Coming Back Refreshed To Finish Strong During Week Eleven

Week eleven of student teaching has come and gone!  It is hard to believe that I am in the final home stretch of student teaching! After being gone the week before, it was great to be back in the classroom! Between catching up on material while I was away to applying recommendations on ways to improve my teaching, all in all, this week was very successful! 

Room full of wonderful members
coming to our monthly FFA meeting! 

Some of the highlights from this week included starting each class off with a one-on-one conference with each student. It was nice being able to see how each of my students was feeling after the week I was away and determine a better game plan to help each student feel comfortable with all of the content being taught. After knowing some of the topics my students needed more clarification on, we were able to reestablish our foundation as we continued on through the curriculum. 

One of the unique activities completed this week to enhance our learning objectives was through the creation of asexual plant propagation how-to guides and models. For each of the methods of asexual propagation, the students created a step-by-step guide to explain the process of how to achieve each form of propagation. This same horticulture class later dissected various flowers to determine whether they were complete or incomplete flowers as we discussed sexual plant reproduction! 

 

Another exciting activity in Animal Care II was the creation of models for the various reproductive systems. As we learned the anatomy and physiology of the reproductive systems, the students were able to use various items to create a model of the systems to apply their new knowledge.

There were many moments of success this week as students were truly learning, however, there are still opportunities for growth that I am eager to improve on. One of my goals for this upcoming week is to continue to incorporate a variety of instruction in my classes. I would still like to try different ways of presenting materials as well as review activities to continue to build my teaching toolbox. Another goal is to push to incorporate the three-circle model in my teaching. Simply feeling comfortable in the classroom is a challenge in itself, but I would like to do better at connecting my classes to specific FFA and SAE activities. There are countless other goals that I strive to reach each day, but I am constantly learning something new each day and I know I will always continue to grow as an educator.

Reflecting back on my student teaching journey up until this point feels very surreal. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me along this journey and I know will still support me even after student teaching is complete. My two cooperating teachers, Ms. Timmons and Mrs. Kennedy are two of my biggest supporters! Whether it's through listening to my ideas or providing me with guidance in teaching and also life, I know my journey would not be the same without them! My university supervisor, Dr. Foster, is also another one of my greatest supporters. His action of simply telling me that he is proud of me has truly made a difference in my life. I would also like to thank my family and friends for continually supporting me along this journey! 

Week eleven of student teaching has passed and certainly taught me many lessons. I cannot wait to see what the last few weeks of student teaching bring!