Spring into Action: Week #14

When spring time is in the air, it completely changes the learning environment. Students are more lively, everyone's smiling, and I feel energized to teach! I can only imagine what learning and teaching would look like if we had this weather all the time!!

Except for the change in environment, this week was a normal week, but still many good things came out of it. There are a lot of wonderful moments at Greenwood and I am enjoying every bit of it.

In the world of FFA

Students got to participate in an Area Fun Night with the schools in the area. We had some pizza and students got to play volleyball and soccer. It was a lot of fun and students just got to let loose a little! I also got to talk with the local ag teacher and got some good advice for future jobs and programs. Thank you to both Mr. Hines and Mrs. Miller for your advice then and before!

We also got our flowers in for the flower sale so students got to help organize the orders. Boy did the room smell good!!

Students take the lead

Students leading their peers in a round of Kahoot!

In many of the units that I am wrapping up, I am having students do a group project or presentation. One assignment that my cooperating teacher has done which I wanted to try was giving students a topic and allowing them to teach the class about it for the day. They can use any tool that they want to use or do any activity they want. How would they want to learn? It was really neat giving them a little of my own advice now that I've taught for a couple of weeks. I was able to pose questions to them of how long will that really take their classmates complete or what will they do if they finish early? Many of them chose to incorporate Kahoot! (they like their technology!). I think they were able to pull some fun facts about each topic away from it.

Another super exciting way students have been doing presentations is with parliamentary procedure. We are essentially having mini class debates using the motions they learned. We switch out the chair person so they will each get a chance to be a chair. They LOVE debating and I think even if they don't want to speak, they still enjoy following along with the debate and making sure the other students are following the rules. 

What is even more enjoyable to me are the students who didn't particularly like the public speaking unit but who now seem to enjoy parlia pro. I think this has to do with the fact that parlia pro is like a puzzle or a math problem. If x happens, you must add y and z to solve your problem. I think this is more of their style. Knowing their personalities it certainly surprises me who likes it more than others but it still makes me incredibly happy that the students are enjoying the unit. 

Plans for next week

Next week is the final week of student teaching. It all seriously breezed by way too quickly and I wish I could have more time to spend with my students and cooperating teachers. Unfortunately, it must come to an end so that I can move on to the next big thing!

At this point, I am still teaching plant science where they will finish up their lessons on their topics. I also really want to try using Skype in the Classroom so we are trying that next week! (fingers crossed that it all works!!)

I will finish up the parlia pro debates in my agriscience course, and will continue to have students work on their welding projects. I hope to see their finished products before I leave but due to a number of factors and only seeing them every other day, I don't know if that will happen. Can't rush perfection! 

I will also work on finishing out my food science class which basically involves a review of the unit and their final assessment. In leadership they have a speech type of presentation to give next week. 

And that's about it! Stay tuned for my reflection on my final week of student teaching next week!

Leaving Thought

"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different..." -- C.S. Lewis

Change of Spotlight: Week #12

This week was unique in several ways. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go to the area speaking LDE contests. It was a great experience to see what I had helped prepare students to do. We had students in each competition including creed, parliamentary procedure, opening ceremonies/chapter conduct, junior and senior prepared public speaking, conservation, and extemporaneous speaking. 

I think the students gained a lot of good experience from the contest and there is much improvement felt from the first day they started their speaking journey to their final moment during the contest. They had the chance to shine, and they did a great job! Our parliamentary procedure team and chapter conduct students placed first and one of our extemporaneous speakers placed third, so they will have the opportunity to move on to regionals. 

When I wasn't helping students with their last minute jitters or answering their questions, I got to help with the parliamentary procedure contest. I simply helped to time the event and set up the contest (I wasn't a judge). It was a really neat experience to see how the contest is run and how similar or different it can be from the national competition. I was surprised at how much I was able to pick up on during the contest too. Normally, I get overwhelmed by the number of motions and the speed of the contest, but after learning about it more at Penn State and hearing my students practice, it's beginning to make more sense and I was able to follow along much easier. Just like all things, it takes time and practice!

Up and moving

I like to challenge myself by planning lessons where the students are moving. Sometimes, due to the nature of the activities or content, this can be a challenge. But in several of my classes, I was able to facilitate little labs or activities to get students out of their seats. I'm covering dairy in two of my classes, so I've had them taste cheese samples, or evaluate milk defects and off-flavors. I got them building and creating. I like the idea of project based activities where they can still be engaged but the spotlight is not always on me. That was one of my goals that I've been striving to move toward so I'm hopeful that these small changes will blossom into bigger ones. 

"Guest" Speakers

Several students were interested in participating in the Teach Ag Essay Contest. So I had a few "guest" speakers in my classes. It was really neat to see students in action and to help them plan for the classes. I enjoyed being able to pass on some of my knowledge and resources to them. They also had some really cool activities that they did in class which I think I will steal if I teach those same things in the future! 

Katie presenting on dairy cattle tack supplies

Sam engaging students in parliamentary procedure

Hunger awareness

Greenwood also hosted a hunger awareness event on Friday. The students worked hard to plan and prepare for the event before hand. This event featured a volleyball tournament for the sports fanatics, and bingo for those looking to win some prizes. We also sold food. Each of these components as well as other events throughout the year helped us raise over $5000 which surpassed the students' goal. So not only did we reach our goal, but we had a lot of fun and a ton of support from parents, alumni, teachers, and the community. 

Plans for next week

Next week, I am beginning to wrap up my classes. I am dropping Animal Bioscience, and in Welding, we are just finishing up our projects and I will be done with that class as well. I will also be teaching a shorter unit in Food Science on food safety, a This I Believe unit in Leadership, and in Small Engines, we will wrap up some of the systems and get to reassemble their engines. I will finish after that. I will also spend this week talking about parliamentary procedure in Agriscience and will continue with the new unit I started in Plant Science on crop production. 

Leaving Thought

"No one is sent by accident to anyone" -- A Course in Miracles