Monday I introduced the students to judging Sheep and goats. They were less than excited whole to have to learn about judging again. However we worked through a packet and learned the 5 characteristics used to judge. Lesson went well however when the day ended the kids still weren't excited. I really wish I could have found a way to get them more engaged and excited!
Tuesday I decided to try to change the excitement level and it worked. I had practice classes on paper and some videos. We worked through them as a group and picked the photos apart. At the end of the class I announced we would have a judging contest on Wednesday. The kids were excited as the left room. On Tuesday I also started working with the buildings class again. We reviewed the material we had covered previously and I was able to get the students working on learning to solder. Overall decent day!
Wednesday was the judging contest thus early in the morning I got a trailer load of sheep and goats loaded up. Everything went pretty smooth other than while unloading the animals we had a sheep get loose. However with a little help and quick feet she was caught and all was good. Both the Principal and Vice Principal came to visit us to see the contest in action.
The students were excited and did a great job judging too! When I scored the placing cards everyone scored above 70%, which was my objective of the day. Both administrators thought the students were engaged and that the animals were adding to their education. The buildings class continued to make progress on their projects! Overall great day however future I will add gates to the sides of the trailer so that their are no escapees.
Thursday was a pretty awesome day in Animal Science! The title of the lesson was "So you like winning?" The interest approach was an interview with a 7 time lottery winner who claims he knows the secret to winning the lottery. I had students who hardly ever speak a word engaging and excited. Everybody wanted me to unveil the secret of winning. After the video we had a lengthy discussion about lucky verse using methods and how we can relate that to the show ring and judging contests. I had an eating contest activity to demonstrate the value of "wet feeding" the students were hooked! The building class did a great job and a couple people completed their projects and tested them some passed most failed. Those that failed started tearing them apart, cleaning and trying again! I am also transitioning into taking over the advanced class. They are working on welding and I have a group who are good and a group that need more time. Still trying to decide how I want to deal with that. However, it was a super awesome day!
Friday was the second day of showmanship training, which is my community based unit of instruction. The students are excited about the clinic and Monday I am going to send a letter home to the parents with all the details. Every student in all three classes handled the sheep and goat. Some were more hesitant and resistant to it but in the end everyone tried and everyone succeeded. I have many levels of knowledge within my classes and my biggest concern of the day was that because I had so many beginners that my students with knowledge wouldn't be learning anything. However, after everyone finished with animals we sat down and discussed what we learned and I asked the advanced student what she learned and she had a list! Thus, I felt it was a successful day and that I did teach to all levels!
Thoughts for the week I have been struggling with how to deal with students making up missed work. Make-up work takes time out of class and learning. When students are being pulled out of class to go retake and redo assignments they are missing what I am teaching. Strategies how do you keep them from falling further behind? It is a learning support student and they only seem concerned with what can he come up during class and redo to bring his grade up. If he just came to class and participated and wasn't leaving class all the time he would be fine.
As of today I am still without a functioning computer. I picked mine up Friday and paid dearly for my new hard drive... However, I now do not have Microsoft Office nor wireless networking! I am no better off than I was without it. Needless to say I have called and left several messages on the business' machine wish me luck and struggling without a computer!
Mindy.
ReplyDeleteGood job with the hard work. I only hear good things from everyone.
Technology can be a pain when it blows up, so I will hope you can get it resolved soon.
You need to have a process for Missed Work (a routine or standard operating procedure) like a folder that students automatically check. Those students need to make that up on their own time or during "HomeRoom/Tutoring" period if they need instruction.
Mindy,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your computer problems, but I am glad you had everything available through another source.
Don't feel "bad" about those days where your students are not "happy" with the way in which you are delivering the content. While you do need to make certain that you are reaching the students with the content through the mode of teaching, you also need to make certain that the "activity" doesn't always outweigh the content.
I often worry that my students miss the content, because they get wrapped up in the activity. My most recent example of this was last Thursday in my electrical wiring class. I was so excited to get them to the activity (and they were, too) that when we got to the actual activity of wiring, they had no idea of the "basics". I learned very quickly that I need to go back to the "drawing board", actually the chalkboard, and explain the difference in wires, cable, tools, etc. I had totally missed teaching basics, because I was so excited about getting to the activity that they had no idea of what they were to do!!
Basically, I am saying.... Sometimes you need to give/help them learn that "background" knowledge in a way that they can use in future application. If you don't give it to them, or worse in a way that goes over their head in the activity, then you are doing them no good, anyway.
It also looks like you "redeemed" yourself in great activities later in the week, which were probably successful, because you gave the students the prerequisite knowledge in a way that "mattered".
- Dr. Ewing