Student Teaching Internship - Week 2

It has been an exciting week (for the most part)! Monday the students had off of school; however, the teachers had an Act 81 day. We spent most of the day learning about the new changes to the mandatory child abuse reporting, suicide prevention, and drug awareness.

Tuesday was a very unique day filled with both good and bad. To make things interesting, we started off with a 2hr. delay; however, I didn't know anything about it until I got to school and observed that the parking lot was nearly empty of vehicles. After contemplating my next plan of action, I saw an employee pull in, and decided to give it a try... I asked them if they could let me in to the school... to which they replied, "Who are you?" After explaining that I was Mr. Hughes' student teacher she let me in the school building. I spent the "extra" time working on lesson plans, but the day was just beginning... shortly before Mr. Hughes arrived, one of his helpers went to check on things in the greenhouse, and brought back very bad news - the gas heaters in the greenhouse had quit working and nearly everything was frozen... :( Even though the best of plans are laid... "sometimes those things happen".

On the brighter side of things, we spent the remainder of the day working with students on the AET to make sure that they had their profile complete, career paths selected, and an SAE project started or at least put some effort into brainstorming possible projects. I am really excited that I was able to help so many students get started with the AET, and to get them thinking about what they can do for an SAE project, or how they can potentially use something they are already doing to count for their SAE project.

Wednesday I started teaching my Animal/Vet science class which is also my smallest class. We started by doing an overview of the U.S. dairy industry, and focused on the general trends of the industry, as well as the top U.S. dairy states. In the afternoon I attended the monthly Jr. FFA meeting, and helped to guide and instruct them in making posters for FFA Week.

Thursday I focused on the dairy industry in PA, emphasizing that we are 5th in top dairy states in both production and number of cows; however, we are second in the total number of dairy operations. I had the students take turns reading various paragraphs of important information about the dairy industry in PA. As a review for the top U.S. dairy states at the end of the class, I had drawn a map of the US on the dry erase boards and had the students color in the top dairy states. I wasn't sure what they would think of it, but they really seemed to enjoy it, and more importantly they remembered them the next day (Friday) when I reviewed with them. (My biggest regret is that I forgot to take a picture)

Friday found me teaching about the 6 primary dairy cattle breeds... it still is a challenge to gauge how long various components of the lesson will take to teach; however, I think the more I get to know my students, the better I will be able to guesstimate how much they can handle, or how long it takes them to do an activity. My biggest accomplishment for the week is that I was able to learn the names of all of my students in my "first" class.

I am looking forward to this next week as I start teaching 2 more classes - Power Technology (electrical wiring), and Intro. to Agriculture (Horticulture). I plan to continue to work on learning "my" student's names, and learn about their interests. Mrs. Fay is also scheduled for Tuesday to go over the AET. I am excited to see what she has planned, and hopeful that she may be able to spark some ideas for those students who are still struggling to come up with a project since I am sure she has "seen it all" when it comes to SAE's!