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!