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"Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops" - Henry Brooks Adams

Saying good bye to home once again!

Wow what a week it has been! From moving in, traveling to Farmshow, touring awesome programs, observations, and most importantly Teaching! 

• Moving in was a lot easier this time around, I must be a pro or something! 

• Farmshow was an experience all in its own (check out my blog about it!

 

Farmshow bus ride home!

• Touring two programs down there where the grass is still green (Lancaster) was a great opportunity to show our student's what the world has to offer outside of good ol' Erie county.

Observing on Wednesday was my first chance to see Mr. Honeycutt in action all day. It was great getting to talk to the kids, and see where their interests are. It was also great helping Mr. Honeycutt create the sub plan for the next few days as he has taken a small vacation. 
 


On Thursday reality hit me, and it hit me hard. I set my alarm for 5 am, check out the window to judge how much snow has fallen or blown onto the road and luckily these past few days I have been able to go back to sleep for a little bit longer. The best part about student teaching at a rural school is the fact I have yet to go to school the same way. There are so many back roads that twist and wind through this beautiful snow covered country side. In fact I just found Happy Valley road! Sadly its not so happy...there is a nice big hill that I am not sure I will ever make until maybe June. 

I think we have enough snow
& I need to invest in a
snowmobile

Once I get to school I arrive about 40 minutes before my homeroom class begins. Its really nice having quite time alone to enjoy my coffee and yogurt and get all my materials ready for the day. Yesterday and today I have enjoyed the company of my neighbor who happens to be the substitute teacher for these next few days! Mrs.K is great and has helped me so much these past few days. She lets me take attendance, get the students ready and has allowed me to facilitate the work Mr. Honeycutt has left for us. It's been quite the ride using a lesson plan other than the one Penn state has developed. But it was a good experience to see what a "working" lesson plan looks like! I have enjoyed working with all the classes, well almost all of them...we all have that one class right?? 

Today I took on my first class and that was the Introduction to Agricultural Sciences course. This course is designed for first year Ag students and is mainly freshman. I have two sections of this course, giving me about 50 students total. 

Today in Intro we reviewed my procedure, expectations and consequences that we have been going over yesterday and Wednesday with Mr. Honeycutt, we than started on my favorite topic! Dairy Science. Sadly only a few students were as excited about learning about dairy cows as I was. But we made it through class.

I learned one big lesson today...and that is you always need assigned seating. My second session of Intro was bad, and I mean bad. I don't think I handled it as well as I should have and I am currently devising a plan of action (seating chart) I have also developed a grading rubric and example of what notes should look like so when we start note taking on Tuesday I don't lose them again like I did today. 

I know tomorrow (or Tuesday) is a new day and I should not forget the lessons I have learned today but as this experience continues I know I need to let the past be and move on! So here's to a new day and my first weekend! 







And for some super motivation for you(and because I need it too) Check out this great blog site!  http://absolutelytrueteacher.blogspot.com/

Super excited to head home tomorrow and get some much needed snow tires! On that note, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and continue to follow along with my adventure down the rabbit hole and into an amazing world full of unknowns!