Week 4; The glitter begins to fade

"To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you."

- Tony Dorsett

4 weeks, I've made it 4 weeks...means I'm cut out for this right? Hopefully yes, but I know I still have a lot of work to do before I enter a classroom. This week has had its ups and downs, both in the classroom and at home. I've completed my first interview, I've completed a few assignments, wrote some great lab lesson plans, took on a 4th class, and had a few bumps along the way.

Monday I had my second two hour delay,  we got about 22 inches of snow, I was better prepared to teach for my 3 classes. With only having 12 minutes in each class I used the time to work on organization of our binders and for students to either copy missing notes or gather notes and worksheets from me. Although we couldn't start our lesson I made sure we used the time to our advantage, since we worked on our binders Monday, I didn't need to take much time out each day to remind students about organization. Monday was also spent organizing my professional portfolio. As I put this binder together I realized that I am growing up, its a scary thought and I had a few moments were I doubted myself and if I am ready to take on the world. However, after some encouraging words from my friends I was assured that I am on the path to make a difference.

Tuesday was as close to "normal" as you could think

Working on the Maple Lines

Although no day is normal, I had a full day with the students. We began to take notes on poultry in Intro and continued work on our commercials in animal science. I learned a hard lesson in Intro and that is that I talk way to fast. I tried to slow down however I didn't make much success. I knew I needed to make a change and I did so by creating an "outline" of my power points so students would only need to fill in a few words and take notes on the "extra" nuggets. I think this change has made a positive improvement but I will find out on Monday when we take our poultry quiz.

 

Wednesday was the big day, my first interview, after class I packed up and made the drive to Union City. I was so anxious and nervous however I think I made a good impression. In fact today I just found out I made it to the next round of interviews. I am so excited and blessed to have this opportunity and I need to remember to simply let the chips fall where they belong and not worry or fret about what I can't change. Class on Wednesday flew by, my mind was not in the classroom and when I came back Thursday I realized that.




Thursday I came into school mentally exhausted and feeling slightly under the weather. I picked up
Horticulture and I didn't feel like my lesson came across the way I imagined. I know I need to really pace myself through out the day, teaching 4 pds in a row is a lot more challenging than I thought. As I take on more classes I am starting to feel the pressure to continue to teach and not have those nice little breaks. I spend a little more time preparing my notes and lessons and tried to make class a little more interesting for my freshmen. We spent time during the end of Ag Mech today to put away the electricity unit and gather the engines for Monday when I start teaching small gas engines. As we were putting away tools I found a few older books from 1918! I even found a story about Grove City Pa, it was an exiting find and read. I am always impressed with the large amount of books and resources teachers gather through out the years!

Two students working on their egg lab

Today was great! Not only did we dissect eggs with the freshmen, but we had a viewing party for our commercials, learned about food deserts and urban agriculture but I also had a chance to talk to the leadership class about some exciting projects we have up ahead. Intro was a lot of fun, we had a lab sheet to fill out as students worked in groups to look at the parts of an egg and their functions. Students used their notes from the class before to help decided the function of the eggs parts and their locations. Small animal science was a lot of fun, I was really impressed with the work these students had completed, I'll even share a few of these videos!

Egg lab!

Skittles home at last!

I then headed home for a much needed weekend with my four legged friends. At the beginning of November our yellow lab didn't come home. Over the past few weeks we have been following leads as to where she was. On Saturday my brother gave me a call telling me the news, they were bringing her home. It was a much needed boost that gave me the hope and strength to get through last week. Since I've been home she hasn't left my size, I am so happy that I have the chance to travel home to see her. I am excited for next week and picking up ag mech, for my first in-service day, and my first parent teacher conference.

Week wrap up

• I need to slow down when I talk
• I need to be mindful of how much I put on a slide and how much time I give students to take notes
• Even if I think a lesson is one day long, I usually have two days worth of lesson prepared...
• Students feed off of your energy, if you are having a bad day, they aren't giving you their 100%
• There is hope out there! 

Its nice to have someone sit with me after school to complete work