“Adventure is out there!” One of my favorite quotes from the
famous movie “Up!” was an inspiration to me this week. This week I was able to
represent my school at a meeting with a student, start teaching my Animal
Science class, initiate our classroom instruction in a greenhouse, and attend
ACES 2016 with some stellar students.
With all those activities you would think that it was a
relaxing week and I had everything together huh? Well yes and no is the answer
to that! Let’s break down week….5!
Pros:
Listen, I consider myself to be an animal lover don’t get me
wrong. However, rodents and other small animals intimidate me especially in a
teaching scenario. This week was the first week I was teaching my Small Animal
Science class. These students are expected to know how to handle, clean, and
care for these animals that we have at the school. This week I was a student, a
teacher, and an observer (talk about a lot of roles!). In high school I was
involved in agriculture classes but I never learned how to handle rodents,
rabbits, and dogs in a classroom setting. Teaching the students but still
making sure I was watching the entire classro
om was a great learning process that I am glad I was able to take on this week!
The next thing that happened this week was this suburb girl
went into the big city of Philadelphia to attend the Philadelphia Urban
Horticulture Societies quarterly meeting with an FFA student. This was a role
that I haven’t played before because typically I was always the one in the FFA
jacket! My student and I learned a lot about how urban agriculture plays a role
in the city and we were also able to share out with others what we were doing
as well at Saul High School! Talk about an awesome night!
Although the week was over, I wasn’t done yet! I was able to
hang out with my students this past weekend at the ACES conference in
Harrisburg! If you want to know about that experience, read the next blog that
is going to follow!
Cons:
This week wasn’t as crazy as last week and I honestly feel
that it was one of my top weeks since being here at Walter Biddle Saul High
School and for that I am certainly grateful. However, I have noticed a “con” that
I think will affect me in coming weeks.
In my Environmental Science class, we teach students about
urban agriculture and implement it with our land and greenhouses that we have
available. As awesome as it is to have all of the resources and accessibility
to a working farm, my students are less than pleased to go outside during classroom
time (crazy right?!). My students do not like going outside and some will sneak
off and not present for the remainder of class until we go back inside.
So
agriculture educators, here is the question that I am going to pose to you:
“What
are ways that I can make my students accountable without threatening the
grades?
and....
“How can I make them see the value of what we are doing to show
that it is relevant in their futures?”
I hope to not have this as a “con” in later weeks, so I
would appreciate some input from all of you!
Reflection for the
week: As much as I hate to quote TSwizzle “Shake it off!” This week was a
great week and although there were some classroom management problems that I
dealt with, I am now seeing that I have been changed from this experience. No
longer am I letting these down days get the best of me. I have challenged
myself to push through obstacles and not get worked up over the tiny things. As
well as I am now starting to think like a teacher and notice problems before
they happen and address them!
I can’t wait for next week to come and I look forward to
reading your responses to my questions listed above!
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