Animal Science
Monday and Tuesday
I have been running behind since the beginning due to snow days. Thus, I was given a copy of the American Meat video and after previewing it realized it was an opportunity to make up time. I constructed a worksheet that went along with the video. After the first section which lined up nicely with the length of the period, I allowed the students to vote on whether they wanted to see the 2nd half or not. All three classes were very engaged and all voted to see the second half. This a great way to make up time, the video killed 4 of the lessons in the unit plan in 2 days. However, what would I change? I would leave this assignment and lesson for a substitute to teach. I felt as though I could have been covering other material and the video would have been great when a non-agriculture teacher was there.
Wednesday
This was my final observation and I was teaching pig ear notching. I was really happy with the lesson and the students seemed to truly enjoy it. However, the classes were out of order due to PSSA testing and my 3rd period class met during 1st period. Apparently kids are like animals and changing their normal routine makes them wacky.
Thursday
We worked on swine judging, we started by reviewing the information used to judge livestock. I was impressed by thrilled that on the third round of judging the students finally knew the 5 characteristics. It is my belief that when students when students follow a set of guidelines for judging the results are much more uniform.
Friday
Today was only a half day, but it was super awesome because I brought in real live pigs for the students to judge. They were happy to once again have real animals to work with. The pigs behaved like perfect angels and everything ran smoothly. Unfortunately, I only had 2 pigs to bring since the third ended up in my freezer during SLLC. Due to the PED virus I wasn't about to ask another producer to bring me pigs. Although, my change to today lesson would be having four pigs for a complete class.
Building Constructions
This week the students finished spackling the wall in the high school PTO office. Additionally, today they completed painting it. We are looking forward to next week, we will be starting to work on drywall on a frame structure. This will allow students to work at their own pace and they will be given more freedom to work independently with less direction.
Advanced Mechanics
My kids are making great progress on their test plates, I am hoping that they will be done by the end of next week.
Additionally, it has been a busy week! Tuesday I had a meeting with the GPP presenters for the showmanship clinic. We met with the regional 4H coordinator to make sure everyone was on the same page. Then on Thursday night I had a student stay after to work on his weld test plate. Later that night I attended a special swine committee meeting at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds. We were deciding on a recommendation to give the fair board regarding swine at the fair. Finally to finish the week I met with the Livestock, Dairy and finally Horse Judging Teams to prepare them for contests.
Mindy,
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to visit with you Wednesday. You are correct in that even small changes in routine can put students in a different form for the day. The same is true for adults, but at least we are often more readily prepared to handle such changes! I am still really excited to see that you are bringing in real animals to work with, as this provides a great opportunity for your students.