Week 6: Another Week in the Books!
As I continue on with my student teaching internship (which seems to be flying by) I am never not amazed by my students and their achievements. Whether it be big or small they are wonderful, strong students with a good head on their shoulders to truly achieve greatness. They are also making it that much harder for me to leave when my internship is over. This week was a very busy week for not just the students but for me as well, and the way they came together to make sure that business was being taken care of so we could continue to move forward was absolutely incredible. I finished my Global Ag unit with seniors and might I say they were very disappointed that I wasn't teaching them anymore. My Ag Enviro Class is finishing up tree identification and will be starting into Maple Syrup Production.
The week started typical with a two hour delay on Monday and a visit from my university supervisor that same day. Having quite the amount of anxiety I managed to do just fine with the visit and shortened amount of teaching time. Both of my classes were extremely attentive and respectful. I did enjoy being supplemented with an abundance of constructive feedback from my supervisor. This made me realize that I am doing okay and to keep pushing myself to improve each week.
As I previously stated I finished up my Global Ag students. Even though they were disappointed that I would not be teaching them anymore, they did prove to me that they did learn something. They did current events on global agriculture and took information learned from class and found some really great articles. I would say that seniors are probably one of the hardest groups to work with because of graduation beings a few months away. I did in fact learn from them that they care and want to make some sort of difference, maybe not in agriculture but in the world. I know that I cannot push everyone into the Ag world but knowing that they are making or wanting to make differences makes me have hope for them to continue on and achieve greatness.
My Ag Enviro class is pushing through the gauntlet of finishing tree identification. What I did not realize is that because of the shortened class time because of delays has stretched this unit out longer than what was anticipated. Unfortunately I will not be able to get through the whole unit because there will not be enough time for me to finish the rest of my units if I would continue on with this unit. Overall the biggest take away I want the students to have is the tree identification portion so that if we have a day where its nice we could go outside and properly identify trees. So this next week I have to find a good stopping place so I can introduce maple syrup production.
On Thursday we hosted the AFY county winter skills day. We had over two hundred students and advisors come to participate in the various events. I was in charge of the Ag Mechanics portion. I had two teams compete and a portion of this contest was learning how to lay out a wall and with one day remaining before the contest I learnt and taught the students how to lay out the wall in one day. I was under the impression that my students didn't take it seriously and did not grasp the concept, but I was completely wrong. I had one student win the whole contest, another come in 6th and the other come in 12th. I could not be happier! Hard work truly does pay off.
We also attended the ACES conference this weekend and created so many memories with the students that I will never forget. At dinner they all expressed how they did not want me to leave and that they wanted me to come back and teach. I could never express how much my heart was touched by these kids. Who would have thought that they cared so much? The conference itself was absolutely amazing, reflections and the morning seminar really hit home for me and makes me want to do better both professionally and individually.
Overall the week was good and has me wanting to improve for the next week. I am truly blessed to be here and doing what I love to do: Teach! I hope next week brings in more joy since I will be picking up two classes. We will see!
Greta blog. Nice to see that the seniors were responding as they did when I visited. Seniors are difficult to motivate. BUT the key to them as all students is for them to realize that you care for them as individuals. Once they see that, they almost always respond.
ReplyDeleteTree ID. Hopefully before you leave Bermudian you get a day or more to actually take the students outside and work on ID. I should have asked if you have spent a day or more on ID using a tree key? You could cut twigs to do this or give them written description. I will need to visit while you are teaching the maple syrup unit to see how an expert teaches this.
Glad you enjoyed ACES. Students love this weekend. It is also a good time for teachers (and student teachers) to share ideas and socialize.