Week 2: And so it begins!

Everyday is becoming a new experience for me here at Conneaut Area Senior High. This week we had Monday off and an in-service day on Tuesday. During the in-service day I had the chance to attend a staff meeting, meet more of the administration and talk to Ms Aurand about future plans for my upcoming classes.

On Wednesday I finally got to teach my first group of students! I began my Plant Science unit with my Agriculture Education 2 class. We began with some introductions and talked about my expectations for the class. We talked about what experiences they have had with plants in the past and what they wanted to learn about. To finish out the class we talked about the importance of plants by listing all of the plants and plant products that we come in contact with on a daily basis. 

Thursday was a lot of fun because we got to be in the greenhouse! We discussed the proper way to plant seeds and what materials we needed. Then we got work planting geraniums! The goal is to be able to use these flowers at the FFA Banquet this spring! 

Friday we were back in the classroom discussing parts of plants. We specifically focused on roots and stems and their functions within plants. I have really enjoyed being in the classroom with the students this week. I am looking forward to adding another class next week and getting to work with more students! 

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

Week 1: Welcome to C.A.S.H.

I cannot believe that this was my first official week as a student teacher. The past 7 semesters of college have lead up to this moment and it’s finally here. This week was a little different due to the fact that we were on a trip to the Farm Show for four days. However, I was both excited and nervous
to spend Thursday and Friday in the classroom.

This week was an observation week for me so I spent the majority of my time observing Ms. Aurand teach and trying to learn student’s names. At the beginning of each class we went around the room and each student shared their name and three things about them. This was a fun activity that really helped me get to know the students a little more but also helped the students get to know me.

Another exciting part of this past week was getting to meet other faculty members and the administration at Conneaut Area Senior High. It was great to put a face with the names of principals and other teachers throughout the school!

This week also gave me time to make sure I was ready to officially teach next week! I was able to get my lesson plans ready and get the materials lined up to pant geraniums in the greenhouse next week. I am looking forward to being in the front of the classroom starting Wednesday!

"Wake up with determination. Go to sleep with satisfaction"

My first Mid-Winter Convention!

I have attended the Pennsylvania State Farm Show every year since I was born, but this trip was different than any other. After spending a few days at the show with my cousins, I took on a new role Sunday night. I met up with Ms. Aurand, Mr. Bizjak and over twenty members of the Conneaut Area FFA. I was officially a student teacher.

Sunday night we spent time eating dinner, doing homework and most importantly practicing square dancing! Early Monday morning the students were lined up in the hall with their official dress on ready for the big day! We headed to the farm show complex and I was ready for my first Mid-Winter Convention ever.

It was not only an exciting day for me, it was a big day for the whole Conneaut Area FFA Chapter. 11 students got to put on their own FFA jacket for the first time, 3 students received their Keystone Degree and we even had 1 student who was an Agri-Business Star Finalist.

That evening 17 students from the FFA Chapter competed in the square dance competition. Students have been practicing the past few months and had the chance to demonstrate 5 dances Monday night. We walked away with two red ribbons!

We also participated in the #todaysFFA Social Media contest. This was my first official student teaching assignment! Our students told their Farm Show story on Facebook and Twitter with pictures and the hashtag #todaysFFA. Our chapter had the most views and post which means that we won the contest! We are looking forward to our pizza party with the State Officers!

Tuesday we spent the day traveling around doing tours of industries in the area. We started at Kreider Farms in Lancaster County. We saw the facilities where they raise 6 million chickens and milk over 1500 dairy cows on a carousel parlor. We then went to Zimmermans, a corporation that is made up of three businesses; Keystone Coating, PBZ Cattle Equipment and Crop Care. After this we toured Uncle Henry’s Pretzels and stopped at Cabelas. Wednesday we loaded up the bus and headed to Hershey to tour Chocolate World. After spending some time there we began the 5 hour bus ride home.

Overall, my first Mid-Winter Convention was a great one and a great way to kick off my student teaching experience.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

Creativity Lab!

For our final lab of the year we had the chance to challenge our creativity. We were asked to bring along our favorite unit plan that we had written so far and that's all we knew about the lab. When we got there, we were told that we were going to the Dollar Store and we had five dollars to purchase some things to make a lesson or the unit more creative.

I chose to bring along my genetics unit plan and I had no idea what I was going to buy at the Dollar Store to help teach one of these lessons. When we got there I looked around for a while trying to get
ideas. Then I found a bunch of fun crazy colored hair pieces. I got two brown, two lighter brown and one really bright red! My plan for these hair pieces is to choose one color that is dominant and one color that is recessive. Students will then put two of the hair pieces together and determine what color hair the offspring will have.

I really enjoyed this lab and thought that it was a fun idea. It really got me thinking out of the box to figure out unique ways to teach my content. It was really interesting to see what my classmates picked up as well!

I think that having creativity in the classroom is great for many reasons. First, it can make the learning experience more fun for the students. It can also get students thinking about the content and ways that hadn't before. This lab definitely made me want to think of unique and creative way to teach more of my content during student teaching.

" Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what no one else has thought."

- Albert Einstein 

Weekly Writing #10

Classroom Management

How do I, as a first year teacher, gain my students respect and listen to me without being the "mean teacher"? Am I gonna be able to manage my classroom effectively? These are two questions that I often catch myself asking. This weeks writing really focused on how we can effectively manage student behavior. 

One of my favorite things that this week's writing talked about was how the teacher is the key ingredient for an acceptable classroom atmosphere. Without an environment that is acceptable it is almost for students to learn effectively. This means that if the students are behaving and focused its gonna be really hard for any learning to take place. Likewise, if the teacher can't involve the students and have a clear and organized lesson the same thing will happen. 

Not only is managing the classroom important for effective learning it is important for the satisfaction of the teacher and the students. If they aren't able to manage the behavior of the students they are probably not going to enjoy going into the classroom each day and wont be able to perform to the best of their ability. 

The writing also gave guidelines to follow in promoting acceptable behavior that I found very beneficial. All of these tips are simple but really effective ways to manage your classroom

   1. Start out firm

   2. Be prepared to teach well

   3. Have a definite routine by which each class is started

   4. Make generous use of praise

   5. Do not have favorites

   6. Be consistent, yet not predictable

   7. Take action whenever a problem arises

   8. Learn to separate the action of the student from the person of the student

   9. Never make threats, only make promises

   10. Set a good example

   11. Be sure the penalty fits the offense

   12. Be attentive to all behavior in the classroom or laboratory

   13. Learn to forgive and forget

The readings this week gave me a whole new view on classroom management. When I would originally hear those words I would think about ways to enforce good behavior and punish bad behavior. However, I now see that its so much more than that. It's about making a solid environment where students can learn as effectively as possible!

"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can."

Microteaching: Central Columbia High School

For my microteaching experience Jillian Gordon, Carly-Jean Schaefer and I went to Central Columbia High School and taught for three days. I taught an Ag 2 class and did a lesson on fasteners. The students in my class were from all different grades and had different experiences with this topic.

The first day of teaching did not go nearly as well as it did in my head. I had my lesson plan, my PowerPoint, my worksheets and my sample fasteners to hand out. We did a quick get to know you game so I could get familiar with some of the students names. I gave the students two boards and had them try to put them together using tape, glue, rubber bands and play dough. Then we went over the 5 different categories of fasteners and why they are important.

I handed out a dichotomous key and three samples of fasteners and had the students use their key to identify the samples. This activity went really well but the students did it a lot faster than I thought they would. I ended up finishing with 15 minutes to spare and I kinda freaked out. I wasn't sure what to do so I had the students start on what I had planned for day 2.

The second day I had planned to go over three categories of fasteners; nails, screws and bolts. However, I ran out of time and only got through two. We took notes on the characteristics, types and vocab words related to each fastener. Then we had a competition to see who could make the best fasteners out of play dough!

For the third day we continued with our notes and talked about bolts, nuts and washers. While the students were taking notes I passed around samples of the fasteners so they could get a chance to look at them. After we had talked about each category of fasteners we played an intense game of
Pictionary! This was a great way to review all the different fasteners we went over in the past three days and also get the students up out of their seats.

Even though my first day didn't go so well, the other two were great! I really learned a lot from this experience from both the students and Mr. Brown and Mr. Turner who were great at working with us and giving us advice!

"Outside of your comfort zone is where the magic happens"

Life Knowledge Lesson

For one of our last labs we were asked to teach an FFA Life Knowledge lesson at our cooperating center. I was excited about this because it would be the first time we were teaching in front of students that we will teach for in the spring. I have to admit I was a little nervous to teach in front of my cooperating teacher but everything went well!

My cooperating teacher Ellen Aurand and I

I chose to do a lesson on leadership. The students were asked to come up with characteristics that describe a leader. I was amazed at all the different responses that students gave in each of the classes I taught. Hard working, friendly, responsible and fun were the most common responses that I got from the students.

After discussing characteristics and what it means to be a leader we talked about different leaders in our society. At first students were coming up with famous people or historical figures such as George Washington and Martin Luther King. The more we talked about what being a leader meant, the more the students began thinking of leaders they interact with on a daily basis. We talked about how their teachers, parents and peers can even be considered leaders.

For the last activity I had each of the students write down 3 things they could do on a daily basis that would make them a leader. I was surprised how much the students were engaged in this activity. They were really trying to think of things that they could do! After sharing some ideas aloud with the class, I encouraged the students to try and do one of the three things they wrote down by the end of the day!

Overall, I think that the life knowledge lesson went well. The students were engaged for the most part which made the lesson go smooth. I really enjoyed getting to teach in the classroom where I will be doing my student teaching this spring!

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

- John Quincy Adams