In the Swing of Things

This week was definitely noticeable that the students were starting to exit out of the honey moon stage of back to school excitement. They started to feel more comfortable in their classrooms which means they could start testing boundaries! Oh what fun! This week I observed many classroom management strategies from Mrs. B and Mrs. W. In my small engines class, it is a small group of boys at a variety of ages with vary mixed personality types. They had two class periods to fill out their worksheets. When Mrs. W checked them for completion many of them did not have it done and thought because they deserved more time or that she shouldn't grade them because "it was a shop class". I loved that Mrs. W did not accept any of their excuses and continued to grade them and explain the lesson and that they were still expected to complete it and participate in discussion as we went over it. Especially in shop classes that some could look at as more laid back it is super important to instill your rules and expectations in the beginning so they know that they will not get away with pushing boundaries. Mrs. B and I had discussions on her classroom management strategies as well. We discussed the power of proximity control. It is quite entertaining to watch the students change and stop behaviors as she moves around the room closer or more distant to them. Classroom management is definitely a place that I will take all the advice I can get as I feel like it is a weak point of mine. 

Another conversation that I thought was so important that we had this week was about knowing the students. Just in the first few weeks we have learned a lot about them individually. It is already quite obvious what students are going to be the "go getters" and which are the ones with the "I don't care attitude." Even though these students may seem pretty obvious I think it is important to make sure we are still trying to connect and spark the ones who do not seem to care and make sure we do not give a pedestal or to high of expectations to the stronger students. We also discussed that some of these kids have a lot going on at home, some way more than teenagers should have to deal with. We need to be gentle with students and remember if issues are occurring at home that could directly affect why they don't care in the classroom. I also love that already this week so many students have demonstrated how comfortable they are being in the ag room and with Mrs. B. I definitely hope my future students will feel this way as well! 

My first lesson also happened this week! I began to pick up teaching the ag leadership/ ffa course. I definitely believe I misjudged the variety of levels in this class. This class consists of all grades, iep students and students of very different personality types. My lesson was on general leadership definitions and naming leaders. I think the overall lesson went well. Classroom management is again something I really need to strengthen myself in. Some of them were also trying to push boundaries by doing things such as keeping their headphones in and moving seats. In general, this was definitely a learning day for me to get a better feel on the students but overall it mostly went well!