Week 5- Mother Nature strikes Again

Thanks to in-service and a snow day I had a three day week.  Once again I found myself editing and shortening the materials I wanted to cover.  I have spent a ton of time sifting through my materials distinguishing between the nice to know and the need to know.

Wednesday & Thursday- I decided that reading bottle labels and determining dosage was need to know.  I put the students into groups and had them work as a team to read a label and answer several questions about the medication.  I had the students create a presentation of Google drive.  They shared their presentation with me,  they had 10 minutes to finish their presentations at the beginning of the day Thursday.  Once the groups had finished, I projected their presentation and had each group share their findings with the class.  I created this activity as an extended version of the "Little Professor E-Moment".  Overall I thought it went really well, however I wish I could have got the students more excited about the information and that they showed more enthusiasm.  However, with that said the students did an excellent job had several positive things to say about the experience.  Additionally, I was really excited to read their questions on the ticket out.  This type of assignment got them to think about things a differently and they had some really great questions.

Friday- I always like to do some kind of hands on activity on Fridays.  Thus, to complete our health and vaccine unit I did an injections lab.  I brought in chicken wings with the skin on.  I demonstrated safety and then did a demonstration on sub-q injections.  I had each student give the injections one at a time as I walked around the classroom.  Thus, the students received one on one instruction and safety was fully controlled.  The students loved this activity and they expressed how much they learned by actually doing it.  I showed a video at the beginning of the class but several students told me how the video really didn't ease their fear however my demonstration and individual step-by-step guidance made them feel confident.  The students expressed how at first they were scared and really didn't know if they wanted to try it, but since I had each student do it one at a time while I watched they felt safe and confident to attempt it.  After the class the students said that they felt that they could give a live animal a shot.  However, they also expressed that they would have been afraid give a live animal a shot before this lab.  Things I could potentially change is to bring in more help.  I could contact the school nurse and maybe a vet to come into class and help the students perform the activity.  I think I could also potentially find a way to keep the students more engaged while I am providing the one on one instruction.