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!