So it begins!

Week three of student teaching and I am exhausted! A big question I had for the week is how do teachers last all day!? I am no stranger to long days. When I was on campus I would wake up every day at 5:30 am for practice then wouldn't go to bed until 11pm. That was my routine for nearly three years, and I came accustom to it. Now, I find myself tired through random parts of the day and heavily relying on coffee!

Awning aside, this has been an awesome week! I started teaching my large animal science class! So far I love my students! They participate and have made me feel so welcomed! This week we covered the basics: setting up AET, classroom procedures, and getting to know each other.

I am looking forward to diving deeper in content next week by starting off with animal domestication! 

One challenge I had this week is incorporating my digital notebooks! It's a lot harder to include it then I thought. I realize once students save them to their drives I am unable to edit them if I wanted to make changes. I pre-made the first two units of them and I'm afraid that's going to pigeon hole me if I wanted to change content. This is the first week I will be using the digital notebooks, so if they are a bust, I may consider taking them out of the curriculum. 

A personal goal I have this week is to be more clear with directions and have pictures on powerpoint to assist with them. I had directions on the board that were bulleted but students were still confused. A tip I got from both my cooperating teachers is to walk the students through the directions, especially when having them log in to websites. It may make sense to me but for studnets, it can be really confusing. 

I am wicked excited to start off next week!

PA Farm Show!

Can't believe I finished my first week of student teaching! I haven't officially started teaching, but it's a  still a mile marker. My week started at the Mid Winter Convention for PA FFA on Monday! Pequea Valley had three keystone recipients, and an additional four students received their first FFA jacket. Being a convention brought back my memories of earning my first FFA jacket and my state degree. Back then those were huge accomplishments for me that launch me into this crazy journey of Ag Ed. The last few days I have been observing classes and getting to know some of the students that I'll be teaching. They are interesting, to say the least, but I can't wait until I actually teach team! As of now, I have one more week of observation then I start off with large animal science!