This was a crazy week! I got my first touch of what it's like to be a real ag teacher! I was doing things after school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night including an officer meeting Wednesday morning! It was a great week to really test my desire to be an ag teacher and take on such a responsibility. Till it was all said and done it just pushed me farther into the career. Spending the day with 110 different kids is exciting and such a blessing but the real blessing is when you spend time outside of school with the kids. That's when the relationships really blossom! I enjoy so much having that opportunity to talk to them and get to know them with out 20 other kids around.
This week I stayed after school late to prepare students for the Public Speaking CDE. Really, I just observed my magnificent cooperating teacher work with the students! It's great opportunity being able to watch her coach the public speakers. The littlest things she does is probably second nature to her but to me sitting there my mind is blown! All I think is that's such a good idea or what made you start doing that or wow that really works!
Thursday night was the public speaking CDE. It was a very upsetting night for Juniata. There was definitely some injustice done to our speakers. And I don't say that because I'm biased, I say that because CDE rules were not followed properly in order to ensure a level playing field for all students involved. However, because of the high standards of Juniata, the kids handled it very humbly. I was very impressed and PROUD of my students as they walked away smiles on their faces. Of course they knew there was a problem but they handled it very well. The hardest part was that my students with Aspergers did an EXCELLENT job preparing for the competition and had an 8 minute and 33 second speech entirely memorized and had hand gestures, and was prepared for questions. He placed 4 out of 5. When I was in FFA and competed in CDEs I was upset when I didn't place well BUT, being an advisor and helping students prepare for events and they don't place where they want to its a much worse feeling, especially when they went above and beyond what was required of them.
But, Juniata will go on, in three different CDEs.
Great post Annette. Your experiences at Juniata have served you well in establishing how the life of an ag teacher really looks like. You have a great passion for the success of your students and showing them encouragement and support displays characteristics of a great ag teacher. I encourage you to continue looking at your teaching performances and working to make changes that will enhance your growth and student learning. Keep trying new and different things to reach all your students. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, that's how we learn!
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