Hands-on learning is exciting!

I love real-life experiences and hands-on learning opportunities, and most of my students seem to as well!

The beginning of the week, I spent in Harrisburg with 4 juniors and my cooperating teacher. The students had the opportunity to learn about the legislative process and how bills are made and amended. Several of the students said they learned a lot and enjoyed the trip. Tuesday after the SLLC events were over, we took a "self-guided" tour of the capital building, and the opportunity to see awesome paintings depicting significant events in out history as well as representation of PA industries. Furthermore, the architecture is awesome! We met with staff person from Senator Don White's office as well as the Lieutenant Governor's office. These visits provided us with the opportunity to see their office, enjoy the balconies, learn some interesting history and background information, as well as ask some questions.

 Some other exciting things that happened this week... I was excited that overall my students knew the 4th paragraph of the Creed much better than they knew the 3rd paragraph last week... A very good type of surprise!

Wednesday the weather was so nice out that I took my Animal/Vet Science class outside to review the anatomical directional terms that they were to work on learning while I was away at SLLC; however, 3 of those students were at SLLC and a few of the other students had been absent, so I just decided to completely go over the information, and then we moved on to my lesson on dairy goat diseases. With several changes to my schedule, I ended up spending additional time on dairy goat diseases and had to switch several things around - hopefully we get this section finished by Monday or Tuesday!
Friday we did a fecal analysis lab looking for parasites which made things a little stressful as I was originally planning to have the lab this coming week; however, it did work out okay. I did learn though that it takes students a lot longer to clean up from this type of lab than I had planned for, so I ended up finishing the clean-up over the beginning part of my lunch break. :(

I also started teaching Floriculture to my 2 sections of Plant and Soil Science students. Incorporating as much hands-on as possible throughout this unit is certainly helping it to go smoother and keep my "busy" students engaged and on task! So far we have spent 3 days learning to make a boutonniere, corsage, tie bows, and ID common floral design tools and flowers! Love it! ... AND I found a 4th participant so that I can have a floriculture team to compete in CDE's! So excited!

Another exciting thing for me this week is that I was able to "turn-over" the care of the pony to 2 of my 9th grade students who are crazy about horses. Friday I spent time with them showing them how to care for and work with her, and then had them demonstrate to me what I showed them... Now they have something to put in their AET records! Woohoo! I'm hoping to get some other students started with some projects very soon - it is one of my favorite parts of Ag Education... unfortunately there just isn't enough time in the day and too many other pressing things that keep me from being able to fully implement it like I would prefer... If there were to be an unequally sized portion of the 3-circle model in my mind, it would be that the SAE circle would be slightly enlarged as I feel that this aspect can teach students so much - especially those students who detest school!

In reflecting on this week, I need to allow a few more minutes of clean-up time for labs, continue the hands-on approach when applicable, and work to get my students more involved in SAE's and CDE's!
... Oh... and find more time in my day... haha!

On an even more exciting note... my 2 required PRAXIS exams are done, and spring is just around the corner! ... I found an exciting little reminder in our woods when I got home and was gathering wood... Myrtle!