Week 1: Student Teaching ATHENS Style!

Here is a short recap of my week!

Day 1: FIELD TRIP! That's right, we took 52 students to the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show and it was incredible. Five very hardworking and talented seniors received their keystone degrees and 22 excited freshman zipped up their FFA jackets for the very first time (thank you PA FFA Alumni Association!)

Day 2-4: OBSERVATION! It has been fantastic this week to get into the classroom and really see how the Athens Area HS agriculture education classes really work! While I have observed at Athens before, I have never been in the classroom for two or more days in a row, so it's nice to see the consistency and get to know the students better. I also experienced a faculty meeting, a Science Teachers meeting, and testing at the high school. Definitely interesting and fun to observe Mr. Steinfelt in his element!

Day 5: IN-SERVIC DAY! Wow, this week I am seeing it all.
On Friday we had an in-service day about effective assessments! This was very interesting to not only engage in professional development, but to also compare the Learning Focusing Strategies system (that Athens Area HS has introduced) to what I have learned so far at Penn State. We had some lengthy discussions about how our objectives should be rigorous and also match the level of our assessments. It was nice to sit with Mr. Steinfelt and Dr. Banic (who teaches Animal Science and Vet Science at Athens) during the in-service presentation.

Additionally, I was able to grade some AET records with Mr. Steinfelt after our professional development, so I was excited to learn more about the "Teacher View" of AET. We have very dedicated and hard-working students here at Athens, and I am looking forward to helping students polish their AET records and SAEs for ... possibly... should I say it... Proficiency Awards!?!?!?!?

IN REFLECTING ON THIS WEEK:

I have two observations:
1) Consistency is key! Students are creatures of habit... if you change their routine they will be upset. The troops will get confused, upset, nervous, and/or angry. Being consistent and maintaining a set routine is a goal of mine for this semester. While I want to have variety and change the lessons etc. I want my students to feel comfortable and not be anxious in my class. Therefore, consistency is a must (also with classroom management, consistency = VERY important!)

2) Continuing education... not everyone is excited about it but it is certainly important. By experiencing my first In-Service day in my first week of student teaching, I have a fresh look at education. It was very valuable to sit around teachers with many years of experience to see how they have adapted and changed over the years. The assessment strategies that we learned were aimed to better assess student learning, and to ensure that objectives were matching standards and assessments. I found a lot of value also in talking to other educators outside of science and agricultural science. From physical education to mathematics, there are many different ways to assess student learning.


Thanks for reading!
Best
-Ms. Royer