Virtual Mentor Interview 3

As the third installment of virtual mentor interviews, I was tasked with asking my virtual mentor team advice on a very important topic regarding special population students. I asked the question, "What are the best tips or resources you would provide to new teachers regarding special needs accommodations?". 

Resource People 

The overall consensus from my virtual mentors was to utilize the case workers within your school. They are an invaluable resource when reading through IEP's or asking questions about accommodations that are needed for certain students. 

Tips

I received some awesome tips from all three of my mentors.

• Get advice from Special Education Teachers
• Talk to the student
• Talk with the parents
• Pay attention to each student and their needs
• Keep a binder with important information to stay organized
• It is okay to meet students half way
• Make everyone feel welcome in your classroom
• Follow all accommodations listed for a student
• Final Thoughts
  
• I was able to have great conversations with all three of my mentors regarding this tricky topic. As listed above I was given lots of great tips and advice on how to help every student that is in my program!

What is Effective Classroom Management?

Classroom management, something  I  know will be an area I need to focus on during student teaching. Thankfully, during our last week of classes, we will be discussing  classroom management strategies. Talking to other teachers during NAAE and learning from Mr. Seaman, I have compiled some helpful tips to promote positive behavior!

1. Start out firm.
This is a piece of advice I have heard a lot. You can always start off firm and loosen the reins down the road. This is much easier than trying to corral your students back once caous  has ensued.
2. Be prepared to teach well.
This piece of advice is very important to me. It reminds me of a saying that my professors always use, "what you lack in content knowledge, you can make up for with good planning". I think that it is extremely important to have well thought out plans before beginning to teach a lesson.

3. Have a definite routine by which each class is started. 
This is something I have given  a lot of thought to since I have be focusing on my classroom management posters. This statement especially rings true for the classroom procedures poster. What behaviors do I want to see from my students everyday?
4. Make generous use of praise. 
This is something I think often gets overlooked. I know that I am going to have to focus on giving praise regularly and making sure that it holds value to the student, not just a shallow compliment. 5. Set a good example.
I think this statement is my favorite piece of advice. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings " Be the change you want to see happen". If you can't model the behaviors and expectations you have for your students, why should you expect them to follow rules?
6. Learn to forgive and forget. 
This is something I know I am going to struggle with. I tend to forgive easily but never forget. This is something I know I need to strive to overcome during my teaching career.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I know that I have a lot to work on and learn about classroom management. I plan to work on my weaknesses during student teaching by using these tips, gaining advice from Mr. Webreck, and asking other teachers for advice!

NAAE Convention

Last week, I was able to travel with my fellow cohort members to attend the National Association for Agriculture Educators (NAAE) Conference in San Antonio Texas. The week was filled with lots of networking and professional development opportunities. I was able to network with 84 other preservice teachers from Universities all across the country as well as seasoned teachers from all across the country. 

FAST Program
While we were in San Antonio, the we were accepted into the Future Agriscience Teacher Synopsis (FAST). This is an exciting program that is exclusively for preservice teachers. One of the workshops I attended was on Inquiry Based Instruction. This workshop gave us the tools to lead different labs integrated with science. I feel that this was an important  workshop to attend because it showed us the possibilities of inquiry based instruction and how we can implement these techniques in our own classroom. During FAST we also were able to have a discussion panel of agriculture teachers from across the U.S. and ask them any questions we had. This was an amazing opportunity to learn from seasoned teachers and hear their crazy stories and helpful advice. 
NAAE Convention
In conjunction with the FAST workshops, we were able participate in NAAE workshops. I was able to attended workshops that provided me with new knowledge, resources, and ideas that will benefit my classroom. To highlight a few, I attended one that was all about creating foldable and hands on notes for students. I can utilized what I learned many different ways and for all classes. Another workshop was on giving effective instructions to students. This workshop helped me out a lot since I feel like I struggle with giving clear detailed instructions during my lessons.
Final Thoughts
The connections I made with other preservice teachers as well as seasoned teachers were truly amazing. I was able to have conversations with agriculture teachers from all over and see how they run their programs as well as gain advice on various topics.

In conclusion, I had an amazing experience in San Antonio and I am so thankful that I was able to attend. I have walked away with new friends, mentors, resources, and amazement at how large and welcoming the Ag Educator family really is.  

Life Knowledge Lesson

For my last lab experience for AEE 412 I was tasked with teaching a Life Knowledge lesson from the FFA curriculum at my cooperating. I chose to implement the "Defining Career Success" lesson as I was teaching it to a class of juniors and seniors.

Teaching Pros

Everyone seemed excited for the topic of the lesson and for the most part everyone stayed engaged throughout the entire lesson. I enjoyed the variety of activities that the lesson had to offer which I feel helped the students to stay engaged for the entire lesson.

Teaching Opps

I definitely need to work on my timing and pacing of content. I ended up running straight up to the bell and was not able to finish the last half of the lesson. I also want to work on keeping myself on track during the lesson without relying on a PowerPoint or trying to flick through my lesson plan to see what is next.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think my lesson was a positive experience that just needs a few tweaks for the future. Mr. Webreck also agreed with me for the areas of improvement but assured me that the lesson went well for my first time teaching to that group of students. 

Agricultural Mechanics Demonstration

One really cool lab I got to teach was an Ag mechanics demonstration as part of AEE 412. I could choose whichever topic within Ag mechanics that I wanted to showcase. 

Demo

I chose to demonstrate how to rip an electrical cable. I utilized the electrical wiring equipment that was available for me to use.

In my demo, I explained vocab and tool identification. I then walked through the steps, had a student tell the class the steps, and finally had a student demonstrate the correct process.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think my demonstration went really well. I focused on explaining every step clearly which enabled the class to follow along and demonstrate the correct procedures. I plan on using these strategies in the spring during my student teaching internship as part of my electrical wiring unit.