Student Teaching Internship - Week 1

The beginning of this week found me at the 100th Annual Farm Show. Most of my first day was spent going back and forth between the pig holding pens and the small arena to watch "my" students show their pigs - many of them were showing pigs for the first time. While none of them placed high enough to be in the sale, the students had a lot of fun and more importantly got great experience.

Wednesday proved to be an interesting day as well. We left school around 6AM with 30 6th-12th grade students - a first time to take 6th and 7th grade students. Once arriving at the Farm Show complex, the students were instructed to stay in groups of 3 or more and meet back at the entrance at 3:45pm and younger students were to stay with upper class-men or an adult. I got 3 6th grade girls to my charge, and then the excitement began... so much drama! I quickly found out they were not at all interested in looking at the animals, plants, or really anything agriculture-related - they had been given too much (in my opinion) spending money, and it was burning a hole in their pocket; therefore nearly every vendor needed to be visited and money spent wherever possible... After some time, I decided that we were going to change things up and go look at Ag-related things anyway - after all that was the point of the trip! I'm not sure how much they took in or learned, but I tried... If I didn't keep them moving (literally), then they started begging to go look at more vendors or vamped-up the drama, and one girl kept trying to sneak off because she didn't want to go look at displays, animals and other Ag-related attractions... she did succeed once for a few min., but we found her and then I watched her like a hawk! It was a physically exhausting day, but when I reflected on my experiences, it made me really appreciate the way my parents raised me...

The remainder of the week was spent observing Mr. Hughes teach. This gave me the opportunity to closely observe how the students interacted throughout the class, what types of things he called them out for, which students continually act up, which students are really interested in the material and are trying to learn, as well as his teaching style. I had observed before, but never noticed some of those details... now having my eyes opened to some of those things, and knowing that it is going to be "my turn" to start teaching lessons next week, I found those details very important.
Accomplishments... I learned a few more student's names, and got to engage and help students in the Ag Mechanics classes...
Additionally, I got to wear the "teacher shoes" and get a little bit of experience being "in charge" when I saw a bunch of girls using grinders with their hair loose... I got a typical response... some students put their hair back immediately, others pretended to not hear and had to be personally "reminded"... Anybody know of any good safety videos on this???

As I plan for next week, Monday is an Act 80 day, Tuesday is reserved for working on the AET, and Wednesday I start teaching my first class - Animal/Vet Science (Overview of the Dairy Industry). I will continue to observe and help out with the other classes for the remainder of the week.