The Start of Student Teaching: Week 1

I have officially completed my first week of student teaching. When I switched into the Agricultural and Extension Education Major I thought this day would never come and it seemed like it was always just a thought. As this semester approached student teaching was getting closer and closer, but it always seemed so distant. However, here I am.

To kick off student teaching the very first day was a trip to Mid-Winter Convention for FFA at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. However, before we went down I went into the classroom that I would be teaching in and I found there was a desk for me along with welcome notes all over it, made by the life skills students. Walking into that truly made my day. After all the students were gathered we headed down to the Farm Show. It was a fun first day being able to see all the students from all over the state joining together for one event. We took down a bus load of 50 students. 

Throughout the week some things happened here and there. It was nice meeting students and other teachers without having the stress that I know will be coming soon, since I will be taking on responsibilities of leading classes.

Week 1 Highlights:

-There was a student that came in requesting to use tools to skin a raccoon that he had trapped that morning. He ended up skinning it in the bed of his truck (only in an Ag class right?)

-Watched a group of students practice presenting their tractor restoration project, that they will be presenting at the farm show on Saturday to hopefully come home with an award. (It was cool to see the progress they had made from stumbling through their presentation on Monday, to doing an alright job on Friday)

-I was having a conversation with a student about what I would be teaching them later on in the class and I had mention welding. The student lit up and went on and on about how he welds at home and he was so excited that I was going to be teaching welding. Just listening to the passion the student had for the subject made me smile. I really hope that I can find what makes every student light up.

-Ms. Russell was using the Mitre Saw and as she was using it a piece of wood kicked back and cut the inside of her finger. It wasn't deep enough for stitches, but it was deep enough that she had to go see someone about it. We have lunch and a planning period back to back, so there are no students to oversee from 10:30 to 11:52. During that time frame she went to go get it checked out. However, she was not able to make it back in time for her next class. The Principal ended up coming down to monitor the class, while I semi took the reigns and helped the students continue working on what they had started working on the day beforehand. Which was suturing bananas. I wasn't 100% sure how to suture the different stitches, but I watched some quick videos and figured it out and ended up helping the students work through their suturing. I felt accomplished because I was able to move the class forward on what little I knew about the subject.

Soon I will be picking up classes and I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Week 1 down, 14 more to go.