Hi all it is the end of week two and it has been anything but dull. Yes, I understand it is still the so called Honeymoon phase but it has been great. It started on Monday starting my first class Large Animal Science, well that's not completely true it started Sunday with playing school with my friends Jodi and Chris to prepare for my lesson and try and cure my sever case of butterflies. The preparation paid off but no such luck with the butterflies, they would stick around till after my class.
Monday, I assisted teaching Poultry terminology to both the 1st and 4th period Introduction classes. Far from my strong point but it turned out to be a good thing when confusion ensued over two terms being miss used. I have to admit before this goes any further that if I could hide during 3rd period I would beyond dreading teaching this class for the one unit I have in Ag Construction. Ok, now that's out of the way, we can move on. The Experts , as they will be referred to from now on, decided to criticizes and harass Mr.Campbell during his pipe cutting demonstration, as well as were hats and no safety glasses in the shop. They also like to try and buffalo myself , to add to this some of the shop hand tools and implements have been growing legs after this particular period. 5th period is Greenhouse Production and Floral Design, I observed greenhouse as the were learning how to use the seeder to plant their spring crops that they had selected/assigned the previous week. Finally, it was time for my first class. Introduced myself, got the students expectation and brief background, went over classroom expectations/ procedures/ consequences, and the essential Sheep & Goat need to knows. Right after this if you had asked me how I did I would have told you Crash & Burned, however, after some refection during my observation in 8th period Career & Leadership class as they finished up their Job Shadowing letters before I started teaching on Wednesday. Reflection with Mr.Campbell at the end of the day went well he said " It was very appropriate for the first day class and introducing the unit." he also felt that it went well.Tuesday was well below zero so I had a "Snow Day" and like every responsible student teacher I had arts and craft day.
Wednesday, was a 2 hour delay that really made me brain dead day for some reason ,I walked off without my days lesson plan because I had taken to make sure I was well prepared. In addition to this I got to the school left my keys in my truck ,luckily the doors were not locked, and when I came back in and took my coat off realized I had my sweater on backwards , no one was there to see it thankfully. To add to the morning in it was a delay schedule that skips 1st and 2nd period and goes straight to 3rd. Their was another commentary demonstration by the experts and almost fire, when one of them didn't turn off the propane torch and knocked it off the table into one of the wood working projects, it only scorched no flame actually had the chance to start. In 4th period it was lab day, I was put with the horticulture group to finish their Valentine candy sundae arrangements. Once I found all the materials it went really well. In 5th period it dawned on me to go on dropbox to get a copy of my lesson plan and make sure the power point worked, success! During my large animal science class I posted my DID YOU KNOW...goats are great swimmers. We also introduced our semester farm plan project (first part is due February 25th), hypothesized why the sheep & goat industry was developed and what came first the chicken or the egg. I got
every answer but chicken or egg the most popular dinosaur, thank goodness they got the next
question what came first the sheep or the goat? sheep, goat,
both. Real answer the Goat. 8th period students continued to work on their Job Shadowing letters. I felt that the lesson went really well compared to the day before and Mr.Campbell had the same thought. After school I attended my first Derry FFA officers meeting were planing for FFA week were under way for a high school teacher appreciation breakfast, Blue& Gold day Boot day, Hat day,Plaid day, Canned food drive,Hot Chocolate & Popsicle sale , and Snow tubing. 
Thursday, was finally a full day of school and the 9th graders in 1st and 4th period got to another lab day to make up for some of the snow day interference . Once again I worked with the horticulture groups finishing the arrangements and then getting them started on their green house crop research before planting. 4th period had one small incident with a girl playing a game on her ipod not phone as she informed me when I told her to put it away after she went into the restroom and screamed the F word as loud as she could because her game or what ever killed her. She received a zero for her lab grade for the day, even tho she told me I couldn't do that, Surprise, I Can! 5th period I observed the floral design class that I will start teaching this coming Wednesday. Animal Science we took
a small detour from our lesson on breeding systems to ear tag and dock the lambs. (Tag the left ear , when looking at the back of the head 1/3rd away from the head; Docking- Market between the 1st & 2nd vertebrata Breeding between the 2nd & 3rd vertebrata). I demonstrated and talked through the process on the first lamb asking my favorite question WHY? before we went up to the barn I handed out to job sheets so everyone had the steps to both process handy as well as an article on the controversy of dock length . I also answered a question from the day before as my DID YOU KNOW....the folds of skin on the breast and neck of a Merino Sheep is called a Dewlap. After my demonstration I had a different student hold the 2nd lamb while one student docked the tail and another tagged. 8th period was my first day of Career& Leadership introduced myself, got the students expectation and brief background,
went over classroom expectations/ procedures/ consequences, and did charades to introduced the importance of communication. At the end of the day reflection I felt really really good about both classes and received a great review from Mr.Campbell. Monday will be my first official review. After school was an all members FFA meeting and then at 6pm I attended a school board meeting where the advisory committee proposed hiring a second teacher for the program which was met with the majority of support, however, there was some resistance, it will go to vote in the following week. This has been an AMAZING week I'm loving Student Teaching at DAH ,Till next time !!!!!!
Thank you for sharing so much Jessie! It might make it easier to read if you used bullet points to separate comments by class period. Also, don't feel like you have to recap every class. Perfectly okay to share a specific Teaching and Learning Episode and how it played out in one class.
ReplyDeleteAs you work through your classroom management, remember:
1) Be Firm Fair and Consistent
2) It is the behavior, not the student you are upset with
3) Never underestimate the power of one on one conversations.
Thank you for sharing!
Friday Addition.....................
ReplyDeleteI was feeling really really awesome going into today (Friday) but I left myself get to comfortable along with letting my temper get the better of me I think but I also feel I was died right. The same student from the day before was once again causing a distraction and flipping my the bird when he didn't think I could see him, why I irritate him is a question to me but, oh well. I told him to move his set directly up front and then he blew up at me and said I was on something , had something wrong with me, and if he moved it would be to the office. I explained what he was doing why I wasn't appropriate and that I wasn't born yesterday. He was escalating, conversation was not working so I told him to go to the office and went back to my lesson. Mr.Campbell called the office to make sure he went there and explained what the situation was to the principle. My whole body was on fire and tense it was a horrible feeling I feel I did a good job of not showing it and picking right back up into the lesson. After words Mr.Campbell asked me if I was OK I lied and said yes but I didn't know what to say I thought may be I over reacted even though I was told I didn't but I just didn't know what to think or feel. It bothered my the rest of the day and still does but I know I can't let one event rule the rest of the day and is one think I relay plan on working on, what is done is done. I need to move on to the next lesson giving my all. But what about next Monday is still on my mind !
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI know we talked about the student during my visit a couple of weeks back, but I do want to definitely follow up on this, and help you in any way possible. Also, I need to comment on the spelling of "Adventurer". I have seen this in other locations. You will want to double-check this, and all words for spelling. Proper spelling/grammar aid in clarity in your posts, assignments, and all written correspondence. Thank you.
- Dr. Ewing