The week of Travel: Student Teaching Week 11

This week started with a stop in Harrisburg to attend SLLC just for the evening. While I was there I was able to see my students and help score proficiency awards for Horticulture and Equine. I even ran into my high school Ag teacher and I was so happy to see her. We had a lot to catch up on. I was glad that even though I wasn't staying at SLLC I was able to spend dinner with my Juniata Valley students.

When I woke up on Monday morning I said goodbye to SLLC as we headed to Philadelphia For  a PAEE (Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators) conference. While there I attended workshops that gave me resources and ideas of things I can take back to the classroom. With an emphasis on insects. I found there are a lot of resources out there that help with teaching about macro invertebrates. I also learned techniques and skills I would need to approach teaching entomology to people who are weary about insects.

After I returned from the PAEE conference I turned around the next morning and traveled with my cohort down to Baltimore. There we toured schools to see how they were ran in an urban/city setting. It amazed me of how schools can utilize what little resources they have and teach from it. The big take away I have from being in Baltimore is the atmosphere. Students there outside of school live in fear almost every day of their lives. Some of the stories that we were told shocked me. However, when these students are in the school they can learn and feel safe. It's important for kids to be kids and being at school allows them to do that. Feeling safe is something I take for granted every day. As an educator you don't ever truly know how important you are in a students life.

We are doing a service learning project for one of the charter schools that is up and coming for k-3rd grade. We are going to be creating raised garden beds. I hope that this project will make a difference. I am going to be returning to teach my last 4 weeks at Juniata Valley and I'm happy to go back. These 15 weeks are going to be over before I know it.

Question for my readers:

How would you go about making sure that your room always feels like a safe place for your students?