Ag 1
The worst period of Ag 1 is 8th period. At first, I had been bummed out that I would be ending every day on a bad note. Well, as my avid readers know, one of my problems has always been confidence and energy. Before I get into 8th period more, I have to say that I am thankful for my 7th period Ag 2 class. They are a great group that gets me energized enough to get through 8th period. Except I didn't start teaching Ag 2 until 2 days after I started teaching Ag 1.
Moral of the Story:
Don't fall into the trap of writing someone or something off when you hear bad things about them. I fell into that trap with 8th period. I was always thinking how am I ever going to teach these terrible kids?? Well, they weren't as bad as I had made them out to be in my head. Now, don't get me wrong, they still aren't a great class to deal with. I will manage; hey, I have so far right?
So back to Ag 1 in general. They are definitely a group that you need to follow BECOV (business like behavior, enthusiasm, clarity, opportunity to learn, variability) with. I specifically had to work on Clarity this week. Enthusiasm, of course, was also key but if my directions weren't clear, the students would mess up planting (expensive) seeds in the greenhouse. They also would never learn anything if they didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. I have to be very literal and specific. I hope to get way better at that in not only Ag 1 but in all of my other classes as well.
Ag 2
These students are the ones who "know what's up." They are pretty well behaved for the most part. Back in November, I taught my Communication (Life Knowledge) lesson to both Ag 2 periods. It was nice to have a chance to teach the lesson twice in the same day and to teach it to students that I would be having while I was student teaching. I already had started to get to know the students so it was an easier transition on Thursday. The one thing I will have to watch myself on is not getting too far side tracked with those classes, especially my high energy period 7.
Overall
The majority of the students respect Mr. Haussener and Mr. Grumbine so they don't have very many behavior problems. I just hope that I can earn their respect so I don't have to worry about enforcing my consequences.
This coming week:
I am continuing Plant Propagation in Ag 1 and Food Preservation in Ag 2. I am also starting to teach Animal Science Reproduction to one period of Ag 3. I hope to continue to get better in my confidence and enthusiasm as I get more comfortable with the groups of students that I have.
Sara,
ReplyDeleteIt might be helpful to pose specific questions you want help with in each of you blogs to get better responses.
I would caution you on how your frame or describe situations. Would you feel comfortable with a student from 8th period (or their parent) reading this?
Perhaps you could share the same idea with the framing of, "I was apprehensive about 8th period because the last period of the day can sometimes be challenging and I had heard stories about similar classes from other schools/teachers"
Keep in mind we are developing skills to discuss the practice of pedagogy and education in public settings with these blogs!
I echo what Dr. Foster mentioned. Yes, I might have actually cringed a little when I read "these terrible kids."
ReplyDeleteWhat can you do in your practice to help you prepare positively? I know that there's little time to breathe between classes, but might you be able to take a 30 second breather to direct your mindset for the last class of the day? What changes will you make to help you adjust to have greater clarity and less misdirection?
The BECOV phrase was a new one to me. Where did you learn that?
Sara,
ReplyDeleteI look forward to meeting all of your students when I visit. I know that we can build rapport with students when we care and work with them on a respectful manner. I know you will get to know your students better each day, and when specific problems arise you will seek advice to get everyone back on track. Keep learning through this process!
-Dr. Ewing
You have a lot of really good kids in period 8 too. Don’t let 10% drag down the positivity for the other 90%.
ReplyDelete