Life Is a Marathon - so I might as well Pace Myself!

Hello!  Here is an update about my past week of Student Teaching.  As always, I would appreciate any advice or wisdom you have to share :)

Life Is a Marathon - so I might as well Pace Myself!

The photo above is after my twin and I ran the Philadelphia Marathon.  One of the things I have learned is how important family values are to me.  Often, I think that it is family and friends who are able to best keep me on track!

 

 

 

 

Integrating technology into the classroom!  I was able to show my students a video of them practicing Parli Pro so they could best prepare for the regional contest! 

The other photo is of a student wearing her proper PPE and working on center pieces for the banquet!  I cant wait to see how it will all turn out!

While it was nice to visit my co-hort and practice interviewing on the 27th, I was feeling a tid bit sad that I would not be able to be in school with my students.  I just feel like we have so much to do!  Good news - the substitute report was favorable for the day!

Finding my role at ACES & SLLC

“I know one thing, I like the kids.”  This is what I told Mrs. Bier during the State Legislative Leadership Conference.  Her response was “That’s the only thing that matters.”  It is obvious that my cooperating teacher has quite a bit of wisdom and I agree with her, as long as I care about the students then I have the potential to be a great teacher and FFA advisor. 

Speaking about being an FFA advisor, it was a pleasure acting as one at both ACES and SLLC.  Shippensburg FFA took a busload of students to ACES and Mrs. Bier organized all of the logistics and directed me with how to check students into rooms and taught me the ropes of being an advisor.  At SLLC I took the training wheels off and

Mrs. Bier directed me to organize the logistics of the conference.  It was very beneficial to have the opportunity to first observe and then facilitate.  At SLLC I was responsible for registering the students, checking them into the hotel, touching base about our schedule and our plan for the day, debriefing about the day’s events and debates held during the conference, and even planning our field trip once the conference was complete.  The field trip was to visit an alpaca farm in Carlisle.  While there we learned the history of alpacas and how they entered into the United States and we even had the opportunity to feed and walk the soft gentle creatures.  It was a pleasure to interact with and learn more about the four students who attended this conference.

In addition to helping keep track of students and caring for their well-being, Mrs. Bier and I also participated in professional development events such as inquiry based workshops, AET, and even helping to judge proficiency award applications.  It was pretty neat to learn about everything a teacher is expected to do at a conference.  Even though the expectations can be overwhelming at times I remind myself of the quote from the beginning “I know one thing, I like the kids.” 

Finding My Tough Skin...

Visiting an Alpaca Farm after attending SLLC!

This week was adventurous between SLLC, emergency evacuation drills, visiting another student teacher and so much more.  I had to really learn to be authoritative and to be clear with all of my expectations.  As a result, I think that my teaching has improved and that the students respect me more.  I am intrigued to see what the next few weeks will bring!

Here is a video that shares a brief re-cap of the week!

 

Student working on wood project

Ms. K doing fantastic work at E-Town!

Another Week of Student Teaching.... Another Week of Growth!

I am doing a bud vase demonstration.

This past week of student teaching I was able to grow and stretch much more than I thought was possible.  I learned that things do not always go as planned but sometimes a teacher still has to push through.  I also discovered that one of the jobs of an agriculture teacher is to multi task and be aware of several different things that happen at once.  I believe that I am up for the challenge and can continue to learn and grow!

Enjoy the video and pictures to learn more about this week!

An Officer Promoting the Teach Ag Essay Contest at our meeting!

Students are transplanting seeds for horticulture

This student is a freshman and he did a marvelous job of creating centerpieces for SLLC.  I am trying my best to get him started with an SAE and involved in the FFA.  I think it is really neat to see a student's potential and then to help them realize it too!

Weekly Reflection - Some things are out of my control!

After 4 weeks of teaching every single class - I have learned that some things are out of my control!  Watch my video - blog to see how. 

This past week was pretty incredible in terms of my growth and discovering resources that I have as a teacher. 

This student impressed me this week when she happily taught the leadership lesson.  This signaled to me that my lessons are thorough enough for even a student to follow!

 I will be excited to update you next week.

A Dynamic Week!

Mrs. Bier & I sporting our spring colors and love for agriculture education!

When I think of the word “dynamic” I think of things being LOUD and EXCITING and RISKY. 

Student Teaching Week # 7 AKA National FFA Week… has been Dynamic in terms of growth, activities, and relationships. 

Growth.  It is clear to me (and hopefully my cooperating teacher and students!) that I grew this week.  I grew in terms of preparedness, assertiveness, and relatability.  This week I believe that my lessons were better prepared than prior weeks and I hope to keep this trend constantly improving.  I was more assertive with my students in telling them that they had to stick with their given assignments.  I gave them my guidelines with a glimmer of hesitation but I ultimately stuck to my plan!  I also improved relatability by making better connections in class to what interests my students.  Additionally on a feedback sheet for me from my students, several students said that they like how I try to relate the content to them.  That is a very rewarding feeling!

Activities.  With all of the excitement of National FFA Week (YAY!), the week was booming with activities relating to leadership growth of students, fun, and even philanthropic events.  Some of the things we did were as follows: present gifts of appreciation to the school board at a meeting, conduct a game-night, ice-cream social, teacher appreciation breakfast, movie night and even a kiss-the-cow fundraiser contest.  This contest was quite the highlight and the talk of the school for a few days!  Ms. Paula, our epic cleaning specialist won the contest and she was beyond tickled!  The newspaper came to take photos and her picture was displayed during the announcements.  While all of this is stellar, the best part was the philanthropic approach.  The student’s at Shippensburg decided they wanted to raise money to send to an agriculture teacher who has an infant child that is facing intense medical procedures and hefty expenses.  This moment reminded me just how much the agriculture community is like a family.

Relationships.  As a student teacher I strive to do my best to remind my students that I am learning how to be a good teacher.  I try to build a positive relationship with them and that begins as me greeting all of my students every day at the door with a huge smile and saying “It is so nice to see you today!”  My student’s expect that and on my weekly evaluation from them one student said that a positive is me greeting them at the door.  I am also learning more about my student’s interests in terms of activities that they do and do not like in the classroom, my teaching style (which is constantly evolving), and their interests outside of school.  Building relationships with my students helps me to inspire them to exceed their potential and it gives me feedback on switches to use in the classroom to better keep my students engaged.

This DYNAMIC National FFA Week had the perfect ending for the Shippensburg chapter as they celebrated it at ACES.  ACES also reminded me why I am here as an FFA Advisor and it is because “I believe in the future of agriculture.”