New Opportunities and Exciting Activities!

Six weeks.... it's crazy to think that I am more than a third of the way done with my student teaching experience. These past weeks have certainly flew by and I have been learning lots. This week was a short week; Monday we had off for President's Day and tomorrow (Friday) I will not be here because I have to return to campus for a workshop with my cohort. To say the least, I have had a jam-packed three days, trying to get everything in line for Friday and juggling the 2 hour delays and winter storms that have been thrown at us.


Tuesday, we had a delay (surprise, surprise... those are becoming a norm!). In welding, I reviewed MIG welding and then allowed the students to practice. I gave a quiz in Electrical Wiring during third period. Students were not happy with this, but it was a repeat quiz on the electrical wiring rules, which they need to memorize in order to begin wiring. I find this class extremely frustrating because students are at so many different levels understanding diagramming. I have tried many different techniques to try and get them to understand, but many of them continue to struggle. They are getting frustrated, and voice their frustrations very openly. I have decided that it would be best to allow students who pass the wiring diagramming quiz to move on to the hands-on wiring, in hopes that it will give the other students some motivation to take some effort to understand this.

I was really excited (and a little nervous) for my Introduction to Ag classes. I was teaching students about soil horizons, using the edible soil horizon activity. I spent a whole bunch of money and a whole bunch of time gathering supplies for this activity, so it would go perfectly. Because I am comparing teacher centered and student centered learning for my research project, I decided to present the information and activity differently to 5th and 6th periods.

During 5th period, I quickly reviewed a PowerPoint that discussed the soil horizons. I allowed students to take their own notes and we had some open discussion about each horizon. I then laid all of the ingredients out on the table and told them that they had ten minutes to create a soil profile, using each ingredient to represent each horizon. This went so well and I was so impressed with many of their designs. They then ate their soil profiles, which (of course) they enjoyed!

I was very nervous for 6th period, as they are usually rowdy and I wasn't sure how they would handle this activity. However, they really impressed me! Although they were talkative, as usual, they were respectful and engaged. I handed out a bag to each group that contained all of the ingredients that they needed. I presented the PowerPoint and provided them with guided notes so it was more structured. As we went through the PowerPoint, I told students what to add to their soil profiles.

Students really enjoyed this activity. Many of them took their soil profiles to lunch with them the next period. Ms. Spurrier went down to the lunch room, and she told me that the Principal approached her asking about the edible soil horizons. Ms. Spurrier told her that I was the one who did them with the students. Later that day, I got an email from the Principal commending me for the activity and saying that she would love to observe me one day. That made me feel so great!

During my 7th period Wildlife class, students had the opportunity to present their PA Wildlife Species presentations. I was so impressed with the effort that they put into these presentations, and I even learned a lot from them! I stayed after school on Tuesday for a faculty meeting. We had a Tech Ed teacher talk about STEM, which was really interesting!

Wednesday was a "normal" day. I was very excited for welding during second period. I had a welding joint activity for students, where they would practice "welding" the joints using graham crackers and icing. Mr. Kessler was going to observe me during this period, and seemed a bit skeptical about this activity. When I told students what we were doing, they were skeptical as well. However, they ended up loving it! We had a competition to see whose T-weld could hold the longest and we analyzed their icing "beads". It was a nice opportunity to have some fun with my students in a more laid back (but still educational) way.

In electrical, I gave students a diagramming test. They had to pass this test in order to be able to wire. I knew many students would not pass, but wanted to gauge student's comprehension using this quiz. They complained a lot about the quiz, but three of them ended up passing. I am hoping that seeing these three students will motivate the others to try to learn diagramming.

In my Introduction to Ag classes, we discussed soil pH. I let students use pH test strips and a soil pH probe to test the pH of three soil  samples. I decided to try inquiry with my 5th period (student-centered) class. I told them that they were soil scientists and that they were asked to analyze the samples. I also gave them a very brief set of instructions and utilized the technique where you give them sticky notes and they are only permitted to ask that many questions. It went well, and was extremely interesting to watch the students try to figure things out on their own.

It did not go so well with my 6th period class. Instead of the inquiry approach, I talked to them about the importance of soil pH, they analyzed 1 soil sample per group and then we all shared our results. Students were not nearly as engaged during this period as they were during 5th period and many students were rude and disruptive.

During Wildlife, we played a Jeopardy review game. It was a lot of fun. I stayed after school on Wednesday to help coach our Parliamentary Procedure team.

Today (Thursday) I allowed students to practice their welds during second period. I am continually impressed with this class. It is my biggest class and it is full of boys. They are my best behaved class that I have. They are respectful and when I ask for something, they do it. For instance, I told them that I would like to implement a moment to debrief at the end of every period. After they are done cleaning up, they have all gotten into the habit of quickly and quietly having a seat.

This is such a drastic difference from my third period class. In electrical, I continued to show students how to wire. I also worked one-on-one with students who were struggling. I can tell that this one-on-one interaction is what some of them need in order to understand, so I am looking to use more of that next week.

In Introduction to Agriculture, I had students make a foldable book of the parts of a plant. I talked to them about the parts, they took notes on the inside and drew the parts on the outside. I did not change it up much between the two periods, because I thought that this was an activity that they would both enjoy equally. I was very surprised with how engaged my students were during 6th period. I did have some trouble with a few talkative and disrespectful students in the back. Students in Wildlife took a unit test. They all did extremely well!


Tomorrow, since I will be on campus, I will be leaving substitute plans for Mr. Kessler and Ms. Spurrier. Mr. Kessler asked me to write them how the school requires them, which was a great idea. I am having students take a quiz in welding, the students in electrical will be working on wiring and diagramming and the intro class will be learning about photosynthesis by drawing a comic. I am excited to see what my students come up with, but I am also very excited to see all of peers tomorrow on campus!