well. The students finished their labs from yesterday. The soil had settled and separated in the jars enough for them to be able to measure it and complete the math problems on it. I should have spent more time going over how to complete the math to make sure that the students really understood it. That is something that I will have to focus on the next time we complete an experiment that involved math. We then connected the experiment to what we were going to talk about for the day and that is the importance of pore space in the growth medium of plants, and then the different types of growth mediums for hydroponics. Each student had to research a different growth medium and create a poster on it; the students will then complete a gallery walk around the room. The two students that were disengaged yesterday were more engaged today. Instead of getting mad at them I would ask them to join a group, so they joined a group, but they didn't move yet, so then I went to another group and talked to them before coming back, then I asked them to please move, and I walked away again, and they moved. I think that by me not jumping down their throats that they were not as engaged in class as the other students and giving them there space that they were more receptive to me. The rest of class I did not have a problem with them and they were working on their projects just fine.
Leadership is always a fun time. Today we learned about how National FFA week was started, what the Dover chapter is doing this week, and the importance of official dress. I tried to incorporate different activities and facts into this to make it interesting and engaging. I really have not had any problems with them so far this week in regards to excessive chattyness and phones. I hope that this continues. We also went over how to talk to adults since they will be helping serve the lunch tomorrow to the faculty and staff at Dover HS tomorrow during the teacher appreciation lunch. I hope that it goes well and the students enjoy themselves and also learn more about the people that work at their school.
Ag Mechanics was fine. One student kept coming up to me to show me their beads. It is a work in progress and we discussed different techniques for him to try and to make sure that they kept their stick close to the metal when welding.
For National FFA week we had our own version of Hoss's night. Some students and parents joined us at a local Hoss's and we had dinner together. I found a floral shop close by and went there with Mr. Stollars wife and she helped me pick out flowers for the students to create boutonniere and mason jars that were going to be used tomorrow at the teacher luncheon.
Wednesday - Horticultural class went well, we spent the time preparing for the National FFA Week Teacher Appreciation Lunch. The students signed up for the different sections to help out with. One student helped with creating logos for the mason jars so the winner of the flowers would understand what is going on this week in the Ag Department. Some students helps to create flower arrangements in the mason jars. They learned how to create appealing arrangements with an odd number of flowers in the jars to make them appear nicer (its a floricultural rule). Then the rest of the students helped to clean the shop and move the shop tables away and set up nicer tables and chairs for the teachers to come down and enjoy lunch at during their lunch period. After all the mason jars were prepared then the students helped to decorate them with ribbon. Everyone was working on something at one time and all the students were engaged, especially some of the ones that are not typically engaged and I think I gained some ground with some of those students because they did a really good job.
Leadership did a good job today. I read the students the riot act and explained how I wanted them to behave. They acted very well and I was really proud of their behavior. A lot of the students were greeters for the teachers, while others served some of the food and informed the teachers about the flower center piece raffle. I will praise them for their good behavior tomorrow so it will happen again and they know what I expect.
Ag mechanics was spent cleaning up from the luncheon. The students helped clean up and I got to work more with the class in giving directions and directing them to help with different things.
Thursday - Horticultural class went well. I really need to find that sweet spot of balance between the academic students and the students that school is a little tougher for them. I was waiting for students to finish their posters on different growth mediums. I also had a problem when it took some of the students longer to write down what was on the posters than others and the academic students got really bored with the slow pace. I also forgot that my stuff from dropbox was moved yesterday and when I went to load my powerpoint it was not there and I had to improvise with a random powerpoint from off the internet. Phew. All students were engaged at least and I did not have any behavioral problems.
Leadership class went well. They took their reading quiz in about five minutes and most did not do well, maybe they will learn to read the book a little more closely and to actually take their time completing the quiz. We then talked about upcoming assignments and when their speeches are due. We also had a group collaboration about SAE ideas since they need to bring them in tomorrow. After lunch Mrs.B ran a Socratic Seminar. It went well since it was the first time for most of the students. It was cool to hear their different opinions and to dig deeper than the simplicity of the group.
During mechanics I helped a student in the office prepare for the interview CDE that she would participate in the evening. I helped her format her resume and cover letter. She ended up getting 1st place! The two students in mechanics class that I convinced to do the mechanics CDE spent their time brushing up on electricity.
We had CDE's at a neighboring high school. The students all had fun in their individual contests and learned a lot. I got to catch up with Tyler and Casi as well as meet other teachers in the area. One of which graduated from Penn State with my FFA adviser! I helped Mrs. B with the dairy products and evaluation CDE and plugged scores into the computer. I really need to prefect this whole excel thing while I am here because it will be really helpful when I am an adviser.
Friday - Horticulture: Sometimes I think my students just pay attention to me because they like me. Today is a 5th period day so the class was shorter and we had a fire drill so that took up time as well. I wanted to go over greenhouse procedures with them and to teach them how to plant seeds and the proper way to do that. I had various students help me with getting water and lifting soil into the bin, but I don't really think they got the importance of making sure there are not clumps in the soil and that it is at the proper moisture content. Granted, I don't think I really paid attention when I worked for my parents at that age and just listened to the directions without trying to understand the importance or why aspect of it. I then demonstrated how to plant seeds and had two other students demonstrate as well, but it is kind of hard to keep everyone's attention during demonstrations like that. I don't know how to fix it. I do however, like the procedures that I set up for the greenhouse. There is a chart for the students to fill out in the greenhouse to keep track of what is being planted when and who is doing the planting. There is also a sheet for them to self grade their productivity, cleanliness and how well they worked with others. I will enjoy seeing how that works out for me. My goal for next week is to be REALLY prepared for class and to have it exciting enough to keep all students engaged and for them to learn and enjoy what is in the class. I am glad that I set up the greenhouse protocol today because a lot of planting needs done and the students that work fast can work out there and it will give me more time to work with some of the students that academic does not come as fast -- while keeping everyone happy.
Leadership - I did not accomplish everything that I wanted to. I am also having problems with students turning in assignments that I need them to. I mean it is affecting their grade negatively but they do not have that work ethic developed yet since a lot of them are freshman. We are going to be going over a lot of stuff Monday to review and make sure everyone is on the same page. I feel like the issue is stemming a little from my clarity and a little from their work ethic/ lack of organization. I want to help them to become more organized so all of us will have a better time in class with out all of that frustration.
Ag Mechanics - Went well. Some of the studnets keep coming up to show me their welds and we dicusss what they can improve and how to do that. I talked with another student about bringing in an engine for the next unit that I will be teaching. It is important to remind them a lot about that now so they will remember to bring the engines in. He asked if he should bring a tractor engine in and I said ohhh nooo. SMALL gas engines, SMALL! :)
Today was a 5th period day so all of the FFA students were in the ag end. I got to meet some of the other members that I have not met yet and talk to them about the different career development events coming up in the spring and trying to spark their interests.
This week was over all a good week and next week will be better. Cheers to the first full week of school!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Week 4 - Almost a normal week
Monday - Today we actually had a normal day of school! I also started my hydroponics unit with the horticultural class. This class period went well. I was really prepared last Thursday and already made my copies for today's class but I forgot them in Mrs. B's room and she locked the door when she went over to the 8th grade. However, we ended up not really needing them today so it worked out well. Mr. Stollar said I got a student that doesn't really talk to participate a lot. Which I did, I actually had to tell that student that they needed to let another person answer the next question. I was happy with it for the first day. It has a lot of upper classmen so it is really a different feel than my leadership class. I don't have squirrely freshman boys with too much energy.
For leadership class, I had the substitute from Friday leave a note that three of my boys were a little rowdy. We reviewed the classroom expectations and procedures and made it understood that their behavior is not acceptable and that they really need to behave and be respectful to everyone in the room. Most of the boys just need one direct comment to curb their behavior that does not comply with the classroom expectations but the one boy just likes to push my buttons. It is frustrating and kind of difficult because I really like this student, he is nice and charismatic and has a lot of really good and thoughtful responses.......he just talks a lot and takes his phone out.... and today he came back from lunch last....I'm and going to keep working with him and try to get him to calm down with the negative behaviors but keep the others up. I moved his seat in his pod so he is facing the wall and not all the rest of the students in the class, with the idea if he cannot see them and make eye contact he cannot scheme as much. The class and lesson went well today. The students practiced extemporaneous speaking in front of the classroom and attempted to give a 2 minute speech on anything they wanted. They realized how hard that actually is as a lot of them did not even make it a minute. This also turned out to be a really awesome time because each pod also watched out for stuff that the speaker did, such as how many umms and likes they said, if the back pod could hear them, and mannerisms such as rocking and playing with hands that they did. A lot of the students talked about themselves as their topic which was really awesome as well since I got to learn a lot more about them.
Tuesday- Horticultural class went really well. Mr. Stollar was really pleased with how the class went and that it tied into yesterday nicely. The students were really engaged and interested in the lesson. One student kept answering my questions and I had to ask him to let another student answer. We were learning about photosynthesis and I had the students break into groups of three and create a poster presentation on their plant requirement. The students worked really well together and that was when the one student created a valentine for plants. Before they got started we went over as a group about what plants need to survive and one of the students said love. So I put a heart on the board. In his group they had sunlight and they cut a sun out of the paper and he cut out a heart. It was just really fun that they were being creative with their posters. All the students also participated with the presentations and they really seemed to enjoy it.
At Dover the classes Monday and Friday are ten minutes shorter than the other three days... and I forgot about this so my content was done with 10 minutes left and the students were trying to pull my leg on when the class ended. I caught two girls up that were absent from the previous day and then I brought all the students to the greenhouse and we talked about the potting soil and the ingredients in it and how it related to what we talked about in class. I think the students liked being able to see that. Apparently my students also tested me while I was catching the girls up. I was in the shop showing them how to create their seed germination bags and some of the boys were walking around. I saw one grab a piece of metal and I said no no I am not observing you welding, so he put it down and started walking around again. Then him and his friends were standing behind a box so I could not see past their shoulders and I heard a torch light, so I calmly said turn that off and put your hands where I can see them. Apparently, since I didn't freak out and start yelling and get all high pitched, I passed the test and earned some allies. I also apparently know what I am talking about and seem creditable which, according to the students is not the same case in other parts of the building.
For Leadership class the one student I had mentioned previously acted better today, but another child acted worse. And is not as charismatic and talked back to me. That was a little frustrating to deal with especially since I haven't seen this student in a week or more since they were absent and all the snow days. I am really trying to find a positive thing about that individual though because I see a lot of potential in all of my students.
I was introducing the class to SAE's and explaining that they need to be working on one while they are in this class. The students in the ag business class that had SAE's talked about their projects and we also talked about some of the stories from AEE 311. I think they really liked seeing that real life connection. One of the students really got it which really made me excited ( especially since he was a chatty boy from a previous week). At the end of class he asked me what kind of SAE that he could do that was smaller, because some of the stories seemed so large and big. He quickly covered himself and said that he didn't want to do a bad job on it or do something easy, he just wanted some more ideas besides starting his own business or working with a college professor. Some of the students that were not listening to my conservation with the student decided to get up and walk around to a different part of the room, which I did not notice at first and Mrs. B had them sit back in their seats until the bell rang. I am going to try to be more strict tomorrow so there are not all those little distracting factors in the class.
Wednesday - Horticultural class did not go as well as I planned. I had everything prepared last night, all of my materials, all of my copies printed etc. I even reviewed my lesson plan when I got home that night and again this morning before class. But my brain was not working! I felt like I was literally stuttering in the front of the class trying to go though the interest approach. The science experiments showing diffusion and capillary action with the xylem went well, I think. I just wish that the beginning of my lesson went a little better. Two positives though, one student came up to me and said that this is the class with the most hands on experience that he has had, and he enjoys it. This really made me happy that they are linking the material and the projects and seeing the connection there. Secondly, Mr. Stollar told me that one of my students typically puts their head down for every other ag teacher for the whole class and will not do anything for the teachers. This student had not put their head down once and even was engaged in the discussion today.
Important to keep the positives and keep on trucking.
Leadership class went much better today. My interest approach was a speech by Mike Rowe where we analyzed what he did while he was talking and how he was relating to his audience and how he set up his speech. I think this went really well. Maybe the speech was a little too long since it was about 15 minutes, but it encompassed all the information that I wanted to cover. All of the students except for one liked the video, she thought it was too long. The aid even stopped me during lunch and told me how there were no truer words. Below is the video that we watched and we started it at the 13 minute mark.
After lunch we talked about how to write the outline of our speeches and set a due date for the outlines due to me. I gave the students some time to work on memorizing their speeches. The students doing creed had to create a fill in the blank version of the creed. This also gave me time to work individually with the students and talk about what they wanted to write about.
This class today made me feel a lot better about yesterday.
Thursday - SNOW DAY. The technical director came to Mrs. B's classroom after school Wednesday and told me if I am going anywhere this weekend I need to leave now and be safe. So today, I am sitting at my parents house enjoying homemade waffles, drinking tea, and working on school work.
Friday - Today was great! I got to see all my friends and talk to them about their experiences. We are changing so much! All of our student teaching experiences are really bringing everything we have learned the past four years together nicely. The workshops were really helpful and it was great to meet new resource people that can aid us on our journey to "figure out" what we want to do with our lives. The one station upset me because I asked about how much weight transcripts hold. I am kind of concerned about mine since my GPA is not where I want it and I kind of regret not taking care of that when I should have. The one lady said that she personally looks at GPA a lot and transcripts, but she also looks to see how well rounded someone is. I am well rounded, but my GPA is not as good as it could be. It is definitely not a 4.00. This conversation also made me think about Tracy. The first time I interacted with her was regarding my GPA a year or more ago. I was concerned about it then and wanted to talk to people who have graduated and are out in the industry. I posted on my fraternities Little Sister page and she responded to me despite never meeting me before. She then went to explain her personal experiences with GPA and how her school hires new agricultural teachers and that the current teachers get a say about who the district hires; at least in her school. This gave me hope. To aid my GPA I guess I will just do the best I can while student teaching and maybe attend a few Schavers creek classes this spring.
Mr. Foster then shared a very motivational and sad story that almost made me cry. It is soo soo easy to just cast students aside and just focus on the happy, academic students. I am concerned that some of my students do not have the best childhood and upbringing. I want to help them, I am just worried that they will break my heart and there will be nothing I can do to improve their situation. A friend of mine said sometimes all they need is someone to talk to and that they don't necessarily expect help from me, just a friendly face. But that is not how I was brought up. I never had my house to myself. If there was not someone visiting or living with us and it was just my family at dinner it was weird. One of my brothers friends lived with us for a while, a girl that use to babysit us when we were little lived with us, my uncle lives with us sometimes. My mom was even going to drive my brothers friends to colleges for him to tour if he wanted her to. So, with this background, I don't know how I will react if a student opens up to me and I cannot do anything about it. I don't have the means to support anyone except myself.
But, to be positive, I will control the things that I can control and that student will have a good time while they are in my classroom and they will learn something that will be useful to them in the future. It may not be content necessarily all the time but they will learn life skills. They will learn something useful.
For leadership class, I had the substitute from Friday leave a note that three of my boys were a little rowdy. We reviewed the classroom expectations and procedures and made it understood that their behavior is not acceptable and that they really need to behave and be respectful to everyone in the room. Most of the boys just need one direct comment to curb their behavior that does not comply with the classroom expectations but the one boy just likes to push my buttons. It is frustrating and kind of difficult because I really like this student, he is nice and charismatic and has a lot of really good and thoughtful responses.......he just talks a lot and takes his phone out.... and today he came back from lunch last....I'm and going to keep working with him and try to get him to calm down with the negative behaviors but keep the others up. I moved his seat in his pod so he is facing the wall and not all the rest of the students in the class, with the idea if he cannot see them and make eye contact he cannot scheme as much. The class and lesson went well today. The students practiced extemporaneous speaking in front of the classroom and attempted to give a 2 minute speech on anything they wanted. They realized how hard that actually is as a lot of them did not even make it a minute. This also turned out to be a really awesome time because each pod also watched out for stuff that the speaker did, such as how many umms and likes they said, if the back pod could hear them, and mannerisms such as rocking and playing with hands that they did. A lot of the students talked about themselves as their topic which was really awesome as well since I got to learn a lot more about them.
Tuesday- Horticultural class went really well. Mr. Stollar was really pleased with how the class went and that it tied into yesterday nicely. The students were really engaged and interested in the lesson. One student kept answering my questions and I had to ask him to let another student answer. We were learning about photosynthesis and I had the students break into groups of three and create a poster presentation on their plant requirement. The students worked really well together and that was when the one student created a valentine for plants. Before they got started we went over as a group about what plants need to survive and one of the students said love. So I put a heart on the board. In his group they had sunlight and they cut a sun out of the paper and he cut out a heart. It was just really fun that they were being creative with their posters. All the students also participated with the presentations and they really seemed to enjoy it.
At Dover the classes Monday and Friday are ten minutes shorter than the other three days... and I forgot about this so my content was done with 10 minutes left and the students were trying to pull my leg on when the class ended. I caught two girls up that were absent from the previous day and then I brought all the students to the greenhouse and we talked about the potting soil and the ingredients in it and how it related to what we talked about in class. I think the students liked being able to see that. Apparently my students also tested me while I was catching the girls up. I was in the shop showing them how to create their seed germination bags and some of the boys were walking around. I saw one grab a piece of metal and I said no no I am not observing you welding, so he put it down and started walking around again. Then him and his friends were standing behind a box so I could not see past their shoulders and I heard a torch light, so I calmly said turn that off and put your hands where I can see them. Apparently, since I didn't freak out and start yelling and get all high pitched, I passed the test and earned some allies. I also apparently know what I am talking about and seem creditable which, according to the students is not the same case in other parts of the building.
For Leadership class the one student I had mentioned previously acted better today, but another child acted worse. And is not as charismatic and talked back to me. That was a little frustrating to deal with especially since I haven't seen this student in a week or more since they were absent and all the snow days. I am really trying to find a positive thing about that individual though because I see a lot of potential in all of my students.
I was introducing the class to SAE's and explaining that they need to be working on one while they are in this class. The students in the ag business class that had SAE's talked about their projects and we also talked about some of the stories from AEE 311. I think they really liked seeing that real life connection. One of the students really got it which really made me excited ( especially since he was a chatty boy from a previous week). At the end of class he asked me what kind of SAE that he could do that was smaller, because some of the stories seemed so large and big. He quickly covered himself and said that he didn't want to do a bad job on it or do something easy, he just wanted some more ideas besides starting his own business or working with a college professor. Some of the students that were not listening to my conservation with the student decided to get up and walk around to a different part of the room, which I did not notice at first and Mrs. B had them sit back in their seats until the bell rang. I am going to try to be more strict tomorrow so there are not all those little distracting factors in the class.
Wednesday - Horticultural class did not go as well as I planned. I had everything prepared last night, all of my materials, all of my copies printed etc. I even reviewed my lesson plan when I got home that night and again this morning before class. But my brain was not working! I felt like I was literally stuttering in the front of the class trying to go though the interest approach. The science experiments showing diffusion and capillary action with the xylem went well, I think. I just wish that the beginning of my lesson went a little better. Two positives though, one student came up to me and said that this is the class with the most hands on experience that he has had, and he enjoys it. This really made me happy that they are linking the material and the projects and seeing the connection there. Secondly, Mr. Stollar told me that one of my students typically puts their head down for every other ag teacher for the whole class and will not do anything for the teachers. This student had not put their head down once and even was engaged in the discussion today.
Important to keep the positives and keep on trucking.
Leadership class went much better today. My interest approach was a speech by Mike Rowe where we analyzed what he did while he was talking and how he was relating to his audience and how he set up his speech. I think this went really well. Maybe the speech was a little too long since it was about 15 minutes, but it encompassed all the information that I wanted to cover. All of the students except for one liked the video, she thought it was too long. The aid even stopped me during lunch and told me how there were no truer words. Below is the video that we watched and we started it at the 13 minute mark.
After lunch we talked about how to write the outline of our speeches and set a due date for the outlines due to me. I gave the students some time to work on memorizing their speeches. The students doing creed had to create a fill in the blank version of the creed. This also gave me time to work individually with the students and talk about what they wanted to write about.
This class today made me feel a lot better about yesterday.
Thursday - SNOW DAY. The technical director came to Mrs. B's classroom after school Wednesday and told me if I am going anywhere this weekend I need to leave now and be safe. So today, I am sitting at my parents house enjoying homemade waffles, drinking tea, and working on school work.
Friday - Today was great! I got to see all my friends and talk to them about their experiences. We are changing so much! All of our student teaching experiences are really bringing everything we have learned the past four years together nicely. The workshops were really helpful and it was great to meet new resource people that can aid us on our journey to "figure out" what we want to do with our lives. The one station upset me because I asked about how much weight transcripts hold. I am kind of concerned about mine since my GPA is not where I want it and I kind of regret not taking care of that when I should have. The one lady said that she personally looks at GPA a lot and transcripts, but she also looks to see how well rounded someone is. I am well rounded, but my GPA is not as good as it could be. It is definitely not a 4.00. This conversation also made me think about Tracy. The first time I interacted with her was regarding my GPA a year or more ago. I was concerned about it then and wanted to talk to people who have graduated and are out in the industry. I posted on my fraternities Little Sister page and she responded to me despite never meeting me before. She then went to explain her personal experiences with GPA and how her school hires new agricultural teachers and that the current teachers get a say about who the district hires; at least in her school. This gave me hope. To aid my GPA I guess I will just do the best I can while student teaching and maybe attend a few Schavers creek classes this spring.
Mr. Foster then shared a very motivational and sad story that almost made me cry. It is soo soo easy to just cast students aside and just focus on the happy, academic students. I am concerned that some of my students do not have the best childhood and upbringing. I want to help them, I am just worried that they will break my heart and there will be nothing I can do to improve their situation. A friend of mine said sometimes all they need is someone to talk to and that they don't necessarily expect help from me, just a friendly face. But that is not how I was brought up. I never had my house to myself. If there was not someone visiting or living with us and it was just my family at dinner it was weird. One of my brothers friends lived with us for a while, a girl that use to babysit us when we were little lived with us, my uncle lives with us sometimes. My mom was even going to drive my brothers friends to colleges for him to tour if he wanted her to. So, with this background, I don't know how I will react if a student opens up to me and I cannot do anything about it. I don't have the means to support anyone except myself.
But, to be positive, I will control the things that I can control and that student will have a good time while they are in my classroom and they will learn something that will be useful to them in the future. It may not be content necessarily all the time but they will learn life skills. They will learn something useful.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Week 3 - Anyone want a snow day?
Monday - snow day
Tuesday - 2 hour delay. I got to teach my first shortened class period. Today it was only 60 minutes rather than the usual 87 or 77. It went well, I believe that I should make guided notes for some of my powerpoint slides since I had to wait a while for all of the students to finish taking their notes before I switched to the next slide. We were working on learning about FFA. A cool thing is that I have the chapter president in my leadership class so I had her talk about when meetings are and some of the opportunities that Dover FFA has. I moved the seating around so the group of boys would be separated. I got more discussion out of them but I also noticed that they started to text each other in class which will be addressed next Monday when I see them in class the next time.
Wednesday - Snow day
Thursday - 2 hour delay, then snow day, then teachers can come in for the prep period that was originally taken away from them in the beginning of the semester. They get paid to be at school for three hours today. I started off the day talking to Mr. Stollar about the horticultural class that I will be starting this coming Monday. Due to all of the snow days, I will be starting before he starts his other unit since he just finished his first unit. Thankfully the class is really flexible and I can start teaching with the timeline that was created for me during the summer. The 8th grade class may have to be pushed back a little due to all the snow days in order for Mrs. B to catch up a little bit.
Mrs. B and I traveled up to State College after we were finished at the school to get started with judging record books for the state. Dover has four student record books sent into the contest.
Friday - I spent today in the Super 8 Motel Judging Record books. I got to meet a lot of different teachers from across the state and catch up with friends. It was a really good experience to see exactly HOW the record books are judged. This will really help me out when I am teaching. I now have the background knowledge to be able to aid my students so they are able to fill out the books correctly and get the maximum amount of points for all the work they have done. It was interesting how some teachers even still ask sometimes, why do we do this? It was helpful to listen to the discussion among the teachers and see what they had to say about the different kinds of record books and what cool things their students do. I think it would be great to have a nature photography record book!
Tuesday - 2 hour delay. I got to teach my first shortened class period. Today it was only 60 minutes rather than the usual 87 or 77. It went well, I believe that I should make guided notes for some of my powerpoint slides since I had to wait a while for all of the students to finish taking their notes before I switched to the next slide. We were working on learning about FFA. A cool thing is that I have the chapter president in my leadership class so I had her talk about when meetings are and some of the opportunities that Dover FFA has. I moved the seating around so the group of boys would be separated. I got more discussion out of them but I also noticed that they started to text each other in class which will be addressed next Monday when I see them in class the next time.
Wednesday - Snow day
Thursday - 2 hour delay, then snow day, then teachers can come in for the prep period that was originally taken away from them in the beginning of the semester. They get paid to be at school for three hours today. I started off the day talking to Mr. Stollar about the horticultural class that I will be starting this coming Monday. Due to all of the snow days, I will be starting before he starts his other unit since he just finished his first unit. Thankfully the class is really flexible and I can start teaching with the timeline that was created for me during the summer. The 8th grade class may have to be pushed back a little due to all the snow days in order for Mrs. B to catch up a little bit.
Mrs. B and I traveled up to State College after we were finished at the school to get started with judging record books for the state. Dover has four student record books sent into the contest.
Friday - I spent today in the Super 8 Motel Judging Record books. I got to meet a lot of different teachers from across the state and catch up with friends. It was a really good experience to see exactly HOW the record books are judged. This will really help me out when I am teaching. I now have the background knowledge to be able to aid my students so they are able to fill out the books correctly and get the maximum amount of points for all the work they have done. It was interesting how some teachers even still ask sometimes, why do we do this? It was helpful to listen to the discussion among the teachers and see what they had to say about the different kinds of record books and what cool things their students do. I think it would be great to have a nature photography record book!
 |
| Fellow cohort member, Emily Urban, grades record books |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)