That's a wrap on week 6 of student teaching and on National FFA Week. The week brought a new class to teach, more time in the greenhouse, lots of sunshine, fundraising, an ag advisory board meeting, a state officer visit, and much more!
I started the week off by picking up another class, Ag Science I Special. In this class, I'm basically teaching the same unit that I've already done with the full year Ag Science I class, which saves me some time on planning. It's a good opportunity to test out changes in lessons and activities that I've already done, and it also allows me to see my own growth. I of course already knew that I've grown in the past month and a half, but when I got to essentially have a do-over on the first lesson of the plant science unit, I could see a world of difference!
We wrapped up FFA Week with a state officer visit. The students answered FFA trivia questions and played corn hole with Cody Lehman, the current PA FFA Vice-President and a former Central Columbia FFA member. It was a fun way to cap off a long week!
Though I've come a long way, I still have lots of goals for my growth. One thing that I'm going to focus on in the coming week is developing and rolling out a rewards system to encourage students to get their work done on time and participate more in class. Students will earn points (and lose them, too) and trade them in for prizes like laptop stickers, homework passes, and candy.
Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteIt is always great to get a chance to teach the same unit/class again, isn't it? I am glad you have this opportunity, because you can see your growth as a teacher, but you also have another chance to reflect on how you can make the lesson even better for next time! I am intrigued by your plan for implementing a rewards system. I look forward to hearing more about this in the future. I will "stay tuned" to the blog just in case something shoes up here in future weeks!
Dr. Ewing
Hi Alyssa! That is exciting that you get to save time on planning! I know when I teach multiple sections of environmental science, by the end of the day I feel like I could teach that lesson in my sleep. But I agree, always changing between sections and improving which is awesome to see in the short-term. Keep up the great work!
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