April 17, 2014 was my regions PAAE meeting. This was a great
experience. I never realized until this time that there were so many committees
and teachers working behind the scenes to make things happen and improve the
profession. For example the “sunshine” committee, I had no idea that there was
a committee designed just to send greeting cards to anyone that may be having a
rough time. It’s things like this committee that make me realize what a great
network there is in the Ag Ed family. I thought that it’s great to have so many
people willing and committed to helping others.
Monday, April 28, 2014
ACES Conference
My trip to ACES as an advisor rather than a student was much different than anything I've ever done before. I've been away from home for so long that I forgot there was such a thing until I took 20 students to ACES, while I was at ACES my cooperating teacher shared with me that this trip is some students first time away from home and surprisingly some even get homesick! I thought that what she does to alleviate any stress of being away was very admirable. While the students were in sessions Mrs. Morgan and I went to target and bought little goodie baskets and put snacks and drinks in them. Her real motive was to make the kids feel more at home but when she gave the snacks to the students at lights out time she simple said "now you have drinks and food, there is no reason for you to leave your room! Lights out at 11:00." All of the students appreciated the gestures and we had no issues with students.
I also learned that it's not necessary to make the Sunday morning reflections mandatory! Just tell
the students that you will be there and you're not saving any seats, it's amazing how many students get out of bed for reflections with the threat of sitting at a table of complete strangers.
ACES was a good experience for realizing how many hats an advisor wears! In just one weekend I played so many roles each student needed a different person in their lives and I had to change to accomodate all of the people, some needed someone to say "don't dance with the boys like that" some needed to hear "just talk to someone, it's really not that scary" and some needed to hear that they need to either "pull their skirt down or go change!" I really enjoyed my weekend away to the ACES conference and looking back I realize that being the advisor is more rewarding than being the student.
CPPD Event
The Center for Professional Development program that I
attended was the new teacher, young teacher, student teacher dinner. The one
that I went to was at the Hoss’s in Lewistown featuring Dr. Ewing as the host.
It was a great opportunity. I got to share resources that
worked well for me as well as talk about activities that work well for others.
I meet up with other student teachers and we caught up on issues we may be
having in the classroom what we can do to fix them and what is working really
well. I also had a chance to bring quite a few resources home from Penn State
CPPD.
The burning question that I had for all of the teachers was
“What do you do when you see IEP accommodations hindering a student’s education
rather than helping them?” The answer I got was “always follow their IEP
regardless of whether you agree with it or not, just ask to be invited to their
next meeting and express your issues then.
This was a great opportunity to learn from other teachers, through this even I realize that one cannot succeed in this profession without others. I learned that in this profession we need others to learn from.
Mid-Winter Convention
The Mid-Winter Convention was my first chance to see what
I’m up against, It was my first interaction with a large group of Juniata Ag
Students and I wasn't just observing; I was chaperoning.
The day went great! I had an opportunity to see my one of
the students show her steer, first year jacket recipients, and senior members
receive their keystone degree!
The rule was that all students had to stay with at least one other Juniata FFA member! There
were two students that didn't like that, they wanted to travel alone and Mrs.
Morgan wouldn't allow it. So I spent the day with these two students and it was
a great opportunity. One student I was chaperoning has aspergers, we went to
National Convention together and so I knew that he 1. didn't like when he had
to stay with the advisor and 2. He had no problem talking to complete strangers
and discussing his views on organic agriculture. While we were watching the
beef show he decided he was ready to go get food, I escorted him to the food
court and on our way there we got in a debate on organic vs. conventional
agriculture. Me being navigational challenged took us to the complete other end
of the farm show building. When I get there I said “oh, I don’t think this is
where we should be.” He says “oh yeah, we should have taken that escalator back
there” I said “you knew we went the wrong way and didn't say anything?” He said
well you were talking I didn't want to interrupt you.
In the beginning I was leading him till it was all said and
done he was leading me.
I had a great day with Juniata FFA and it was a great first
chance to meet some kids and parents.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
My final week of student teaching
As I look back and reflect I think about how my student teaching internship has been the largest part of my life for not only the past 15 weeks but the past four years! Everything I have done my freshman, sophmore, and junior year of college was leading up to this time, this day, this moment, in which I would say goodbye to 119 students. As I think about the last 15 weeks I begin to realize the ultimately I needed them more than they needed me!
Everyday I would wake up after hitting my snooze 6 times. Even though I didn't want to wake up, I didn't want to get ready, I always wanted to see my students. The most rewarding part of my day was being greeted by a student. It was early, most of the students didn't want to be at school, but when they walked in they always told me good morning, and at that point it was no longer about me and my plans but about them and their plans. Not their plans for that day, but their plans for life! What I did in my classroom, everyday affected their future, and knowing that I had an impact on 119 futures is an incredible high.
Now that I am at the end of my student teaching intern, I realize that with my college education, with my degree, the opportunities are endless. There is so much that I could do with my life, but if at the end of the day I want to find true happiness, I'll teach Ag.
Over the past 15 weeks, if anything that I learned was valuable the most valuable is that nothing is more rewarding than being a teacher:
Nothing is more rewarding than building a relationship so strong that students beg you to stay.
Nothing is more rewarding than having a lesson that is so deep, so rich, that students want to stay in your class.
Nothing is more rewarding than being invited to a students house to see his/her SAE.
Nothing is more rewarding than when a student stays after class to to confide in you.
Nothing is more rewarding than when a student tells you that "you not only made my experience as an FFA member very enjoyable but you made my entire high school career worth it."
Everyday I would wake up after hitting my snooze 6 times. Even though I didn't want to wake up, I didn't want to get ready, I always wanted to see my students. The most rewarding part of my day was being greeted by a student. It was early, most of the students didn't want to be at school, but when they walked in they always told me good morning, and at that point it was no longer about me and my plans but about them and their plans. Not their plans for that day, but their plans for life! What I did in my classroom, everyday affected their future, and knowing that I had an impact on 119 futures is an incredible high.
Now that I am at the end of my student teaching intern, I realize that with my college education, with my degree, the opportunities are endless. There is so much that I could do with my life, but if at the end of the day I want to find true happiness, I'll teach Ag.
Over the past 15 weeks, if anything that I learned was valuable the most valuable is that nothing is more rewarding than being a teacher:
Nothing is more rewarding than building a relationship so strong that students beg you to stay.
Nothing is more rewarding than having a lesson that is so deep, so rich, that students want to stay in your class.
Nothing is more rewarding than being invited to a students house to see his/her SAE.
Nothing is more rewarding than when a student stays after class to to confide in you.
Nothing is more rewarding than when a student tells you that "you not only made my experience as an FFA member very enjoyable but you made my entire high school career worth it."
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Student Teaching: Week 13!
Sadly, this is my last week teaching classes, next week I'll be doing observations. It's been a really fun and enjoyable week, with having only one class to teach I've been trying more fun and creative things. Wednesday was a guest speaker and Thursday they made ice cream in a bag!
I brought in a guest speaker when we were on the swine industry and now again for the beef industry. They were both great speakers. With the beef industry I asked him to talk not only about his slaughter plant but also about his own experience as an Ag student. It was great! It's right around the time for students to schedule and I had a very successful person come in and promote Ag ed. He discussed his SAE, the hardships he had with it, and how it lead him to where he is now.
Thursday we made ice cream and I never thought it would be such a mess! For three days I told the kids to remember to bring gloves in and they kept asking why I told them their hands would be cool. A group of boys decided they were to tough for gloves and they would be fine without. It was really funny when they kept putting their bags of ice cream down because their hands were cold. The students really enjoyed it and they learned about various dairy products with the movie they watched afterward. Of course nothing ever goes as planned, though the end product was the same (the students got ice cream) it was very unstructured. So I know for next time to do things differently!
I brought in a guest speaker when we were on the swine industry and now again for the beef industry. They were both great speakers. With the beef industry I asked him to talk not only about his slaughter plant but also about his own experience as an Ag student. It was great! It's right around the time for students to schedule and I had a very successful person come in and promote Ag ed. He discussed his SAE, the hardships he had with it, and how it lead him to where he is now.
Thursday we made ice cream and I never thought it would be such a mess! For three days I told the kids to remember to bring gloves in and they kept asking why I told them their hands would be cool. A group of boys decided they were to tough for gloves and they would be fine without. It was really funny when they kept putting their bags of ice cream down because their hands were cold. The students really enjoyed it and they learned about various dairy products with the movie they watched afterward. Of course nothing ever goes as planned, though the end product was the same (the students got ice cream) it was very unstructured. So I know for next time to do things differently!
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Student Teaching: Week 12!
I'm continuing to drop classes, at this point I am down to only three classes. Now that I have only a few classes I've been trying to do new things that I have more time to plan and someday implement into my program. One thing I tried and learned was creating a lab which required students to bring in materials from home. I assured the students that they should spend absolutely NO money on this project! The items they bring in could be an empty milk carton, a plastic bottle, soda can, basically they were instructed to "dig through their clean trash" and bring in 5 items. They would be given 1 bonus point for each item brought in. With this material they were going to make a 3-D structure of a cow. After having the structure created they were going to label body parts. I thought this would be a great way to address multiple intelligence's and unleash creativity in the classroom...
The lab was a complete flop. After giving them three days to bring in materials I had two items in my hands! I couldn't believe it, I was giving them an opportunity to receive 5 bonus points for bringing in a milk jug! I had to change plans, scratch the lab and do a one day lesson on the body parts.
Through this experience I learned that I cannot rely on students to bring in materials to be used for class. If I had been teaching for 5+ years I could have accumulated various objects to be used in a lab like this but I have no such collection. I do want to try this lab again because I think it would be a good lab but next time I will give the students more of a notice and I will raise the stakes, so maybe 2 bonus points per item, and I will create my own collection prior to the lab.
I was able to visit/observe a fellow student teacher this week and check out their program! I was really impressed with the program. They actually had two classrooms! Most two teacher programs I have been in are two teachers but one classroom, one teaches in the shop full time, one in the classroom full time. The student teacher also did a great job with her Veterinary Science class! It was evident that her passion lies in Veterinary Science. I commend her for utilizing her resources and having a community member bring in a dog to use for demonstration purposes. She did an excellent job of continuing to refer to her objectives. I liked the way she would address one objective and then ask the students what they were doing next. To answer the question they had to look at the objectives posted! It was a great technique for ensuring that students are aware of the expectations. Some areas of improvement that I had for this student teacher was one: assign groups to projects. After students were allowed to pick their groups I feared that they weren't going to complete the assignment because they were with their friends; two: make the connections more obvious, she had a great interest approach where she left the lights off for the first 10 minutes of class while discussing the green industry. My suggestion was to address the lights being off in the beginning with a question and then after the beginning discussion ask that question again.
Next week I will have only one more class left. This is my freshman class that I began with. I had a really rough start with this class, I worked through my really bad teaching moments with this class and did some really great things with this class. I'm glad that I have this class the longest, I enjoy teaching this class the most. It'll be hard to give this class back.
The lab was a complete flop. After giving them three days to bring in materials I had two items in my hands! I couldn't believe it, I was giving them an opportunity to receive 5 bonus points for bringing in a milk jug! I had to change plans, scratch the lab and do a one day lesson on the body parts.
Through this experience I learned that I cannot rely on students to bring in materials to be used for class. If I had been teaching for 5+ years I could have accumulated various objects to be used in a lab like this but I have no such collection. I do want to try this lab again because I think it would be a good lab but next time I will give the students more of a notice and I will raise the stakes, so maybe 2 bonus points per item, and I will create my own collection prior to the lab.
I was able to visit/observe a fellow student teacher this week and check out their program! I was really impressed with the program. They actually had two classrooms! Most two teacher programs I have been in are two teachers but one classroom, one teaches in the shop full time, one in the classroom full time. The student teacher also did a great job with her Veterinary Science class! It was evident that her passion lies in Veterinary Science. I commend her for utilizing her resources and having a community member bring in a dog to use for demonstration purposes. She did an excellent job of continuing to refer to her objectives. I liked the way she would address one objective and then ask the students what they were doing next. To answer the question they had to look at the objectives posted! It was a great technique for ensuring that students are aware of the expectations. Some areas of improvement that I had for this student teacher was one: assign groups to projects. After students were allowed to pick their groups I feared that they weren't going to complete the assignment because they were with their friends; two: make the connections more obvious, she had a great interest approach where she left the lights off for the first 10 minutes of class while discussing the green industry. My suggestion was to address the lights being off in the beginning with a question and then after the beginning discussion ask that question again.
Next week I will have only one more class left. This is my freshman class that I began with. I had a really rough start with this class, I worked through my really bad teaching moments with this class and did some really great things with this class. I'm glad that I have this class the longest, I enjoy teaching this class the most. It'll be hard to give this class back.
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