Monday, September 28, 2015
Last week of Fall Student Teaching!
Monday 9/21/15
- During 5th period today (Ag 2 - Integrated Ag), I felt like I ran out of time with my lesson as I had a video I really wanted to show at the end of the lecture to help wrap up and add more meaning to the lecture. When discussing this with my cooperating teacher, she raised the question of should I have shown it at the beginning of the class to make sure I had enough time to show it. I agreed with this and some days and some lessons I feel it would be more beneficial and grab student's interest by showing it at the beginning of the class. However, today and for this lesson I thought it would be beneficial to the students to see at the end of class and help them to grasp/make sense of the concepts.
- During 6th period (Ag 1 - Intro to Ag), students were actually very focused and paid attention to the last of the information we needed to cover to finish up a unit and prepare for a test. Looking back I noticed I called on the same 5ish students to answer questions so next time I might try to move around the class more and call on different students. Classroom management is definitely an issue in this class especially because there is a variety of maturity levels. I ALWAYS feel like I am running out of time in this class. I try to teach bell to bell but I am not sure if maybe I am trying to fit too much into one class period. I have had some feedback from a couple of students that I move too quickly sometimes. I loved that I got this kind of feedback from my students, especially because they are some that don't normally answer a lot of discussion questions in class. I have also been struggling with giving too much time for students to finish assignments, too much class time. I am not sure how to balance this. If it is only a couple of students and they have had adequate time to complete their assignment then I know I shouldn't give them more time. However, when it is almost the entire class then maybe I am not being clear on my directions or not giving the students enough time. Something I need to work on.
Tuesday 9/22/15
- In 6th period we started a new unit about Oregon Agriculture and I was very excited for today's lesson because I had brought in different examples of commodities (some they could eat) and had a video to expand on Oregon Ag but nothing seemed to flow together very well. I thought that I had planned ahead and felt organized for the lesson but it just didn't go quite as I had planned. I know the students might not know that because I didn't say anything to them about, I tried to just roll with it and keep going. I understand even the most well thought out lessons won't always go as planned. Today of course we had lots of technology issues, and it wasn't just in our classroom. The internet and phone systems had been off and on all day. Luckily I was still able to show the video through a phone on the doc camera which worked out perfectly as there was no commentary on the video, just background music.
- Today was also the day of my first formal observation from OSU and Dr. Croom came to observe me. I knew and had planned that he was coming so that it wouldn't distract me or throw me off when he got there however he arrived early and actually had the chance to observe both of the classes I was teaching at this point. I was excited for this because the two classes I am teaching have very different classroom dynamics and management. I felt we had a great conversation afterwards about how the classes went, and were able to discuss some questions I had and things to work on. He gave me some very positive feedback which was definitely motivating!
Wednesday 9/23/15
- I was FINALLY able to show the video for my 5th period class to help wrap up Monday's lesson! I first asked the students if they thought it would be beneficial to see it and HEAR it and then we had a short discussion to wrap up that topic. In the next lesson I was able to take them outside and discuss/point out concepts we had just gone over. It was great to get this class outside and out of the classroom. At the end of the class I incorporated an "exit slip/ticket out of class". This was something Dr. Croom and I spent some time discussing the purpose and how to incorporate them. I was excited that I actually had time to do this and it was reassuring when looking over them that the students were learning and understanding what I was teaching.
Thursday 9/24/15
- Today I only had one class to teach (5th period) due to homecoming week festivities, and event this class was cut short. The students had a "noise parade" and pep assembly. I really enjoyed these and was impressed by the amount of student and community involvement! I was even more impressed that the ASB officers and cheerleaders had choreographed a dance to the new popular song "Watch Me Whip and Nay Nay" or "Whip and Nay Nay" (I have no idea what the song is called, HA!). And the students did an AMAZING job with it! Loved it!
- Today was also National Teach Ag Day and I was bummed that my class ran out of time and I was not able to do the fun activity I had planned.
- I was able to put together a contest type activity to help wrap up the soils unit I had been teaching. Even though the students had more information to cover to further prepare them for the soils contest coming up, I wanted to create a way that I could end my lessons/time teaching and also test them but not actually giving them a test. Candy bar prizes was a great motivator/interest in this activity!
- My day wrapped up with actually having more time to chat with my cooperating teacher about how my first couple weeks of teaching had gone, what was coming up, and finishing up my checklist. I am not sure how much time other student teachers were able to have to talk with their cooperating teachers but I did not always have a set time to sit down and talk. My cooperating teacher has a very busy schedule and 2 little kids that need picked up about an hour after we are out of school which leaves little conference time for us. Unfortunately, I was not able to completely accomplish everything on my checklist but made notes for when I return in the winter. My cooperating teacher will be at Fall Conference and we are planning to continue some discussions regarding what I will be teaching when I return, materials I need, and anything else that will be going on that we can plan for.
First month of Student Teaching: CHECK! :)
Sunday, September 20, 2015
First Week Teaching 2 Classes!
Student Teaching - Week 4 - First week of 2 classes!
Monday 9/14/15
o
My
second class I began teaching has a mix of 8th graders, Freshman,
and sophomores. This is an intro to ag class. This class is challenging in the
form of classroom management. There are very different maturity levels among
the students. Overall the students are pretty good in listening and following
directions but there is a specific group, which I have discussed with Beth,
that are constantly having a side conversation. I have given several warnings
and split them up and I think I am at the point of needing to have a personal
conversation with the students. This class definitely tests my patients and
makes me grateful for my other class which makes them look like ANGELS! Ha!!
· Tuesday 9/15/15
o
Started
my day visiting and observing the Hermiston Ag Program for a couple hours. I
had the opportunity to sit in on a FFA officer meeting, visit with Leah Smith,
and observe 2 of Leah’s classes, ag business and ag science.
o
I
would have liked to spend the entire day observing classes and visiting with
both teachers to learn more about the structure of a 2 teacher program and the
different classes taught.
o
So
many different ways of ‘delivering’ the same information – so many options!
This is awesome and sucky at the same time! Sometimes I am great with making decisions
and going with it but when I see several different ways of doing something I
don’t know what is the BEST or most EFFECTIVE way of doing it – I love and
enjoy observing other ag teachers and their programs BUT I almost get
overwhelmed because of the many different options and ways to do different
lessons and how much information to give to students
o
I
was very surprised and excited that Leah gave me a copy of her ag science lab
notebook!!! I was not expecting that and I thought that was awesome!!!!! Very
excited about that! I think this sharing of resources and tools is something
very special about the ag teacher world and shows how close nit they really
are!
o
I
learned 2 major things today, 1) when doing a foldable notes activity, VERY
specific instructions are needed and 2) some classes go by WAY too fast! Especially
when you have to constantly manage your classroom – this takes a lot of time
away from teaching and getting through the material with your students. I did
not realize how wrong a foldable notes activity could go! LOL!! I thought the
directions were pretty clear in my mind and pretty simple concept to grasp. I
was wrong! Some students ended up with the craziest folds in their foldable and
some came up with the correct end result. Some of the students simply made me
laugh with their foldable and their comments. Oh well I guess!
o
Tonight
was the first night of freshman parent teacher conferences however these were
not your average PT conferences. Each of the freshman students were set up with
2-3 teachers for a meeting to discuss the expectations of high school,
difference from middle school and all of the opportunities that are available
to them. This is something brand new they are doing this year and I thought it
was a great idea to help welcome students to high school, get to know them and
their parents at the BEGINNING of the school year and help to set the standard for
classes. We heard very positive feedback from these conferences so that is
awesome! The community and parent support at this school is simple amazing!
· Wednesday 9/16/15
o
During
my 5th period Integrated Ag class I had a surprise visit from the
Head Teacher as he stopped by to check out our lesson and see how I was doing. At
first I did not see him come in but when I saw him I got real nervous but told
myself to just keep going with the lesson. I was so glad we were doing a fun
and engaging lab (edible soil profile) and that the students were doing a hands
on activity and taking notes at the same time. I was surprised with how much
the teacher knew about this lesson and how much he enjoyed it when he was in
school and was excited that we were doing it. Him stopping by and all he said
was very encouraging and uplifting. I know every day or lesson will include an
activity on that level when someone visits the class or is observing me but I
am glad that was the lesson we were on to start out the visits! I had GREAT
feedback from the students on that lesson and the reinforcement the activity
had on the information I wanted the students to retain and learn.
· Thursday 9/17/15
o 6th period Intro to Ag (Ag 1), seriously challenged my classroom management skills leaving me fairly frustrated at the end of class. In this class specifically, I have several students that require additional learning assistance and finding the balance of helping them find success as well as the rest of the class is a challenge in itself. ALL of the students were extra chatty
today which made teaching the last of the material seem next to
impossible! Before class, I spent extra time planning how to use our time more efficiently so we could cover the rest of the material and prepare for the test on Monday. This class makes me feel rushed on a daily basis, and I need to strategize how to gear the students' energy toward the lesson/activity with the goal of using our class time more efficiently. I've noticed I
need to be more strict when allowing students to leave the classroom (use the restroom, get a drink, or go to their locker, etc.) as well as on deadlines. I need to be more clear and concise in my expectations of assignments and of the students themselves. I think once these two issues are taken care of, more class time will be free to use in engaging the students in the lesson. I understand there are always special circumstances, so finding a balance is something I will continue to work towards.
· Friday 9/18/15
o
Our
half day work day was spent decorating for homecoming in the high school
hallway. Actually, all of the students, middle school and high school were
required to be at school for the 4 hours until their decorations were complete.
All of the classes really went all out with their decorations and celebrating
homecoming is a big deal here! In a small school you will most likely be asked
to be a class adviser, help with sports games, or many other school activities
that may not be pertinent to your job description. These kinds of activities
are fun but HOLY COW are they exhausting! Ha!
Monday, September 14, 2015
Student Teaching Blog
Week 3 - Started teaching 1 class!
9/7/15 - 9/11/15
Monday 9/7/15
- Labor Day Holiday = No School!
- Will go to school on Friday to make up for Monday
Tuesday 9/8/15
- Ag Leadership is currently reading Habitudes and there are videos that correspond with each of the chapters. Today's video talked about not being able to lead others until you first take care of yourself, then you are more ready to serve others. Even though we may feel guilty taking this time for ourselves as it could be spent doing other things but we shouldn't, we need some time to refuel and recharge. This is something incredibly important for me and that I have started to take more seriously over the past year. I have learned the hard way what happens when I let myself get run down or over-committed and as a result of that I am not the best version of myself.
- I felt today's lesson, Intro to Soil Science, was overall a success. We made it through the entire lesson plan for the day with time to review at the end of class. However, I also felt like I was boring the students or that my lesson wasn't that exciting. I guess there wasn't a ton of classroom management that needed to happen and the information we covered was general overview/introduction material. There wasn't a lot of hands-on activities I could really incorporate today. But, all of the students answered my questions correctly and were on point the entire class period. I had one student working on homework for another class and when I asked him to save it for later, he immediately put it away. Beth complimented me on how I handled that situation so that was a great confidence boost for me.
Wednesday 9/9/15
- During Plant Science today, instead of posting vocab words on the board or reading them aloud, Beth posted small strips of paper of all the vocab words and definitions around the room and the students were given time to record these in their journals. I thought that was a neat idea and a great way to switch it up and get students moving around
- Today did not go as smooth as I had hoped it would, especially compared to yesterday. I personally felt because I had several things planned and several worksheets to pass out, that I was going to run out of time which made me feel scattered and unorganized even though I was organized and prepared. I suppose I went from one extreme of not having any handouts to another extreme of having too many handouts. After visiting with Beth and another teacher, I decided that next time I will try having piles of handouts on the front table and have students pick them up at the beginning of class. This would not only save time of me passing them out throughout the class period but would also prevent the possibility of forgetting to pass them out or feeling scattered.
- Not realizing it in the moment, I completely skipped a hands-on activity I planned but just continued with the topic I was lecturing on and then came back to the activity at the end. I didn't want to stop and back up in the middle of the lesson so I just went with it and I think it was all fine!
- Tonight we had a district Ag Teachers meeting in Athena. It was great to sit in on this meeting but I felt very overwhelmed when they were discussing dates of events on the calendar. I felt the meeting would have gone more smoothly if there was an agenda and a larger circle of tables so that everyone had a place at the table. It was great to meet most of the other Ag Teachers in the district here and the district officers.
Thursday 9/10/15
- Today was another challenging day as we learned the texture by feel - ribbon method in soils. The students in this class are very high achieving students and want to know how to do everything right all the time. This is great as there is little classroom management and the students are very dedicated. However, this is also challenging because some activities such as the ribbon method, take a lot of practice. At the end of the first day a couple of my students felt like they had failed because they couldn't make a ribbon or theirs wasn't as long as someone else. When one of the students asked if there was an exact right answer, I honestly didn't know how to respond because there is not always a definite right or wrong answer. I felt like I had failed with the lesson or that I wasn't clear enough in my instructions. I personally thought all of the students did very well and were successful for the first time texturing. And as the bell rang I told them "great job today" and one of my students replied with "great job teaching". This definitely lifted my spirits and inspired me to keep doing my best.
Friday 9/11/15
- Completed my first ag program visit this morning at Athena (Weston-McEwen) High School
- I did a ton of driving today but it was worth it to see different teaching styles, activities, and overall atmosphere of different schools in the same district.
- In my class, I had 3 out of 9 students in class. One student was sick but the others were gone due to sports. This is one of the main challenges of Friday school because at small schools most students are involved in several activities and when you don't normally have school on Fridays, that is when the majority of games and traveling are planned. Oh well - no big deal. Today I wanted to build on Thursday's lesson/activity to not only enforce the importance of the texture by feel method, but to also enforce the idea that it takes a large amount of practice to truly grasp this method. Starting with a demonstration was far more effective in helping the students understand the process. Working with the students on each soil sample gave me the opportunity to better understand the challenges they were facing and to help them reach success. Throughout the activity and at the end of the class period, I felt the students had reached more success through our discussion and feedback while comparing both days of doing the activity. I definitely need to remember to incorporate a demonstration at the beginning of hands-on and lab activities. I felt overall today had much more success and positive energy and a great way to end my first week of teaching!
Week 3 - Started teaching 1 class!
9/7/15 - 9/11/15
Monday 9/7/15
- Labor Day Holiday = No School!
- Will go to school on Friday to make up for Monday
Tuesday 9/8/15
- Ag Leadership is currently reading Habitudes and there are videos that correspond with each of the chapters. Today's video talked about not being able to lead others until you first take care of yourself, then you are more ready to serve others. Even though we may feel guilty taking this time for ourselves as it could be spent doing other things but we shouldn't, we need some time to refuel and recharge. This is something incredibly important for me and that I have started to take more seriously over the past year. I have learned the hard way what happens when I let myself get run down or over-committed and as a result of that I am not the best version of myself.
- I felt today's lesson, Intro to Soil Science, was overall a success. We made it through the entire lesson plan for the day with time to review at the end of class. However, I also felt like I was boring the students or that my lesson wasn't that exciting. I guess there wasn't a ton of classroom management that needed to happen and the information we covered was general overview/introduction material. There wasn't a lot of hands-on activities I could really incorporate today. But, all of the students answered my questions correctly and were on point the entire class period. I had one student working on homework for another class and when I asked him to save it for later, he immediately put it away. Beth complimented me on how I handled that situation so that was a great confidence boost for me.
Wednesday 9/9/15
- During Plant Science today, instead of posting vocab words on the board or reading them aloud, Beth posted small strips of paper of all the vocab words and definitions around the room and the students were given time to record these in their journals. I thought that was a neat idea and a great way to switch it up and get students moving around
- Today did not go as smooth as I had hoped it would, especially compared to yesterday. I personally felt because I had several things planned and several worksheets to pass out, that I was going to run out of time which made me feel scattered and unorganized even though I was organized and prepared. I suppose I went from one extreme of not having any handouts to another extreme of having too many handouts. After visiting with Beth and another teacher, I decided that next time I will try having piles of handouts on the front table and have students pick them up at the beginning of class. This would not only save time of me passing them out throughout the class period but would also prevent the possibility of forgetting to pass them out or feeling scattered.
- Not realizing it in the moment, I completely skipped a hands-on activity I planned but just continued with the topic I was lecturing on and then came back to the activity at the end. I didn't want to stop and back up in the middle of the lesson so I just went with it and I think it was all fine!
- Tonight we had a district Ag Teachers meeting in Athena. It was great to sit in on this meeting but I felt very overwhelmed when they were discussing dates of events on the calendar. I felt the meeting would have gone more smoothly if there was an agenda and a larger circle of tables so that everyone had a place at the table. It was great to meet most of the other Ag Teachers in the district here and the district officers.
Thursday 9/10/15
- Today was another challenging day as we learned the texture by feel - ribbon method in soils. The students in this class are very high achieving students and want to know how to do everything right all the time. This is great as there is little classroom management and the students are very dedicated. However, this is also challenging because some activities such as the ribbon method, take a lot of practice. At the end of the first day a couple of my students felt like they had failed because they couldn't make a ribbon or theirs wasn't as long as someone else. When one of the students asked if there was an exact right answer, I honestly didn't know how to respond because there is not always a definite right or wrong answer. I felt like I had failed with the lesson or that I wasn't clear enough in my instructions. I personally thought all of the students did very well and were successful for the first time texturing. And as the bell rang I told them "great job today" and one of my students replied with "great job teaching". This definitely lifted my spirits and inspired me to keep doing my best.
Friday 9/11/15
- Completed my first ag program visit this morning at Athena (Weston-McEwen) High School
- I did a ton of driving today but it was worth it to see different teaching styles, activities, and overall atmosphere of different schools in the same district.
- In my class, I had 3 out of 9 students in class. One student was sick but the others were gone due to sports. This is one of the main challenges of Friday school because at small schools most students are involved in several activities and when you don't normally have school on Fridays, that is when the majority of games and traveling are planned. Oh well - no big deal. Today I wanted to build on Thursday's lesson/activity to not only enforce the importance of the texture by feel method, but to also enforce the idea that it takes a large amount of practice to truly grasp this method. Starting with a demonstration was far more effective in helping the students understand the process. Working with the students on each soil sample gave me the opportunity to better understand the challenges they were facing and to help them reach success. Throughout the activity and at the end of the class period, I felt the students had reached more success through our discussion and feedback while comparing both days of doing the activity. I definitely need to remember to incorporate a demonstration at the beginning of hands-on and lab activities. I felt overall today had much more success and positive energy and a great way to end my first week of teaching!
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Student Teaching Blog
Week 1 - In-service and State Fair
8/24/15 - 8/29/15
Monday 8/24/15
- Today was my very first day at my student teaching site. It is the beginning of in-service week so we started the morning off by attending the district in-service meeting at a neighboring high school. This is something all of the schools in the district do each year to recognize years of service, introduce new teachers, as well as introduce any new changes to policy in the district. I had the opportunity to meet several teachers and other staff members. It was interesting to learn how many years some of these teachers had been teaching and most of them in the same school! One teacher (our librarian) has been at the school for 30+ years!
- After lunch we returned to school. My cooperating teacher rode back with me and was able to point out various farms, the bombing range, where fires had hit/where they normally hit each year as well as the best route for me to get to school each day. She gave me a quick tour of one end of the town and how to get to the elementary school. I would have liked to have seen the rest of the town and the other route to get to the high school. One of the routes is extremely dangerous in the winter time as it is a very steep hill. I enjoyed helping clean and organize the ag classroom for the rest of the afternoon. We had some great conversations about what the chapter does, what I did in my high school chapter and the various experiences I have had.
Tuesday 8/25/15
- This morning we had a staff meeting where new policies and calendar changes were discussed. All of the teachers introduced themselves as well as I introduced myself to all of them and they made me feel very welcome. I was amazed at how strict schools have become since I graduated. There were many things brought up that students were not allowed to do and I found myself thinking "I definitely did that in high school". So that was a great learning experience for me. I feel its very important for me to know and understand what is expected of the students when they walk through those doors in the morning. I want to be sure I am watching and holding students to their expectations.
- After lunch I continued to help clean and organize the ag classroom. We discussed me organizing an ice breaker/team building activity with each of her classes on the first day of school. I instantly thought to myself SERIOUSLY? FIRST DAY? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING? A huge pit in my stomach began to form. Personally, I am not a fan of ice breaker activities because I tend to feel awkward in them, however I do understand their importance. She also wanted me to have some kind of control over the class from day 1 and introduce myself to the students.
Wednesday 8/26/15
- Today I spent much time researching and organizing ice breaker/team building activities for the first day of school. My teacher shared many ideas with me and I shared ideas with her as well. Today was also cut short as she had to leave early for an appointment and I headed out for Corvallis. We both left with a plan in mind is something that always makes me feel more prepared for the next day. Even if I don't get everything on my list done that I wanted to, if I organize it and prioritize it for the next day, then I am okay with it.
Thursday 8/27/15
- I was surprised by how short our orientation meeting was. Even though we covered a lot of information and expectations for this first month and year, I found afterwards that I still had many questions that needed clarifying. This is something I struggle with. I need to find a way to trigger those questions while I am in a meeting or receiving instructions. Most of the time it doesn't hit me until later.
- Since my school was not at state fair I was placed with another FFA chapter which has 2 advisers.
Friday 8/28/15
- Started the day bright and early at state fair
- Completed sheep herdsmanship which took sooooo much longer than I thought it would. I did not realize everything a herdmanship judge has to take into consideration when they are judging. After the first day of judging, we found a way to be more efficient.
- While observing both teachers throughout the day I found it is sometimes easier to have more than one adviser at fair to help keep track of students and making sure they are getting ready when they are supposed to. However, the group of students that this chapter brought to state fair seemed to be very focused on what they needed to do each day and where/when they needed to be somewhere.
- One of the teachers was the goat superintendent so I assisted him in clerking a couple of the goat shows and helping get students lined up. I had actually never done this before (I was always showing) and I was surprised by how difficult it can be when you don't know the students or even all of the ag teachers.
Saturday 8/29/15
- Started the day bright and early again at state fair
- I had the opportunity to listen to students give practices oral reasons sets in preparation for Monday's contest. I always enjoy listening to reasons and always seem to find new terminology to use. Listening to reasons and watching classes I think is extremely important as it helps you keep up with the trends and keeps your mind thinking about those things. I have not given a set of reasons since judging at LBCC but after listening to those students it instantly started to bring back sets I had given and the progress I had made from the beginning of my first year to the end of my 2nd.
- Tonight was the market show and I assisted clerking that as well. I don't know how many times I walked around the FFA barn trying to track down students and their animal. I was very thankful for the students who were already fitting their animals and ready to go. It was a long night but a great experience. I was very thankful to these 2 advisers for letting me "tag along" with them for the couple days of fair and they said anything I need to just give them a call and they will help me any way that they can!
Week 2 - First week of classes WITH students
8/31/15 - 9/3/15
Monday 8/31/15
- Well today was the big day - FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! That also means that it was my day to do an ice breaker and team building activity with each of the classes. There are 8 class periods in the day with first period being our prep period. Having your prep period first period can be nice but also challenging as first period gets interrupted the most. We did not have a prep period today because there was a quick welcome back assembly and then each of the classes (freshman-senior) met with their class and advisers to go over new policy changes and expectations for the year. My cooperating teacher along with another teacher are class advisers for the freshman class.
- I chose an introduction activity for students where they had to get a partner and find out 3 pieces of information about their partner then they would introduce their partner to the rest of the class. I really liked this activity as it didn't put students directly on the spot on the first day of school and it can also be used when introducing a new unit or topic. My cooperating teacher said it is similar to Think-Pair-Share activity.
- After introductions each of the classes attempted to perform the Human Knot team building activity. There were some students who had done this activity previous to today but there were many students who had never done it. At the beginning there were several "this is impossible", "this is too hard", "I can't do it" etc. etc. but eventually the students got the knot undone. Each of the class sizes varied throughout the day which either made the activity easier or more challenging. All of the classes were successful in untangling their knot except for one class. After reflecting on that specific class I think there was a difference in the maturity level of the students as well as the confidence level. My cooperating teacher and I had a good conversation at the end of the day which was encouraging for me and we also discussed the first class I would be teaching and the material that needed to be covered.
Tuesday 9/1/15
- Today I spent much of my observing my cooperating teacher's teaching style and how it varied among classes. I noticed with younger classes there was very concise and detailed instruction given compared to older classes, the atmosphere seemed somewhat more laid back. Not that that class didn't accomplish what they needed to, things were just done and talked about in a different way. Upperclassman and FFA officers already knew what was expected of them in the classroom and had an idea of what the class would entail. Dynamics and curriculum for each class plays a part in this as well.
- One thing she would say during class or while giving instructions to a class is "I'm going to SUGGEST THAT you don't/do....." It was a different way of telling students things they should or shouldn't be doing during class or how to accomplish a task. This is something I am definitely going to use...I noticed she talks to her class a lot like this. It's difficult for me to describe but she uses words like 'suggest' or 'what questions do you have' instead of 'do you have questions'.
- There is a lot of overlap of students between classes and there are similar activities for each class causing many students to complete the same or very similar tasks multiple times throughout the day...have to find a way to switch it up just enough so that overlap students are doing the same thing every class period....for me on the first day it was challenging to switch up the ice breaker activities and a few students participated in the same activity a few times but surprisingly kept a good positive attitude about it.
- My cooperating teacher bought composition notebooks for students to purchase from her if they did not already have a specific notebook for each class...this is a really great idea as some students are limited on school supplies or time but most of them can afford $1...I have a feeling as a teacher I will be paying for many things out of pocket and might not always get reimbursed for it...I will have to work hard to find a way to avoid this if at all possible.
- I also learned more about what it means to be a Proficiency School. All students have the opportunity to retake quizzes and tests to increase their grade. As a teacher you have to prepare several different types of tests and quizzes so students are able to do this.
Wednesday 9/2/15
- One of the highlights from my day today was the experiment the 7th graders worked on in 7th period..it was a bubblegum experiement where one student chewed the gum for a certain length of time and the other students in the group weighed the gum and recorded the information. I found it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to have very clear and detailed instructions for 7th graders and to make sure they do not SWALLOW or SPIT OUT the experiment ;) This was one example of always having complications with a lesson that you simply cannot plan for!
- Another piece of advice my teacher has shared with me is that many students will ask for your attention in the most unique/bazaar/non-traditional/challenging ways...I am starting to pick up on some of these students and know I need to make sure that I keep a positive attitude and do my best to keep the student engaged and excited about something...
Thursday 9/3/15
- It is the end of the first week of classes and I am incredibly exhausted! I have an hour drive to and from school each day, which I don't mind, however it means I have to get up that much earlier and get home that much later each day. I have found that I am much more productive and focused in the mornings than afternoons so I need to use this to my advantage. I want to get to the point where all I have to do in the mornings is double check I have all materials for my lessons that day, check emails/do any house keeping tasks and just be sure I am prepared for that specific day. I would like to have a plan for each day done in advance (say by Sunday afternoons for example) to make each day easier throughout the week. I also have found that I am much more productive at school then when I get home in the evenings. So to use this to my advantage and staying on top of things I am going to attempt to get all of my work done at school where I have internet access and plenty of space to spread out my materials so that when I get home I can relax and unwind. I understand this will not always happen but if I plan ahead I know I can make it happen most of the time.
- There was a FFA officer meeting at lunch today which I found to be a very efficient use of everyone's time since many of the students are involved in extracurricular activities after school. However, this does cut into your lunch break as a teacher and your break to re-group and make sure you are prepared for the afternoon's classes.
- Tonight I was invited to attend the OWA (Oregon Women for Agriculture) meeting in Lexington. This chapter has been recently put together and my cooperating teacher is the president. I had the opportunity to meet a few other ag teachers in the area as well as other community members. Many of whom I knew from OSU!
***No school on Fridays (except when we don't have school on Mondays due to a holiday, school is made up on that following Friday)! There will be many Fridays that will be in-service days, half work days or grading days, otherwise I will have 3 day weekends!
Week 1 - In-service and State Fair
8/24/15 - 8/29/15
Monday 8/24/15
- Today was my very first day at my student teaching site. It is the beginning of in-service week so we started the morning off by attending the district in-service meeting at a neighboring high school. This is something all of the schools in the district do each year to recognize years of service, introduce new teachers, as well as introduce any new changes to policy in the district. I had the opportunity to meet several teachers and other staff members. It was interesting to learn how many years some of these teachers had been teaching and most of them in the same school! One teacher (our librarian) has been at the school for 30+ years!
- After lunch we returned to school. My cooperating teacher rode back with me and was able to point out various farms, the bombing range, where fires had hit/where they normally hit each year as well as the best route for me to get to school each day. She gave me a quick tour of one end of the town and how to get to the elementary school. I would have liked to have seen the rest of the town and the other route to get to the high school. One of the routes is extremely dangerous in the winter time as it is a very steep hill. I enjoyed helping clean and organize the ag classroom for the rest of the afternoon. We had some great conversations about what the chapter does, what I did in my high school chapter and the various experiences I have had.
Tuesday 8/25/15
- This morning we had a staff meeting where new policies and calendar changes were discussed. All of the teachers introduced themselves as well as I introduced myself to all of them and they made me feel very welcome. I was amazed at how strict schools have become since I graduated. There were many things brought up that students were not allowed to do and I found myself thinking "I definitely did that in high school". So that was a great learning experience for me. I feel its very important for me to know and understand what is expected of the students when they walk through those doors in the morning. I want to be sure I am watching and holding students to their expectations.
- After lunch I continued to help clean and organize the ag classroom. We discussed me organizing an ice breaker/team building activity with each of her classes on the first day of school. I instantly thought to myself SERIOUSLY? FIRST DAY? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING? A huge pit in my stomach began to form. Personally, I am not a fan of ice breaker activities because I tend to feel awkward in them, however I do understand their importance. She also wanted me to have some kind of control over the class from day 1 and introduce myself to the students.
Wednesday 8/26/15
- Today I spent much time researching and organizing ice breaker/team building activities for the first day of school. My teacher shared many ideas with me and I shared ideas with her as well. Today was also cut short as she had to leave early for an appointment and I headed out for Corvallis. We both left with a plan in mind is something that always makes me feel more prepared for the next day. Even if I don't get everything on my list done that I wanted to, if I organize it and prioritize it for the next day, then I am okay with it.
Thursday 8/27/15
- I was surprised by how short our orientation meeting was. Even though we covered a lot of information and expectations for this first month and year, I found afterwards that I still had many questions that needed clarifying. This is something I struggle with. I need to find a way to trigger those questions while I am in a meeting or receiving instructions. Most of the time it doesn't hit me until later.
- Since my school was not at state fair I was placed with another FFA chapter which has 2 advisers.
Friday 8/28/15
- Started the day bright and early at state fair
- Completed sheep herdsmanship which took sooooo much longer than I thought it would. I did not realize everything a herdmanship judge has to take into consideration when they are judging. After the first day of judging, we found a way to be more efficient.
- While observing both teachers throughout the day I found it is sometimes easier to have more than one adviser at fair to help keep track of students and making sure they are getting ready when they are supposed to. However, the group of students that this chapter brought to state fair seemed to be very focused on what they needed to do each day and where/when they needed to be somewhere.
- One of the teachers was the goat superintendent so I assisted him in clerking a couple of the goat shows and helping get students lined up. I had actually never done this before (I was always showing) and I was surprised by how difficult it can be when you don't know the students or even all of the ag teachers.
Saturday 8/29/15
- Started the day bright and early again at state fair
- I had the opportunity to listen to students give practices oral reasons sets in preparation for Monday's contest. I always enjoy listening to reasons and always seem to find new terminology to use. Listening to reasons and watching classes I think is extremely important as it helps you keep up with the trends and keeps your mind thinking about those things. I have not given a set of reasons since judging at LBCC but after listening to those students it instantly started to bring back sets I had given and the progress I had made from the beginning of my first year to the end of my 2nd.
- Tonight was the market show and I assisted clerking that as well. I don't know how many times I walked around the FFA barn trying to track down students and their animal. I was very thankful for the students who were already fitting their animals and ready to go. It was a long night but a great experience. I was very thankful to these 2 advisers for letting me "tag along" with them for the couple days of fair and they said anything I need to just give them a call and they will help me any way that they can!
Week 2 - First week of classes WITH students
8/31/15 - 9/3/15
Monday 8/31/15
- Well today was the big day - FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! That also means that it was my day to do an ice breaker and team building activity with each of the classes. There are 8 class periods in the day with first period being our prep period. Having your prep period first period can be nice but also challenging as first period gets interrupted the most. We did not have a prep period today because there was a quick welcome back assembly and then each of the classes (freshman-senior) met with their class and advisers to go over new policy changes and expectations for the year. My cooperating teacher along with another teacher are class advisers for the freshman class.
- I chose an introduction activity for students where they had to get a partner and find out 3 pieces of information about their partner then they would introduce their partner to the rest of the class. I really liked this activity as it didn't put students directly on the spot on the first day of school and it can also be used when introducing a new unit or topic. My cooperating teacher said it is similar to Think-Pair-Share activity.
- After introductions each of the classes attempted to perform the Human Knot team building activity. There were some students who had done this activity previous to today but there were many students who had never done it. At the beginning there were several "this is impossible", "this is too hard", "I can't do it" etc. etc. but eventually the students got the knot undone. Each of the class sizes varied throughout the day which either made the activity easier or more challenging. All of the classes were successful in untangling their knot except for one class. After reflecting on that specific class I think there was a difference in the maturity level of the students as well as the confidence level. My cooperating teacher and I had a good conversation at the end of the day which was encouraging for me and we also discussed the first class I would be teaching and the material that needed to be covered.
Tuesday 9/1/15
- Today I spent much of my observing my cooperating teacher's teaching style and how it varied among classes. I noticed with younger classes there was very concise and detailed instruction given compared to older classes, the atmosphere seemed somewhat more laid back. Not that that class didn't accomplish what they needed to, things were just done and talked about in a different way. Upperclassman and FFA officers already knew what was expected of them in the classroom and had an idea of what the class would entail. Dynamics and curriculum for each class plays a part in this as well.
- One thing she would say during class or while giving instructions to a class is "I'm going to SUGGEST THAT you don't/do....." It was a different way of telling students things they should or shouldn't be doing during class or how to accomplish a task. This is something I am definitely going to use...I noticed she talks to her class a lot like this. It's difficult for me to describe but she uses words like 'suggest' or 'what questions do you have' instead of 'do you have questions'.
- There is a lot of overlap of students between classes and there are similar activities for each class causing many students to complete the same or very similar tasks multiple times throughout the day...have to find a way to switch it up just enough so that overlap students are doing the same thing every class period....for me on the first day it was challenging to switch up the ice breaker activities and a few students participated in the same activity a few times but surprisingly kept a good positive attitude about it.
- My cooperating teacher bought composition notebooks for students to purchase from her if they did not already have a specific notebook for each class...this is a really great idea as some students are limited on school supplies or time but most of them can afford $1...I have a feeling as a teacher I will be paying for many things out of pocket and might not always get reimbursed for it...I will have to work hard to find a way to avoid this if at all possible.
- I also learned more about what it means to be a Proficiency School. All students have the opportunity to retake quizzes and tests to increase their grade. As a teacher you have to prepare several different types of tests and quizzes so students are able to do this.
Wednesday 9/2/15
- One of the highlights from my day today was the experiment the 7th graders worked on in 7th period..it was a bubblegum experiement where one student chewed the gum for a certain length of time and the other students in the group weighed the gum and recorded the information. I found it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to have very clear and detailed instructions for 7th graders and to make sure they do not SWALLOW or SPIT OUT the experiment ;) This was one example of always having complications with a lesson that you simply cannot plan for!
- Another piece of advice my teacher has shared with me is that many students will ask for your attention in the most unique/bazaar/non-traditional/challenging ways...I am starting to pick up on some of these students and know I need to make sure that I keep a positive attitude and do my best to keep the student engaged and excited about something...
Thursday 9/3/15
- It is the end of the first week of classes and I am incredibly exhausted! I have an hour drive to and from school each day, which I don't mind, however it means I have to get up that much earlier and get home that much later each day. I have found that I am much more productive and focused in the mornings than afternoons so I need to use this to my advantage. I want to get to the point where all I have to do in the mornings is double check I have all materials for my lessons that day, check emails/do any house keeping tasks and just be sure I am prepared for that specific day. I would like to have a plan for each day done in advance (say by Sunday afternoons for example) to make each day easier throughout the week. I also have found that I am much more productive at school then when I get home in the evenings. So to use this to my advantage and staying on top of things I am going to attempt to get all of my work done at school where I have internet access and plenty of space to spread out my materials so that when I get home I can relax and unwind. I understand this will not always happen but if I plan ahead I know I can make it happen most of the time.
- There was a FFA officer meeting at lunch today which I found to be a very efficient use of everyone's time since many of the students are involved in extracurricular activities after school. However, this does cut into your lunch break as a teacher and your break to re-group and make sure you are prepared for the afternoon's classes.
- Tonight I was invited to attend the OWA (Oregon Women for Agriculture) meeting in Lexington. This chapter has been recently put together and my cooperating teacher is the president. I had the opportunity to meet a few other ag teachers in the area as well as other community members. Many of whom I knew from OSU!
***No school on Fridays (except when we don't have school on Mondays due to a holiday, school is made up on that following Friday)! There will be many Fridays that will be in-service days, half work days or grading days, otherwise I will have 3 day weekends!
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