It's In My Nature

This week flew by! Granted it was only a four-day week, but I can't believe it is already over! For it only being a short week, we accomplished a lot of great things! One of the most interesting things that happened this week was on Tuesday, we had IEP meetings all morning. This was really cool to see IEP meetings from a different perspective and to see the school working hard to make the student be as successful as possible. There can be a lot of hoops to jump through sometimes to create a healthy and active learning environment for a number of different IEP's in the same class. But going to the learning support teacher and working with them makes that possible.  On Thursday, the FFA State Officers came to visit CASH! They lead leadership and team-building workshops all day. Each class has a different group of kids with different personalities. It was cool to see some students come out of their shells and participate in the activities. Overall, the students learned a lot and...

I had the opportunity to sit in Mr. Bocain's Advanced Biology course this past Friday. I was expecting a typical biology classroom and a lecture. I soon realized how wrong I was to assume that. I was beyond impressed by how well that classroom worked throughout the period. The biggest surprise was that students wanted to be in that classroom!  The students are broken up into groups and they are given two mice at the beginning of the year. The students must monitor the genetic traits and knowledge of the mice through each generation. They change their diet and evaluate the mice through a series of tests. Students take daily measurements and weights to look at the change. This assignment may seem really cool but if you ask me, the coolest part of this assignment was seeing how much the students enjoy it.  As soon as the bell rang and the students began to arrive in class, they immediately went to work. Mr. Bocain did not have to give any instructions, the students k...

It's hard to believe that week 1 of my student teaching internship is already complete! The week flew by! It was an enjoyable week just simply learning the system and planning out the entire 15 weeks. Most of all, I had so much fun. I had the chance to learn from some of my students. To hear their passions and see learning! The highlight of the week was watching kids have fun making butter. Something so simple and yet the students had such a great time and learned a lot. If there is one thing that this week has made me realize, is to remain calm and teach on. I have been worrying and stressing about student teaching for months. Now I look back and all I can do is laugh! There was nothing to worry or stress about. Having that growth mindset and being willing to learn through this process makes a world of a difference. Now that I have my bearings, I can't wait to start teaching classes. Week 1 is designed to be an observation week, to learn your role as a student teach...

We Are.. Finally Here! Our student teaching internship experience has finally begun at Farm Show. This week has been a great learning experience. Getting to know students and overall seeing how to be an Ag Teacher on a trip with other chaperones. It's really cool being introduced as "the student teacher" and having a specific role/responsibilities. Definitely different from previous experiences but a good different! This experience has made me even more excited for the semester. I am enjoying getting to know the students the most. Just interacting with the students has been overall great. As I have been talking to all of the students, it is cool that they are all in different classes. Essentially, I will know a few kids in every class. That is an awesome starting place and will definitely help in the beginning. I'm just struggling to learn student's names! As I prepare to head into the classroom on Monday, I can't wait to see the opportunities th...