Mentors, Routines & Communities: Week 3 Reflections.

Weekly we are asked to fill out a weekly survey of how our week of student teaching has been.  The first question: "Are you performing at your best?"  I every week I can't help but want to say 'disagree'.  The reason:  I am growing and I have so much more to grow.  Sure I am doing well- I think someone would tell me if I am completely failing at this experience, but I think I am at a good growth spot.  There's no comfort in a growth zone and there is no growth in a comfort zone is quite possibly going to be the story of my student teaching experience- but I wouldn't have it any other way- at any other place. This was another cool week of some awesome experience, looking ahead to a week of even more new experiences.  From talking with incredible mentors to meeting with community members to realizing the importance of practicing routine I am excited to keep growing.

Mentors Matter.

At the end of a full week of teaching I received a pretty cool phone call from one of my favorite mentors: my hometown agriculture teacher.  He's the one that encouraged me, challenged me, laughed with me and saw some of the highest and lowest not only in my life but the life of my family.  His phone call was continued confirmation I am in the right spot and that I am wired for this way to crazy of a job.  Mentors far away like Mr. Ryan Holle are great, but I am also thankful for the ones that watch my teaching and growth in the classroom- and in the county.  The conversations I was able to have with Mr. Masser this week about curriculum, assessment and students were extremely eye opening.  I am hard on myself and I am not satisfied with the status quo- which is good, but I forget the really constructive feedback that I need, that pushes me to do better, in encouraging ways, and I am thankful for a mentor that does just that.  So here is to MUCH more improvement next week- including routines and community involvement.

Routines...Yea, we need those. 

Last week I mentioned that routines at the beginning and end of class are essential and that is continued feedback I have gotten, this week was a little better, but needs to continue.  It is other lab routines that I forgot about.  This week we did our first 'real' food science lab and when I sent them to the lab stations I realized that I didn't train them how to work in the lab...oops! That was a learning experience! I knew right away when I sent them there that 1. They didn't know where ANYTHING was, 2. They didn't all know what a 250mL beaker or stirring rod was and 3. They didn't understand clean up and lab skills practices.  I will NOT do it this way again in the future- a little training in routines is necessary.  I told them I was going to give them a lab skills grade- but I couldn't because I didn't tell them what I expected.  After debriefing this experience with Mr. Masser I decided I am going to give them the lab grade they would have gotten on a sticky note- then debrief why and the skills and practices they need.  Then the next few labs I will do a demo before each to remind teach them how to use the equipment and proper safety and clean up procedures. It is a learning experience for all!

Community Involvement is Cool. 

Lastly my cool experiences of the week were the community meetings I was able to participate in this week.  Recently Pequea Valley was presented with the opportunity to help with a community garden in partnership with the The Together Community Center which is a partnership with The Factory Ministries, which together provide social services, a safe youth center, community food kitchen and pantry along with other initiatives to serve the needs of the Pequea Valley community.  To someone who has a heart for community and programs like this, I was in awe of this project.  This is an exciting partnership that PV is excited to start out slowly this year and hopefully grow yearly to create SAE and classroom experiences which is a really neat community connection.  The second community member meeting of the week was with Ken's Gardens, a horticultural retail center located just a few minutes from the school that has a student in our program.  We are excited to send students there for SAE internship experiences, along with other possible partnerships.  Building community partnership is pretty awesome!


Overall week 3 was really good.  Below are some of my big gems and opps of the week.  Here is to week 4 and picking up another class!

Gems: 

• Continued rapport building- this is still an opp though, especially remembering student names!
• Unique lab experiences and reflection after them
• Trying new things- I am not sure if this interactive notebook is going to be something I like- but we are trying it! 

Opps: 

• Content, content, content
• Planning ahead- I plan, but yet always feel like I could plan more
• Lab routines