A Nearing End to a Fast Beginning (STB#13)

End the of student teaching is nearing and that means that things are not winding down but rather picking up! I look back on the past months and think "where in the world did time go!" I still have labs and activities I want to accomplish before I leave and there are events and planning that still need to occur. I understand that whether I am there or not these things will happen; however, I feel apart of this Ag program now and I find it strange for it all to be done in just two short weeks and not be apart of the last month and a half of school. This week was an eye opener for me as to the short amount of time I have left.

This sad realization also served as a huge motivation to make sure I leave not disappointed. How can I raise that bar even higher in the last few weeks? This week I took on this challenge. As mentioned in previous posts, I have a very difficult class of high school mechanic boys. Although this class is difficult, I realized that I can not let my guard down and that I need to create even more engaging lessons that will build better rapport with this students before I leave. 

Students in my other classes have been wondering why I am so excited to see them and why I am so excited about class. One reason is that they have no idea what I put up with in my morning classes that by the time I see them they are just the highlight of my day. The second reason is because now more than ever I want students to still stay engaged in my classroom. I have noticed that the nicer weather brings out students' spring fevers. It is almost the end of the year and they feel like they have been trapped inside for so long due to a long winter. With these two factors in place, an explosion of some sort is bound to happen and it is easy to lose focus towards the end. In the last two weeks I have had 4 students suspended do to fighting or misbehavior. A suicide note was found in my classroom. The rambunctious behavior has set in. However, I believe it is truly important to revert that built up energy into classroom engagement. Although this is very easy to say it is often times very hard to do. 

Although recently I have seen a boost in student engagement. I think this is a combination both my attitude and my classroom materials. This week I planned a lab for my animal science class that I was especially happy about. Students took notice of this excitement and they seemed to also be engaged in it. Right now in this course we are looking at sheep and goat fibers and their classifications. The lab I planned was actually a forensics type of lab. A scenario was given to students about a murder that happened. They were told that investigators have narrowed the case down to 3 suspects, each who wore a scarf that matched the description of a witness. The students job was to find the murderer by taking samples of each of the scarves, look at them under a microscope and match them with the sample that was found on the victim. In the process students had to identify if the samples were fine, medium or long type of fibers and draw what they saw from these samples. I was very excited to see how this lab would go because I have never done anything like this before, and I thought it sounded fun. It seemed as though my students quickly caught on to my excitement as well. As students began working independently in their groups I found that many were engaged in the lesson as well. This coming week, they find out who the actual murderer was and I am interested in seeing if they were able to come to the right conclusions. 

My other Intro to Agriculture class has also been really fun class this past week. We are FINALLY  about to go work out in the shop and practice some welding techniques. I am excited to see how well these nine freshmen do. We have spent a good amount of time on safety and taking a safety quiz and I feel confident that they are ready to show what they know out in the shop! 

Lastly, even with all the lesson planning and classroom focus there is still one major event that has dominated a lot of our schedules: The FFA Banquet. Everyone is starting to feel the pressure with the FFA banquet quickly approaching. Students have been doing an excellent job organizing and getting things together for the banquet; however, I realized that it is almost more stressful keeping them all organized and ensuring all the Ag teachers and students are on the same page and have the same goals for the banquet. If one small detail is told to a student that is different from what the other teacher was expecting than this can cause a hold up in the process. This behind the scenes organization is critical and important. I am really enjoying working students with this and I am excited to see how the banquet turns out!

Although the end is nearing the pace is only picking up. Meanwhile I am trying to enjoy the ride while setting that bar high before I leave. I don't want to leave student teaching wishing it would have ended better or that I should have done more. I want to provide the best last opportunities for students that I can!