Take the Challenge Part 2 (STB#14)

The FFA food drive was a success! 

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about taking on challenges. In fact I wrote a blog about taking challenges at the beginning of my whole student teaching experience as well. Challenges are "things" we all encounter. I label them "things" because challenges aren't always obstacles and they aren't always glorious. I have seen them in action these past couple of months; however, once again I can't help but to share about how a challenge this past week has changed the dynamics of the classroom.

At the beginning of this week my cohort received an email from our student teacher supervisor that challenged us to raise the bar in our last 10 days. The challenge was to set a daily goal for ourselves to such as have a meaningful conversation with 10 different students who you have not connected with yet or talk to students not in your class. I decided to take on this challenge to see what would results.

Of all the different types of challenges I have faced this year, I must say that this was probably my favorite. This week I broke some barriers with many of students. Some of these students I have felt never really wanted to get to know me or just haven't warmed up to me or I have tried and just haven't been able to "break the ice." On the flip side maybe I just wasn't doing enough to reach out to these students. In these last few weeks I have really challenged myself to have a different attitude in the classroom. This change of attitude has really changed the whole dynamic of my classroom. It has allowed students to open up more and interact with me more. With this attitude change and my personal challenge to connect with those students that I haven't yet, this week has shown its gems.

Some of my classes contain students that teachers "warn you about." Although I have been given the "warning" I have tried hard not to let the perspectives of others effect my goal for student success of all students. I believe that if we take the time to get to know our students on a personal level we may better understand them as people and make connections that can positively change their behavior inside the classroom. We maybe able to then stop tagging a warning label on students. This week I made some major breakthroughs with three of these students. These three students I never thought would come to respect me as their teacher or listen to what I had to say; however, this week I saw a sudden change in attitude among these students. One student started becoming interested in the classroom materials and started completing and handing in work on time after I had talked to him one on one and expressed how much I want him to be successful in my class. Another student has opened up with me and his peers after I made one joke with him that turned into a classroom inside joke. Yet another student just needed someone to talk to one day and came to down my room to talk to me about a stressful situation he was going through. Although these students would be considered challenges in some classrooms, I chose to get to know these students and find ways to engage them in class. What I found is that students don't need an ISS, detention or suspension, they simply need someone that believes in them.  

It took me awhile to figure this out. At first I was guilty of getting frustrated with students and threatening them with ISS or taking away privileges. In some situations this is a necessary consequence; however with many of my students it simply didn't matter to them. I couldn't figure out why at first they wouldn't care if they got and ISS or suspension, but I began to realize that for many of these students that was a typical day for them. It wasn't anything new or out of the ordinary to spend the day in ISS. A consequence like that didn't change their behavior in class. I had reanalyze how I responded to students and my attitude. Letting the frustration build up was not helping me in any way. I started challenging myself to be more relaxed and to find ways that might boost student engagement and motivation. One important aspect was getting to know my students on a one-on-one basis. I started having more conversations with those students that I didn't have a "connection" with yet and showed interest in them. As a result my students have opened up more to me. The "tough guys" joke around with me more, have shared their frustrations and concerns with me, and even go out of their way to just come and chatw . I have really valued these conversations with students and always end conversations by letting them know that they can do great things in this world because I believe in them. It may sound cheesy, however, many of my students have never heard anyone tell them those words and I think they are important words for students to constantly hear in order to help them to believe in themselves.

Students on our Longwood Gardens field trip!

As I approach the last week, I want to challenge myself to leave this message with all of my students. I hope that I have taught them a little bit about animal science, mechanics and leadership but I through it all I hope that I have taught them a whole lot about themselves and their true potential in this big world. I truly think this will be a hard week as I will have to say goodbye to my students. I would say student teaching has been a challenge, but it was a challenge worth taking.

Discover Science in Your School

Mrs. Gusepie's Science Classroom!

As often as I tend to feel sometimes stuck in the corner of the school's Tech Department wing, I often forget to realize that there are at least 40 other teachers teaching a variety of other subjects during the day. These teachers put in just as much hard time and dedication into their subjects. The awesome part of our job as an agriculture teacher is that our ag classes incorporate an array of standards including math, reading, writing and of course science! This past week I had the opportunity to branch out beyond the Ag department and observe a science teacher in her element. This was a rewarding experience because I not only built a great connection with this teacher, but I also was able to pick up some great tips and ideas that I could be implement in my own classroom.

I had to privilege of observing the Biology teacher, Mrs. Gusepie, this week. Mrs. Gusepie also teaches Forensic Science. This happened to be quite the coincidence because I was planning a Forensics lab in my Animal Science class and had no previous knowledge that she taught this course. Mrs. Gusepie also teaches Advanced Biology and an intro level of Biology. I observed her introduction class which consisted of 15 freshmen and one or two sophomores. The students were just finishing up their unit discussion on punnett squares. When Mrs. Gusepie introduced me to her class she mentioned that the same topics they are learning now also relates to what I teach in Animal and Plant Science courses. I thought it was interesting that she made the connection with her class. It helped to make that connection between biology and agriculture.

Mrs. Gusepie was working through a punnet square packet with her students in preparation for an upcoming test. I had the chance to walk around and talk with the students about the work they were completing. After reviewing the packet, I found it to be pretty creative and found that students were engaged. The title of the packet was "Bikini Bottom's Punnet Squares." The packet was related to Sponge Bob and the crosses of the different characters on the show. It seemed appropriate for a freshman class. These students were instructed to complete the packet and hand them in when they were done. At first I thought this might be a typical lesson if that was all they were doing the entire class; however, there was more accomplished in this lesson than just a packet.

Students were at all different stages of the game with the worksheet. Some were almost done while others had only just started. This is a problem that we face often as teachers. Mrs. Gusepie solved this problem by putting a challenging problem on the board for students to complete when they were done with the Bikini Bottom packet. It was challenging in a way that students were anxious to be the first ones to solve the problem but knew that they needed to finish their packets first. It was a motivational tool used to complete the task at hand. About half way through the period most students had finished their packets and were working on the problem. Mrs. Gusepie reviewed the problem with the students and assisted in leading them to the answer.

What I appreciated most about Mrs. Gusepie's teaching was that she helped students get to the answer rather than giving them the answer. She even challenged students to a higher order of thinking by asking questions about percentages of the heritable outcomes. Although the Bikini Bottom packet was a good hook, her challenging question on the board was realistic as it was related to guinea pigs. This made the this scenario real for students. This part of the lesson reminded me of the importance of hooking our students into our classroom content and also providing realistic activities that can be applied to real life scenarios.

In my opinion the students were interested in this lesson. I had the chance to walk around and talk to students while they were working on their packets. I asked them what they like most about the information they were learning and what topics they found most difficult. What I found interesting was that all students were engaged, even those that found the information more difficult. One student told me that she hated science and wish she didn't have to take the class; however, she completed her packet and she did it by herself rather than taking answers from her neighbor. It appeared that all students completed the worksheet and were motivated by the challenge that the questions presented. I enjoyed getting to know some of these freshmen and discovering what things in this lesson motivated them to complete their work.

On the flip side much of the student success in the classroom was a result of the teacher and her encouragement in the classroom. Mrs. Gusepie has been teaching at Octorara for 15 years. She is an older lady with a gentle spirit and can effectively communicate with her students. Students have a great deal of respect for her. I believe she possesses many of the characteristics that ensure an effective teacher. One aspect that I think she thrives in is clarity. Throughout the lesson she provided clear explanations and she brought forth questions and examples that made the classroom material more clear and easy to learn. She also obtains a very business-like behavior but also has a great sense of humor that is easy going with the students.

Some of these characteristics that Mrs. Gusepie possesses have helped me to evaluate my own teaching strategies. Often times I feel like I have a lot of enthusiasm but question if I can work on my clarity. I recognized how effective examples are in the classroom. The concept may or may not make sense to a student, but when you use an example that relates the concept to that student it all of a sudden makes sense to them. I have seen this "click" or "spark" in my own students but I feel that sometimes I could do better at providing this type of clarity that relates content to all of my students. Being able to observe another teacher has helped me think about my own teaching and evaluate areas in which I can improve on.

Having the opportunity to observe another teacher was a great way to refresh and reflect. Not only did I have the chance to check out other areas of my cooperating center other than the "tech wing" but I also got to know a really cool teacher that I otherwise would have never meet. Mrs. Gusepie even lended me a microscope and cover slips for one of my own labs in my classroom. This morning I had a paper jam in the printer and she helped me fix the printer. I just really appreciated making this connection with her and respect her for the lending hand she has provided. This experience also gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching. I would consider Mrs. Gusepie a seasoned teacher and I was able to pick up some good "words of wisdom" from her. I also evaluated my own teaching effectiveness and asked myself if I do enough of this or that in the classroom. It was just another rewarding experience that has allowed me to grow into something better!

There are lots of cool objects hanging in her room!

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! 

Take the Challenge! (STB#12)

This week I was only at school three days, but boy were those three days challenging! My cooperating teacher was out for three days for family issues and I was out one day for a funeral as well. So the three days that I was at school I took on the challenge of planning and teaching all of the classes. I really only had one class that I haven't picked up yet; however, it is the one class that I have been a bit nervous to teach. After testing the waters with the class this week I realized that they aren't as bad as I had expected.

The class is an Ag Mechanics course consisting of 24 boys and we just started our small gas engines unit. These boys are all over the spectrum. Some know a lot about engines, some don't understand them, some are diligent listeners, some (well most) test their boundaries, and the list could go on. What they all are very good at however is making it appear as though they know everything about engines. Being in a room full of boys, each wanted to impress their peers with their engine knowledge. It was quite the experience but I pressed through and the week turned out great. I was able to let students "show what they know" and help teach other about engines.

 I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to teach this class all by myself this week; however, I approached each day confident in my lessons and carried through with all my planned materials. I heard the normal grumbling and complaining about different activities I asked them to do, but I promised myself that I would be positive about the activities I had planned and push past the negativity that they wanted to pressure me with. By keeping this positive and confident spirit in the classroom I was able to get each of my students to do the activities I had asked of them.

I also knew that I would have to get tough with some of the students. In other words the rules and consequences were going to be challenged more than ever. With my cooperating teacher gone, students were bound to test their boundaries. I am not proud of these numbers, but I had to write three students up to the principle and another student got a 5 day suspension due to his misbehavior in class. I reminded students at the beginning of the week of my rules and consequences, which apply even when Mr. Graydus is gone. Many of the rules were broken and so the consequences followed. I knew that I had to stick to my word, especially with a bunch of rowdy boys in my morning classes. Consequences are one of my weaknesses but I stuck with them this week and they seemed to improve the classroom behavior.

At the end of the week, I reflected on the three days I took on that full load and realized that it wasn't really as bad as I had thought it would be. Rather I am now more encouraged to start this coming week because I was able to make it through last week. It has also encouraged me to "take the challenge" when situations like this arise. If we never step out into the deep waters and try these challenges we may never know just how far we can make it. The best part is that we have cooperating teachers and centers that wont let us sink. Now, during student teaching, is the time to test the waters and truly see just much we can do.

Enhancing Classroom Activities (STB#11)

This week of student teaching felt like a slower pace week for me. It was the week after SLLC and CDE contests and I returned to a full week of classes. Although I enjoyed my time at contests and CDEs I was glad to jump back into my "normal" teaching routine. I use normal very lightly as I don't believe I ever have a normal week. However, if we as teachers had "normal" weeks or even days I don't think our job would be as fun as it is. The best part about walking into school every morning is that I know it will never be the same as the day before. Kids will test, love,yell, listen, disrespect or encourage you and the list could go on. But the most important thing to remember is that all of these characteristics of our students inspire us and shape us into better teachers.

In my Animal Science class, students had projects to share and present this past week. After hearing these presentations and looking at the results I was greatly disappointed. Most of them did not hand in the quality of work that I had expected. At the end of presentations I reflected on what I could do better or how I could have gotten better results. On Friday, I had the chance to travel to Penn State and meet with my fellow cohort members for one of our Pre-Internship Seminars. We were given time during this conference to discuss with our peers a lesson that was a "flop." I decided to bring along this project and ask my cohort members for help. 

The feedback that I got back was amazing. After feeling stuck and not knowing how I could have gotten students more excited or into this project, my peers brought a whole new perspective to the table. They gave me great suggestions as to how to build more student motivation and get students more involved with the project. One of their suggestions was to make the project competitive. My students especially really enjoy competition. I think that that may have boosted their interest in this project. Overall, I was pleased with this feedback! Reflection is a great thing and with multiple brains working together the results are mind blowing. :) 

This experience was also a wake up call for myself. Sometimes I feel that I get caught up in the day to day routine that I forget how exciting school can be. With my animal science project I didn't know what else I could do to make it better; however, my peers helped me realize that I need to take a little bit of extra time to think outside that box and prepare an exciting activity that students can't wait to participate in. My students more than anything deserve an awesome experience in my classroom and I want them to be excited walking into each of my classes. In finishing out my last couple of weeks (where did time go?) I want to push myself even more to develop awesome experiences for my students. As I am often encouraged at school with the question "how are you going to leave the wood pile higher?" I want to be able to answer this question at the end of my student teaching experience. 

Students had to find different Parli Pro motions hidden around the shop. #GoGetItEMoment

Tis the FFA Season (STB#10)

My students and I touring the Capitol as part of our SLLC experience 

It’s a time of year where it seems that the Christmas season has ended and the FFA season has started. Almost every weekend I have been away for an FFA conference or event. Although a lot of running around, I see the impact that these events are making on my students and it is rewarding to see the outcomes. This past weekend was the FFA State Legislative Leadership Conference (SLLC) in Harrisburg. We left with five students on Sunday and returned to school Tuesday. We then had a Small Gas Engines competition to go to on Wednesday. I returned to teach at school Thursday and Friday. 

Although I was gone from school most of this week, it was a great opportunity to spend time with my FFA students at these conferences and competitions. These events have allowed both me and my students to explore more of what all FFA has to offer. I have never been to SLLC before and so it was a great learning experience for myself. My students, however, were like new individuals when they returned to school. They had such a great time! On our way home I asked the students to reflect on their highlights from the trip and how the conference could improve. Most students said that their highlight was making new friends. I was constantly seeing my students talking with students from other schools and I was proud of them for branching out and meeting new people. My students also said that they would improve some of the bills that were discussed during their workshops the first day. Overall, it was a great trip and I am pleased with the way my students were open to helping others, learning and making new friends.

Our Small Gas Engines team putting their engine back together

This past Wednesday Octorara traveled to Solanco High School to compete in a Small Gas Engines and Creed Speaking CDE contests. This was another excellent experience for both myself and my students. I have never judged the Small Gas Engines competition before and it was quite the experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. Octorara came in third place for this competition and fourth for creed speaking. I was very pleased with this outcome but more importantly seeing the motivation the students had to do even better next time was very exciting to see. As we returned to school the participating students were talking all about their success and competition with the other students at school. They were excited to be able to advance and they were anxious to get out to the shop and tinker with their engine even more. I hope that the next unit which happens to be small gas engines will help them perform even better at the State Summer Conference. 

As I returned to my two days of classes, I was surprised to return to a well behaved bunch of students. I thought they would have enjoyed not having their teacher for a few days, but what I found was that they were excited to see me. They were more well behaved when I returned which made me wonder what they were trying to cover up from the beginning of the week! But all reports that I got back were positive, so I kept moving through my lessons as usual for these past two days. I am looking forward to having a longer and more productive week next week. 

The following are pictures from our community service project at the Neighborhood Center in Harrisburg:

                                                      

              

  

Down on the Farm with an SAE Visit

Glen cleaning the barn before milking time.

Today I finally got to conduct an SAE visit with our FFA Chapter VP, Glen. After having to reschedule with this student for over a month due to snow days or delays, we finally find a sunny afternoon that fit both of our schedules. If I have learned one thing it is that snow postpones almost everything over the winter season and we must be flexible. I will say that it was much more pleasurable having to carry out an SAE visit with the temperatures above 32 degrees. Anyway I had the opportunity to learn all about Glen's SAE project by visiting him down on the farm.

Glen has shown exceptional progress in just the two months that I have been student teaching at my cooperating center. After a downfall in our officer team earlier this year, we elected Glen as our FFA VP to finish out the year. So far he has been doing an excellent job maintaining his responsibilities in this position. I don't think I have every met a student with such determined and creative ideas for our chapter to engage in. As I constantly tell my students, "the sky is the limit. You can accomplish it if you dream it," Glen takes his ideas above and beyond and has the willpower to see his ideas succeed. Glen is currently in the Ag Mechanics CTP program at school where he has been developing his shop skills. I am proud of the responsibilities that Glen has taken on this year and all the FFA events he has attended. I hope that he pursues his FFA degrees and goes on the receive his American degree at the FFA National Convention even after he graduates.

For this SAE visit with Glen my cooperating teacher and I traveled off the beaten path to a little farm in southern Chester County. Here was a dairy farm where Glen milks cows every day after school. He does the evening milkings during the week and both morning and evening milkings on the weekends. I surprised at all the hard work that this high school student put forth in this job. Glen did say that although it is hard work he enjoys the paychecks at the end of the month that helps him pay the bills. This small dairy farm that he works at is run by a father and son. Glen's older sister milked cows at the farm for many years and then the job was handed down to Glen when he was old enough. Glen has been milking cows at this facility for a little over a year. This placement SAE has helped him develop a good work ethic and a love for agriculture.

This farm uses shredded newspaper taken from local schools to prepare bedding for the cows.

In preparing for this SAE visit I gathered together specific questions that might be needed to better understand this SAE. In my AEE 311 class a developed an SAE visitation form and rubric. The students need to first fill out a form that describes their SAE project and hand it in prior to their visit. The students then receive a rubric that explains how they will be graded on their SAE project and visit. I also have been scheduling with Glen to try and get a date established that would work with Glen, myself, my cooperating teacher and Glen's employers. There were different parties that all needed to be on board with this SAE visit. Although it took some planning, I think we were all well more prepared for the visit.

In evaluating an SAE program I have developed an SAE grading rubric. The rubric awards points to the student for the completion of forms prior to the visit. The student needs to completely fill out the form and meet with the teacher to discuss the SAE program and planned visit. The student is also given points for the actual SAE visit which should the student's evidence enthusiasm for the project and progress in reaching goals. Students should also have all records relating to the SAE updated and organized. Students are evaluated on organization and well kept records. If these tasks are all well maintained I believe that the student has an active and progressive SAE program and should therefore be awarded the proper grade.

Glen has an established profile on AET. However, Glen has been seeking help with keeping records on his account. Although he has general information on his account, he needs some assistance in entering journal entries and financial reports. Glen and I established a time this week were I will work with him and show him how to enter this information using his AET account. Glen will be working with a placement record book to keep records on this SAE project. If I could make any recommendations

to Glen it would be to always ask his teachers for help with AET if he is unsure how to use any of the settings. I think Glen would have an outstanding record book if you kept up to date with his journal entries and financial recordings. I would suggest that he gets into a pattern writing on a chart what he does everyday at his job and then weekly sign into his account and enter this information. Although the record book keeping is not up to date, I think with some help we can get him on track again.

Overall, I was very impressed with Glen's SAE project. He seems to be learning a lot with the work that he is doing. When I asked him what his goals are after high school he said that he wasn't sure but definitely something in Agriculture. His SAE program has helped him develop an interest in Agriculture that will impact his future career goals. I was pleased to have conducted this SAE visit as it was a learning experience with for both myself and my student.