Week 6, 7, & 8: Gilbert High School

Week 6: February 21-February 25 - "Sub-Districts"

Week 6 at Gilbert was an eventful one, to say the least.  I continued with my same classes, teaching the kiddos about plants and animals...the usual.  What was different this week was it is "National FFA Week!"  This may be a big deal for some schools, but not for Gilbert.  We actually pretended that it didn't exist and are going to hold FFA week at a later time (FFA isn't a huge deal at Gilbert and they aren't going to force it on the rest of the school.  It is an interesting take on the event, but it works for them.)

My Animal Care and Production course continued to learn about breeds and identification of different species and on Friday we had a unit quiz.  Most of the students did very well and I was pleased with how much information they retained.  My horticulture class learned their common and Latin house plant names and started a unit on Horticulture careers.  On Tuesday of that week, all of the classes took the Greenhand and Chapter quizzes.  Most of the students did average and we had a couple that excelled on their tests.

On Wednesday we had an early out for in-service.  Luckily, for Mr. Davis and I, we had sub-districts so we had to miss all the AIW meetings. Shucks!  At sub-districts, we took a conduct team, parli pro team, job interview, extemp speaking, radio broadcast, and ag sales.  Conduct team did an excellent job, but placed 4th out of 8 teams and did not proceed to districts.  The extemp speaker also did a great job and received second place to move on to districts.  The other four teams received first in their category and all moved on to districts.  All in all, it was a pretty successful trip at sub-districts.

Week 7: February 28-March 5 - "Districts"

This week my Animal Care and Production course started a unit on meat science and food safety.  I liked this unit because it was something the students could easily relate to.  My Horticulture class started their unit on propagation and were learning techniques to propagate the house plants their previously learned the common and Latin names to. 

On Tuesday evening, I went to my first "community meeting."  I attended the Gilbert Tractor Club meeting.  It was a group of about 65 men, ranging in age from 30-80 years old.  Needless to say, by all the stares I got that evening, I was surely a minority.  Though, during most of the meetings I had no clue what they were talking about, I did end learning a lot, not only about tractors, but the community as well.  Mr. Davis uses this club almost as his Advisory Committee.  They have his back whenever he needs it when it comes to agriculture education and FFA.  It was fun listening to all the different stories the men told me about their tractors, their education, their families, and their jobs.  I also had an opportunity to meet some parents of a few of my students, so it was nice seeing where some students come from.

On Saturday, we had our District FFA Convention in Boone.  We got pretty lucky not having to travel very far.  Mr. Davis said they usually have to travel at least two hours.  Even though we were close, it still made for a long day.  I helped out in holding room and running back and forth seeing who needed help where.  It had been a long time since I have attended an FFA event like that, so it brought back some memories and it reminded me of how passionate some kids get about FFA, and how unpassionate others get when they feel like they are forced to be there.

Once again, our kids did an awesome job.  Our radio broadcaster took top awards and is moving along to state.  Our job interview received Gold and is also moving along to state.  The ag sales individual did a wonderful job and received Gold and is an alternate to state.  The extemp speaking did better than he did at sub-districts, and received a Silver, but he improved and that's was truly matters.  Our parli team also received a Silver rating, but they were happy with how they did.  Once again, Districts was considered a success!

Week 8: March 7-March 11 - "Banquet and Field Trip"

Another week in "Paradise."  My Horticulture class started doing their plant propagation in the greenhouse.  That was an experience in itself!  Trying to get the labs ready and letting the freshman and sophomore have razors was kind of frightful.  I took up the Agriculture Business class which is DMACC credits.  They started with budgets and such, fun stuff...  My  Animal Care and Production course continued with our meat science and food safety unit.  On Thursday, I organized a field trip to the Iowa State University Meat Lab so my Animal Care class could see first hand where their meat comes from and how it is processed.  The students really seemed to have enjoyed themselves and they learned a lot by seeing the lab.  There were lots of good questions and the students really started to understand the importance of food safety and knowing where their meat comes from.

On Tuesday, we had our banquet.  Talk about STRESS!  Trying to get everyone and everything organized was an undertaking.  The students have a silent auction at their banquet to raise money.  For a couple weeks the officers and some seniors went around Ames, Boone, Story City, Nevada, Gilbert, etc. trying to get businesses to donate items to the auction.  

Also this week, we had our officer elections since the new officers are installed at the banquet.  Since we were unable to get a homeroom time, we had to do our voting during class and during lunch periods, which they had never done before.  In the past, Mr. Davis had "created" officer positions for those who might not make it after the voting.  This year, there were enough students running for positions that we stuck to the regular officer positions and those who didn't make it, didn't make it.  Actually they did get something if they didn't make it, they are going to be chairs of committees.

The banquet turned out to be a success (minus trying to get home in the terrible weather afterwards).  Most of the students came in official dress, as they were suppose to.  I had a small speaking part, and didn't even mess up! It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of the students parents and see everyone in FFA come together, even if it was just for one night.  I felt a lot more like an advisor at this event than I have yet at Gilbert.  I had many students asking me questions and Mr. Davis kind of left me in charge of getting everything set up and directing students as to what they were going to to and where they were suppose to be.  By the end of it, I felt a great relieve as it went off without a hitch.

I had the students in my classes do a evaluation of the banquet the next day.  They had to write down what went well and what they could change for next year.  I gave the results to the officers for them to review and make the changes they see fit.  Also, on Wednesday, Mr. Davis called in sick.  He had been sick for probably a week and a half, but just wanted to get through banquet.  So, Wednesday I had all of the classes to myself.  This was a great experience and I got to know the students a bit better and they actually were able to trust me and ask me question instead of Mr. Davis, which was a good experience.

What I think about all this:

• Once again, I think if we (student teachers) want to make it in this career, we can't make this our lives.  Watching Mr. Davis react with his family has taught me that he puts his family before his career.  He leaves his work at school, and when he gets home he can focus on more important things.
• Don't forget where you came from.  Since I've started student teaching, I've been home to see my family for one day.  That stinks.  I've been so focused on teaching and writing my thesis, that I barely even call my family or my friends.  My texting bill has sure gone down too.  And... I miss my cows.
• There are other ways besides BLOGGING to reflect on this experience.  Thank goodness for neighbors and friends who I can call at 7:00am to discuss my frustrations.  The only thing this blog is doing for me, is getting my experiences in text.  I'm not sure that anyone actually reads these, and I find it somewhat ridiculous that this is a "requirement" and 1). it was not written anywhere in the student teaching handbook that these blogs have to be written, 2). not everyone is even writing a blog, 3). the rules are the same for every student teacher.

Now, for me, it is time to move on to more important things.  As many of us have Spring Break this week and are doing something fun (some of you all are still teaching this week... sorry Cort.), I am not doing anything fun at all.  This week, I'm focusing on finishing my Thesis so I can move on to bigger an better things.

Until next time... Have a day!

Week 4 and 5: Gilbert High School

Week 4: February 7 - February 11

This week I started teaching another class: Animal Care and Behavior.  It is a class with 28 freshman in a room that seats about 24, so needless to say, it is kind of packed in there.  I started off teaching livestock selection and identification and went with the aspect of judging.  It was a fun unit for me and I think the students enjoyed it.  We are now moving on to different breeds of livestock and how they are selected.  I'm currently working on scheduling a tour of the ISU Meat Lab for the class.  My horticulture class continued with their unit and prepared themselves for their first quiz by Ms. Driscoll.


This week was fairly basic.  Nothing too new or exciting.  Though, on Wednesday night we had our rescheduled district review night in Grundy Center.  It was a good chance to meet other ag teachers and learn the judging process.  It went pretty smoothly and didn't lead to a terribly late night.  We are getting ready for our CDE's so we have been having lots of practices, most before school, some after, and Sunday evenings.  Luckily for us and for the students, our sub-districts got moved back a week so that means an extra week of practice.  Friday there was no school for the students for staff development...


Week 5: February 14 - February 18 

This week was pretty much the same as last week  The Animal Care class continued to learn about animal selection and identification and the horticulture class prepared for their first quiz.  On Thursday I prepared for a sub as I had other obligations to attend to.  The thing I learned though about having a substitute that is an ag teacher (aka Mr. Davis), they won't do what you tell them to so you'll have to be pushed back a day anyways.  CDE practices have been continuing, along with another one this Sunday.  The kids are getting closer to being ready.


Things I learned this week:

• Sometimes you feel more like a baby-sitter than a teacher
• Students aren't motivated to learn and bad grades don't phase them
• Paper towels start on fire with a torch (duh...)
• There are more important things in life than teaching, school, work, etc.  
• We all need to remember that we have families and friends that care for us and would like our attention once and a while too. 

• If you want to be happy in this profession, you can't make it your life

Until next time... Have a day.

Week 2 and 3: Gilbert High School

Well, I missed last week's update, so it's a two for one this week!

Week 2: January 24 - January 28

Last week I started teaching my two periods of horticulture. It went surprisingly well for my first lesson. The kids seemed to be interested in what I was doing, so I was off to a good start. On Tuesday, Mr. Davis and I took our officers, and some Roland-Story kids, to the capitol for the Legislative Symposium. It was good for the students to be able to talk to their representatives about current issues in education and in agriculture. While we were at the capital, there were some protesters, which was neat for the students to see as well. I'm pretty passionate about animal agriculture and such, so I got on my soap box and talked to my students about how important it is to know what groups are supporting because they don't always do what they say they are going to do. A lot of them are actually out to hurt the agriculture industry rather than help it... (cough, cough, Human Society of the United States, cough, cough...).

The rest of the week went fairly well. We were supposed to have an officer meeting one morning before school, and I was the only one that showed up. It really put into perspective for me where FFA rates at Gilbert. The students like it, but it is not a priority. By the end of the week I started to see some discipline problems that were occurring in Hort. I decided to give one of my sections of Hort a seating chart since they couldn't handle sitting by their friends...well, that backfired. They seem to talk more now. But, I'm sticking by my guns and leaving them in their new arrangement. On Sunday the Gilbert FFA Chapter had their annual chili supper. The students and I prepared the chili on Friday and set up for the event. The students ended up having about 170 guests at their supper, so I would consider that a success.

Week 3: January 31 - February 4

This week the only eventful thing that happened was a snow day on Wednesday. We went to school on Tuesday and were suppose to head to Grundy Center to Review Iowa Degrees on Tuesday evening, but we ended up getting out of school at 1:00pm, so that got postponed. Gilbert will have about 7 or 8 students trying for Iowa Degrees this year, the most they have ever had.

On Monday, in Horticulture, I did my first lab experiment. That was nothing short of a disaster. The kids were paying attention to the directions and didn't understand/or care to understand what was going to happen. So, I was trying to use the rest of the week to get the students to forget about the experiment (not working...). They keep asking to go water their plants and trying to convince them that I have a "secret helper" watering them for me, isn't working.

This week we had a lot of staff meetings about career days, ITEDS, and a few other topics. We had two students sign to play football at different colleges this week too, so that was kind of exciting. On Thursday, Dr. Retallick came to visit. It wasn't too much of an exciting day, but I got some good feedback from him. After he left, my behavior problems excelled in horticulture. These kids CAN'T be quiet! I have one student that may get a "heart to heart" if her attitude doesn't change about the course. While, Dr. Retallick visited, I was teaching my students how to take fast and efficient notes because apparently that is something they never learned before. Most of the students took to it very well, but a few just refuse not to write everything on the slide down...

I have learned, sometimes you just can't win.

Like I said, nothing too exciting to report. I'm just going to keep on keeping on.

Week 1: Gilbert High School

Week one at Gilbert High School working with Mr. Davis went as well as could have been expected. This week was mostly observation as Mr. Davis wanted to finish a unit before I took over my first courses (2 sections of Horticulture with approx. 30 students in each section).

On the first day during metals and welding, Mr. Davis told me he had to run an errand and that he would be back in a little bit, "You'll be okay, right?" I think the look of terror on my face was probably priceless. The class is full of junior and senior boys, and one girl, that are very outgoing. They had about three different projects that they were suppose to be working on. I stood there in the shop thinking, "Holy crap, what did I get myself in to!" Luckily, no one got hurt and no one made me cry. So, I consider that a success.

On Thursday, once again, Mr. Davis had to "run an errand" (I've started to think that he just does this because he likes to see me have a heart attack.) 5 minutes before 5th period horticulture started. He just said, "I should be back before class is over, you'll be fine." Considering I had no idea that I would be teaching and had nothing prepared, it was a bit scary. It ended up being fine, even though it took awhile for me to get the attention of the students. (dang sophomores, anyhow...)

All in all everything turned out fine in the first week. I had a lot of great talks with Mr. Davis about discipline and student personalities, so it made me feel a lit better about being there. I also had the opportunity to meet lots of the faculty by attending a superintendent search meeting, a building of a new school meeting, collaboration meetings, and in-service. I also attended my very first wrestling meet and kept time for Mr. Davis. I learned that I am not a fan of wrestling.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Next week will be my first week of teaching. Hopefully, I don't come home crying. :)

As my Dad always says, "Have a day!!" (Meaning, you can choose the kind of day you have...)