First Day of School Reflection

I began this lab feeling a bit stressed for time, I knew that my workshop was the correct amount of time, but I also knew that there were only five minutes left in our actual college class and I had another college class in 20 minutes.  So when I began my lab I was certainly a little flustered, which is less than ideal.  However, in hind sight perhaps that made it a great lab for reflecting on.

As a future teacher I have to be, I HAVE TO BE adaptable and willing to change and adjust my schedule or my plans.  I will be expected to make deadlines, teach students, and handle specific needs or complaints of students, take attendance, act professional, and much more.  Unfortunately I know that sometimes I will be stressed or worked up, but as the educator I am expected to proceed with a certain poise and grace, not edgy like a jagged razor blade.

During my actual presentation I thought it was a nice caring move to physically greet my students with a hand shake and then hand them with the personalized letter.  This was kind and helped to start the process of a positive teacher to student relationship, additionally it instantly gave the students something to do.  This set the tone immediately that my classroom is a working classroom and it enabled me to observe to see how students interacted with one another.  Another plus that is not shown in the video is that this simple activity helps me to learn about my students and the same vice-versa as well as gives me a glimpse of their writing skills.

I noticed that when I began class I did not have my objectives and goals displayed and I should have been more prepared to have the clearly and neatly visible.  I also use a pluthera of hand motions and usually it aids with the message delivery, but sometimes it appeared a little goofy.  Now that I saw it I will be consciously aware of my gestures as I speak, to hopefully harness them better.  Another thing that I will improve is my speaking skills.  I must practice being a better speaker.  I used the word “um” a few times (I hate it when other people say it and then to catch myself doing it – this must change!) and I frequently said “ok” (I just think that this is a very juvenile phrase, and I am an adult).

The actual content of what I delivered was good I thoroughly enjoyed creating my classroom expectations poster because it was full of puns that all connect to agriculture.  This helped to teach students basic things such as: a “ewe” is a female sheep, or “kidding” is the process of delivering goats, or “sprouting” is the germination process of plants.  The end of my session I handed out paper to explain how the students would have to match up and figure out the individual names of a species.  For instance bovine is: Bull, Steer, Cow, Heifer. 

At the conclusion I asked students if they had any clarifying questions and let them know that I was willing to help.  Overall, the workshop was definitely a growing experience for me as the instructor.