Settling In

Week 4

This week felt much more comfortable than last week. Even with just one week's experience, I already felt much more confident in the classroom. Further, I had fewer after school obligations this week which also might have contributed to a 'nicer' feeling week. Overall, I feel like I'm building good foundations with my students and am getting them interested in general agriculture. 

Relationships are Everything

The more I'm in the classroom, the more I realize the importance getting to know my students. Since I had fewer obligations this week, I made a point to focus on getting to know my students on an individual level. This largely meant taking mental (and written) notes about my students. For me as an educator, the subject while important, comes nowhere near as important as getting to know my students. I think, knowing who you're teaching should take precedence over what you're teaching. Getting to know my students lets me adapt my lesson plans to them specifically. For example, I've dropped entire lesson plans because they're something that might work for another group of students but aren't my best choice for my current class. Further, getting closer has made me feel much more passionate about the work I'm doing. While the material for me is still new I can understand the argument that curriculum gets old and it's the students that sustain you. 

The Only Thing Constant In Life Is Change

With getting to know my students, I'm also getting to know what does and doesn't work. The biggest thing I keep in mind when running my classroom is that I shouldn't be married to anything. Sometimes things don't go as planned, students don't understand a topic in the way I anticipated or lessons run long/short. What all this is showing me is that change is constant and should be anticipated. Personally, I find this one of the most exciting aspects of teaching. While these moments feel stressful, I find changing things on the fly and adapting to be a challenging part of teaching where I can come up with some of my best ideas.

Happy to Teach Moments

• One of my students told Mrs. Anderson I was doing a good job which felt awesome
• I had to change up one of my lessons moments before I taught it and it ended up being my favorite of the week!
• We had a Flexible Instruction Day (FID) and almost all my students completed their assignments even though they were not at school
• My students are incredible... that is all

Funny Moments/ Observations

• Students have absolutely no filter
• The students found out that my car doesn't lock. One student helped himself into the driver's seat. I worry I'll be finding roadkill in my passenger seat next week.