March Madness

This week in my classes was relatively a normal week. We did not have any big FFA events that were taking place, or any school events.

My AP-Horticulture class has been learning about sexual vs. asexual reproduction. Most of them had some background in the content, however, there were still some who did not have any experience in the subject. As a result, the students who had the experience helped by aiding those in the worksheets and notes.

Intro to AFNR has had a solid week of soil studies and most of the concepts are hitting home. However, some students are really out in left field on the topics and terms used. I keep asking them questions related to the content, however they do not seem to care and also keep getting the answer wrong. I found some improvement when I used actual pictures on the screen of different horizons. They were aw struck by how the soils looked in the profile. I need to find a way to motivate the select few who are not doing well in the class. I have seen some improvement with the end of the term coming up, but it will be too late for some of them to pass the class this quarter.

Advanced FFA leadership has been a great class to work with, however, there was one slip up on my part with a senior student. She asked about her points for questions in the class. I looked down over my sheet and accidentally read the score of the student above her. The score was a zero and when I said it I knew it was off, but she proceeded to become defensive as anyone would. The class presenter started and I did not stop them to address the issue. As a result, the student kept her negative feelings and I addressed it later that I read the wrong score. I should have stopped the student who started presenting and addressed the issue on the spot. That would have given me more credibility and made the class run more smoothly.

Welding is almost day to day. The students are becoming too relaxed in the shop with their PPE. I am very strict with the PPE rules in my shop. So when I caught one student, who was supposed to walk to the bathroom, walking around the shop without safety glasses. I immediately told him to go to the bathroom and leave the shop. It took him several minutes to come back from the bathroom, so I sent a second student (who I trusted) to find him. He later came back with the other student and all is well. But it frustrated me that he did not follow the rules that have been established for 7 weeks.

Friday was a great day, I really enjoyed the professional development that took place at Penn State. I realized that I need to become stronger in understanding extended contracts and what they should consist of. The delta experience was rather fun, because it was a trial run, yet also intense in the setting of a school teacher. I feel that the lesson tuning was a great system for us as student teachers to come together to make improvements for each other. I feel that I have gathered some useful resources for the future with my lesson plans and also for the present.