Student Teaching: Week 3

I have officially been teaching a week!  I never thought that I would actually get to say that I have finished a week of my student teaching but it has come and gone already!  This week was crazy and hectic but I loved every second of it!! We had two unplanned fire drills and a fundraiser delivery and lots of fun filled lessons.  With this week winding down and coming to a close, I'm walking away with two big lessons learned.

1. Never Under Estimate Anything!
For my building construction class this week, we were learning about how to be safe in the shop and how to respond to emergency situations.  Part of the unit was where students learned about what injuries can happen in the shop and what should we do when an injury occurs.  We also learned some basic first aid skills with this lesson that way if students ever are working at there home or once they graduate and go into the field they will know not to panic and how to help in the situation.  We did two activities with this lesson. 

Learning how to correctly

remove "dirty" gloves.  

The first one was where students learned how to properly take off a pair of non-latex gloves.  I first demonstrated how this is to be done then students practiced a few times on their own.  After mastering the skill, students put their gloves on and I asked them to take them off one last time however this time their gloves were covered in shaving cream.  They had to coat the front and back of their gloved hands with shaving cream and then removed them correctly with out getting the shaving cream on their skin.  The second activity was learning how to bandage a cut simply using a roll of gauze.  Again I demonstrated to do this skill, then in pairs one person would play the role of in injured and the other would bandage them.  Once they showed me their correct bandaging skills, they switched roles and did it again.

How to properly

bandage a wound.  

I knew that if these activities were going to be fun for the students and also was a great way for them to learn these basic skills that are done wrong all the time.  Now this building construction class is a small class of only 10 students but they are all juniors and senior and only one is female.  The rest is teenage boys.  They have been really good for me and hoped that they could make it through the activities but part of me went into the lesson thinking that I was going to have to pull the plug.  I was just waiting for one of them to take that hand covered in shaving cream and smack one of the others or to smear it all over each other.  I also feared that they would try to tie each other up with the gauze or who knows what with it. 
However these guys did great!  They made it through the how class and were very mature but still had fun with it just like I hoped.  That's when I realized that I should never under estimate students.  They will always come out of no where and surprise you in what they know or how they can act.  I am going to make sure that I do a lot more fun activities with this class as they have proven to me that they can handle it!  Great job!!

2. One word ......PACING!
This has been my problem all along.  Even when we would do our teaching labs back on campus, I would have problems with my pacing.  I always take so much longer than I think it will take.  This week I had a super fun activity planned for the Ag Foundations class but we were unable to get to it this week because I took way to long to cover other things during class.  Thankfully we are still going to be able to do it this week so I'm not going to tell you what it is now but you can hear all about it next week :)
I have to start getting a little better at my pacing of the class.  I guess the one good thing is that I never run out of things for the students to do during class, but next week we are going to have to be one point to fit everything in and not slow the class down.  I know that this is something that can take a while to get perfect and really know how to do but I at least acknowledge that it is something that I need to keep an eye on for myself.  I feel like I have my planning down and do a great job of switching up teaching methods but I have got to get a little better at my pacing that way we are able to get to these great things I have planned!

 Going into this week, I am definitely going to work on my pacing and we ARE going to get to do this fun activity that I have had planned for weeks.  Look for my blog next week to see how week 4 went and what kind of adventures we got into at Selinsgrove!!!

Student Teaching: Week 2

And just like that, another week has flown by!  I can't believe I am already at the end of my second week of this experience; time sure does fly when you're having fun!  This week was short for us at Selinsgrove as we had Monday off in reflection of Martin Luther King Day, on Tuesday we had an early dismissal due to weather, and Wednesday we had a snow day.  So we really only had two days of classes this whole week since Tuesday was filled with Keystone Testing before we were left out early, however these were the BEST two days for me! 

I taught for the very first time in these two days.  On Thursday, I taught one class of Ag Foundations and on Friday I taught one class of Building Construction and two classes of Ag Foundations.  This was the most nervous, excited, happy and exhilarated feeling I've ever had and it only makes me want it more!  I wish I could tell you about every second of each of these days but my post would be 10 pages long, so below  I am going to talk about some of the themes I took away from the week and what happened to inspire these themes.

Teachable Moments 
On Thursday, I was going over my classroom procedures, consequences and expectations and I was having the students doing an activity with my expectations poster.  My major expectation of the students is that they always be RESPECTFUL and on my poster each of the letter of respectful stand for another word like responsible, engaged, safe, etc.  I wanted the students to work with their group to use words or pictures to tell me what they think each of those words mean or look like to them. 
Halfway through the activity, one of the students pointed out to me that there was a spelling mistake.  I thought no way, my posters had to be checked off by one of my college professors and I had 3 others of the #PSUAGED18 cohort look at it before I had them printed; no way is there a mistake on them.  Sure enough I look up and instead it says to always be RESECTFUL; there is NO P!

When your students point out your first 

mistake.  

For a second, I felt dumb as a rock in front of these kids but then I just went with it.  I had the students then brainstorm of what they think a good word would be in regards to respect that starts with a P.  They came up with  a lot of good ideas like Patience, Personality, Pace, and Place (there's a time and a place for everything).  Was not at all how I originally intended for that to go but it actually kind of worked really well.  

Adaptability 
No only was this week filled with changing up schedules due to testing and snow, I also had to think on my feet and adapt as I went.  The point that sticks out the most of this however would have been when I had to completely remake 80 terminology cards for the Ag Foundations class.  I did an activity with the one class on Thursday where I had general terms associated with the livestock industry on sticky notes around the room.  I grouped students and assigned them a specific species of livestock that they had to find all the terms they believed went with that animal. 
The activity went great and at the end of class I was talking with a student when another student asked if she could help me clean them all up.  I told "Thanks that would be great" and kept talking with the student who was asking me questions.  Well somewhere in all that she must have asked me if she could throw all of the sticky notes away and not thinking I told her yep that would be fine; completely forgetting that I needed those exact cards to do the same activity twice the next day.  The best part was that I didn't even realize the mistake until I was on my way into school the next morning. 

Trying to redo everything for class

in only 20 minutes!  

I made it to school and had 20 minutes before my first block started to remake all 80 of these sticky notes.  At this point I realized I had 10 sticky notes left at my desk.  So I simply had to make little slips of paper with the terms on and they were laid around the room instead of stuck up with sticky notes.  The students never even knew that they had a slightly different activity but I was surprised that I was able to pull it off in time for class and that it all still ran smoothly.  

Assurance 
I was in the middle of an ice breaker game with my last new group of students for the week on Friday afternoon when one of my students raises his hand.  I acknowledged him and asked what he would like to share.  He looked up at me and said "Miss. Fisher I can tell that you are going to be a really good student teacher.  Other student teachers that we have had in our other classes usually just stand at the back of the room, really awkwardly and can't ever really talk to us.  You aren't afraid to get up in front of us and really talk to us, not above us but really want to know us so I think that you are going to do good and have fun."
This was exactly what I needed to hear at this point in the week because I had just did my first day lesson with four classes, none of which I was able to do the exact same way with, and wasn't sure how the students were taking me so far.  Mrs. Fry and Mr. Swineford were letting me know that I was really doing a good job so far but hearing from one of the students just really made me feel like I was doing a good job and that I am going to be able to do this!

When you get your first teaching compliment from your students 

and you try to keep your composure.  

I hope I can keep up the good work and continue to gain the respect from the students!  I truly think that my first week went really well and think that together, the students and I have a lot of fun and interesting weeks ahead of us!  Tune in next week to hear how lessons on shop safety, dairy cattle and the swine industry go over with the students at Selinsgrove :)

Student Teaching Reflection: Week One

I can't believe that week one is already over!  Everyone told me that the time was going to fly by and they sure were right.  This week was full of field trips, observations and new experiences.

Officially part of 

Selinsgrove now!

Two different days this week, I traveled to the Pennsylvania Farm Show with the chapter.  If you would like to read more about my day spend there, please feel free to read my blog https://macysmoments.blogspot.com/2018/01/mid-winter-convention.html

The rest of the week, I was able to be in Mrs. Fry's and Mr. Swineford's classrooms and start to get a feel for the kids and their teaching styles.  This week was a bit crazy though.  There was Keystone testing everyday, which meant that the students were on a modified schedule for the rest of the day.  The nice part about that was that each day, the students who weren't testing were sent to their assigned classroom for about 2 hours in the morning. 

This was a great time for me to really get to know and connect with the classes that I will be starting to teach this week.  I was able to sit down, get to know the students on a personal level, and see them in their natural state.  I really don't want student to act any different just because I am now teaching.  So I think this time will be very beneficial in the long run.

With it being the end of the marking period, all of Mrs. Fry's classes are working on finishing up their projects and presentations.  I have been able to see so many cool things with the Vet Science class like how to give a ferret a bath, how to trim a hamster's toenails and how to tattoo a rabbit.  Each of the students in this class had to either record and show a video of a skill demonstration or they have the option to bring their pet in and showcase the skill live.

One of the live demonstrations; 

tattooing a rabbit.  

I was also able to listen to the freshman classes do speech presentations.  Each student had the option to either do a 3-5 minute speech or to do the creed.  Hearing the kids do the creed, took me all the way back to when I competed in the Creed contest.  I wasn't able to advance past the county area but I still was able to step into these students' shoes as they talked about how hard it was to memorize it.

I am curious to see if the week will go as fast as this past one did.  I am super excited to start the week as I will be starting two different classes.  On Wednesday, I start with the Ag Foundations classes which are all freshman.  I get to teach 3 different groups of students in this class and we will be starting the Animal Science Unit. 

Then on Thursday, I will start the with the new class of Building Construction Students.  I get to start with this group on their very first day of the class and I will teach them everyday while the Ag Foundations class is every other day.  I am nervous but anxious all at the same time and can't wait to tell you how it goes!  Look for my next blog to hear how my first day of teaching goes!!!

Mid-Winter Convention!!

It is official!  I have started my student teaching experience and what better way to begin then with a field trip to the Pennsylvania Farm Show.  This year's Farm Show has taught me new things and helped me to look back and reflect on where I have been.

Always Learning New Things
During my day at the Farm Show with Selinsgrove FFA, I was able to learn about two different contests that our students competed in.  There was a team of six students who competed in the Ag Issues CDE.  This was my first time doing anything is this particular CDE and I think I will definitely being having students compete in this in the future.  This contest is a great way for students to research a topic and present information they found on that topic.  The ways that each team presented their research varied.  Selinsgrove presented theirs through a skit, where they students were playing the part of moms at a soccer game discussing what snacks are save for their children to be eating; organic, GMO Free, grass fed, etc.  The kids did a great job and I was really impressed that they were able to find so much information on the topic.  The team ended up getting 4th place and should be really proud of how they did.

The group of soccer mom discussing their snacks during the Ag Issues CDE presentation.  

We also had a team of four students who competed in the Farm Show Demonstrations Contest.  Again, this was a contest that I had never heard about or participated in.  In this contest, a team has 15 minutes to demonstrate a skills and talk through what they are doing as they do it.  Our team of four, showed how to build a small scale picnic table.  They were able to demonstrate safe operating skills, how to use a variety of tools and how to put together a picnic table.  We are still waiting to hear how the team did but I think they did a very good job and should be proud of how they did.  They at least had the confidence to get in front of a large group of people and present what they have learned.

The Demonstration team building their picnic table.  

Looking Back
As I sat at Mid-Winter Convention and listened to the the state officers work through the program, I couldn't help but think back to all of the past Mid -Winter Conventions that I have been a part of.  I was thrown back to when I was there for the very first time.  I was only in 6th grade and had traveled to the Farm Show with the much older FFA members to compete with them later that evening in the Square Dance Competition. At the time, I never knew if I would get to be a part of that sea of blue sitting on the floor but I knew that I wanted to be.

Selinsgrove Keystone Degree Recipients 

As the program continued into the FFA Jacket Presentation, I couldn't help but think back to when I received my very own FFA Jacket at the same ceremony.  That jacket was the only one I ever owned.  I did the math and realized that I won my jacket 10 years ago!  That jacket and I have been through so much in the past 10 years, from competing in Parliamentary Procedure at the National Convention, getting to put President on the front my senior year, and finally walking across the stage to receive my American FFA Degree in Louisville.  I was saddened when I though of all these amazing things I was able to do while in that jacket but am grateful that I had the opportunities to do so.

Selinsgrove Jacket Recipients 

Sometimes I wish that I could go back and do it all over again but then I remember that by becoming an Ag Teacher, I am able to help every student have opportunities just like those and create their own memories that will last a lifetime.

Selinsgrove also had a window display which was all about in invasive species; Asian Carp.  

I am excited to move into the next few days back at school and continue on my path through student teaching.  Look for more of my upcoming blogs to keep up on what I will be doing in my classroom and the moments I get to share!     

Life Knowledge Reflection

On Monday, November 21st I was able to spend the day at Selinsgrove High School with Mrs. Fry and Mr. Swineford.  This was a great opportunity to get to talk with both of them about the fast approaching, spring semester that I will be spending with them but I also was able to finally get to teach a lesson to my future students!

Students working together to Save Sammy!  An activity that uses
a gummy worm, gummy ring, a cup and paper clips to promote
team work and problem solving skills. They had a lot of fun with this activity!  

 Our teaching lab task this week was to take one of the Life Knowledge lessons that National FFA offers and teach to at least one of the classes at our cooperating center.  The Life Knowledge lessons are a great guide to teach student skills that they will be able to utilize through out their life.  I liked parts of these lessons but I do feel as though they truly are a guide for lessons.  They are still high quality but they also give you the flexibility to add or subtract parts of the lesson or to adapt them to your type of teaching style. The lessons that I chose to use were both on problem solving.

Students working on a complex riddle/puzzle.  This activity was
to show students that every piece of the puzzle is crucial to the solution
just like a problem, you need to have all of the information to solve it.  

 These lessons tied in perfectly with what the class was currently learning in the class.  I taught the Ag Leadership class which is a combination of 13 students of differing grades.  They had just finished up with a unit and my lesson was the introduction to the problem solving unit.  The lesson was filled with all types of activities to get students thinking of what are the steps in solving a problem and how do we solve a problem effectively as a group.  Overall, I think the lesson went well and I personally feel that I was well received by the students, hopefully that feeling is right!  Below are some of the things that stuck out a gems from the lessons and some opportunities that I believe could have went better.

Students participating in a skit that showcased how a group might not
work well together.  They each said that they have been a part of a grou
that did not work well and had someone who didn't want to contribute.
They realized that these types of group members are only going to cause more problems.  

Gems 
*I think I did a great job of using a large variety of teaching techniques through out the lesson.  There were group activities, open discussion, a skit, and a little bit of lecturing.
*I think I was able to keep most of the students' attention and kept them on their toes.
*I had a lot of thought provoking questions.
*Classroom management was pretty good could have been a little better but for most part I think I was able to keep students under control and on task.  (Will talk further in opps about this as well)
*My pacing was very good during this lesson!  I was able to teach bell to bell, fit in my bellwork and ticket out and still cover all of the aspects of the lesson.
Opps 
*I always forget to post or write my objectives for the day!  I HAVE to remember to do this from here on out!
* I feel that I relied on my notes a little much for my liking but was told in my feedback that I did not use them excessively or make them distracting.  However, if I am going to use notes I need to stop laying them down and loosing them.     
*I needed to work on integrating technology better, especially since Selinsgrove is a one-to-one school where each student has technology readily available to them. This lesson didn't really lead itself to using technology at first glance but I should have thought of something to utilize it.  I definitely need to remember this for future lessons.
*I needed to keep all students engaged at all times.  I had one student who kind of checked out during part of the lesson and I didn't want to push my boundaries yet so I didn't push back too hard.  I should have asked questions that would have got the student engaged again.

I really do think that this lesson went well overall!  I can't wait until I get to teach this group and all the other classes at Selinsgrove here very soon.  Spending this day with the students, teaching and getting to talk more with Mrs.Fry and Mr. Swineford makes me wish I could start sooner! 

My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Valerie Fry and myself!

Macro Reflections on Micro Teaching

The week of November 13th, was a new and fun experience for all the members of the PSUAgEd 2018 cohort.  We had the chance to go into a classroom and teach for three consecutive days.  Up to this point all of our experiences teaching was either in a mock classroom made up of our cohort members or in a workshop setting for only 2 hours.  This time we actually were able to teach a class of students for three days in a row.  My experience was at Bellwood-Antis High School with Mr. Webreck's classes.  I was starting the class on their new unit; the dairy industry.  Mr. Webreck told me I could go in any direction I wanted to with this.     
Monday, November 13th 
This was the first day of the process.  Monday was the day that I was able to just go and observe the class that I would be in charge of for the next few days.  The class that I taught was a class of eight sophomores.  They were wrapping up a lessons on how to use a compass this day and I was able to see each student's true personality while they were doing an activity outside.  I knew that weren't going to be too bad but definitely had a few students to keep an eye on for the rest of the week. 
Tuesday, November 14th 
This was it!  This was my first day of teaching this group of students that I knew nothing about.  Were they going to already know everything I was about to teach them?  Were they going act out the entire time or even worse were they going to just sit there like bumps on a log and not participate?  All of these thoughts flew through my head as the clock quickly ticked to 12:30.  Looking back now, I am not sure why these I was thinking these things because the class went really well.  They participated, they seemed engaged and willing to learn.  I did have one student who kept wanting to put his head down but  I feel like I did a good job of individually calling on him to answer a question which made him pick up his head and stay engaged.  One downfall of the day was that I went way too fast.  I flew through the material and the students ended up having 3-4 minutes at the end with nothing to do.  Pacing is always a thing I need to improve upon.
Wednesday, November 15th 
After noticing I had extra time the day before, I changed up my lesson for Wednesday hoping to have more for students to do and to teach bell to bell.  Unfortunately, I planned a little too much and was unable to get through everything; can't find the perfect balance yet.  During this class, though I really like the activities I had students do and put a lot of the responsibility on them.  I gave each student a step of the cheese making process that they had to capture information on through out a video they watched.  I put more of the work on them instead of me just lecturing them on the process.  Students seemed to like this activity.  I definitely was able to teach bell to bell this time but there was so much more that I wanted to cover.
Thursday, November 16th 
My final day of teaching at Bellwood- Antis!  This I think was my best day yet!  I had students think about what goes into marketing products and they each created a new flavor of ice cream.  I was able to get lots of student participation during the short lecture and then I had them up and moving to make their poster of their flavors.  I also rounded out the day with a short quiz on what they had learned in the past two days.  I gave them 10 minutes to complete this quiz and then I them one magical minute to use their notes they had captured earlier in the week. 

The BAHS students' poster of the new Berkey Creamery flavors!  

 

I had an absolute blast during my micro teaching experience at Bellwood-Antis High School.  I was able to learn a lot during this time like how to get my timing and pacing more accurate and how to manage a classroom of high school students.  At the end my experience, I asked students if they would give me some feedback and tell me how I had done.  I am pleased to say that all of the students were very satisfied with my teaching!  I was sad to walk away from the class at the end of three days, I feel like I was just starting to connect with the students and getting to know each of them.  This just makes me extra eager to start my student teaching in the spring!!

Ms. Becker and I leaving our last day of micro teaching!  

IBI Lesson Reflection

This week our task was to teach a lesson using inquiry based instruction.  With how much I was struggling to grasp what IBI was truly about last week, I feel like this lab did not go terrible.  I do feel that I could have done better but there is always something that we all can improve upon each week.

My lesson was about artificial insemination in cattle and how it differs from conventional breeding.  The students would be forming their own hypothesis and then testing as well as collecting data and forming a conclusion.  The experiment was that they would be constructing two reproductive tracks out of balloons, rubber bands and life saver mints.  Next they would try to pour sprinkles into one balloon and the other balloon they would pour the sprinkles down a straw that has been inserted.  Which balloon has more sprinkles that made it into the bottom?  That is the method that will result in a high conception rate as the sprinkles are bypassing trying to weave through the lifesavers and rubber bands.

I though this was a super fun lab and the students seemed to have lots of fun doing it but I still think there were some things I could have done differently or better.

Gems 

• Was a super fun, hands on lab for students 
• Thought I had good enthusiasm 
• Tried to make all of my questions opened and not just a yes/no answer like when asking who has questions instead of are there any questions

Opps 

• Should have had students label the balloons that 
• I had an example balloon made up ahead of time and I completely forgot to pull it out and show students what it was to look like when they were questioning it.  
• I need to stop using my go to filler word of UMM! I need to get better at this!