Gettysburg Students Find Joy in Serving Others

 

Yesterday, I had the wonderful privilege to teach for the first time at my cooperating school! I taught a life knowledge lesson about serving others in my Introduction to Agriculture course. In our 45 minute block, we played my favorite game called mum-ball to get to know each other. After that, we introduced our topic of service to others through a think, pair, share. 

Together, the class and I identified examples of service projects that can be done in the community. We explored the 4 ways to serve others by giving time, money, gifts, and affection. We utilized 3 out of the four strategies in a simple service project to meet the needs of members of the community. We spend time assembling care packages to donate to the Gettysburg CARES organization. We used affection to write personal letters of encouragement as well to those who will be receiving the bags. Some money was spent on supplies, however, as a class, we spent more time assembling and donating a simple gift to the community. 

                         

This experience relates to a lot of the lessons that I have learned throughout my experience in school. I was able to apply some of my classroom management skills, student engagement skills and

I learned a lot that I can apply in the future during this experience. The most important thing that I learned was my students' names and their interests. I was truly able to get to know many of the students and I am looking forward to teaching them in just a few weeks. I also learned the importance of letting your students have some time to talk and interact with their peers. In my google form that I had the students complete after the lesson, they said that they enjoyed doing activities and working in groups. 

Some of the other questions in my survey asked for student feedback about the lesson and how I can serve their needs as their future teacher. I received some great feedback about how they enjoy hands-on activities and working in groups. They asked for me to continue to play fun games and continue to interact with them.

I was also able to discuss with the class to determine what service project they want to complete next semester when I start to teach. They were able to make suggestions about ways that they want to serve their community, so this lesson was a great way to spark their interest in my student teaching internship.

I had such a wonderful time getting to know and teaching these wonderful students! I am really looking forward to starting student teaching and seeing what amazing service projects we can complete in class and with the FFA as a whole! With Thanksgiving being right around the corner, I am so grateful for my wonderful cooperating teachers and their support as I am preparing to student teach. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!