Monday morning started as usual. Attendance was taken, students went to breakfast and I chatted to Mrs. Cambruzzi about our weekends. I was very excited this Monday. I could finally use the lesson plans that I had been working so hard on last semester and put them to the test. Period two came around, which was the Introduction to Agriculture class. During this period, Mrs. Cambruzzi and I decided to co-teach. She took charge of the students who decided to complete their junior prepared public speaking speeches, and I took over the creed students. I basically had the students work independently and just repeat the creed over and over again.
This worked for quite a while, until I saw the boys loosing focus. I then had them work in pairs. This seemed to work best. I also tried other games, but instantly got the feedback that it wouldn't help the students learn the creed. Renee and I did this every class period that we had intro to ag, every day and all week long. I then took over the greenhouse class. I even brought cupcakes in to talk about identifying the cupcakes and how that is similar to plant identification.
The bell had rung, and I had 5 students. Just 5. Apparently, the other half of my class had testing on that Monday and Tuesday. So the first two days of the week I went through my lesson and my students were great. They were somewhat shy at first, but they have definitely warmed up to me. On Wednesday was the first day I finally had the entire class together. I caught everyone up who had missed class, and we proceeded. Thursday I had students work on their powerpoint projects of identifying plants. It was perfect for their age because they were honestly interested in having more plant ID knowledge. On Friday, I held a lab where I had the students dissect seeds of monocots and dicots.
Lets start this out by saying, THIS WAS AWESOME. I had lima beans soaked in water over night, hard limas, pine nuts and corn all together. I went through some worksheets with the kids to help them understand the differences between monocots and dicots, and then we dissected the seeds. I had them tape it to the worksheets, and they really understood it. It was awesome to see them working together like that.
Next week, I will be picking up the class floral design. I plan on teaching principles of floral design and vase arranging. Soon, we will be creating vases for Valentines day to be selling. My greenhouse class will continue working on monocots and dicots, and we will be talking about perfect and imperfect flowers. Week two is done! I can't wait to see what week 3 has in store!
Friday, January 20, 2017
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Welcome to McGuffey - Week One
Well, I have finished my first week at McGuffey High School! I was warmly welcomed with my own desk along with its own chair and everything!! I am very, very excited. The very first two days we had spent at the 101st Pennsylvania Farm Show. This was a really good way to start into the observation week. My first day was on Wednesday. My students were more than happy to finally see me at school. They continued to ask me if I was here everyday from now on, and I was happy to answer "Yes!". My first day was a little crazy. I watched Mrs. Cambruzzi teach all of her classes that day and it was really interesting. The students in every class would walk in and begin their work. There was almost no questions asked from them to her. Even with her out for 2 days, they knew exactly what they were doing. It was really neat to watch.
The only class that Mrs. Cambruzzi has that is repeated is her introduction to agriculture class. She has 3 of those classes in periods 2, 4 and 13. On Wednesday, she taught her periods 2 and 4, and then informed me to teach period 13. Period 13 is one of her 'bad' classes. All of the introduction to agriculture classes are all 8th graders. So I feel like I have a special opportunity at McGuffey to teach high school and teach middle schoolers! The main issue with 13th period is the boys. There are quite a few of them and they can be very rowdy. I did my best to teach the lesson like Mrs. Cambruzzi, but she did step in from time to time to help me control them. I don't have my classroom management down like she does quite yet, but it will come soon enough!
After the day was over, Mrs. Cambruzzi and I sat down and reflected on our day. At this point, we decided to talk about the day every day. For the first time, we stayed after school for 2 hours. It was SO beneficial to me to have that one on one with her. I also really like how she challenged me on the first day. I know I will be learning so much.. In fact, these next 15 weeks I feel like I will be learning more than I have in my entire college career.
Thursday rolled around and I watched and helped Mrs. Cambruzzi anywhere I could. It is definitely nice to have an extra set of hands. We started our day off with a planned fire drill at 8:30. This was another good learning opportunity for me. After the fire drill, we went back to class as planned. Around 9:30, the fire alarm went off again. Renee and I looked at each other with a puzzled look and took our students outside, just like we had done an hour ago. As we walked outside, we saw Mr. Leasure and talked to him. Apparently in the ag hallway, there is a lower emergency exit sign, and some of the boys are pretty tall and they were telling a story with their hands, and one of them swung his hands up and knocked the exit sign off! Mr. Leasure saw the whole thing and tried to fix it and sent a student to tell maintenance. I felt so bad for John, as it was a funny story but he made the whole school evacuate again.
As our eventful morning continued, I got to teach 4th and 13th period again. 4th period was good, I felt respected and they listened to me. I really love being in the teacher role. I am not sure why, but I feel at home. Although it may be because I moved to a place that I am not familiar with at all and this is the only social interaction I get, but I will take it! 13th period came around and I took control of my class this time. I asked them to sit in their assigned seats and it was amazing. The students really listened and did their work. Another thing Renee taught me was how to have a teacher ear on all the time. You can work one-on-one with a student and still manage a classroom. I had watched her do this and it is quite the special skill. She told me I will get better at it, and when I really practiced it in class, I could see the difference.
Week one was great. It went by too fast. Tomorrow I will be teaching my lesson plans with the greenhouse production class. This week I am starting off with learning and identifying plants. This will then go into scientific classification, using a dichotomous key and classifying plants in many different ways. From there, I plan to have the students then use this knowledge and plan out when or how they may order plants or plan a landscape.
Well... Here comes another great week! Wish us luck over on the Western side of the state!
The only class that Mrs. Cambruzzi has that is repeated is her introduction to agriculture class. She has 3 of those classes in periods 2, 4 and 13. On Wednesday, she taught her periods 2 and 4, and then informed me to teach period 13. Period 13 is one of her 'bad' classes. All of the introduction to agriculture classes are all 8th graders. So I feel like I have a special opportunity at McGuffey to teach high school and teach middle schoolers! The main issue with 13th period is the boys. There are quite a few of them and they can be very rowdy. I did my best to teach the lesson like Mrs. Cambruzzi, but she did step in from time to time to help me control them. I don't have my classroom management down like she does quite yet, but it will come soon enough!
After the day was over, Mrs. Cambruzzi and I sat down and reflected on our day. At this point, we decided to talk about the day every day. For the first time, we stayed after school for 2 hours. It was SO beneficial to me to have that one on one with her. I also really like how she challenged me on the first day. I know I will be learning so much.. In fact, these next 15 weeks I feel like I will be learning more than I have in my entire college career.
Thursday rolled around and I watched and helped Mrs. Cambruzzi anywhere I could. It is definitely nice to have an extra set of hands. We started our day off with a planned fire drill at 8:30. This was another good learning opportunity for me. After the fire drill, we went back to class as planned. Around 9:30, the fire alarm went off again. Renee and I looked at each other with a puzzled look and took our students outside, just like we had done an hour ago. As we walked outside, we saw Mr. Leasure and talked to him. Apparently in the ag hallway, there is a lower emergency exit sign, and some of the boys are pretty tall and they were telling a story with their hands, and one of them swung his hands up and knocked the exit sign off! Mr. Leasure saw the whole thing and tried to fix it and sent a student to tell maintenance. I felt so bad for John, as it was a funny story but he made the whole school evacuate again.
As our eventful morning continued, I got to teach 4th and 13th period again. 4th period was good, I felt respected and they listened to me. I really love being in the teacher role. I am not sure why, but I feel at home. Although it may be because I moved to a place that I am not familiar with at all and this is the only social interaction I get, but I will take it! 13th period came around and I took control of my class this time. I asked them to sit in their assigned seats and it was amazing. The students really listened and did their work. Another thing Renee taught me was how to have a teacher ear on all the time. You can work one-on-one with a student and still manage a classroom. I had watched her do this and it is quite the special skill. She told me I will get better at it, and when I really practiced it in class, I could see the difference.
Week one was great. It went by too fast. Tomorrow I will be teaching my lesson plans with the greenhouse production class. This week I am starting off with learning and identifying plants. This will then go into scientific classification, using a dichotomous key and classifying plants in many different ways. From there, I plan to have the students then use this knowledge and plan out when or how they may order plants or plan a landscape.
Well... Here comes another great week! Wish us luck over on the Western side of the state!
Monday, January 9, 2017
Farm Show Field Trip!
Today I have the wonderful opportunity to travel with Mrs. Cambruzzi, Mr. Leisure and Mrs. Hoover with a total of 46 students! It was pretty special to finally see my students and be able to tell them that today was the first day of my student teaching, and that I can see them everyday for the next 15 weeks! We started our day by loading up the bus early in the morning and traveled to the farm show. Once we arrived at the farm show, I walked around with the other teachers. It is such a different feeling to be walking around the farm show with teachers and not students. We talked to other teachers and discussed some things for us to do when I begin teaching in the classroom. We then went to watch our students get their jacket and collect their Keystone Degree's. We sat with all the students and they were all really well behaved. That evening, we then took them to a local hotel. We got to eat pizza with the students, and I think my favorite part of the night was playing minute to win it games and board games with all the students. It let me show my silly side and the students really enjoyed it. Well, I am signing off here, as I have to go make sure the lights are out in my students room!
Monday, December 12, 2016
Classroom Management
Classroom management can be difficult. As students grow and change in your classroom, other classes may be added on or removed, so a teacher's classroom management may change. The way I plan to teach, I must have variability in different classrooms that I have. For example, my classroom management techniques will be very different in my agricultural mechanics class, where I will have 15 to 25 high school aged boys, to my introduction to agriculture class where I will have 25 8th grade students who are only in middle school. Both of these classes I will need to be very aware of my students and the things they are doing. To help my manage my class room, I have created some rules, procedures and consequences.
To have a great classroom and learning experience, I have classroom expectations. My expectations include coming to class prepared to learn. This leaves the door open for students to be open minded about my class. Students will be required to be respectful of everyone and everything. I find that students can learn more by respecting ideas, equipment and themselves. Students also must be timely to my class. I feel that this will not likely be a problem, as most students are excited to come to ag class. Always be productive with class time. This allows for me to make sure students aren't fooling around. Lastly, I'd like students to give their best effort during class time.
Classroom procedures will help begin and continue my class. Students must immediately behind the bell work as soon as they enter the classroom and they will need to collect the materials for the day. I have a short 43 minutes of teaching and I want to use that time to the best of my ability. For questions of concerns, students will be required to raise their hand when called upon. This helps control a classroom environment more. Students also must remain engaged in class time. This will help me prepare for my next class and wrap up the current class.
Classroom consequences in my room will have up to 4 offenses. The first offense will begin with a verbal warning, and if the behavior continues, students would have a written warning which would be a detention. The 3rd offense would be a call to home, and lastly a 4th offense would be an office referral so a student would have to meet with a principle.
Following these guidelines, consequences and procedures will help me set up a successful classroom and learning environment at McGuffey High School.
To have a great classroom and learning experience, I have classroom expectations. My expectations include coming to class prepared to learn. This leaves the door open for students to be open minded about my class. Students will be required to be respectful of everyone and everything. I find that students can learn more by respecting ideas, equipment and themselves. Students also must be timely to my class. I feel that this will not likely be a problem, as most students are excited to come to ag class. Always be productive with class time. This allows for me to make sure students aren't fooling around. Lastly, I'd like students to give their best effort during class time.
Classroom procedures will help begin and continue my class. Students must immediately behind the bell work as soon as they enter the classroom and they will need to collect the materials for the day. I have a short 43 minutes of teaching and I want to use that time to the best of my ability. For questions of concerns, students will be required to raise their hand when called upon. This helps control a classroom environment more. Students also must remain engaged in class time. This will help me prepare for my next class and wrap up the current class.
Classroom consequences in my room will have up to 4 offenses. The first offense will begin with a verbal warning, and if the behavior continues, students would have a written warning which would be a detention. The 3rd offense would be a call to home, and lastly a 4th offense would be an office referral so a student would have to meet with a principle.
Following these guidelines, consequences and procedures will help me set up a successful classroom and learning environment at McGuffey High School.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Meat Science Lab - Microteaching at Juniata!
This past week, I had driven down to Mifflintown Pennsylvania, and I was introduced to a group of students in an animal science class. Over the four days, the first day was an observation day. I sat in the back of the room and introduced myself to students. They all seemed kind and polite, but somewhat timid of me as well. This class was a lab on cheeses. They were tasting and deciding which cheese was which. It was sorta chaotic as students were talking and moving around, but there was quite a bit of control over the group. You could see the respect that some students had with this, while other students refused to eat the cheese. It was interesting to watch them communicate and work with each other, and it was just how I remembered it was when I was in high school. After my observation day, I hoped that my student would be as well behaved as they were for Mrs. Morgan.
The next day I came in and I had their bellringer up on the overhead. This confused them. I should have had it on the white board like Mrs. Morgan had the other day. The students were pretty quick to adjust, and I went through my lesson plan. The first day we talked about grading meat and marbling in meat. The first day was my worst day to put it plain and simple. I think I had good activities planned for my students and some went better than others, but my first day was definitely rough. I did have some trouble keeping attention and having students not talking in their small groups. I really like having the desks grouped together, but it can also encourage talking among the students. My biggest problem with my first day was that I planned my lesson plan just like the PSU ones are and how I have been taught recently. Changing the topics and switching gears every 12-15 minutes and moving on with the lesson. Let me tell you, THIS DID NOT WORK WITH MY STUDENTS. I'm sorry, but this was horrible!!!! My students would finally really get into something, and then I would change gears. I could tell that they were frustrated but they wanted to give me a chance. I was very honest and upfront with my students, as this was my very first time and I told them how this was my very first time teaching a classroom of high school students. So they were pretty nice to me and they did put their best foot forward, but I needed to step up my game for the next day.
The next day I did my own way of teaching. I didn't want my student's to be frustrated again. So i taught in the beginning, and then I had them begin their project. The second lesson went better, but my students were more misbehaved. It was a good lesson besides some of the bad things my students did. I should have been more strict, but it was extremely difficult for me to enter a classroom and just teach. These students don't know me, I don't know them, and we have no trust with each other. I just felt so disconnected to these students and I don't ever want to feel that way or leave feeling that way. The next day I knew was going to be difficult. Not only was our class extended from 40 minutes to an hour, due an assembly the students had, but I was also conducting a lab. The students would cook different cuts of meat, after they identified it, and compare the flavor, tenderness, dryness and color and smells. During this lab, I also had my students working on their projects from the day before. So my head was all over the place and it was a hot mess in the classroom, but the students enjoyed it and they learned some materials so I was very please with that.
Day four and my final day of teaching was the best. Students were moving around and completing different tasks at different times and it was a beautiful mass of learning chaos. At the end of the class, I had a very brief discussion about how my teaching was. They did enjoy me, but they told me to be more stern with my rules. By the fourth day, we were definitely gaining an understanding and connection with one another. I feel that this was a good sneak peak as a sub teacher, but I know it may be a little different with my students at McGuffey as we already know each other and have an understanding of one another. Overall, I had a great micro teaching experience. A lot was learned in 4 days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ2-TTcqqLs
The next day I came in and I had their bellringer up on the overhead. This confused them. I should have had it on the white board like Mrs. Morgan had the other day. The students were pretty quick to adjust, and I went through my lesson plan. The first day we talked about grading meat and marbling in meat. The first day was my worst day to put it plain and simple. I think I had good activities planned for my students and some went better than others, but my first day was definitely rough. I did have some trouble keeping attention and having students not talking in their small groups. I really like having the desks grouped together, but it can also encourage talking among the students. My biggest problem with my first day was that I planned my lesson plan just like the PSU ones are and how I have been taught recently. Changing the topics and switching gears every 12-15 minutes and moving on with the lesson. Let me tell you, THIS DID NOT WORK WITH MY STUDENTS. I'm sorry, but this was horrible!!!! My students would finally really get into something, and then I would change gears. I could tell that they were frustrated but they wanted to give me a chance. I was very honest and upfront with my students, as this was my very first time and I told them how this was my very first time teaching a classroom of high school students. So they were pretty nice to me and they did put their best foot forward, but I needed to step up my game for the next day.
The next day I did my own way of teaching. I didn't want my student's to be frustrated again. So i taught in the beginning, and then I had them begin their project. The second lesson went better, but my students were more misbehaved. It was a good lesson besides some of the bad things my students did. I should have been more strict, but it was extremely difficult for me to enter a classroom and just teach. These students don't know me, I don't know them, and we have no trust with each other. I just felt so disconnected to these students and I don't ever want to feel that way or leave feeling that way. The next day I knew was going to be difficult. Not only was our class extended from 40 minutes to an hour, due an assembly the students had, but I was also conducting a lab. The students would cook different cuts of meat, after they identified it, and compare the flavor, tenderness, dryness and color and smells. During this lab, I also had my students working on their projects from the day before. So my head was all over the place and it was a hot mess in the classroom, but the students enjoyed it and they learned some materials so I was very please with that.
Day four and my final day of teaching was the best. Students were moving around and completing different tasks at different times and it was a beautiful mass of learning chaos. At the end of the class, I had a very brief discussion about how my teaching was. They did enjoy me, but they told me to be more stern with my rules. By the fourth day, we were definitely gaining an understanding and connection with one another. I feel that this was a good sneak peak as a sub teacher, but I know it may be a little different with my students at McGuffey as we already know each other and have an understanding of one another. Overall, I had a great micro teaching experience. A lot was learned in 4 days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ2-TTcqqLs
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
IBI Lab - Growing Crystals
Today I taught an inquiry based instruction lab. Inquiry based instruction, or IBI is when a teacher sets up a problem or situation and gives students the tools to solve or make a hypothesis on that issue. IBI can be difficult because you are giving a lot of trust into your students and it really forces them to work to find a conclusion, without the instructor giving them materials or an answer to the problem that is presented. In my lab, I wanted students to make a hypothesis on adding sugar and water together to make sugar crystals. This would have involved mixing the sugar with hot, warm and cold water, different amounts and different kinds of sugar.
Students were asked to make their hypothesis, a methods and materials list. Once this was completed, they could begin their experiment. Some groups had the right idea, others did not. But either way, they were applying what they knew or didn't know, just to learn more. I felt confident. I felt super confident after my last lab because I was told my improvement was awesome. I am getting better, and I wish I could do it everyday, but soon enough I will be able to.
Students were asked to make their hypothesis, a methods and materials list. Once this was completed, they could begin their experiment. Some groups had the right idea, others did not. But either way, they were applying what they knew or didn't know, just to learn more. I felt confident. I felt super confident after my last lab because I was told my improvement was awesome. I am getting better, and I wish I could do it everyday, but soon enough I will be able to.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
#TeachAgChat - Teaching Global Competency In Our Classroom
Each day there is something new out there for consumers to buy into through advertisements and publicity. One new way for agricultural educators to be one step ahead of the game is a social media platform called Twitter. Twitter is an app and website where users from around the world can communicate and share ideas with one another. Using a hashtag (#) and words directly behind it, can help categorize a topic or basically create a thread for users to follow. One hashtag that is used for agricultural educators is the #TeachAgChat. A #TeachAgChat is where a group of people gather together and talk about different topics in agriculture and education.
For the first time, I helped host the chat and it was an interesting experience to me. I felt that it was extremely helpful, but as I learned that the three questions I created I was looking for more answers rather than to create discussion. This then became helpful as more people entered the discussion and added their thoughts. I enjoyed all of the discussion and it felt reassuring that all the people of the agricultural community would come together all over the country.
For the first time, I helped host the chat and it was an interesting experience to me. I felt that it was extremely helpful, but as I learned that the three questions I created I was looking for more answers rather than to create discussion. This then became helpful as more people entered the discussion and added their thoughts. I enjoyed all of the discussion and it felt reassuring that all the people of the agricultural community would come together all over the country.
One thing that I would consider changing about this assignment is timing. I believe the timing is not appropriate due to the fact that it is the week before and after National FFA Convention, and with that many teachers who may participate in a #TeachAgChat might have been too busy to be participate. I also personally wish there was another way to host a #TeachAgChat. I feel that Twitter can be too cluttered and it can be difficult to hold conversations within 140 characters. I feel that there should be a new social media platform that should be created where group discussion can be help while gaining valuable information with more than 140 characters. Maybe it could be accessible at all times, but have a 'hot hour' where all members strive to participate in a larger group discussion.
Those are just some of my thoughts on the #TeachAgChat. I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but I think it is a great idea that can be greatly improved upon.
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