New Challenges + New Techniques= A Great Week

My fifth week started off strong, as Monday was the very first "normal" Monday I have had since I began student teaching. I had high hopes that this would be the first "normal" week; with no snow days, 2 hour delays or trips/ schedule changes.

Monday went well; I continued to allow students to practice SMAW straight and weave beads on Monday. As usual, that class was productive and for the most part, very well behaved. In my electrical wiring class, I taught them the electrical wiring rules, which can be used to help them remember how to correctly wire a circuit. While the instruction went well, students continued with their disruptive behavior. This was starting to get the best of me, as I was tired of feeling disrespected.

In my Introduction to Agriculture classes, we continued working on speech presentations. I was extremely disappointed because students did not seem concerned with finishing their speeches, and I had many students that (despite having over two weeks to write) did not have their speeches written. I gave students in my Wildlife class a work day, to help them finish their Pennsylvania Wildlife Species presentations. They worked hard on their presentations and were extremely well-behaved. After school, Mr. Kessler taught me how to Plastic weld and we worked on electrical diagramming.

Tuesday, I taught my welding class how to use the Plastic Welder. I showed a short video (which was shown on a VCR- students thought it was ancient...) and then I did a demonstration for them. In electrical wiring, I introduced the diagramming symbols. This went well, but students continued to be disrespectful towards one another and myself. Two students got into an argument, and that was my breaking point. I put my foot down and explained to them that my expectations clearly stated that I expected mutual respect. I explained that I felt that they did not respect one another and that they were not respecting me. I pointed out that this was supposed to be a positive learning environment, and that they were causing it to be extremely negative. Students seemed a bit taken back by my outburst, as I am usually quite laid-back. After class, one student even came to me and asked if I truly felt that he was disrespectful towards me. I was honest, and told him that I did feel that way. He seemed a bit ashamed as he left the room, but it made me feel good to know that I did have some backbone when it comes to classroom management.

We continued with speeches in the Introduction to Agriculture class and I allowed more time for students to work on their presentations in the Wildlife class. After school, I worked on wire diagramming again with Mr. Kessler.

Ms. Rice came to visit me on Wednesday, and it was great to see a familiar face, although I was a bit nervous. My welding class went well, as I let students practice the welds that I had taught them. I was apprehensive for my electrical wiring class, due to their behavior the day before. However, my talk must have helped, because they were pretty well-behaved. I gave them a quiz, and then they worked on their wiring diagrams. While some students seemed to be understanding, others simply did not get it.

We began the Plant and Soil Science unit during my fifth and sixth period Introduction to Agriculture classes. This was the unit that I was planning to use for my research project for AEE495. I decided that I would teach the fifth period class using a student-centered approach, and teach the 6th period class using a more teacher-centered style. After I gave students a pre-test, we learned the four soil ingredients. Taking a student-centered approach, I passed out bags and assigned different stations; one for each "ingredient". I then allowed students to perform the experiments in the bags and report their findings. We then related their findings to the four soil "ingredients". This lesson went extremely well.

I chose to teach sixth period a little differently. I allowed them to observe some soil, talk about their findings, then I presented a short PowerPoint about the ingredients. While I did take a different approach, the class went well. Because they are a bit more rowdy than my fifth period class, I did have to put my foot down quite a bit to move through the material. I was proud of my classroom management techniques during this particular class period.

In my Wildlife class, I presented eight Pennsylvania wildlife species. I then gave students time in-class to finish up their presentations. After school on Wednesday, I stayed for Parliamentary Procedure practice. I then attended an SAE visit with Mr. Kessler, where we tagged a student's Dairy Beef calves. It was a lot of fun, and it was neat to see a student interact with his animals outside of the classroom.


Thursday brought about some more practice in welding. Per Ms. Rices' suggestion, I implemented a bit of a stricter routine than usual for this class. I reinforced my safety rules and explained that students should wait to be dismissed for the welders before moving. I also implemented a new strategy, where we would reconvene at the end of the period to debrief about the day. After students practiced and cleaned up, they were patient with me and did not seem to mind the new routine.

My electricity class went extremely well. Also upon Ms. Rices' suggestion, I implemented a matching game for students, where they were challenged to match the wiring diagram with the photo. We then went over them to compare them, which seemed to get the wheels turning in their minds. Slowly, they began to understand, which I was very pleased with!

In the fifth period Introduction to Agriculture class, I taught students about the five soil formation factors. I assigned one factor to each group and challenged them to come up with a creative way to present the factor to teach their classmates what it was. The presentations went very well and I think that the students liked the fact that they had ownership of what and how they were learning. My sixth period class went very differently. I passed out items to represent each factor to different groups of students. I then presented a short PowerPoint, and asked students to take guided notes (again, in an attempt at very teacher-centered learning). I then passed out a crossword puzzle, which I used to review the material that we learned Wednesday and Thursday. Finally, in my Wildlife class, we began student presentations of their PA Wildlife species. These went extremely well and I was very pleased with their work!

Just when I thought I would have a normal week, along came this arctic blast of air. With a windchill between -10 and -20 degrees, school was put on a two-hour delay on Friday. This bumped all classes back to only 30 minutes and moved the schedule around quite a bit. In my welding class, I taught students how to MIG weld. I was a bit uncomfortable with this content, but I do not think that it went all that badly. I tried to think of a new way to relate the diagrammed circuit to the actual circuit for electrical wiring, in an attempt to make it "click" for students. I showed them how to wire the circuit and we compared it to the diagram. This did not go as well as I had hoped, but I also do not think that the two hour delay helped with their attention span.

My Introduction to Agriculture course during fifth period went well, although we were rushed due to the shortened periods. We analyzed five soil textures. Instead of going through them one at a time as a class, I allowed them to work at their own pace in groups of two. This was really fun and I loved seeing them so engaged in the task at hand. Despite the shortened period, many groups managed to get all five samples analyzed.

Again, sixth period was structured a little differently, with the same concept in mind. I began by asking them how they could tell the difference between sand and clay if they were blindfolded. This led into a discussion and a PowerPoint (with guided notes!) about sand, silt, clay and loam. I struggled with classroom management during this period (as usual) so we moved very very slowly through the notes. We only had about fifteen minutes to spare, and I used that time to introduce the soil texture flow chart and then demonstrated how to use it. While still pushed for time, I allowed each table pair of students to analyze one soil sample. This went A LOT better than expected.... mind you that I did preface the activity with something that sounded similar to "if I see any soil being thrown, muddy hands being wiped on one another or any other inappropriate behaviors, we will be DONE!". Students were, for the most part, well behaved and very engaged. Finally, in seventh period, students continued to present their PA Wildlife species.

Despite the fact that this was my first five day week, it certainly did fly by! Each week, not only do I see myself becoming more confident and comfortable, but I also see myself stepping into the role as a teacher. I made myself extremely proud this week, by implementing some new classroom management techniques, and addressing undesirable behaviors. I am hoping that this is something that I can continue with in the next ten weeks of student teaching.

Not only am I proud of myself in this aspect, but I am also extremely pleased with my eagerness to learn and understand the content that I am unfamiliar with. While I am certainly no expert on Ag Mechanics, and that is probably evident in my teaching, I feel as though I am stepping out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to understand how and why things work. Working with Mr. Kessler to understand these concepts has not only helped me become a better educator, but it has also given me the chance to bond with him even more. I am certainly enjoying my time here at Mifflinburg High School, and I am looking forward to seeing how much more I can grow and stretch until the end of my experience!