Week Seven was a Slice of Heaven

Week seven was kicked off by the start of National FFA week. Our National FFA Week at McGuffey is a little different then the normal week at some other schools. We had different spirit days each week and the students were very excited about the week's activities. On Tuesday, we had a work day of getting ready for teacher appreciation day which was held on Wednesday. It is a day where the students celebrate the teachers and show off what they have learned in class. It was quite the rush getting ready and having that day with the students. I was so proud of my animal science class for creating a working udder for milking a cow. My greenhouse students also did research on the aquaponics system and created a poster to teach other students and teachers how the system works, and how they could use the system in their own classrooms.

Lastly we ended National FFA week by celebrating all day and having games where we were against Mr. Leasures classes vs. Mrs. Cambruzzi's.  We had a lot of fun all day, and it was neat to see the students really get into the games and be competitive.

One thing I had to work on this week was relaxing. I needed to put all my strict educational objective aside, and have a little fun while working on organizing and team building. It was a good week, and I will need to work on my organized chaos a little more, but it was quite the successful week!

Looking ahead:
Greenhouse: Soils Unit!!
Intro to Ag: Public Speaking Presentations
Animal Science: Swine Unit
Senior Ag: Nocti Prep
Floral Design: Music Note arrangements for band

ACES As A Teacher Educator!

On February 18th, I had the privilege to travel with McGuffey FFA Chapter to Harrisburg for ACES. I have been to ACES every year as a FFA member, so this was my first time traveling as a teacher. After our long drive to Harrisburg, we finally arrived. We sent the students on their way to their workshops as the teachers gathered into one of the ballrooms. We sat down and had a presentation about using rats in the classroom. This was extremely helpful when thinking about how to use science  based research on other things besides rats in our classroom. This led to a discussion about how we could use these for our aquaponics system and measure our fish. After that presentation, Miranda and I went down to check on our students and take pictures. It was really neat to see the students and watch them participate. After that, we checked into our hotel rooms, had dinner and the dance. My students definitely had a great time and we then put them to bed around 11. It was awesome to see that they enjoyed it as much as I did when I was in high school. The next day, we had the morning church service and then we had breakfast. After breakfast, we talked about food hunger as a group, and it was cool to see how much our students wanted to help others in need.

Overall, I had a great time at ACES, and I can't wait to go to SLLC!

Agriculture to Science - Assignment #8 - Science Classroom Visit

Class: Biology

Lesson Title: The Krebs Cycle and CDT’s

Date: 1/26/17

What were the objectives of the lesson?

“Students will be able to: Describe the overall process of cell respiration & identify the beginning steps of the Krebs Cycle.”

In your opinion, where the students interesting in the lesson? Why or why not?

I believe that some students were interested in the lesson while others were not. They seemed interested from the activities that happened the previous day, but students who were not interested just asked questions and seemed to “play dumb” and get irritated quickly.

What teaching methods or behaviors were most effective in achieving the objectives?

The teacher, Mrs. Brown, asked the students a lot of open-ended questions. This gave the student the opportunity to think and answer questions. It then just lead to the next question and answer. This was the most effective in teaching the objectives by using previous knowledge.

In your opinion, was the teacher 'giving away' information or facilitating learning? Please explain.

I felt that the teacher was facilitating learning. Sometimes, she would give a hint or a clue to help them along, but these students were pretty smart in figuring out the Krebs Cycle and learning about how ATP in cells work.

How would you evaluate this teacher in terms of clarity, enthusiasm, business-like behavior, variability, learner-centeredness, and with-it-ness. Please provide specific examples to support your evaluation. 

On a scale of 1 – 5, 1 being almost none, 5 being super awesome, I would rate the following as:

Clarity: 5. Teacher had directions on board, and students began their work before the bell even rang. She obviously has great classroom management.

Enthusiasm: 3. Her enthusiasm was somewhat there, she could get excited at times, but her voice and tone remained the same throughout the 42 minute lesson.

Business like: 5. Mrs. Brown was very professional and proper with the students. She maintained eye contact with each student in the room.

Variability: 2. I would rank Mrs. Brown’s variability at a 2 for this class period. Students were sitting for most of their day in this class. I do feel that she has stations where students do move around a lot, but this day was more of a discussion day.

Learner Centered: 5. This is completely learner centered. Almost all of the students were engaged minus one or two of them, they seemed to like the class and enjoy what was being taught.

With-it-ness: 5. This teacher has been doing this for 9 years. She knows her material and her classroom.

Other comments:

This period, the teacher focused the students’ attention by having their do now on the board. These students knew exactly what to do, as they have been in the routine for over half the school year. To help the students have interest in a topic, she had them think about the activity they did yesterday with strips of paper to understand the cycles that cells go through. Once the lesson was started, Mrs. Brown continued to have structured framework by helping the students visualize the material by having hand outs, and being able to draw on the interactive board that they have.

Ewe Won't Believe This!! - SAE Visit #1!

Assignment #7 – Supervision of Work-Based Learning with SAE Visits

1.     Who did you visit?

I visited Jeffrey McCon on February 6^th, 2017. Jeffrey is a senior who is involved in the FFA at McGuffey High School. He is currently in an SAE class and a welding class this year. Jeffrey is an active FFA member and officer who is also involved in school sports such as wrestling and football, which gives him a lot of different opportunities throughout the school.

2.     Where did the visit occur?

The SAE visit occurred at Jeffrey’s house, which is about 15 minutes from the school. The visit was conducted in his barns and in his house.

3.     What preparations did you make prior to the visit?

To get prepared for this visit, I asked Mrs. Cambruzzi for a student that would be good for me to make a visit with. She recommended Jeffrey, and I then asked Jeffrey in class if he has time after school for me to do a visit during the week. We planned for that Monday after his wrestling practice.

4.     What was the student’s SAE program?

Jeffrey’s SAE is an entrepreneurship where he maintains 15 sheep. He breeds them, and fits them and then shows and sells them to market at the local fairs.

5.     How would you evaluate or rate the program? On what criteria?

Through the entrepreneurship SAE grading rubric provided by the AET website, I would say that Jeffrey is on track with his SAE. At this point in time, I would give him an A. Jeffrey is expanding his herd of sheep and he keeps up to date and accurate records.

6.     What recommendations were made for improvement?

One recommendation I would make for Jeffrey include keeping his barn cleaner. As when I visited, he definitely had a rat infestation, and he could use more sturdy pens for his lambs and ewes.

7.     What record books were being used?

The records books that Jeffrey used were on AET.

8.     How does the cooperating teacher “grade” the SAE program?

Mrs. Cambruzzi grades the SAE program through completion of the AET record book website, having a minimum of 2 SAE visits per calendar year, having updated financial records, and making sure each student completes at a minimum of 115 hours.

Throwing Week 6 Into The Mix!

This week, I really wanted to focus on my organization pertaining to mainly my eighth grade classes. I just picked them up last week and I am finishing up Mrs. Cambruzzi's lesson of completing the creed speaking and junior prepared speeches. My creed speakers are virtually done, but my junior prepared speeches are mixed everywhere. I tried different things of having them peer review each other and then having them print them out into note cards and practice. Some speeches were very well written while others had an insane amount of spelling errors.

I guess to just get it out and say it, I am frustrated! I guess I am not skilled enough to teach an English class, but I don't know how to motivate students to write their papers. I have student who have had 4 weeks to write these papers and don't have enough for their speeches. I just feel stuck as a teacher. So one thing I don't really like is that I can't figure out how to motivate my students while they work. One thing that Mrs. Cambruzzi helped me with today was having the students print out their work and have them mark it up. I liked that they could physically see the changes and suggestions that other students made for their projects.  This was very helpful to myself and the students.

Tomorrow, I think the students will have more motivation because their grades are due and their report cards will be sent out. If they have not completed their work to the rubrics satisfaction, they will be getting a bad grade, and these students are HIGHLY concerned and motivated when they disappointed and receive bad grades.

I am looking forward to this next week and ACES this weekend! I can't wait!

Looking Into Next Week:
Intro to Ag: Presentation of speeches/edits
Greenhouse: Teacher Appreciation Day/Soils Unit!
Animal Science: Teacher Appreciation Day/ Swine Unit!
Floral Design: Centerpieces for Teacher Appreciation Day
Senior Ag: Teacher Appreciation Day Set Up / Host / Tear Down

Week Five & We're Coming Alive!

Well, week five is OVER! I am one third done with my student teaching experience, which is super exciting, but heartbreaking at the same time. I am really starting to connect with some of my students and I really look forward on improving every day. This week, one big idea that I focused on was testing and study guides. I gave my first test and study guides this week in my animal science and my greenhouse management class. My tests included true or false, multiple choice, matching, short answer/listing questions and labeling diagrams. I felt that because there was a lot of different choices, that my students could easily share their knowledge with me in different ways. When I created my study guides, I also wanted to make these questions harder for my students. The idea was that I could make a study guide more challenging then the test so my students would feel well prepared for their tests. 

I gave the students the entire period to work on their study guides. I let them work individually for a while and then told them they could begin in groups. This seemed to work very well. At the end of the period, the students had finished, and I told them that they need to bring their study guide to me, to get the test the next day. I told them that the study guide would be 5 extra points on their tests, if it was completed. This would give students an advantage to work on it more. 

Giving the test:

Well, this was my first test that I ever gave, and let me tell you, it was not long enough. It probably took them only 25 minutes, so I had to fill in time with other things. This was difficult. Next time I do know that I will need to plan a little bit more!

Looking ahead:

Intro to Ag: Finishing up speeches & Creed

Greenhouse Production: Concluding the lumber industry

Animal Science: Swine lesson & Brochure! 

Floral Design: Selling Valentines day flowers & prepping for Teacher Appreciation Day

Senior Ag: NOCTI Prep!

Week FOUR & Wait Til You See What's in STORE!

WEEK 4!  Where has the time gone?! I am so sad that my FIRST month of student teaching has passed, yet I am beyond excited for the future. This week, I picked up an animal science class. This is my most academic class so far, and I love it. We can have successful class discussion, and the best part is when they even try to answer their own questions.

Having 8th graders check out the Dairy Foods CDE!

I have a lot of fun with my animal science students, but this week I wanted to work on my delivery of giving instructions and discipline. My greenhouse students definately have the drive to want to learn more. This is my most difficult class for me at the moment. I only have 11 students and it is their first class of the day. I have tried from adding jokes, to funny pictures, and getting them to move around to wake them up. Every time I get the same blank stare on their faces. I have one on one conversations with them, and they are engaged, so I believe this is my one class that just isn't fully awake when I am teaching, but they are learning and understanding the material.

I have taught through powerpoints, worksheets, bookwork and hands on activities. I really need to work on directions though. I can successfully give them the "When I say begin, you will complete these items.", and I even have them repeat the steps back to me, but I just struggle with getting what I want to happen in my head to come out of my mouth so they can understand it clearly. I think I just may need more time to practice, but eventually I will get better.

Check out these awesome 8th Graders!!!

This is Scotty making a 3D model of a flower to later ID! 

Here we have the floral design class showing off their arrangements we made last week!

Coming up Next Week:

Monday: McLective Fair! I created this awesome flyer to hand out to 8th graders as a recruitment tool, so on Monday I will be spreading the word about agricultural education!

Tuesday: Ohio Tech is coming to visit! For my morning, I will be having Ohio Tech come and speak to the students about being interested in applying to a 2 year school!

My floral girls!

Greenhouse: This week, greenhouse will be working on a study guide and bookwork for an exam. We are wrapping up out plant, leaf and flower ID unit! I will then be teaching them how to ID trees, and we will be making an information booklet.

Animal Science: Starting on Monday, my students will be tested on the Dairy Industry! They loved my enthusiasm about dairy cattle. Later this week we will be having discussions with the Swine industry. Many of my students have swine SAE's so I may have them be a leader of several small group discussions.

Intro to Ag: Intro will be continuing to work on their junior prepared speeches and the creed. They will mainly work independently on their speeches until mid week where we will have a peer review and then a practice. Creed speakers will be playing games depending on the accuracy of their creed, how fast they can say it, and eventually we will have a bracket for the best creed speakers.

Floral Design: Floral design will be using this week to work on a Valentine's Day sale project. Students are in 2 groups competing for the top spot at selling flowers to the student body. Students are challenged to think outside the box, improve their marketing skills and make a profit!