Week 7

Monday -

TODAY WAS ONE OF THOSE FREAKING DAYS! We had a two hour delay, I left to get at school really early to get a lot of things done.... but the roads were covered so I had to drive really slow. I felt unprepared for classes and my students didn't want to work. AND, did I mention, it was my first day teaching a full load??

Horticulture- Today, a bunch of my students did not come, and those that came didn't have very much energy. I take my vibes off of my students a lot, so I didn't have a lot of energy. And our classes were cut to only an hour. And I forgot what time class ended. And we were in the greenhouse. So, my students were late to second period because we all lost track of time. The students were starting to plan how to create their hydroponic systems. They started recording their materials, hypothesis, and title. Tomorrow, I hope to be a little more mentally organized and to have more energy!

Leadership- I have given my students weeks and weeks and weeks to complete their speeches. Did I mention weeks? Today, I gave them time to do the finishing touches on their speeches and really get to the nitty gritty parts of the speeches. Did they do that? No. They stared at me and said they weren't ready. Instead of using the time that they had to work on their stuff they just complained and tried to write petitions about how unfair it was. Some students actually used their time wisely and I spent extra time with them helping them out. I told the students that refused to work that it is really easy to grade a zero.

Ag Mechanics. - this class went well. I explained the bellwork procedures as well as the rules for the classroom. We then went over the four strokes of an engines and did the exercise that Dr. Ewing uses with the three students representing the intake valve, piston, and exhaust valve. Some of the students really got it while others did not catch on as fast. We then worked on horsepower and used an activity that I found on CoP. The students carried medicine balls 100 feet across the shop while they were being timed. This got them out of the classroom. (I didn't want to cold shock them by having them in the classroom for the whole period when they were use to welding the whole period). It went well and one of the students that is really good at math, went through the different steps on the board to help his classmates. Overall I think it went okay for a first day.


Tuesday - Today we went over a quick mini lesson about plumbing so the students would have a basic knowledge of how to create their hydroponic systems, we then went to the greenhouse for the students to actually start creating their hydroponic systems. The majority of the students were engaged and working, I had to keep directing a student back to working with his group. The individual kept getting distracted by their phone and headphones. A lot of students kept asking a lot of questions and "what if we try this?" or "I have an idea..." which I thought was really great since they were getting into the lesson. I feel like it could have been a bit more structured....but today I just also really wanted them to get a jump start on their projects. I feel like I am learning right along with them, which kind of stresses me out since I don't know the answers to everything.. but the students are really forgiving and we are learning together. Friday will be my last day with them since I will be at SLLC Monday and Tuesday. This kind of bums me out since they are a great group of students and I will not see a majority of them in other classes.

Leadership - class went well today. I laid out the ground rules for the public speaking in the class. The students drew at random to decide order that they would go in. All the students gave me their best, a lot aggred that they could have done better. Two made it through the whole speech, which really made me happy, because I was scared for a while with how they had been talking in class. I had them write a reflective piece on it afterwords to tie in what they learned. Tomorrow the prepared public speakers will be going.

Ag Mechanics - So today we were doing tool part identification. For my interest approach I started pulling parts out and asking them to tell me what they were. They could not tell me what a majority of them were, which was the desired reaction. And I was like okay, so I guess we need to learn about this today. We then watched a video about the different parts of the engine and went through a powerpoint while pulling out the different engine parts out of the bucket. The students then decided to pick on me and test what I knew. Now, I know about engines.....but I am not a fast thinker with them and I was kind of stumbling a little bit, but then it switched it on them. They were asking me questions that they knew, so I made them answer and explain. Which they did, with joy. I also jumped off the sinking ship of tool id and started on a worksheet they will be completing the next couple days. I again had two different students explain on the board how they got the different formulas for horsepower and peer teach. So, this class stressed out, but I talked it over with Mr. Stollar and Mrs. B, but they said I was fine, and the students are nice. It is definitely easier knowing that the students do respect me and that they were just good naturally teasing me rather than being nasty about it. I AM going to have to really be on my toes for this class and do my research so I will remain on top of the information and stay prepared.

Wednesday -

HUMP DAYYYYYYYY! 
Today we operated on a two hour delay schedule...except in the morning since the students were being dismissed two hours early.

Horticulture - we continued working on our hydroponic systems. We reviewed what we need to have on them as a class before going out to the greenhouse. In the greenhouse, the groups got to work and stayed on task. They kept working together and helping each other out with their different strengths. Class was only an hour today, so I wanted to make sure we got to work on the hydroponic systems. The next two days will be half time in the classroom and half time in the greenhouse.

Leadership - today we started the prepared public speeches. The students did well. We did not get to finish everyone today due to the shortened schedule but we will finish the last three tomorrow. The students did a really good job at listening and asking questions. I told the students that they could get bonus points for good quality questions.

Ag Mechanics. My brain does not think fast with ag mechanics. Like really slow. And math is not my strong suit. The students like to test me to see how much I know. This is causing a problem. I get flustered with my lack in math knowledge and technical skills, especially when they keep asking me. I believe if I was working with them one on one it would go better because I would have more time to think. However, I don't because I am in front of the class with everyone looking at me. The student that is really good at math and everything is the one that keeps bombarding me with questions. Previous to me starting this class, I got along with him. I think he is frustrated with my lack of knowledge. I feel like I need to have a one on one conversation with him to see if he would be willing to help me with the technical portions of the class. I need to work my butt off for this class. I wanted this challenge, it is one of the reasons I picked this school, but now I need to step up to the plate.

Thursday - Today in horticulture class we learned about indoor pollination. I made guided notes to make the powerpoint go a little smoother and to not have to wait a lot for the slower writers. After we finished the lesson in class we went out to the greenhouse. Some of the students were finishing up their hydroponic systems, so they started on seeding other plants. I like to keep everyone working. Some of the students were discussing different ways to run their hydroponic systems so it was good student collaboration.

Leadership - We finished more of the speeches before lunch. One student did not complete their speech or bring it with them so they introduced themselves to the class and said that they would have it tomorrow since they were unprepared. After lunch we worked on committees and they got a lot of stuff done. I floated around a lot and worked with the different groups.

Ag Mechanics - Last night, I prepared a lot, I did all the math homework, I had a friend from college double check my math and micrometer readings. I wanted to be prepared today. The student that I had talked about yesterday came up to me before class started and apologized about yesterday. Apparently his math teacher said something do him ( I have never met this teacher as far as I know, and we speculate another student mentioned something). Anyway he seemed really genuine and I explained where I was coming from and that I was worried that I was frustrating him and he said he just wanted to make sure the other students didn't get confused. The end result was that we were cool and everything was fine. I attempted to go over the micrometer worksheet on the board but I feel like I never have their attention, so I ended up just traveling around the classroom and teaching in groups of three or so. This worked so much better because I was able to take my time and make sure that they really understood it. The students wanted to do well, they kept coming up to Mr. Stollar and I to make sure their answers were correct. Next, I have them a list of things that they had to use the calipers on in the shop. I had them work in groups of two. I traveled around to different groups and made sure they understood how to use the calipers correctly. The student that is really good at math, pointed out that I asked for the width of the table and asked if I wanted depth instead. I thanked him for my typo and went around to the different groups and told them about my mistake as well. I get so frustrated with myself when I mess up. I really need to work to make sure he doesn't think I am frustrated with him because I should never get frustrated at a student for being intelligent. I should promote him so much for that. Which I did, I had him do the ag mechanics CDE, which was his first CDE, and he got first place. As I traveled around to the different groups I got to get a lot of rapport with the students and really work on them with that one on one basis. At the end of class I was not as anal about them gathering around the door and instead went up to them and talked to different groups of them. Hopefully tomorrow will be like today and go well.

Friday - Horticulture went well today. I had the students read an article about global hydroponics then we had a discussion about it. It was good to have the global part because a lot of students did not even know what continent England or Israel were on. We then went to the greenhouse to plant plug trays as they came in today. All the students were on task and the operation ran smoothly.

Leadership - my students seemed extra squirrely today and like they did not get along. I don't think I did a good enough job of connecting the content with our activity of building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows. Mr. Frederick sat with one of my most active freshman boys, which I think was good for him, since he had an authoritative figure with him constantly.

Ag Mechanics - Today went better again. I met with Mr. Stollar before school started that day and went over my math problems again. I also had them out in the shop for a little bit to test the compression on their engines. In the classroom I went over the piston displacement formula on the board then assigned them a problem. I traveled around the room and made sure that all the students understood what was going on. I then handed out a quiz for them to complete. It was to show me what they had learned throughout the week and it was the end of the introductory unit. I want to start tearing our engines apart next week. I think that this class will be much better when I can work with the students in smaller numbers.