The student who does not try to learn

This week I had my first I would say discipline problem/issue with a student. I am into the handtool project in the wood working unit and I was teaching bird house layouts and the basics to a blueprint. The first day did not go well because the way in which I taught the students just were not grasping the concept. So that night I figured up a new plan and retaught the lesson the next day. I sat down and drew a birdhouse from start to finish showing every step and explaining why I did what I did. After doing all of this, this student did not even try to listen. He was playing with the vice than touching all of my papers so when it came time to do his own he had no idea where to start. I spent the entire class period answering questions for him that he had previously asked before and just was not grasping any of it. When I would go over to him he would have someone else's ruler in his hand or something.

I personally was not showing any patience towards this student. I talked to Mrs. Anderson about it and what I ended up doing was getting this student at the end of the day out of his homeroom. I brought him down to the shop and we worked through his layout one on one. He started understanding the concept and he went much better than class did. The next day he still had a few questions but was able to do the work and go so much done compared to the previous day. He also did not mess with other students stuff like the previous day. From this I did learn to take a step back and breath and think before I act. Not that I said or did something wrong but if I had not I probably would have.

This week was also National FFA week. The officer team planned out a themed week:
Monday= Camo
Tuesday= Boot Scootin' Tuesday
Wednesday= Where's it at Wednesday
Thursday= Trivia Thursday
Friday= Flannel Friday

We also went o Hoss's night to eat dinner with a state officer and had an ice cream social Thursday after school for the faculty.

Week... I have lost count already!

Preparing for student teaching you think it will take forever but as of Friday I hit the one third of the way trough mark can you believe it? This week we spent a lot of time preparing for the blood drive and gearing up for National FFA Week.

I must say my intro to Ag class is pretty spectacular. They worked very hard getting everything ready for the blood drive which consisted of advertising, signing people up, being receptionists, setting up and tearing down, and arrive super early the morning of to cook breakfast for those donating. #proud

This week I was able to see the officer team come together and get everything done for FFA week. We bought pens for the teachers and made super cute tags, planning an ice cream social for the teachers, themed days for the students, hoss's night with state officers, and more.

As for teaching this week I had some up's and down's. I tried a new idea for a lesson and I had to change a few things up to make it relate to the class I was teaching but still had some confusion on the faces of the students. I used making a pb&j lab to teach calculating a bill of materials. One thing I learned from this  lesson was dealing with food allergies. We checked if my class had any food allergies and there were none but we never thought about the class that comes in next and the roomed smelled like peanut butter and there was a student with a peanut allergy. So we scrubbed every table down and ventilated the room the best we could.

As for next week in my intro to Ag class we will be finishing up our unit on speech/presentation and team building. I am excited to do the team building lesson and I hope they like it as much as I do. For mechanics we will be starting to layout their woodworking projects and let the building process begin. If the weather works with us and we stay to the schedule I will be picking up the AgriEcology class.

ACES weekend!!!

ACES is a conference that the FFA holds every year for three straight weekends in February. As a school you choose one weekend to go. I never went as a student but experienced it for the first time two years ago when we took the Korean students who were over here visiting at Penn State.

This past weekend I was able to experience it again but as a student teacher. This is an event just like National Convention where you are able to connect with your students on a different level compared to the classroom setting that they are used to. Being on this trip I also got to connect with FFA members that I do not have in class which was a great opportunity.

A side from being a student and attending the workshops I got to attend the teacher workshops which were very well run. The most enjoyable one was the inquiry based workshop on tragedy of the commons which is actually a lesson I already had on my list to bring in during my populations unit. However by attending this workshop I got the real materials needed compared to my make shift ones I have come up with.

This was a short conference/trip compared to National Convention but taking all but 20 more students made it more interesting. This involved doing the curfew night checks for more than just one room and trying to reserve enough tables for meals that way the whole group was able to  sit together was an eye opener for me because even when I was in FFA and went to conferences like this with being a small school we never had more than eight people go.

The WOW Moment!

This week has been a great week for those and mind blowing moments that make you know that you have a purpose. This week in mechanics we have been focusing on constructing tool guages and than sharpening drill bits. My favorite moment was my interest approach to the unit. I took all their writing utensils away, gave them all a new pencil. However, some were sharpened and some were brand new and have never seen a pencil sharpener. I told them they had five minutes to write an essay on why tool were important. I had my cooperating teacher stand in front of the pencil sharpener and block it. Let's just say some were not happy with me especially after I told them this essay was graded.

However, once they got over that we dove right into drawing out tool gauges. This was a learning experience for my self that I had to learn ahead of time but it was all worth it. The best moment was today while sharpening I had a student yell, "Miss Keller I did it, high five!" That moment gave me a sense of purpose. This student sharpened a drill bit enough that it went through steel.

Now I will admit not everything this week went as planned. I had a little rough path with my into class because trying to teach about AET and getting profiles  set up did not go like it did when I went through it with the mechanics class. This class was in two speeds. Those who got it right away and those who not so much. So the students that got done had down time which cause minor class distraction. Also with my mechanics class I gave them their SAE unit quiz and the one question I expected them to all get almost everyone missed. Which was kind of upsetting but also showed that we needed to revisit.

I do want to mention how great of students I have. This kids are willing to try anything I put in front of them and if all goes well these agriscience research projects will show in time what I am talking about.

As for next week, in into to ag I will be introducing the agriscience projects guidelines, giving a unit one exam, and heading into unit two which is listen to me where we talk about all forms of communication. For the mechanics class we will be starting out woodworking unit. So this coming week we will be learning about wood selection, fasteners, calculating a bill of materials, and laying out projects and introducing their wood project.

High School Is Like A Circus

As I walk from the lunch room to back to the class I look around smile, laugh, smirk, or whatever face I might make. I think back to when I was in school and realize I acted the same way, dressed similar, and has a personality that caught peoples attention, good or bad.

This week I have really come to see how we shape students lives and are able to mold them into the young leaders they can be. I have a student who makes you bet against all odds but than in the smallest moment surprises you and I think , wow, this kid has a chance.

This week has been crazy with different bell schedules and gearing up for the blood drive.  In the AFNR class as part of the community service they are running the FFA blood drive that will be held on February 20, 2015. They have had to make committees, come up with ideas, and the one group even taped a commercial. I started teaching the honors mechanics class this week, which to be honest I was nervous and scared all at the same time. Being a girl and teaching a class of 22 guys was a little intimidating but after the first day with them those nerves have gone away.

As for next week I will be diving into careers and SAE with the AFNR class. With these SAE projects they will be doing the agri science research projects as a required assignment. For the mechanics class we will be finishing SAE and starting the tool gauge and drill bit sharpening. I learned out to draw the tool gauge and need to learn how to sharpen a bit but I am getting there.