Britton's Blueprint

I think as an FFA advisor we have all looked at the FFA life knowledge lessons. I hope we can all agree that they are dry and need a little adaptation. I took this as a challenge, it felt as though I scanned though "box" for hours trying to pick the "perfect" one. This was the first lesson that I would be teaching my students, I wanted them to like me, so I NEEDED a cool, fun lesson. Sooooo.... I picked first impressions. I think this is a topic that I have been hearing a lot of lately, it take 7 seconds to make a first impression but 22 different encounters with that person to change that impression. That interested me.  Do high schoolers know how to make a good first impression? Do they know that their facial expressions might be saying different things their their body language? I wanted to teach them how to make a good first impression, in hope that I would make a good impression in return. The lesson went over really well, I think that the students reall

Did I forget to have them wear safety glasses? Yes. But it is connecting wires, so I think that it was fine. I know that as a teacher in the classroom safety is the number one.  Today I completed my agriculture mechanics demonstration with four members of my cohort. I quickly learned that we are all too comfortable with each other. It did in fact take two tries to get everyone to pay attention. Remember these people are my friends, not my students. I wish that I would have made the time to complete this lesson with my students or while I was micro teaching. I think that it would have made a better impact on me than just doing it with some friends that already know my teaching style. I think I am just so excited to be in the classroom, but I am still very nervous.

Classroom management is something that makes me very nervous about as a student teacher. I worry that the students will see that I am only there for a short (16) week time period. I worry that my students will just see me as a person that will be leaving, and that it is not important to follow my rules and meet my expectations. I have made some posters for my expectations, Consequences, and some procedures. I think that these posters will be something that my students can look at for guidance. I do not think I will have much of a classroom management issue. I hope to keep my students engaged in hands on activities, and worksheets that provide them with the most knowledge of agriculture. I do think that issues that I have in my classroom will be handled in my classroom. I believe that students will have more respect for a teacher that has handled an issue with them directly than just sending them to the office. I also really like the idea of letting a student think about what they d

As I am reflecting on my time spent at the National Association of Agriculture educators conference in Anaheim California I can honestly say that It was an experience that I am lucky to have. The big take away that I got while I was there was that as Pennsylvania educators we are very blessed to have such a supportive state association. I know that I felt support from all of the Pennsylvania teachers that were there.  It was amazing to get to talk to teachers from all over the country. It was even greater to talk to Pennsylvanian teachers and to make connections with the teachers that are there to support me as a pre- service teacher.  I did get to talk individually with a teacher from Arizona, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.  The teacher from Arizona, he was from a non- traditional program, and he did not have a degree in agriculture education, he was an animal science major. It was interesting to talk to him, and to learn that he does not make lesson plans, but it did sound like h